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Assessment of multi-scale soil-plant interactions in a poplar plantation using geostatistical data fusion techniques: relationships to soil respiration

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Abstract

Background and aims

An adequate sampling strategy for the estimation of soil respiration depends on spatial heterogeneity in soil and plant characteristics. The objective of this work was the assessment of the spatial soil-plant interactions to define a sampling strategy of soil CO2 efflux.

Methods

In a long-term poplar plantation in Italy, a joint analysis of spatial variability of soil and plant properties was performed using geostatistical data fusion techniques. Soil samples were collected at 64 points and analyzed for pH, organic carbon, nitrogen, available phosphorous and texture. Trunk diameter was measured for 446 trees.

Results

The analysis of the whole data set (soil and plant properties) revealed the presence of three main scales of variation: a nugget effect (micro-scale), 30 and 100 m.

Most spatial variation (71 %) was observed at the longer range scale; soil spatial variability was reflected in the differences in plant growth and affected soil CO2 emissions significantly.

Conclusions

The joint analysis of soil and plant properties allowed to model their spatial scale-dependent relationships. A map of a synthetic indicator of joint soil-plant variation can be used to choose the most representative plots for soil respiration monitoring.

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Acknowledgments

We received substantial support from the owner and manager of the poplar site, Mr G. Cova-Minotti and Mr. F. Zanoli, and from the person responsible for the Ticino Park, Mr M. Furlanetto. We thank Mr. F. Biressi and Mr. M. Brambilla for help with field and laboratory work and Mr. F. Moia for laboratory assistance. Special thanks go to Mr. G. Seufert and Mr. A. Leip for the fruitful discussions and useful suggestions and to Mr. Gabriele Buttafuoco for careful reading and helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Milano Bicocca University, Piazza della Scienza, 1, 20123, Milan, Italy

    Chiara Ferré & Roberto Comolli

  2. CRA-SCA Consiglio per la Ricerca e la Sperimentazione in Agricoltura - Unit for Cropping Systems in Dry Environments, Via Celso Ulpiani, 5, 70125, Bari, Italy

    Annamaria Castrignanò

Authors
  1. Chiara Ferré
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  2. Annamaria Castrignanò
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  3. Roberto Comolli
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Correspondence to Chiara Ferré.

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Responsible Editor: Ute Skiba.

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Fig. S1

Soil properties: spatial distribution of the first regionalized factor (F1_soil) at a) short range (45 m) and b) long range (96 m) scale; colour scale uses isofrequency (GIF 196 kb)

High Resolution Image (TIFF 151 kb)

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(DOC 166 kb)

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Ferré, C., Castrignanò, A. & Comolli, R. Assessment of multi-scale soil-plant interactions in a poplar plantation using geostatistical data fusion techniques: relationships to soil respiration. Plant Soil 390, 95–109 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-014-2368-2

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