How deep should soil sampling be done in a rangeland ecosystem containing shrubs?
The aim is to study the effect of vegetation on soil texture and organic matter.
@ Iman, I suggest to take soil samples up to 15 cm depth for grasses and up to 30 cm depth for shrubs.
Because of the shrubbery of the area and the presence of litter, it is better to sample separately from a depth of 0-10 cm and a depth of 10-30 cm.
@ Iman, I suggest to take soil samples up to 15 cm depth for grasses and up to 30 cm depth for shrubs.
It would be much better to put the measure based on soil profile and the type and length of root system, however, due to the need for lots of soil samples and the difficulty and also several obstacles (price, time, preventing degrading the pasture), we can limit the depth to 0-30 cm. I found organic matter to be significantly variable in the first few centimeters compare to the deeper zone, therefore we need to divide the very surface of soil from the rest of the soil sample. Maybe 0-10 cm or 0-15 cm.
It depends on the depth of rooting of the shrub. The rooting depth of a shrub may be 30 cm, but it may be more than 100 cm for the another (some Astragaluses). In general, I think a depth of 0-30 cm is appropriate.
Dear Iman Haghiyan
Soil sub-sites are collected at target locations across the plot, targeting variability in microhabitat, to collect the same information as at the soil profile pit to a depth of 30 cm and analyze small-scale variability
First I would like you to look at the soil profile of the area. It is good to sample from different soil profiles, i.e. top soil 0.20 m and around 0.75 m deep.
If you do not have a problem in terms of cost, take a soil sample from two depths of 0-10 and 10-30 cm.
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