The agricultural environment and forest is different. All scientific papers talk about (AWC) of agricultural soil.
- Does the determination of the AWC of forest soil is made before?
- And is the calculate of simple moisture is sufficient for forest soil (Due to the behavior / nature/relationship between forest (tree) and the soil)?
Thank you!
Because tree roots can commonly go much deeper than crops, obviously if soils are deep enough, more water is available and the proximity to a water table is that much closer. Forest soil scientists have always tended to map soils deeper than agricultural soil scientists. I have typically worked in moister areas, so discussion about available water has not been much of an issue. However in some drier areas, or when dealing with crops, AWC and moisture deficit and wilting point become major concerns. Trees are not all the same in their water and drought tolerance, as some use water excessively, while others have mechanisms to shut down to limit water use and save water. I am not up on recent research, but it used to be a popular research topic, evatuating soil-plant-water relationships. There is a substantial history of USDA Forest Service and several Universities addressing these topics pertaining to forests and soils. In my younger days, I could probably name a few scientists and graduate students working on your topic, but I am out of the loup. I am relatively certain that an internet search will be helpful for you.
Because tree roots can commonly go much deeper than crops, obviously if soils are deep enough, more water is available and the proximity to a water table is that much closer. Forest soil scientists have always tended to map soils deeper than agricultural soil scientists. I have typically worked in moister areas, so discussion about available water has not been much of an issue. However in some drier areas, or when dealing with crops, AWC and moisture deficit and wilting point become major concerns. Trees are not all the same in their water and drought tolerance, as some use water excessively, while others have mechanisms to shut down to limit water use and save water. I am not up on recent research, but it used to be a popular research topic, evatuating soil-plant-water relationships. There is a substantial history of USDA Forest Service and several Universities addressing these topics pertaining to forests and soils. In my younger days, I could probably name a few scientists and graduate students working on your topic, but I am out of the loup. I am relatively certain that an internet search will be helpful for you.
The maximum water available for any plant in any soil is generally the difference between field capacity and wilting point.
Thank you for these answers.
I know the difference between field capacity and wilting point, results AWC, the difficulty is the lack of device).
Thank you Sr. William F. Hansen, your answer confirms, I’m in the right way that, this parameter is studied for agricultural soil not forest soil (due to its characteristics).
I would like to know if there is a simple method (and easy) to use, in calculating the AWC (Due to lack of equipment: pressure apparatus /Richards apparatus to determine wilting point)
I find paper addresses the topic of the AWC soil, is using the results of particle size.
Thanks
Frequently, AWC may change with depth along the soil profile. However, texture, skeleton, organic matter content, and possibly mottling highly influence AWC in the very most of forest soils. So, I would recommend testing AWC in each different layer of the soil profile, estimating the layer's thickness; just averaging AWC may produce just approximative estimations. In regard to the influence of soil depth, you may want considering that the rooting system needs oxygen; deeper soils with poor aerobic conditions may not be exploited by roots. When this happens, the real usable soil depth used by plants can be less than the physical depth.
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