Temporal Changes in Spatial Patterns of Soil Moisture Following Disturbance: An Experimental Approach

• Published in: The Journal of ecology Vol. 90; no. 2; pp. 338 - 347
• Main Authors: Guo, Dali, Mou, Pu, Jones, Robert H., Mitchell, Robert J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK British Ecological Society 01.04.2002; Blackwell Science Ltd; Blackwell Science; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Ecological disturbance; Ecology; Environmental impact; Forest ecology; Forest soils; Forestry; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General forest ecology; Generalities. Production, biomass. Quality of wood and forest products. General forest ecology; geostatistics; girdling; Graph theory; Human ecology; Pinus elliottii; Plant ecology; scale; Soil ecology; Soil water; Soils; Statistical analysis; Statistical variance; Synecology; Terrestrial ecosystems; Timber industry; Trees; whole‐tree harvesting; United States; North America; South Carolina; America; Forests; Spatial variability; Soil moisture; Geostatistics; Environmental factor; Forest logging; Perturbation; Experimental study; Time variation; Edaphic factor; Heterogeneity; Pinus elliottii; Girdling; Softwood forest tree; Gymnospermae; Coniferales; Spermatophyta
• ISSN: 0022-0477; 1365-2745
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2745.2001.00667.x

1 We quantified changes in spatial heterogeneity of soil moisture over 2.5 years in a Pinus elliottii Engelm. forest, following disturbance and succession. We harvested or girdled upper canopy trees and measured three components of heterogeneity - global (non-spatial) variability, spatial dependence and temporal persistence - in replicate plots, using sample points arrayed at a fine scale (0.5-6 m) nested within a coarser scale (5-60 m). 2 Global variability increased after disturbance and then declined, eventually returning to the level recorded in an undisturbed plot. Harvesting resulted in greater, more rapid and more prolonged changes in global variability than girdling. 3 Geostatistical parameters for measuring spatial dependence were largely unaffected by disturbance. Spatial dependence was, however, quite variable across replicate plots and was stronger at the finer sampling scale. 4 Spearman rank correlations showed that the spatial pattern of soil moisture had greater long-term persistence in the undisturbed and girdled plots than in the harvested plots. 5 Some elements of spatial heterogeneity appear to vary over time in a predictable manner. Detection of temporal trends may be improved if multiple components of heterogeneity are quantified, more than one scale of observation is used, replicate plots are employed and sole reliance on geostatistics is avoided.