HR: 11:05h
AN: B52B-04 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: Geostatistical analyses reveal nutrient-vegetation relationships in savanna soils
AU: * Mladenov, N
EM: mladenov@virginia.edu
AF: University of Virginia, 291 McCormick Road, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4123 United States
AU: Okin, G S
EM: okin@virginia.edu
AF: University of Virginia, 291 McCormick Road, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4123 United States
AU: Cassel, D
EM: dc3ka@virginia.edu
AF: University of Virginia, 291 McCormick Road, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4123 United States
AU: Caylor, K C
EM: kmc7c@virginia.edu
AF: Indiana University, 107 S. Indiana Ave, Bloomington, IN 47405 United States
AU: Clausen, K M
B52B-04 AF: University of Virginia, 291 McCormick Road, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4123 United States
AB: The uniform Kalahari sands that underlay the Kalahari Transect (KT) are a unique test bed for examining soil nutrient and vegetation cover relationships in a savanna ecosystem. Transects (300m x 100m) were sampled and mapped for each of four sites located along an aridity gradient from Mongu, Zambia in the north (1600 mm/yr precipitation), to Tshane, Botswana in the south (250 mm/yr precipitation). Geostatistical analyses of soil chemistry and tree, shrub, and grass cover at four sites along the moisture gradient of the KT indicated an accumulation of nutrients below tree/shrub cover. In general, areas where grasses dominated between canopies were negatively correlated with soil nutrients at the drier sites. Here we examine effects of vegetation cover on soil productivity and differences in soil nutrients along the moisture gradient of the KT.
DE: 0470 Nutrients and nutrient cycling (4845, 4850)
DE: 0486 Soils/pedology (1865)
DE: 1813 Eco-hydrology
DE: 3252 Spatial analysis (0500)
DE: 9305 Africa
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005