Evaluation of dissolved organic carbon as a soil quality indicator in national monitoring schemes

Jones, David L.; Simfukwe, Paul; Hill, Paul W.; Mills, Robert T. E.; Emmett, Bridget ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2713-4389. 2014 Evaluation of dissolved organic carbon as a soil quality indicator in national monitoring schemes. PLoS ONE, 9 (3), e90882. 6, pp. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0090882

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0090882

Abstract/Summary

Background: Monitoring the properties of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in soil water is frequently used to evaluate changes in soil quality and to explain shifts in freshwater ecosystem functioning. Methods: Using .700 individual soils (0–15 cm) collected from a 209,331 km2 area we evaluated the relationship between soil classification (7 major soil types) or vegetation cover (8 dominant classes, e.g. cropland, grassland, forest) and the absorbance properties (254 and 400 nm), DOC quantity and quality (SUVA, total soluble phenolics) of soil water. Results: Overall, a good correlation (r2 = 0.58) was apparent between soil water absorbance and DOC concentration across the diverse range of soil types tested. In contrast, both DOC and the absorbance properties of soil water provided a poor predictor of SUVA or soluble phenolics which we used as a measure of humic substance concentration. Significant overlap in the measured ranges for UV absorbance, DOC, phenolic content and especially SUVA of soil water were apparent between the 8 vegetation and 7 soil classes. A number of significant differences, however, were apparent within these populations with total soluble phenolics giving the greatest statistical separation between both soil and vegetation groups. Conclusions: We conclude that the quality of DOC rather than its quantity provides a more useful measure of soil quality in large scale surveys.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0090882
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Emmett
ISSN:	1932-6203
Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:	This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Date made live:	18 Mar 2019 14:18 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/522574

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0090882

UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:

Emmett

ISSN:

1932-6203

Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Date made live:

18 Mar 2019 14:18 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/522574