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Applying advanced geospatial technologies to capture variation in soil health variables in hill country landscapes

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conference contribution
posted on 2023-07-06, 01:48 authored by Duy TranDuy Tran, Nicole SchonNicole Schon, Estelle DominatiEstelle Dominati, Alec MackayAlec Mackay

This study aims to quantify the spatial variation in soil health variables in a complex agroecological landscape using modern geospatial analysis tools and technologies. A wide range of soil attributes (soil organic carbon concentration, soil nutrient fertility, bulk density, and earthworm abundance), underlying factors describing the topographical characteristics of the land surface biophysical pattern, along with land use management practices, were utilised to model the spatially explicit pattern of each soil health component. Machine learning techniques were applied to predict soil attributes at a pixel-level across the whole landscape from a limited number of soil samples collected from specific locations. Soil health was quantified using a Composite Soil Health Index (CSHI), calculated from the mean value of the standardized individual soil health indicator which is obtained from the scoring functions for each grid cell. The approach was applied across farmlets that make up the long-term phosphorus (P) fertiliser and sheep grazing experiment at Ballantrae located near Woodville (Southern Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand). Results from our study reveal that the variables contributing to soil health varied both across the landscape and between soil health indicators. The study demonstrates that advanced spatial statistical analytics and remote sensing can be effective tools to address the challenge posed by the modelling of biophysical processes in complex agroecological landscapes. Applying such an approach provides a more complete picture on soil health and therefore, can advance the environmental planning and management of farms in New Zealand.

NZBIDA

Funding

MBIE SSIF New Zealand Bioeconomy in the Digital Age (NZBIDA)

History

Rights statement

Open access

Publication date

2023-02-08

Project number

  • PRJ0281114

Language

  • English

Does this contain Māori information or data?

  • No

Publisher

Massey University

ISSN

2815-8067

Conference name

35th Annual FLRC Workshop

Conference location

Palmerston North, New Zealand

Conference start date

2023-02-08

Conference end date

2023-02-10

Book title

Diverse solutions for efficient land, water and nutrient use

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