Land Resource Survey Research Articles

New, Comprehensive Soil Chemical Methods Book for Australasia

The 1992 Australian Laboratory Handbook of Soil and Water Chemical Methods (the handbook) of Rayment and Higginson defines much of the contemporary soil chemical methodology used in Australia for soil fertility and land-resource survey assessments. In addition, codes from the handbook identify methodological details in Australian soil databases, while the codes summarize most tests used for certification purposes by the Australasian Soil and Plant Analysis Council (ASPAC) in its interlaboratory soil proficiency testing programs. A worthy, comprehensive replacement was required as the handbook is out of date in places and out of print. This article provides information on the handbook's replacement with a new book by Rayment and Lyons, titled Soil Chemical Methods-Australasia. Method codes and other strengths of the handbook have been retained and many new tests have been added. There are new chapters on acid sulfate soils, total miscellaneous elements, and miscellaneous extractable elements, plus inclusions and improvements throughout. Modern analytical techniques, such as flow-injection analysis, inductively coupled plasma–mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS), and potential alternatives to chemical testing offered by near-range and midrange infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, are included. Examples of new additions include the Mehlich 3 “universal” soil test (and derived environmental P tests) and methods for potentially mineralizable nitrogen, labile carbon, particulate organic carbon, and charcoal. Around 200 methods are fully described, while information of measurement performance at different concentrations is provided where credible data were available from multiple, interlaboratory proficiency programs of ASPAC. Procedures for the chemical testing of water are no longer included, except where relevant to saturation extracts of soils. While there are informative and much expanded method preambles and reference lists, the new 2011 book has its focus on methodology. A scheme to agree on recommended methods for different soils and regional locations is outlined.

Application of geographic image cognition approach in land type classification using Hyperion image: A case study in China

Land type is the base of land change analysis or landscape analysis. Land type classification is often based on land resources survey. Updating land type is generally difficult, mainly due to the lack of appropriate information. Hence, it is of importance to develop a method for land type classification using remote sensing images. The study was to propose the geographic image cognition (GEOIC) approach for land type classification. The approach was realized by the segmentation of land units, using Hyperion image, geographic information, vegetation, soil, DEM, and geosciences knowledge. It is the extension of the methodologies of object-based image analysis. Results showed that the GEOIC approach is an integrated approach with objectification cognition on remote sensing images and multi-source information using geo-knowledge. The GEOIC approach included three aspects: spatial feature perception, spatial object cognition and spatial pattern cognition. The use of the GEOIC approach in land type classification was tested in a study area in the agriculture-pasture mixed region of Loess Plateau in China. Results of land type classification at different scale levels showed that the overall accuracy ranged from 72.4% to 88.3%, with an average about 80%. The accuracy of classification at similar pixel level was relatively low, with an overall accuracy of 73.1% and Kappa coefficients of 0.69. The classification at scale level of 100 was effective for mapping land types with an overall accuracy of 88.3% and Kappa coefficients of 0.86. The classification accuracy through the segmentation of land units at an appropriate scale level was higher than that for pixel to pixel methods. This study concluded that the GEOIC approach on land type classification is significant and appears potential for land type classification aiming to land assessment and planning.

Anthony Young, Thin on the Ground. Land Resource Survey in British Overseas Territories

Anthony Young, <i>Thin on the Ground. Land Resource Survey in British Overseas Territories</i>

Thin on the ground: Land resource Survey in the British Overseas Territories.

Thin on the ground: Land resource Survey in the British Overseas Territories.

Thin on the Ground: Land Resource Survey in British Overseas Territories ‐ by A. Young

Thin on the Ground: Land Resource Survey in British Overseas Territories ‐ by A. Young

Towards a World Soil Survey Archive and Catalogue

AbstractAn extensive collection of soil, land resource and land suitability surveys undertaken worldwide over the last 80 years by soil surveyors and scientists at the behest of the British government and others has been archived and catalogued using internationally recognized bibliographic standards. The World Soil Survey Archive and Catalogue (WOSSAC) consisting of over 13 000 reports and maps is now available for consultation and use by the international soil science community.

Application of computerized land evaluation systems in Tanzania: a case study in Kilosa District, Morogoro Region

Automated Land Evaluation System (ALES) and Land Evaluation Computer System (LECS) were applied in Kilosa District, Tanzania to test their applicability and adaptability in the area within the context of low-input rainfed maize farming. The study comprised physical land suitability classification of dominant soils identified through reconnaissance soil and land resources survey and comparison of predicted yields with field data. ALES predicted that four soil units had moderate potential with 80% yield, while two soil units had poor potential with 40% yield. Comparison of farmers' reported yields with those of ALES indicates significant correlation (R>0.9, P

A land evaluation decision support system ( MicroLEIS DSS) for agricultural soil protection : With special reference to the Mediterranean region

Soil protection requires the improvement of agricultural land use, its planning and its management, in order to achieve a sustainable development. Land evaluation analysis is considered an interface between land resources survey and land use planning and management. The application of information and communication technology has exerted an impact on sustainable land use decision support. Since the early 1990s and following this trend, MicroLEIS (Mediterranean Land Evaluation Information System) has evolved towards an agro-ecological decision support system. The original project corresponds to a set of qualitative land evaluation methods converted to PC computer programs to automate their application. Today, MicroLEIS DSS is a set of useful tools for decision-making which in a wide range of agro-ecological schemes. The design philosophy follows a toolkit approach, integrating many software tools: databases, statistics, expert systems, neural networks, Web and GIS applications, and other information technologies. The MicroLEIS DSS system, in English and Spanish simultaneously, is available ready-for-use from the following website address: www.microleis.com. The new, re-designed MicroLEIS DSS will provide considerable opportunities for greater cooperation in interdisciplinary research and in the application of knowledge to solve problems of soil protection.

Risk mapping of soil acidification under Stylosanthes in northern Australian rangelands

The inclusion of Stylosanthes into pastures and cropping systems has proved to be a low cost method of improving product quality in Asia, Africa, South America, and northern Australia. However, there is recent evidence that accelerated soil acidification has occurred under these production systems, questioning their long-term sustainability. In an effort to assist producers and extension officers in identifying soils that are predisposed to accelerated acidification, an acidity risk map of the Dalrymple Shire in Queensland, Australia, was developed using information from a recently completed land resource survey. Validation of a previously derived pedotransfer function that predicts pH buffering capacity was undertaken using an independent set of soil samples collected from the Shire. Excellent agreement between measured and predicted pH buffering capacity was obtained. The pedotransfer function was used to estimate the pH buffering capacity of 44 soil associations in the Shire. These values were used to predict the number of years that it would take for soils to acidify from their current pH to 5.0 assuming a constant net acid addition rate of 2.1 kmol H&amp;plus;&amp;sol;ha.year. Approximately 62&amp;percnt; of the total area of the Shire is predisposed to accelerated acidification and would take between 10–20 years to acidify to pH 5.0. In contrast, a relatively minor proportion of the total area of the Shire (17&amp;percnt;) had significant internal buffering capacity. However, the degree of uncertainty associated with these estimations on certain soil associations may be too high to be of relevance. In order to overcome this limitation a field test designed to assess the risk of accelerated acidification on a paddock basis is proposed and outlined in the paper. pH, buffer capacity, pedotransfer function.

Contemporary land resource survey requires improvements in direct soil measurement

The demands being placed on land resource information are changing and users now expect predictions of spatial and temporal trends in soil and landscape properties. In response, new methods of land resource survey are utilizing technological advances in digital terrain analysis, remote sensing, spatial statistics and geographic information systems. The methods are overcoming deficiencies in conventional survey. Maps with discrete polygons .and morphologically defined soil types are being replaced by predicted surfaces of individual soil and landscape properties. These predictions provide better inputs to simulation models and allow more flexible interpretation. The strides in computing technology and analysis evident in quantitative land resource survey are yet to be matched by advances in soil sampling and measurement. In conventional survey, field sampling is rarely statistically based and as a consequence, estimates of map accuracy and precision are difficult to provide. It is also assumed that strong correlations exist between field observable morphology and other more expensive soil properties. This assumption is rarely tested. Quantitative survey requires a substantial increase in direct soil measurement. The quality and quantity soil physical and hydraulic data are currently inadequate and more efficient measurement methods are required. There is a need for standardisation, improved laboratory practice and appropriate specimen volumes. Much greater discipline is also required in the documentation and digital storage of data. Adequate pedotransfer functions are necessary to predict the difficult‐to‐measure physical and hydraulic properties from limited input data. Pedotransfer functions have an important role in land resource survey because it is impractical to measure expensive physical and chemical properties at large numbers of sites. It is suggested that measurement limitations create the main obstacles to the development of more effective systems for providing land resource information at scales from the paddock to the continent.

Regional and Landscape-scale Patterns of Shrub Invasion in Tropical Savannas

The shrubby vine Cryptostegia grandiflora and the shrub Ziziphus mauritiana were both introduced to northern Australia over 100 years ago and have become invasive in savanna woodland environments. Data from a land resource survey were used to examine regional- and landscape-scale distribution patterns of these species in the Dalrymple Shire, an area of over 6 1/2 million hectares in northeast Queensland. Each species was present at 10% of the 2362 sites examined and most frequent and abundant close to Charters Towers, the major settlement of the regions. C. grandiflora was recorded at 50 % of sites within 20 km of the town and in 14 out of 21 of the region's major sub-catchments. Z. mauritiana was recorded at 32 % of sites within 20km of Charters Towers, but in only three sub-catchments. Little of the variation in frequency and abundance of C. grandiflora and Z. mauritiana was accounted for by landscape factors, including geology, soils, or vegetation. While survey results do not absolutely distinguish between history, habitat and disturbance in explaining the weed's current distributions within the region, a strong influence of historical factors is suggested. Both exotic species were much less abundant than Carissa spp., a native taxon that has purportedly increased in the region in recent decades. In spite of their current prominence as weeds, there is potential for further increase by both C. grandiflora and Z. mauritiana. This increase could include expansion from the zone of high abundance and proliferation within that zone. While the results of such surveys must be interpreted with caution, they can yield useful information about regional patterns of plant invasion.

Knowing the land: soil and land resource evaluation and indigenous knowledge

Abstract. Scientific land and soil resource surveys have had only limited impacts locally on development and extension practice in the tropics. They are thought to have little relevance for subsistence farmers. Their failure to accommodate local social and cultural priorities is a factor. Soil scientists have, until recently, given little attention to others’ understanding of soil or ‘ethnopedology’. The incorporation of indigenous soil and land resource knowledge has recently been advocated to improve their relevance. But a common error is uncritically to impose a western scientific model, which may distort understanding. The ill‐informed, decontextualised knowledge that results may even promote negative interventions. This paper criticises the narrow idea of ‘indigenous technical knowledge’, citing evidence from Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh and Indonesia. While we find farmers consistently use some of the same information as scientists to assess soils, their definitions of soils and land types are often at odds. Scientists identify classes by a range of technically assessed properties, whereas farmers may not. Their more holistic approach also accounts in part for the disjunction, frequently incorporating exotic social and cultural aspects. The wider use of indigenous soil notions in agrotechnology transfer may be limited too by some of their intrinsic characteristics, inclined to be location specific, and culturally relative.

Land cover mapping for tropical forest rehabilitation planning using remotely-sensed data

Lack of reliable and up-to-date maps relating to land cover (among other themes) constitute a weakness in land resource surveys and cause costly failures to many forest rehabilitation projects in the tropics. This study evaluated the utility of satellite imagery for land cover mapping for forest rehabilitation planning in a case study in Mindoro, Philippines. Using Landsat TM data, visual and digital image processing techniques were performed using the GRID module of ARC/INFO and the microBRIAN image processing software. Crown cover density is found as the most useful and the most important detail of information the image could provide. Detailed mapping at the species and forest type levels is unreliable, as is the delineation of water bodies and some cultural features in rugged terrain. Clustering of the NDVI image is found more applicable in producing land cover maps depicting crown cover classes than classifying raw TM-3, -4, and-5.

Land resources survey by remote sensing and analysis of land carrying capacity for population in Tumen river region

The Tumen river region including Yanji, Tumen, Longjing and Hunchun cities is situated in the east part of Jilin Province. The region is an important economic exploitation area in the province. The total area is 10,228.86 km2. There are superior geographical location, rich natural resources, various gemorphological types and less farmland in the region. The remote sensing technique is adopted in the survey of present landuse. The newest Landsat and CCT data are selected in the survey. Comparing the data obtained from remote sensing survey with the data from land detail investigation we can see that the paddy-field, garden for planting fruits, residential area and factory and mine, traffic land have increased in different extents, especially, the residential area is increased rapidly, but the forest land, grazing land have decreased. The unused land has been used. Land productive potentiality system is a multi-hierarchic comprehensive-complex system of natural economy. Its core is photosynthesis of green vegetation, which is affected by factors such as radiation, temperature, rainfall, soil fertility and management level. According to calculation of productive potentiality, the analysis of carrying capacity for population has been done and the conclusion is drawn. After 2000, the population growth in the region will be restricted by lack of reserve of farmland resources and level of grain production. Existing land and its reserve resources can not carry a population more than 150×104. It is estimited that the grain only depends on transportation outside to meet the needs of population growth and social development after 2000.

COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE AND LAND RESOURCE SURVEYS IN SWAZILAND

ABSTRACTThis paper argues for the incorporation of community environmental knowledge systems in modem land resource surveys. Such surveys, usually carried out by specialists from outside traditional communities, oftem do not incorporate the communities’ concepts and knowledge which modulate land use practices. They are therefore not helpful to the small farmers who are the primary land users.Recent studies have confirmed the viability of indigenous knowledge systems. In Swaziland, the farmers’ concepts of soil and slope unit systems have been validated and are found to be similar to the modem survey concepts of “soil series” and “land slope”. They have also employed other land attributes (such as animal life and vegetation elements) as indicators of land quality. The time has come when land resource surveys must take account of such indigenous knowledge systems so that the goals of improved land management and increased production may be achieved.

Statistical Methods in Soil and Land Resource Survey.

Quantitative description of variable material sampling and estimation generalization, prediction, and classification relations between variables - covariance and correlation regression relations between individuals - similarity ordination analysis of dispersion and discrimination numerical classification - hierarchical systems numerical classification - non hierarchical methods spatial dependence nested sampling and analysis local estimation - kriging.

A Review of: “Statistical Methods in Soil and Land Resource Survey”

(1993). A Review of: “Statistical Methods in Soil and Land Resource Survey”. International Journal of Remote Sensing: Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 391-392.

Statistical Methods in Soil and Land Resource Survey

Statistical Methods in Soil and Land Resource Survey

Statistical Methods in Soil and Land Resource Survey

Keywords: Geostatistique ; statistique ; amenagement Reference Record created on 2005-06-20, modified on 2016-08-08

Book reviews : Webster, R. and Oliver, M.A., 1990: Statistical methods in soil and land resource survey. Oxford: Oxford University Press. x + 316 pp. £40.00 cloth, £20.00 paper. ISBN: 0 19 823317 5

Book reviews : Webster, R. and Oliver, M.A., 1990: Statistical methods in soil and land resource survey. Oxford: Oxford University Press. x + 316 pp. £40.00 cloth, £20.00 paper. ISBN: 0 19 823317 5