Modeling soil nitrogen content in South Patagonia across a climate gradient, vegetation type, and grazing

Soil total nitrogen (N) stock in rangelands, shrublands, and forests support key ecological functions such as the capacity of the land to sustain plant and animal productivity and ecosystem services. The objective of this study was to model soil total N stocks and soil C/N ratio from 0–30 cm depth a...

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Main Authors: Peri, Pablo Luis, Rosas, Yamina Micaela, Ladd, Brenton, Toledo, Santiago, Lasagno, Romina Gisele, Martínez Pastur, Guillermo José
Format: info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo
Language:Inglés
Published: MDPI 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/9/2707
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/5302
https://doi.org/10.3390/su11092707
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author Peri, Pablo Luis
Rosas, Yamina Micaela
Ladd, Brenton
Toledo, Santiago
Lasagno, Romina Gisele
Martínez Pastur, Guillermo José
author_browse Ladd, Brenton
Lasagno, Romina Gisele
Martínez Pastur, Guillermo José
Peri, Pablo Luis
Rosas, Yamina Micaela
Toledo, Santiago
author_facet Peri, Pablo Luis
Rosas, Yamina Micaela
Ladd, Brenton
Toledo, Santiago
Lasagno, Romina Gisele
Martínez Pastur, Guillermo José
author_sort Peri, Pablo Luis
collection INTA Digital
description Soil total nitrogen (N) stock in rangelands, shrublands, and forests support key ecological functions such as the capacity of the land to sustain plant and animal productivity and ecosystem services. The objective of this study was to model soil total N stocks and soil C/N ratio from 0–30 cm depth across the region using freely accessible information on topography, climate, and vegetation with a view to establishing a baseline against which sustainable land management practices can be evaluated in Southern Patagonia. We used stepwise multiple regression to determine which independent variables best explained soil total N variation across the landscape in Southern Patagonia. We then used multiple regression models to upscale and produce maps of soil total N and C/N across the Santa Cruz province. Soil total N stock to 30 cm ranged from 0.13 to 2.21 kg N m−2, and soil C/N ratios ranged from 4.5 to 26.8. The model for variation of soil total N stock explained 88% of the variance on the data and the most powerful predictor variables were: isothermality, elevation, and vegetation cover (normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI)). Soil total N and soil C/N ratios were allocated to three categories (low, medium, high) and these three levels were used to map the variation of soil total N and soil C/N ratios across Southern Patagonia. The results demonstrate that soil total N decreases as desertification increases, probably due to erosional processes, and that soil C/N is lower at low temperatures and increased with increasing precipitation. Soil total N and soil C/N ratios are critical variables that determine system capacity for productivity, especially the provisioning ecosystem services, and can serve as baselines against which efforts to adopt more sustainable land management practices in Patagonia can be assessed.
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institution Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA -Argentina)
language Inglés
publishDate 2019
publishDateRange 2019
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spelling INTA53022019-06-12T13:29:44Z Modeling soil nitrogen content in South Patagonia across a climate gradient, vegetation type, and grazing Peri, Pablo Luis Rosas, Yamina Micaela Ladd, Brenton Toledo, Santiago Lasagno, Romina Gisele Martínez Pastur, Guillermo José Suelo Nitrógeno Vegetación Pastoreo Clima Utilización de la Tierra Soil Nitrogen Vegetation Grazing Climate Land Use Región Patagónica Soil total nitrogen (N) stock in rangelands, shrublands, and forests support key ecological functions such as the capacity of the land to sustain plant and animal productivity and ecosystem services. The objective of this study was to model soil total N stocks and soil C/N ratio from 0–30 cm depth across the region using freely accessible information on topography, climate, and vegetation with a view to establishing a baseline against which sustainable land management practices can be evaluated in Southern Patagonia. We used stepwise multiple regression to determine which independent variables best explained soil total N variation across the landscape in Southern Patagonia. We then used multiple regression models to upscale and produce maps of soil total N and C/N across the Santa Cruz province. Soil total N stock to 30 cm ranged from 0.13 to 2.21 kg N m−2, and soil C/N ratios ranged from 4.5 to 26.8. The model for variation of soil total N stock explained 88% of the variance on the data and the most powerful predictor variables were: isothermality, elevation, and vegetation cover (normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI)). Soil total N and soil C/N ratios were allocated to three categories (low, medium, high) and these three levels were used to map the variation of soil total N and soil C/N ratios across Southern Patagonia. The results demonstrate that soil total N decreases as desertification increases, probably due to erosional processes, and that soil C/N is lower at low temperatures and increased with increasing precipitation. Soil total N and soil C/N ratios are critical variables that determine system capacity for productivity, especially the provisioning ecosystem services, and can serve as baselines against which efforts to adopt more sustainable land management practices in Patagonia can be assessed. EEA Santa Cruz Fil: Peri, Pablo Luis. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Rosas, Yamina Micaela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Cientificas. Laboratorio de Recursos Agroforestales; Argentina Fil: Ladd, Brenton. Universidad Científica del Sur. Facultad de Ciencias Ambientales; Perú Fil: Toledo, Santiago. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Lasagno, Romina Gisele. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina Fil: Martínez Pastur, Guillermo José. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Cientificas. Laboratorio de Recursos Agroforestales; Argentina 2019-06-12T13:28:09Z 2019-06-12T13:28:09Z 2019-05 info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/9/2707 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/5302 2071-1050 https://doi.org/10.3390/su11092707 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) application/pdf MDPI Sustainability 11 (9) : 2707 (May 2019)
spellingShingle Suelo
Nitrógeno
Vegetación
Pastoreo
Clima
Utilización de la Tierra
Soil
Nitrogen
Vegetation
Grazing
Climate
Land Use
Región Patagónica
Peri, Pablo Luis
Rosas, Yamina Micaela
Ladd, Brenton
Toledo, Santiago
Lasagno, Romina Gisele
Martínez Pastur, Guillermo José
Modeling soil nitrogen content in South Patagonia across a climate gradient, vegetation type, and grazing
title Modeling soil nitrogen content in South Patagonia across a climate gradient, vegetation type, and grazing
title_full Modeling soil nitrogen content in South Patagonia across a climate gradient, vegetation type, and grazing
title_fullStr Modeling soil nitrogen content in South Patagonia across a climate gradient, vegetation type, and grazing
title_full_unstemmed Modeling soil nitrogen content in South Patagonia across a climate gradient, vegetation type, and grazing
title_short Modeling soil nitrogen content in South Patagonia across a climate gradient, vegetation type, and grazing
title_sort modeling soil nitrogen content in south patagonia across a climate gradient vegetation type and grazing
topic Suelo
Nitrógeno
Vegetación
Pastoreo
Clima
Utilización de la Tierra
Soil
Nitrogen
Vegetation
Grazing
Climate
Land Use
Región Patagónica
url https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/9/2707
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/5302
https://doi.org/10.3390/su11092707
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