Electronic Journal of Polish Agricultural Universities (EJPAU) founded by all Polish Agriculture Universities presents original papers and review articles relevant to all aspects of agricultural sciences. It is target for persons working both in science and industry,regulatory agencies or teaching in agricultural sector. Covered by IFIS Publishing (Food Science and Technology Abstracts), ELSEVIER Science - Food Science and Technology Program, CAS USA (Chemical Abstracts), CABI Publishing UK and ALPSP (Association of Learned and Professional Society Publisher - full membership). Presented in the Master List of Thomson ISI.
2010
Volume 13
Issue 2
Topic:
Forestry
ELECTRONIC
JOURNAL OF
POLISH
AGRICULTURAL
UNIVERSITIES
Samec P. , Vavříček D. , Bojko J. , Žid T. 2010. SOIL COMPONENT VECTORS IN THE SOUTHWESTERN SILESIAN BESKIDS, EJPAU 13(2), #14.
Available Online: http://www.ejpau.media.pl/volume13/issue2/abs-14.html

SOIL COMPONENT VECTORS IN THE SOUTHWESTERN SILESIAN BESKIDS

Pavel Samec1, Dušan Vavříček2, Jan Bojko1, Tomáš Žid2
1 Forest Management Institute Brandys nad Labem, branch in Frydek-Mistek, Czech Repubic
2 Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic

 

ABSTRACT


The soil is an irreplaceable ecological factor in forests where it participates in the nutrition of tree species and in their overall health status. Whether the predisposition roles of soils are manifested as multivariate sets of mutually interacting variables was tested on examples of the multivariate evaluation of properties of forest floor, top-soil and diagnostic horizons in the area of the Silesian Beskids afflicted by the decline of spruce stands. The material was collected in eleven selected spruce, spruce-beech and beech stands where samples of Cambisols, Podzols and Stagnosols were taken. Using the principal component analysis (PCA) we compared soil pH, passive parts of the sorption complex from extraction in BaCl2, soil carbon and nitrogen, total element contents and hydrophysical properties in the particular horizons. Factor analysis separated mutually correlative subsets (d) from the spectrum of variables. Component weights were transformed to d-dimensional vectors (CV). For each vector its angular deviation from the central plane was determined. The goniometric relation |CV|/sina made it possible to compare the variables of horizons in factor planes by the analysis of variance. The synergies of three multivariate factors were found out. In the forest floor the pedomorphic factor set based on the characteristics of litterfall is the most important. In mineral horizons the roles of mineral-predisposition and hydrophysical factors are also significant. Differences in cation exchange capacity, total carbon and total iron cause the relatively largest permanent differences among the investigated horizons and probably reflect the overall spatial diversity of soil units in the area concerned.

Key words: PCA, vector, forest soil, soil ecology, pedomorphic factors.


Pavel Samec
Forest Management Institute Brandys nad Labem,
branch in Frydek-Mistek, Czech Repubic

email: Samec.Pavel@uhul.cz

Dušan Vavříček
Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology,
Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic


Jan Bojko
Forest Management Institute Brandys nad Labem,
branch in Frydek-Mistek, Czech Repubic


Tomáš Žid
Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology,
Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic


Responses to this article, comments are invited and should be submitted within three months of the publication of the article. If accepted for publication, they will be published in the chapter headed 'Discussions' and hyperlinked to the article.