Measurement and estimation of land-use effects on soil carbon and related properties for soil monitoring: a study on a basalt landscape of northern New South Wales, Australia
Brian R. Wilson A B D , Phoebe Barnes B , Terry B. Koen C , Subhadip Ghosh B and Dacre King AA NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water, PO Box U221, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
B School of Environmental and Rural Sciences, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
C NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water, PO Box 445, Cowra, NSW 2794, Australia.
D Corresponding author. Email: brian.wilson@environment.nsw.gov.au
Australian Journal of Soil Research 48(5) 421-433 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR09146
Submitted: 13 August 2009 Accepted: 4 March 2010 Published: 6 August 2010
Abstract
There is a growing need for information relating to soil condition, its current status, and the nature and direction of change in response to management pressures. Monitoring is therefore being promoted regionally, nationally, and internationally to assess and evaluate soil condition for the purposes of reporting and prioritisation of funding for natural resource management. Several technical and methodological obstacles remain that impede the broad-scale implementation of measurement and monitoring schemes, and we present a dataset designed to (i) assess the optimum size of sample site for soil monitoring, (ii) determine optimum sample numbers required across a site to estimate soil properties to known levels of precision and confidence, and (iii) assess differences in the selected soil properties between a range of land-use types across a basalt landscape of northern NSW. Sample site size was found to be arbitrary and a sample area 25 by 25 m provided a suitable estimate of soil properties at each site. Calculated optimum sample numbers differed between soil property, depth, and land use. Soil pH had a relatively low variability across the sites studied, whereas carbon, nitrogen, and bulk density had large variability. Variability was particularly high for woodland soils and in the deeper soil layers. A sampling intensity of 10 samples across a sampling area 25 by 25 m was found to yield adequate precision and confidence in the soil data generated. Clear and significant differences were detected between land-use types for the various soil properties determined but these effects were restricted to the near-surface soil layers (0–50 and 50–100 mm). Land use has a profound impact on soil properties near to the soil surface, and woodland soils at these depths had significantly higher carbon, nitrogen, and pH and lower bulk density than the other land uses. Soil properties between the other non-woodland land-use types were largely similar, apart from a modestly higher carbon content and higher soil acidity under improved pasture. Data for soil carbon assessment should account for equivalent mass, since this significantly modified carbon densities, particularly for the lighter woodland soils. Woodland soils had larger quantities of carbon (T/ha corrected for equivalent mass) than any other land-use type, and in order to maintain the largest quantity of carbon in this landscape, retaining trees and woodland is the most effective option. Results from this work are being used to inform further development the NSW Statewide Soil Monitoring Program.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the various landholders across the Northern Tablelands for their assistance in accessing and establishing soil monitoring and research sites. We also acknowledge the funding support of the NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water through the Statewide Land and Soil Condition Monitoring Program. Special thanks are extended to Greg Chapman, Peter Barker, and Brian Murphy for constructive comments on the work reported. Thanks also to ananymous referees for constructive comments on our original manuscript.
Chan KY
(2001) Soil particulate organic carbon under different land use management. Soil Use and Management 14(4), 217–221.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Chan KY,
Heenan DP, Oates A
(2002) Soil carbon fractions and relationship to soil quality under different tillage and stubble management. Soil & Tillage Research 63(3–4), 133–139.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Chan KY,
Heenan DP, So HB
(2003) Sequestration of carbon and changes in soil quality under conservation tillage on lighter-textured soils in Australia. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 43, 325–334.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Collard SJ, Zammit C
(2006) Effects of land-use intensification on soil carbon and ecosystem services in Brigalow (Acacia harpophylla) landscapes of southeast Queensland, Australia. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 117(2–3), 185–194.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
Dalal RC
(1989) Long-term effects of no-tillage, crop residue, and nitrogen application on properties of a Vertisol. Soil Science Society of America Journal 53, 1511–1515.
|
CAS |
Crossref |
Dalal RC, Chan KY
(2001) Soil organic matter in rainfed cropping systems of the Australian cereal belt. Australian Journal of Soil Research 39, 435–464.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
Ellert BH,
Janzen HH, Entz T
(2002) Assessment of a method to measure temporal change in soil carbon storage. Soil Science Society of America Journal 66, 1687–1695.
|
CAS |
Crossref |
Farquharson RJ,
Schwenke GD, Mullen JD
(2003) Should we manage soil organic carbon in Vertosols in the northern grains region of Australia? Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 43(3), 261–270.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Graham S,
Wilson BR, Reid N
(2004) Scattered paddock trees, litter chemistry and surface soil properties in pastures of the New England Tablelands, NSW. Australian Journal of Soil Research 42, 905–912.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
Greenwood KL, McKenzie BM
(2001) Grazing effects on soil physical properties and the consequences for pastures: a review. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 41, 1231–1250.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Harte AJ
(1984) Effect of tillage on the stability of three red soils of the northern wheatbelt. Journal of Soil Conservation 40, 94–101.
Jackson J, Ash AJ
(2001) The role of trees in enhancing soil nutrient availability for native perennial grasses in open eucalypt woodlands of north-east Queensland. Australian Journal of Soil Research 52, 377–386.
|
CAS |
Karlen DL,
Mausbach MJ,
Doran JW,
Cline RG,
Harris RF, Schumann GF
(1997) Soil quality: a concept, definition and framework for evaluation. Soil Science Society of America Journal 61, 4–10.
|
CAS |
Crossref |
Lark RM
(2005) Exploring scale-dependent correlation of soil properties by nested sampling. European Journal of Soil Science 56(3), 307–317.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Lodge GM,
Murphy SR, Harden S
(2003a) Effects of grazing and management on herbage mass, persistence, animal production and soil water content of native pastures. 1. A redgrass-wallaby grass pasture, Barraba, North West Slopes, New South Wales. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 43, 875–890.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Lodge GM,
Murphy SR, Harden S
(2003b) Effects of grazing and management on herbage mass, persistence, animal production and soil water content of native pastures: 1. A mixed native pasture, Manilla, North West Slopes, New South Wales. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 43, 891–905.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Prober SM,
Lunt ID, Thiele KR
(2002a) Determining reference conditions for management and restoration of temperate grassy woodlands: relationships among trees, topsoils and understorey flora in little-grazed remnants. Australian Journal of Botany 50, 687–697.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Prober SM,
Thiele KR, Lunt ID
(2002b) Identifying ecological barriers to restoration in temperate grassy woodlands: soil changes associated with different degradation states. Australian Journal of Botany 50, 699–712.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
Schipper LA, Sparling GP
(2000) Performance of soil condition indicators across taxonomic groups and land uses. Soil Science Society of America Journal 64, 300–311.
|
CAS |
Crossref |
von Steiger B,
Nowak K, Shulin R
(1996) Spatial variation of urease activity measured in soil monitoring. Journal of Environmental Quality 25, 1285–1290.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
Wilson BR,
Eyears M,
Martin W, Lemon J
(2002) Soil changes under ‘habitat reconstruction’ sites near Gunnedah, New South Wales. Ecological Management & Restoration 3(1), 68–70.
Wilson BR,
Ghosh S,
Barnes P, Kristiansen P
(2009) The effects of drying temperature on soil bulk density determination for soil condition monitoring and carbon density determination in northern New South Wales. Australian Journal of Soil Research 47, 781–787.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Wilson BR,
Growns I, Lemon J
(2008) Land-use effects on soil carbon and other soil properties on the NW slopes of NSW: implications for soil condition assessment. Australian Journal of Soil Research 46(4), 359–367.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Young R,
Wilson BR,
McLeod M, Alston C
(2005) Carbon storage in soils and vegetation under contrasting land uses in northern New South Wales, Australia. Australian Journal of Soil Research 43, 21–31.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
Young RR,
Wilson BR,
Harden S, Bernardi A
(2009) Rates of accumulation of soil carbon stocks under zero tillage cropping and pastures on the Liverpool Plains, eastern Australia. Australian Journal of Soil Research 47(3), 273–285.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
Zhang GS,
Chan KY,
Oates A,
Heenan DP, Huang GB
(2007) Relationship between soil structure and runoff/soil loss after 24 years of conservation tillage. Soil & Tillage Research 92(1–2), 122–128.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |