Estimating effects of terrain attributes on local soil organic carbon content in a semi-arid pastureland
Journal Title: Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences (JBES) - Year 2014, Vol 5, Issue 2
Abstract
Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a source or sink of atmospheric carbon and importance of it has been increasingly recognized in soil physical, chemical and biological characteristics. The objective of this study was to predict and evaluate the effects of topographic attributes on the soil organic carbon content at a hilly pastureland in Mereg watershed, Iran. In this research, topographic attributes include the primary factors such as elevation, slope, plan and profile curvature, transformed aspect and secondary factors such as slope-aspect combinative index, wetness index and stream power. Multiple linear regression (MLR) and radial basis function (RBF) artificial neural network were employed. The comparison of model evaluation criteria demonstrates that the RBF model (R=0.954, RMSE=0.087%) provides more accurate predictions of SOC than the MLR model(R=0.528, RMSE=0.349%). The RBF model, with 15 neurons in hidden layer and 2 spread value was applied successfully and exhibited the more reliable predictions than the MLR model. Results showed that, SOC content were mostly sensitive to the profile curvature, plan curvature, transformed aspect and slope percent.
Authors and Affiliations
Somaiye Moghimi, Mohammad Hossein Mahdian, Yahya Parvizi, Mohammad Hasan Masihabadi
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP37850
- DOI -
- Views 140
- Downloads 0
Some trace elements investigation in surface water of Ghaggar River
In the present study, a total of 21 surface water samples were collected from Ghaggar River from Haryana and Punjab regions during September (2006). Collected water samples were analyzed for seven heavy metals viz., Fe,...
Search for polymorphism in growth and differentiation factor 9 (GDF9) gene in prolific beetal and tali goats (Capra hircus)
Growth and differentiation factor 9 gene is one of the main genes controlling prolificacy in sheep and goat. Mutations in this gene affect litter size in a dosage sensitive manner so that heterozygous animals have litte...
Modeling of cadmium transport in the soil under sewage sludge application
The purpose of this study is to assess the possible contamination of the groundwater by Cd derived from sewage sludge through a plot study. For this purpose, four experimental plots, each size 2 by 10 m at Wastewater T...
Hydro biological study of three major sources of the Middle Atlas (Morocco) habitat, water chemistry, distribution of the benthic fauna
This research work has for main objective the determination of the overall composition and monitoring of the dynamics of benthic macro stands of three major sources of the Middle Atlas (Ain Regrag, Sidi Bouali and Tataw)...
Analysis of land use/land cover changes in the Debre-Mewi watershed at the upper catchment of the Blue Nile Basin, Northwest Ethiopia
Changes in land use/cover at the Debre-Mewi Watershed in northwest Ethiopia were analyzed over a period of 51 years (1957-2008). The changes were measured through interpretation of aerial photos taken in 1957 and 1982,...