TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hellwig, Niels
A1  - Tatti, Dylan
A1  - Sartori, Giacomo
A1  - Anschlag, Kerstin
A1  - Graefe, Ulfert
A1  - Egli, Markus
A1  - Gobat, Jean-Michel
A1  - Broll, Gabriele
T1  - Modeling spatial patterns of humus forms in montane and subalpine forests
BT  - implications of local variability for upscaling
JF  - Sustainability
N2  - Humus forms are a distinctive morphological indicator of soil organic matter decomposition. The spatial distribution of humus forms depends on environmental factors such as topography, climate and vegetation. In montane and subalpine forests, environmental influences show a high spatial heterogeneity, which is reflected by a high spatial variability of humus forms. This study aims at examining spatial patterns of humus forms and their dependence on the spatial scale in a high mountain forest environment (Val di Sole/Val di Rabbi, Trentino, Italian Alps). On the basis of the distributions of environmental covariates across the study area, we described humus forms at the local scale (six sampling sites), slope scale (60 sampling sites) and landscape scale (30 additional sampling sites). The local variability of humus forms was analyzed with regard to the ground cover type. At the slope and landscape scale, spatial patterns of humus forms were modeled applying random forests and ordinary kriging of the model residuals. The results indicate that the occurrence of the humus form classes Mull, Mullmoder, Moder, Amphi and Eroded Moder generally depends on the topographical position. Local-scale patterns are mostly related to micro-topography (local accumulation and erosion sites) and ground cover, whereas slope-scale patterns are mainly connected with slope exposure and elevation. Patterns at the landscape scale show a rather irregular distribution, as spatial models at this scale do not account for local to slope-scale variations of humus forms. Moreover, models at the slope scale perform distinctly better than at the landscape scale. In conclusion, the results of this study highlight that landscape-scale predictions of humus forms should be accompanied by local- and slope-scale studies in order to enhance the general understanding of humus form patterns.
KW  - soil organic matter decomposition
KW  - spatial modeling
KW  - random forest
KW  - multi-scale analysis
KW  - forest soils
KW  - Italian Alps
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3390/su11010048
SN  - 2071-1050
VL  - 11
IS  - 1
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel
ER  -