Generic Issues on Broad-Scale Soil Monitoring Schemes: A Review

[en] Numerous scientific challenges arise when designing a soil monitoring network (SMN), especially when assessing large areas and several properties that are driven by numerous controlling factors of various origins and scales. Different broad approaches to the establishment of SMNs are distinguished. It is essential to establish an adequate sampling protocol that can be applied rigorously at each sampling location and time. We make recommendations regarding the within-site sampling of soil. Different statistical methods should be associated with the different types of sampling design. We review new statistical methods that account for different sources of uncertainty. Except for those parameters for which a consensus exists, the question of testing method harmonisation remains a very difficult issue. The establishment of benchmark sites devoted to harmonisation and inter-calibration is advocated as a technical solution. However, to our present knowledge, no study has addressed crucial scientific issues such as how many calibration sites are necessary and how to locate them. © 2012 Soil Science Society of China.

Disciplines :

Environmental sciences & ecology

Author, co-author :

Arrouays, D.; INRA, US 1106, InfoSol Unit, CS 40001 Ardon, F-45075 Orleans cedex 2, France

Marchant, B. P.; Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, AL5 2JQ, United Kingdom

Saby, N. P. A.; INRA, US 1106, InfoSol Unit, CS 40001 Ardon, F-45075 Orleans cedex 2, France

Meersmans, Jeroen ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département GxABT > Analyse des risques environnementaux

Orton, T. G.; INRA, US 1106, InfoSol Unit, CS 40001 Ardon, F-45075 Orleans cedex 2, France

Martin, M. P.; INRA, US 1106, InfoSol Unit, CS 40001 Ardon, F-45075 Orleans cedex 2, France

Bellamy, P. H.; Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, MK43 OAL, United Kingdom

Lark, R. M.; British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham, NG12 5GG, United Kingdom

Kibblewhite, M.; Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, MK43 OAL, United Kingdom

Language :

English

Title :

Generic Issues on Broad-Scale Soil Monitoring Schemes: A Review

Publication date :

2012

Journal title :

Pedosphere

ISSN :

1002-0160

eISSN :

2210-5107

Publisher :

Soil Science Society of China

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

456-469

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Funders :

BBSRC - Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

Available on ORBi :

since 08 November 2021

Statistics

Number of views

46 (1 by ULiège)

Number of downloads

1 (1 by ULiège)

More statistics

Scopus citations^®

Scopus citations^®
without self-citations

OpenCitations

OpenAlex citations

Bibliography

Alcock R.E., Johnston A.E., McGrath S.P., Berrow M.L., Jones K.C. Long-term changes in the polychlorinated biphenyl content of United Kingdom soils. Environ. Sci. Technol. 1993, 27:1918-1923.
Arrouays D., Deslais W., Badeau V. The carbon content of topsoil and its geographical distribution in France. Soil Use Manage. 2001, 17:7-11.
Arrouays D., Mench M., Amans V., Gomez A. Short-range variability of fallout Pb in a contaminated soil. Can. J. Soil Sci. 1996, 76:73-81.
Environmental Assessment of Soil for Monitoring: Volume IIb: Survey of national networks 2008, Office for the Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg, EUR 23490 EN/2A. D. Arrouays, A. Richer de Forges, X. Morvan, N.P.A. Saby, A.R. Jones, C. Le Bas (Eds.).
Environmental Assessment of Soil for Monitoring: Volume IIa: Inventory & Monitoring 2008, Office for the Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg, EUR 23490 EN/2B. D. Arrouays, X. Morvan, N.P.A. Saby, A. Richer de Forges, C. Le Bas, P.H. Bellamy, J. Berényi üveges, A. Freudenschuβ, R.J.A. Jones, M.G. Kibblewhite, C. Simota, A. Verdoodt, F.G.A. Verheijen (Eds.).
Arrouays D., Vogel H., Eckelmann W., Armstrong-Brown S., Loveland P., Coulter B. Soil monitoring networks in Europe. 16th World Congress of Soil Science 1998, Montpellier, France.
Banerjee S., Carlin B.P., Gelfand A.E. Hierarchical Modelling and Analysis for Spatial Data 2004, Chapman and Hall/CRC, Boca Raton, Florida.
Barnett V. Sample Survey: Principles and Methods 2002, Arnold, London. 3rd Edition.
Baume O., Skøien J.O., Heuvelink G.B.M., Pebesma E.J., Melles S.J. A geostatistical approach to data harmonization-Application to radioactivity exposure data. Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinform. 2011, 13:409-419.
Baxter S.J., Oliver M.A., Archer J.R. The representative soil sampling scheme of England and Wales: the spatial variation of topsoil nutrient status and pH between 1971 and 2001. Soil Use Manage. 2006, 22:383-392.
Bellamy P.H., Loveland P.J., Bradley R.I., Lark R.M., Kirk G.J.D. Carbon losses from all soils across England and Wales 1978-2003. Nature. 2005, 437:245-248.
Black H., Booth P., Bellamy P., Elston D., Frogbrook Z.L., Hudson G., Lark R.M., Marchant B., Potts J., Reynolds B., Lilly A. Design and operation of a UK Soil Monitoring Network 2008, Environment Agency, Bristol, UK, 060072/SR.
Bru D., Ramette A., Saby N.P.A., Dequiedt S., Ranjard L., Jolivet C., Arrouays D., Philippot L. Determinants of the distribution of nitrogen-cycling microbial communities at the landscape scale. ISME J. 2011, 5:532-542.
Brus D.J., de Gruijter J.J. Design-based versus model-based estimates of spatial means: Theory and application in environmental soil science. Environmetrics. 1993, 4:123-152.
Brus D.J., de Gruijter J.J. Random sampling or geostatistical modeling? Choosing between design-based and model-based sampling strategies for soil (with discussion). Geoderma. 1997, 60:1-44.
Brus D.J., de Gruijter J.J., de Vries W. A sampling strategy for estimating plot average annual fluxes of chemical elements from forest soils. Geoderma. 2010, 159:399-408.
Brus D.J., Knotters M. Sampling design for compliance monitoring of surface water quality: A case study in a Polder area. Water Resour. Res. 2008, 44:W11410. 10.1029/2007WR006123.
Brus D.J., Noij I.G.A.M. Designing sampling schemes for effect monitoring of nutrient leaching from agricultural soils. Eur. J. Soil Sci. 2008, 59(2):292-303.
Cahoon L.B., Ensign S.H. Spatial and temporal variability in excessive soil phosphorus levels in eastern North Carolina. Nutr. Cycl. Agroecosys. 2004, 69:111-125.
Cathcart J., Cannon K., Heinz J. Selection and establishment of Alberta agricultural soil quality benchmark sites. Can. J. Soil Sci. 2008, 88:399-408.
Clark I.M., Hirsch P.R. Survival of bacterial DNA and culturable bacteria in archived soils from the Rothamsted Broadbalk experiment. Soil Biol. Biochem. 2008, 40:1090-1102.
Conen F., Yakutin M.V., Sambuu A.D. Potential for detecting changes in soil organic carbon concentrations resulting from climate change. Glob. Change Biol. 2003, 9:1515-1520.
Conen F., Zerva A., Arrouays D., Jolivet C., Jarvis P.G., Grace J., Mencuccini M. The carbon balance of forest soils: detectability of changes in soil carbon stocks in temperate and Boreal forests. The Carbon Balance of Forest Biomes 2004, BIOS Scientific Press, Oxford. H. Griffiths, P.J. Jarvis (Eds.).
Cressie N., Kornak J. Spatial statistics in the presence of location error with an application to remote sensing of the environment. Stat. Sci. 2003, 18:436-456.
De Cesare L., Myers D.E., Posa D. Estimating and modelling space-time correlation structures. Stat. Probabil. Lett. 2001, 51:9-14.
de Gruijter J., Brus D.J., Bierkens M.F.P., Knotters M. Sampling for Natural Resource Monitoring 2006, SpringerVerlag, Heidelberg.
De Oliveira V. Bayesian inference and prediction of Gaussian random fields based on censored data. J. Comput. Graph. Stat. 2005, 14:95-115.
Dequiedt S., Saby N.P.A., Lelievre M., Jolivet C., Thioulouse J., Toutain B., Arrouays D., Bispo A., Lemanceau P., Ranjard L. Biogeographical patterns of soil molecular microbial biomass as influenced by soil characteristics and management. Global Ecol. Biogeogr. 2011, 20:641-652.
Dequiedt S., Thioulouse J., Jolivet C., Saby N.P.A., Lelievre M., Maron P.-A., Martin M.P., Chemidlin Prévost-Bouré N., Toutain B., Arrouays D., Lemanceau P., Ranjard L. Biogeographical patterns of soil bacterial communities. Environ. Microbiol. Rep. 2009, 1:251-255.
Desaules A., Ammann S., Schwab P. Advances in long-term soil-pollution monitoring of Switzerland. J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci. 2010, 173:525-535.
Diggle P.J., Ribeiro P.J. Model-based geostatistics 2007, Springer.
Ellert B.H., Bettany J.R. Calculation of organic matter and nutrients stored in soils under contrasting management regimes. Can. J. Soil Sci. 1995, 75:529-538.
European Commission Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection (Communication). COM(2006)231 final 2006, European Commission, Brussel, Belgium.
FAO/ECE International Workshop on Harmonisation of Soil Conservation Monitoring Systems 1994, Research Institute for Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.
Firbank L.G., Barr C.J., Bunce R.G.H., Furse M.T., Haines-Young R.H., Hornung M., Howard D.C., Sheail J., Sier A.R.J., Smart S.M. Assessing stock and change in land cover and biodiversity in GB: an introduction to the Countryside Survey 2000. J. Environ. Manage. 2003, 67:207-218.
Fridley B.L., Dixon P. Data augmentation for a Bayesian spatial model involving censored observations. Environmetrics. 2007, 18:107-123.
Furman O., Strawn D.G., McGeehan S. Sample drying effects on lead bioaccessibility in reduced soil. J. Environ. Qual. 2007, 36:899-903.
Gardi C., Montanarella L., Arrouays D., Bispo A., Lemanceau P., Jolivet C., Mulder C., Ranjard L., Rombke J., Rutgers M., Menta C. Soil biodiversity monitoring in Europe: ongoing activities and challenges. Eur. J. Soil Sci. 2009, 60:807-819.
Garmouma M., Poissant L. Occurrence, temperature and seasonal trends of a- and 7-HCH in air (Quebec, Canada). Atmos. Environ. 2004, 38:369-382.
Garten C.T., Wullscheleger S.D. Soil carbon inventories under a bioenergy crop (switchgrass): measurement limitations. J. Environ. Qual. 1999, 28:1359-1365.
Goidts E., van Wesemael B., Crucifix M. Magnitude and sources of uncertainties in soil organic carbon (SOC) stock assessments at various scales. Eur. J. Soil Sci. 2009, 60:723-739.
Goidts E., van Wesemael B., Van Oost K. Driving forces of soil organic carbon evolution at the landscape and regional scale using data from a stratified soil monitoring. Global Change Biol. 2009, 15:2981-3000.
Hawkins D.M., Cressie N. Robust kriging-A proposal. J. Int. Ass. Math. Geol. 1984, 16:3-18.
Helsel D.R. Fabricating data: How substituting values for nondetects can ruin results, and what can be done about it. Chemosphere. 2006, 65:2434-2439.
Hungate B.A., Jackson R.B., Field C.B., Chapin F.S. Detecting changes in soil carbon in CO2 enrichment experiments. Plant Soil. 1996, 187:135-145.
Jolivet C., Arrouays D., Bernoux M. Comparison between analytical methods for organic carbon and organic matter determination in sandy spodosols of France. Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal. 1998, 29:2227-2233.
Keune H., Murray A.B., Benking H. Harmonization of Environmental Measurement. GeoJournal. 1991, 23:249-255.
Environmental Assessment of Soil for Monitoring: Volume VI: Soil Monitoring System for Europe 2008, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg, EUR 23490 EN/6. M.G. Kibblewhite, R.J.A. Jones, L. Montanarella, R. Baritz, S. Huber, D. Arrouays, E. Micheli, M. Stephens (Eds.).
Kravchenko A.N., Robertson G.P. Whole-profile soil carbon stocks: the danger of assuming too much from analyses of too little. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 2011, 75:235-240.
Krige D.G. Two-dimensional weighted moving average trend surfaces for ore-evaluation. J. S. Afr. Inst. Min. Metall. 1966, 66:13-38.
Kyriakidis P.C. A geostatistical framework for area-to-point spatial interpolation. Geogr. Anal. 2004, 36:259-289.
Lark R.M. Estimating the regional mean status and change of soil properties: two distinct objectives for soil survey. Eur. J. Soil Sci. 2009, 60:748-756.
Lark R.M., Bellamy P.H., Rawlins B.G. Spatiotemporal variability of some metal concentrations in the soil of eastern England, and implications for soil monitoring. Geoderma. 2006, 133:363-379.
Lark R.M., Cullis B.R., Welham S.J. On spatial prediction of soil properties in the presence of a spatial trend: the empirical best linear unbiased predictor (E-BLUP) with REML. Eur. J. Soil Sci. 2006, 57:787-799.
Lemercier B., Gaudin L., Walter C., Aurousseau P., Arrouays D., Schvartz C., Saby N.P.A., Follain S., Abrassart J. Soil phosphorus monitoring at the regional level by means of a soil test database. Soil Use Manage. 2008, 24:131-138.
Lettens S., De Vos B., Quataert P., Van Wesemael B., Muys B., Van Orshoven J. Variable carbon recovery of Walkley-Black analysis and implications for national soil organic carbon accounting. Eur. J. Soil Sci. 2007, 58:1244-1253.
Marchant B.P., Lark R.M. Estimating Variogram Uncertainty. Math. Geol. 2004, 36:867-898.
Marchant B.P., Newman S., Corstanje R., Reddy K.R., Osborne T.Z., Lark R.M. Spatial monitoring of a non-stationary soil property: phosphorus in a Florida water conservation area. Eur. J. Soil Sci. 2009, 60:757-769.
Marchant B.P., Saby N.P.A., Lark R.M., Bellamy P.H., Jolivet C.C., Arrouays D. Robust analysis of soil properties at the national scale: cadmium content of French soils. Eur. J. Soil Sci. 2010, 61:144-152.
Marchant B.P., Saby N.P.A., Jolivet C.C., Arrouays D., Lark R.M. Spatial prediction of soil properties with copulas. Geoderma. 2011, 162:327-334.
Marchant B.P., Tye A.M., Rawlins B.G. The assessment of point-source and diffuse soil metal pollution using robust geostatistical methods: a case study in Swansea (Wales, UK). Eur. J. Soil Sci. 2011, 62:346-358.
Martens D.A., Suarez D.L. Selenium speciation of marine shales, alluvial soils, and evaporation basin soils of California. J. Environ. Qual. 1997, 26:424-432.
Martinez C.E., Jacobson A.R., McBride M.B. Aging and temperature effects on DOC and elemental release from a metal contaminated soil. Environ. Pollut. 2003, 122:135-143.
Matheron G. Les Variables Regionalisees et Leur Estimation: Une Application de la Theorie des Fonctions Aléatoires aux Sciences de la Nature (in French) 1965, Masson et Cie, Paris.
Meersmans J., Van Wesemael B., De Ridder F., Dotti M.F., De Baets S., Van Molle M. Changes in organic carbon distribution with depth in agricultural soils in northern Belgium, 1960-2006. Glob. Change Biol. 2009, 15:2739-2750.
Meersmans J., van Wesemael B., Goidts E., van Molle M., De Baets S., De Ridder F. Spatial analysis of soil organic carbon evolution in Belgian croplands and grasslands. 1960-2006. Glob. Change Biol. 2011, 17:466-479.
Minasny B., Vrugt J.A., McBratney A.B. Confronting uncertainty in model-based geostatistics using Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation. Geoderma. 2011, 163:150-162.
Morvan X., Saby N.P.A., Arrouays D., Le Bas C., Jones R.J.A., Verheijen F.G.A., Bellamy P.H., Stephens M., Kibblewhite M.G. Soil monitoring in Europe: A review of existing systems and requirements for harmonisation. Sci. Total Environ. 2008, 391:1-12.
Orton T.G., Rawlins B.G., Lark R.M. Using measurements close to a detection limit in a geostatistical case study to predict selenium concentration in topsoil. Geoderma. 2009, 152:269-282.
Papritz A., Flühler H. Temporal change of spatially autocorrelated soil properties: optimal estimation by cokriging. Geoderma. 1994, 62:29-43.
Prodromou K.P., Pavlatou-Ve A.S. Changes in soil pH due to the storage of soils. Soil Use Manage. 1998, 14:182-183.
Ranjard L., Dequiedt S., Jolivet C., Saby N.P.A., Thioulouse J., Harmand J., Loisel P., Rapaport A., Fall S., Simonet P., Joffre R., Bouré N.C.-P., Maron P.-A., Mougel C., Martin M.P., Toutain B., Arrouays D., Lemanceau P. Biogeography of soil microbial communities: a review and a description of the ongoing french national initiative. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 2010, 30:359-365.
Rawlins B.G., Scheib A.J., Lark R.M., Lister T.R. Sampling and analytical plus subsampling variance components for five soil indicators observed at regional scale. Eur. J. Soil Sci. 2009, 60:740-747.
Reijneveld J.A., Ehlert P.A.I., Termorshuizen A.J., Oenema O. Changes in the soil phosphorus status of agricultural land in the Netherlands during the 20th century. Soil Use Manage. 2010, 26:399-411.
Reijneveld A., van Wensem J., Oenema O. Soil organic carbon contents of agricultural land in the Netherlands between 1984 and 2004. Geoderma. 2009, 152:231-238.
Richer de Forges A.C., Arrouays D. Analysis of requests for information and data from a national soil data centre in France. Soil Use Manage. 2010, 26:374-378.
Saby N., Arrouays D. Simulation of the use of a soil-monitoring network to verify carbon sequestration in soils: Will changes in organic carbon stocks be detectable?. Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal. 2004, 35:2379-2396.
Saby N.P.A., Arrouays D., Antoni V., Lemercier B., Follain S., Walter C., Schvartz C. Changes in soil organic carbon in a mountainous French region, 1990-2004. Soil Use Manage. 2008, 24:254-262.
Saby N.P.A., Bellamy P.H., Morvan X., Arrouays D., Jones R.J.A., Verheijen F.G.A., Kibblewhite M.G., Verdoodt A., Berényiüveges J., Freudenschuβ A., Simota C. Will European soil-monitoring networks be able to detect changes in topsoil organic carbon content?. Glob. Change Biol. 2008, 14:2432-2442.
Saby N.P.A., Marchant B.P., Lark R.M., Jolivet C.C., Arrouays D. Robust geostatistical prediction of trace elements across France. Geoderma. 2011, 162:303-311.
Skinner R.J., Todd A.D. Twenty-five years of monitoring pH and nutrient status of soils in England and Wales. Soil Use Manage. 1998, 14:162-169.
Sleutel S., De Neve S., Hofmas G. Assessing causes of recent organic carbon losses from cropland soils by means of regional-scales input balances for the case of Flanders (Belgium). Nutr. Cycl. Agroecosyst. 2007, 78:265-278.
Smith P. How long before a change in soil organic carbon can be detected?. Global Change Biol. 2004, 10:1878-1883.
Styles D., Coxon C. Laboratory drying of organic-matter rich soils: Phosphorus solubility effects, influence of soil characteristics, and consequences for environmental interpretation. Geoderma. 2006, 136:120-135.
Theocharopoulos S.P., Wagner G., Sprengart J., Mohr M.-E., Desaules A., Muntau H., Christou M., Quevauviller P. Comparative soil sampling in the Dornach site (Switzerland) for soil three-dimensional pollution description. Sci. Total Environ. 2001, 264:63-72.
Tzeneva V.A., Salles J.F., Naumova N., de Vos W.M., Kuikman P.J., Dolfing J., Smidt H. Effect of soil sample preservation, compared to the effect of other environmental variables, on bacterial and eukaryotic diversity. Res. Microbiol. 2009, 160:89-98.
Reports of the Technical Working Groups Established Under the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection. EUR 21319 EN/5 2004, European Communities, Luxembourg. L. Van-Camp, B. Bujarrabal, A.R. Gentile, R.J.A. Jones, L. Montanarella, C. Olazabal, S.-K. Selvaradjou (Eds.).
van Wesemael B., Paustian K., Andrén O., Cerri C.E.P., Dodd M., Etchevers J., Goidts E., Grace P., Kätterer T., McConkey B.G., Ogle S., Pan G.X., Siebner C. How can soil monitoring networks be used to improve predictions of organic carbon pool dynamics and CO2 fluxes in agricultural soils?. Plant Soil. 2011, 338:247-259.
Viaud V., Angers D.A., Walter C. Toward landscape-scale modeling of soil organic matter dynamics in agroecosystems. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 2010, 74:1847-1860.
Wagner G., Desaules A., Muntau H., Theocharopoulos S., Quevauviller P. Harmonisation and quality assurance in pre-analytical steps of soil contamination studies-conclusions and recommendations of the CEEM Soil project. Sci. Total Environ. 2001, 264:103-118.
Walter C., Rossel R.A.V., McBratney A.B. Spatiotemporal simulation of the field-scale evolution of organic carbon over the landscape. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 2003, 67:1477-1486.
Wang D.D., Shi X.Z., Wang H.J., Weindorf D.C., Yu D.S., Sun W.X., Ren H.Y., Zhao Y.C. Scale effect of climate and soil texture on soil organic carbon in the Uplands of Northeast China. Pedosphere. 2010, 20(4):525-535.
Webster R., Oliver M.A. Geostatistics for environmental scientists 2007, John Wiley and Sons Ltd., Chichester, UK. 2nd Edition.
Wheeler D.M., Sparling G.P., Roberts A.H.C. Trends in some soil test data over a 14-year period in New Zealand. New Zeal. J. Agr. Res. 2004, 47:155-166.
Yu D.S., Zhang Z.Q., Yang H., Shi X.Z., Tan M.Z., Sun W.X., Wang H.J. Effect of soil sampling density on detected spatial variability of soil organic carbon in a red soil region of china. Pedosphere. 2011, 21:207-213.