Variation of soil and vegetation with distance along a transect in the Chihuahuan Desert

Abstract

The number of systematic studies of the coincidence of soil and vegetation zones in arid areas is relatively limited. In this study the spatial variability of soil morphological characteristics, soil moisture and vegetation were determined along a 3-km transect in the Chihuahuan Desert in southern New Mexico. There is extensive spatial variability in soil physical properties, in water content and in vegetation along the transect. However, using a multivariate technique, it was found that this spatial variability could be partitioned into distinct zones. The boundaries between zones based on soil morphological characteristics coincide closely with boundaries based on soil water content and those based on vegetation. It is concluded that the multivariate moving split-window technique is a valuable tool for evaluating soil and vegetation boundaries along transects.