Abstract
The proper monitoring of soil moisture content is important to understand water-related processes in peatland ecosystems. Time domain reflectometry (TDR) is a popular method used for soil moisture content measurements, the applicability of which is still challenging in field studies due to requirements regarding the calibration curve which converts the dielectric constant into the soil moisture content. The main objective of this study was to develop a general calibration equation for the TDR method based on simultaneous field measurements of the dielectric constant and gravimetric water content in the surface layers of degraded peatlands. Data were collected during field campaigns conducted temporarily between the years 2006 and 2016 at the drained peatland Kuwasy located in the north-east area of Poland. Based on the data analysis, a two-slopes linear calibration equation was developed as a general broken-line model (GBLM). A site-specific calibration model (SSM-D) for the TDR method was obtained in the form of a two-slopes equation describing the relationship between the soil moisture content and the dielectric constant and introducing the bioindices as covariates relating to plant species biodiversity and the state of the habitats. The root mean squared error for the GBLM and SSM-D models were equal, respectively, at 0.04 and 0.035 cm3 cm−3.
Highlights
Accurate determination of soil moisture is important for various hydrological, agricultural and environmental applications
In the post-processing procedure, we iteratively found out the threshold value ψr which enables establishing a continuous soil moisture content prediction model in the whole range of the dielectric constant changes
The presented study indicated that simple regression models which relate the soil dielectric constant with moisture content did not properly address determination of soil moisture content in degraded peatlands in field conditions
Summary
Accurate determination of soil moisture is important for various hydrological, agricultural and environmental applications. Determination of the soil moisture content is very important for hydrological studies in peatland soils, the actual condition and preservation of which depends on water-related processes [3,4,5]. Peatland soils occupy about 400 million hectares, which is about 3% of the world’s land [6]. Most of these soils are located in the northern part of the globe, including large areas of North America, Europe and Russia. The last GIS-based estimation of peatland areas in Europe shows that this type of ecosystems occupies approximately 593,727 km and 46% of this area
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