Issues of scale for evaluating soil quality

• Published in: Journal of soil and water conservation Vol. 52; no. 1; pp. 26 - 30
• Main Authors: Halvorson, J.J. (Washington State University, Pullman, WA.), Smith, J.L, Papendick, R.I
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ankeny, IA Soil and Water Conservation Society 01.01.1997; Soil & Water Conservation Society
• Subjects: Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Analysis; Biological and medical sciences; CALIDAD; CIENCIA DEL SUELO; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Environmental protection; EVALUACION; EVALUATION; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General agronomy. Plant production; INDICATORS; INTERPRETATION; LANDSCAPE; landscapes; PAISAJE; PAYSAGE; Physical measurement; Physical measurements; PROPIEDADES FISICO-QUIMICAS SUELO; PROPRIETE PHYSICOCHIMIQUE DU SOL; QUALITE; QUALITY; SCIENCES DU SOL; SOIL; SOIL CHEMICOPHYSICAL PROPERTIES; Soil conservation; Soil erosion, conservation, land management and development; soil heterogeneity; SOIL PROPERTIES; Soil quality; Soil research; Soil science; SOIL SCIENCES; SOIL VARIABILITY; Soil-plant relationships. Soil fertility; Soil-plant relationships. Soil fertility. Fertilization. Amendments; Soils; SOL; spatial scales; SPATIAL VARIATION; SUELO; Surficial geology; TEMPORAL VARIATION; time scales; United States; North America; America; Evaluation; Data analysis; Spatial variability; holistic approach; Methodology; Soil fertility; current topics; Geostatistics; Soil quality; Scale factor; Sampling design; Time variation; Soil conservation; Applied mathematics; Decision aid; AGRICULTURAL SOILS; Environment; Soil science; Method study; Information interpretation
• ISSN: 0022-4561; 1941-3300
• DOI: 10.1080/00224561.1997.12457121

Measurements of soil quality are not easy to obtain because the metric is dependent on the intended use of the soil and their interpretation is subject to spatial and temporal variability. Due to these, problems remain. These concern the relationships between soil indicators with respect to different spatial and temporal scales, the location and time of measurement, and the extrapolation of data to larger scales.