Estimating forest soil bulk density using boosted regression modelling

Soil bulk density (ρ) is an important physical property, but its measurement is frequently lacking in soil surveys due to the time‐consuming nature of making the measurement. As a result pedotransfer functions (PTFs) have been developed to predict ρ from other more easily available soil properties. These functions are generally derived from regression methods that aim to fit a single model. In this study, we use a technique called Generalized Boosted Regression Modelling (GBM; Ridgeway, 2006 ) which combines two algorithms: regression trees and boosting. We built two models and compared their predictive performance with published PTFs. All the functions were fitted based on the French forest soil dataset for the European demonstration Biosoil project. The two GBM models were Model G3 which involved the three most frequent quantitative predictors used to estimate soil bulk density (organic carbon, clay and silt), and Model G10, which included ten qualitative and quantitative input variables such as parent material or tree species. Based on the full dataset, Models G3 and G10 gave R² values of 0.45 and 0.86, respectively. Model G3 did not significantly outperform the best published model. Even when fitted from an external dataset, it explained only 29% of the variation of ρ with a root mean square error of 0.244 g/cm³. In contrast, the more complex Model G10 outperformed the other models during external validation, with a R² of 0.67 and a predictive deviation of ±0.168 g/cm³. The variation in forest soil bulk densities was mainly explained by five input variables: organic carbon content, tree species, the coarse fragment content, parent material and sampling depth.     

Estimating precompression stress of structured soils on the basis of aggregate density and dry bulk density

In soil mechanics, precompression stress is an essential parameter for estimations of the compaction risk of cultivated land. In order to determine this factor, regression equations were developed. They require various input variables of water and air regime, dry bulk density as well as the shear strength parameters c and φ. In this paper, we propose a regression model, which estimates the precompression stress from the two parameters dry bulk density (BD) and aggregate density (AD). The experiments were conducted on various structured arable soils in Germany. Altogether 25 natural soils and seven disturbed substrates were examined with three to seven replications. On all sites, precompression stress (log σ_P) was determined by means of stress–strain measurements under drained conditions and a matric potential of −6 kPa. The same samples were used for estimating the dry bulk density. Parallel to this, density measurements of aggregates with a diameter of 8–10 mm were made at a matric potential of −6 kPa. Aggregate density and dry bulk density were put into a relation (AD/BD ratio). This quotient shows the state of the inter-aggregate pore system and thus the load-support strength between the aggregates. A multiple linear regression equation of simple design allows to determine the level of precompression stress using the input variables AD/BD ratio and dry bulk density. Precompression stress rises with increasing dry bulk density. An increasing AD/BD ratio leads to a decline of precompression supposing the density values remain constant. The model produced good agreement with the measured values. The determination coefficient of the regression function was 0.84, the mean absolute error (MAE) 0.12 and the root mean square error (RMSE) 0.14. The index of agreement according to Willmot [Willmot, C.J., 1982. Some comments on the evaluation of model performance. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 63 (11), 1309–1313] was 0.95.     

Particle arrangement and internal porosity of coarse fragments affect water retention in stony soils

Information about water retention in stony soils lags behind due to methodological difficulties. We applied a new strategy to measure the water retention in soils with coarse fragments (CFs) and to get insights into the effect of CFs porosity on water retention. Water retention at zero, 10, and 150 m suction, bulk density, and the mass fraction of six particle size classes were measured in undisturbed blocks from soils with variable CFs contents, originating from three parent materials. The results showed that some soils contain porous CFs (2–250 mm) with a water holding capacity as high as the fine fraction (<2 mm). The water held in the suction range of 1–150 m in a soil with porous CFs was twice as high as in soils with non-porous CFs. Multilinear regressions revealed that both the water retention capacity at 1 m suction and in the range 1–150 m were more dependent on bulk density than on the fraction of CFs and fine particles. In the soil with porous CFs, there was no correlation between their fraction and soil water retention. These results show that the bulk water retention capacity of soils with CFs is underestimated when not considering the internal porosity of the CFs. A better understanding of the effect of the porosity of CFs on bulk soil porosity and water retention is important to propose suitable pedotransfer functions and refine physically-based hydraulic functions for stony soils.     

Building and testing conceptual and empirical models for predicting soil bulk density

The development of pedotransfer functions offers a potential means of alleviating cost and labour burdens associated with bulk‐density determinations. As a means of incorporating a priori knowledge into the model‐building process, we propose a conceptual model for predicting soil bulk density from other more regularly measured properties. The model considers soil bulk density to be a function of soil mineral packing structures (ρ_m) and soil structure (Δρ). Bulk‐density maxima were found for soils with approximately 80% sand. Bulk densities were also observed to increase with depth, suggesting the influence of over‐burden pressure. Residuals from the ρ_m model, hereby known as Δρ, correlated with organic carbon. All models were trained using Australian soil data, with limits set at bulk densities between 0.7 and 1.8 g cm^?3 and containing organic carbon levels below 12%. Performance of the conceptual model (r² = 0.49) was found to be comparable with a multiple linear regression model (r² = 0.49) and outperformed models developed using an artificial neural network (r² = 0.47) and a regression tree (r² = 0.43). Further development of the conceptual model should allow the inclusion of soil morphological data to improve bulk‐density predictions.     

初始含水量和容重对黑土压缩特性的影响

东北黑土区农业机械化水平高,农机作业压实导致的土壤结构和物理性状退化问题日益严重,压缩特性是定量分析土壤压实过程的有效手段,但目前黑土压缩特性随初始含水量和初始容重的变化规律尚不明确。为了解初始含水量和初始容重对黑土压缩特性的影响程度及其变化关系,该研究以重塑黑土为对象,设0.15、0.20、0.25、0.30、0.35、0.40 g/g共6个初始含水量水平,设1.00、1.10、1.20、1.30、1.45、1.60 g/cm³共6个初始容重水平,使用固结仪进行单轴压缩试验测定土壤压缩曲线,分析初始含水量和容重对压缩特性影响。结果表明,土壤初始含水量、容重及两者交互作用均极显著影响重塑黑土压缩特性(P<0.001),据此建立了预测压缩特性的土壤传递函数。黑土的预固结压力为10.42～1 106.17 kPa,与初始含水量显著线性正相关、与初始容重显著线性负相关(P<0.05);压缩指数为0.311～0.852,与初始含水量和容重呈二元多项式方程的关系,随初始容重的增大而降低,在中等含水量时最大;回弹指数为0.007～0.321,与初始含水量正相关,与...     

Pedotransfer functions for estimating plant available water and bulk density in Swedish agricultural soils

Abstract

Pedotransfer functions (PTFs) to estimate plant available water were developed from a database of arable soils in Sweden. The PTFs were developed to fulfil the minimum requirements of any agro-hydrological application, i.e., soil water content at wilting point (θ _wp ) and field capacity (θ _fc ), from information that frequently is available from soil surveys such as texture and soil organic carbon content (SOC). From the same variables we also estimated bulk density (ρ) and porosity (ε), which seldom are included in surveys, but are needed for calculating element mass balances. The seven particle-size classes given in the data set were aggregated in different ways to match information commonly gained from surveys. Analysis of covariance and stepwise multiple linear regression were used for quantifying the influence of depth, particle size class, textural class and soil organic carbon on the characteristic variables. PTFs developed from other data sets were also tested and their goodness-of-fit and bias was evaluated. These functions and those developed for the Swedish database were also tested on an independent data set and finally ranked according to their goodness of fit. Among single independent variables, clay was the best predictor for θ _wp , sand (or the sum of clay and silt) for θ _fc and SOC for ρ and ε. A large fraction of the variation in θ _wp and θ _fc is explained by soil texture and SOC (up to 90%) and root mean square errors (RMSEs) were as small as 0.03 m³ water m^?3 soil in the best models. For the prediction of ρ and ε in the test data set, the best PTF could only explain 40–43% of the total variance with corresponding RMSEs of 0.14 g cm^?3 and 5.3% by volume, respectively. Recently presented PTFs derived from a North American database performed very well for estimating θ _wp (low error and bias) and could be recommended for Swedish soils if measurements of clay, sand and SOC were available. Although somewhat less accurately, also θ _fc could be estimated satisfactorily. This indicates that the determination of plant available water by texture and SOC is rather independent of soil genesis and that certain PTFs are transferable between continents.     

Reference bulk density and critical degree-of-compactness for no-till crop production in subtropical highly weathered soils

The concept of degree of compactness (DC), referred to as field bulk density (BD) as a percentage of a reference bulk density (BD_ref), was developed to characterize compactness of soil frequently disturbed, but for undisturbed soil such as under no-tillage critical degree of compactness values have not been tested. The objective of this study was to compare methods to determine BD_ref and limits of DC and BD for plant growth under no-tillage in subtropical soils. Data from the literature and other databases were used to establish relationships between BD and clay or clay plus silt content, and between DC and macroporosity and yield of crops under no-tillage in subtropical Brazil. Data of BD_ref reached by the soil Proctor test on disturbed soil samples, by uniaxial compression with loads of 200 kPa on disturbed and undisturbed soil samples, and 400, 800 and 1600 kPa on undisturbed soil samples, were used. Also, comparisons were made with critical bulk density based on the least limiting water range (BDc LLWR) and on observed root and/or yield restriction in the field (BDc Rest). Using vertical uniaxial compression with a load of 200 kPa on disturbed or undisturbed samples generates low BD_ref and high DC-values. The standard Proctor test generates higher BD_ref-values, which are similar to those in a uniaxial test with a load of 1600 kPa for soils with low clay content but lower for soils with high clay content. The BDc LLWR does not necessarily restrict root growth or crop yield under no-tillage, since field investigations led to higher BDc Rest-values. A uniaxial load greater than 800 kPa is promising to determine BD_ref for no-tillage soils. The BD_ref is highly correlated to the clay content and thus pedotransfer functions may be established to estimate the former based on the latter. Soil ecological properties are affected before compaction restricts plant growth and yield. The DC is an efficient parameter to identify soil compaction affecting crops. The effect of compaction on ecological properties must also be further considered.     

Evaluation of pedotransfer functions predicting hydraulic properties of soils and deeper sediments

Eight pedotransfer functions (PTF) originally calibrated to soil data are used for evaluation of hydraulic properties of soils and deeper sediments. Only PTFs are considered which had shown good results in previous investigations. Two data sets were used for this purpose: a data set of measured pressure heads vs. water contents of 347 soil horizons (802 measured pairs) from Bavaria (Southern Germany) and a data set of 39 undisturbed samples of tertiary sediments from deeper ground (down to 100 m depth) in the molasse basin north of the Alps, containing 840 measured water contents vs. pressure head and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity. A statistical analysis of the PTFs shows that their performance is quite similar with respect to predicting soil water contents. Less satisfactory results were obtained when the PTFs were applied to prediction of water content of sediments from deeper ground. The predicted unsaturated hydraulic conductivities show about the same uncertainty as for soils in a previous study. Systematic deviations of predicted values indicate that an adaptation of the PTFs to the specific conditions of deeper ground should be possible in order to improve predictions.     

过量施用氯离子的扩散: I. 土壤湿度、容重及温度的影响

Diffusion coefficients of chlorde ions in four soils of different exture with varying effective moisture content and varying bulk density from 1.1 to 1.6 g cm^3 under three different temperatures were determined by the diffusion-cell method using ^36Cl-labelled CaCl2 solution.The result showed that activation energy decreased with water content,which indicated that the threshold fro diffusion was lower at a higher soil moisture rate .Therefor,the diffusion coefficient(D) of chloride ions in soil increased consistently with soil moisture,Although a near linear increase in the diffusion coefficient with increasing soil moisture or bulk density in all the soils was observed,the increase rate in different soils was not the same.The D value increased with teperature,and with temperature increased by 10℃ in the range from 5℃to 45℃ the D valve increased by 10%-30%,averaging about 20%.     

Variation in organic‐carbon concentration and bulk density in Flemish grassland soils

The different management regimes on grassland soils were examined to determine the possibilities for improved and/or changed land management of grasslands in Flanders (Belgium), with respect to article 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol. Grassland soils were sampled for soil organic carbon (SOC) and for bulk density. For all grasslands under agricultural use, grazing and mowing + grazing led to higher SOC stocks compared with mowing, and grazing had higher SOC stocks compared with mowing + grazing. Overall, 15.1 ± 4.9 kg OC m^–2 for the clayey texture, 9.8 ± 3.0 kg OC m^–2 for the silty texture, and 11.8 ± 3.8 kg OC m^–2 for the sandy texture were found for grassland under agricultural use to a depth of 60 cm. For seminatural grasslands, different results were found. For both the clayey and silty texture, mowing and mowing + grazing led to higher SOC stocks compared with grazing. The clayey texture had a mean stock of 15.1 ± 6.6, the silty texture of 10.9 ± 3.0, and the sandy texture of 12.1 ± 3.9 kg OC m^–2 (0–60 cm). Lower bulk densities were found under grazed agricultural grassland compared with mown grassland but for seminatural grassland, no clear trends for the bulk density were found. The best management option for maintaining or enhancing SOC stocks in agricultural grassland soils may be permanent grazed grassland. For seminatural grassland, no clear conclusions could be made. The water status of the sampled mown fields was influencing the results for the clayey texture. Overall, the mean SOC stock was decreasing in the order clay > sand > silt. The higher mean SOC concentrations found for the sandy texture, compared to the finer silty texture, may be explained by the historical land use of these soils.     

不同土壤含水率、体积质量及光谱反射率的关系模型

为了准确、快速地检测湿胀干缩型土壤含水率,该文提出了基于近红外光谱技术的土壤含水率分析方法。该文以湖北省黄棕壤、潮土、水稻土为研究对象,利用美国Ocean Optic公司的NIR256-2.5微型光纤光谱仪在暗室环境下对不同含水率下的土壤样本进行光谱反射率的测定和特征分析,并同时测量相应的土壤体积质量,研究土壤含水率、体积质量、光谱反射率之间的相关关系,通过采用2种土壤含水率表示方法与3种土壤光谱反射率表示方法反映土壤含水率与光谱反射率之间关系的对比试验分析,消除土壤其它性状对土壤反射率反演土壤含水率的影响,得到较适宜地进行土壤光谱反射率反演土壤含水率的匹配表示方法,构建三者之间关系的曲面模型和体积质量变化的土壤体积含水率与土壤光谱反射率的关系指数模型。研究结果表明,构建的3种土壤的曲面回归模型,决定系数均大于0.977,F值均达极显著水平,光谱反射率与体积质量的偏回归系数检验亦达显著或极显著水平。采用指数模型表述1 400、1 900 nm波长处的归一化减土光谱反射率与体积质量变化的土壤体积含水率的关系,其决定系数均在0.9以上,对模型进行验证,其预测误差在0.3左右,精度较高,所建模型拟合效果好。该研究可为用近红外光谱检测体积质量变化的土壤含水率提供科学资料。     

Prediction of soil water retention properties after stratification by combining texture,bulk density and the type of horizon

Among the numerous pedotransfer functions (PTFs) published, class‐PTfs have received little attention because their accuracy is often considered limited. However, recent studies show that performance of class‐PTFs can be similar to the more popular continuous‐PTFs. In this study, we compare the performance of PTFs that were derived from a set of 456 horizons collected in France grouped by combinations of texture, bulk density and type of horizon (topsoil and subsoil). The performance of these class‐PTFs was validated against water retained at ?33 and ?1500 kPa. Our results show that the best performance was obtained with class‐PTFs that used both texture and bulk density (texture‐structural class‐PTFs). They also showed that incorporation of horizon type into the PTF did not improve prediction performance. Comparison of performance at ?33 and ?1500 kPa showed very little difference, thus indicating no bias according to the value of water potential. Finally, the class‐PTFs developed are well suited for predicting water retention properties at the continental and national scales because only very basic soils data are available at these scales. A map of the available water capacity (AWC) was established for France using the 1:1 000 000 Soil Geographical Database of France and an averaged AWC of 104 mm was computed for France.     

黄土区小流域土壤容重和饱和导水率的时空动态特征

土壤水力性质是评估降水入渗、径流发生以及土体可蚀性的重要参数。研究小流域尺度土壤水力性质的时空动态特征,对于以小流域为基本单元的黄土高原综合治理具有直接意义,有助于加深对相关生态水文过程的理解。以陕西省神木县六道沟老叶满渠小流域为对象,进行50 m×50 m网格布点(共73个样点),2014年8-10月期间每月测定1次表层土壤容重和饱和导水率,结合经典统计学与地质统计学的方法研究容重和饱和导水率的时空变化规律。结果表明:1)小流域尺度容重的月际变化趋势较为一致,整体呈正态分布规律,饱和导水率的月际变化强烈,呈偏态分布;容重较饱和导水率变化范围较小,变异程度较低;2)小流域尺度容重和饱和导水率在8-10月的半方差可用指数模型进行最优拟合,两者均表现出中等程度的空间依赖性;Kriging插值图表明小流域容重总体差异性较小,而饱和导水率差异显著;8-10月,西坡局部区域、坡顶的容重呈逐月增大趋势,而饱和导水率呈减小趋势;3)Pearson相关性分析表明,8-10月单次测定的容重和饱和导水率之间的相关性不明显;在同一土壤类型下(干润砂质新成土)表现出极显著的负相关关系(P0.01)。     

Three‐dimensional scanning for measurement of bulk density in gravelly soils

The measurement of bulk density in gravelly soils (>15% soil particles >2 mm) is more time‐consuming than for other soils. The excavation method, usually employed for measurement of bulk density in gravelly soils, includes excavating a void and calculating volume of the void from the weight and density of the material (e.g. sand and plaster cast) used to fill the void. A 3‐dimensional (3D) scanning system was developed to measure the volume of the void created when using the excavation method. The 3D scanning system combined a time‐of‐flight camera (Kinect ™), the KinectFusion algorithm, MeshLab and a portable computer to produce a 3D model of the void or plaster cast. Experiments were completed at three field sites where soil gravel (>2 mm) content ranged from 35 to 71% to assess the performance of the system. The void volume measured using the 3D scanning system was highly correlated with measurements using the plaster cast method (r  = 0.99). The cumulative time taken to measure soil bulk density using 3D scanning was significantly (P  <  0.001) less than for the sand replacement at 0–10, 10–20, 20–30 and 30–40 cm depth. The faster measurement of subsurface bulk density is a significant advantage of the 3D scanning system; the time taken to measure bulk density to 40 cm in 10 cm increments using the 3D scanning system was about one‐third of the sand method.     

体积置换法直接测量土壤质量含水率及土壤容重

土壤含水率直接测量是相关研究和应用的基础,在土壤力学、作物栽培、农田灌溉、生态环境等研究和实践中十分重要。该文提出了一种与传统烘干称质量法相当的体积置换法直接测量土壤质量含水率及土壤容重。该方法在假设一定土壤颗粒密度的前提下,用一定体积的标准取样环刀取得土样后,通过向待测量土体补充水分使土壤达到饱和,用一定体积的水置换土壤中的充气空隙,直到土样达到饱和状态;再通过测量得到的初始/原始土样质量、饱和后土壤的质量以及已知土壤颗粒密度和水密度,计算得到被置换的充气空隙的体积,进而由此计算得到土壤质量含水率和土壤容重。采用3种不同土壤,即陕西杨凌黏黄土、北京粉壤土和江西黏红土,分别预配制成7种不同初始土壤体积含水率,含水率约为:风干土(含水率2%～3%)、5%、10%、15%、25%、30%和饱和含水率,以及3种不同土壤容重:1.25、1.35和1.45g/cm3进行室内试验。用类似的土样,采用传统方法烘干土样8、12、24、48h后,测量确定土壤的质量含水率,通过延长烘干时间测得数据表明,传统方法烘干8h所测得的质量含水率仍有1%～3.2%的含水率误差。最终试验结果表明体积置换方法测得的土壤含水率比传统烘干土样8h所测得的结果大2%～3%,比烘干土样48h所测得的结果大1%左右。体积置换方法测量操作过程简单,耗时较少,节约能源,测量结果具有较高精度。     

基于ANN的复垦土壤水分特征曲线的预测研究

为能较容易且更准确地获取复垦土壤水分特征曲线,将易测定的土壤特性如土壤质地、容重和饱和含水量作为输入变量,采用基于bagging算法的神经网络法建立了用于预测土壤水分特征曲线的土壤转换函数法(PTFs)模型,并对徐州矿区复垦土壤的水分特征曲线进行了预测,同时与普通BP算法预测精度进行了比较.研究结果表明所建立的PTFs参数模型具有较高的估计精度,bagging算法均方根预测误差比普通BP算法减少了7.5%～27.0%,说明该模型的建立与求解为复垦土壤水分特征曲线的预测研究提供了一条新途径.     

含水量和容重对旱地耕层土壤热导率的影响及预测

土壤热导率是研究地表能量平衡和土壤水热运移过程中的一个基础参数。受土壤耕作、干湿交替和根系生长等过程的影响,耕层土壤的含水率和结构呈现较强的变异特征,而目前缺乏关于定量分析耕层土壤热导率变异特征的研究。该研究利用田间定位试验,采用热脉冲技术测定了含水率和容重变化条件下耕层土壤热导率的变异特征,并利用传递函数模型对耕层土壤热导率进行了预测。结果表明:含水率和容重是影响耕层土壤热导率变异的主要因子,而耕作强度和干湿交替是这种变异的关键驱动力;与翻耕和旋耕处理相比,免耕处理提高了土壤容重和含水率,从而增大了土壤热导率;在干湿交替作用下,翻耕后土壤容重逐步增加,耕层热导率也呈现上升趋势,波动幅度与含水率的变化相关。基于含水率、容重和质地信息,土壤热导率传递函数模型可以给出可靠的田间土壤热导率估计值,其均方根误差和平均偏差分别为0.09和-0.01 W/(m·K);考虑耕层土壤容重的动态信息,可以提高该模型预测土壤热导率的准确性。     

利用有机质和pH值估算中国西北和东北退耕还林土壤容重

Regression models for predicting soil bulk density (BD) have usually been related to organic matter content,but it remains unknown whether soil acidity modifies this relationship,particularly for afforested/reforested soils.We measured soil BD along with organic matter content and pH in an afforested/reforested area in Northwest and Northeast China.Using these measurements,we parameterized and validated three BD models:the Adams equation,and exponential and radical models.Model validation showed that the Adams equation failed to predict the BD of the afforested/reforested soils,producing a large overestimation.Incorporation of soil pH into the Adams equation significantly improved its performance.The exponential and radical models parameterized by the measured data simulated soil BD quite well,particularly when soil pH was incorporated.However,incorporation of soil texture variables into these models did not improve model performance compared with the pH-modified models.This led to the conclusion that the Adams equation,exponential,and radical models with pH modification are applicable to afforested/reforested soils with various acidities.     

容重对土壤水分入渗能力影响模拟试验

通过人工改变土壤颗粒级配,配制典型砂壤、中壤、黏壤,并设置不同容重水平,用土柱积水入渗模拟了土壤容重对其入渗能力的影响,为土壤改良和促进天然降水转化利用提供理论依据。结果表明,容重对土壤入渗能力有较大影响。试验土壤入渗能力随容重增大递减,3种典型土壤稳定入渗速率与容重均呈对数负相关,砂壤120 min累积入渗量与容重呈幂函数负相关,中壤、黏壤则呈线性负相关。考斯加科夫入渗模型中,表征初始入渗速率的参数随容重增大递减,表征入渗能力衰减速度的参数则随容重增大递增,说明土壤初始入渗能力随容重增大递减,入渗能力衰减速度随容重增大递增。