Constructing vegetation productivity equations by employing undisturbed soils data: An Oliver County, North Dakota case study
- Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)
- Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Surface mine reclamation specialists have been searching for predictive methods to assess the capability of disturbed soils to support vegetation growth. We conducted a study to develop a vegetation productivity equation for reclaiming surface mines in Oliver County, North Dakota, thereby allowing investigators to quantitatively determine the plant growth potential of a reclaimed soil. The study examined the predictive modeling potential for both agronomic crops and woody plants, including: wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), oat (Avena sativa L.), corn (Zea mays L.), grass and legume mixtures, Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana L.), Black Hills spruce (Picea glauca var. densata Bailey), Colorado spruce (Picea pungens Engelm.), ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa var. scope Engelm.), green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh.), Eastern cottonwood Populus deltoides (Bart. ex Marsh.), Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila L.), Siberian peashrub (Caragana arborescens Lam), American plum (Prunus americans Marsh.), and chokecherry ( Prunus virginiana L.). An equation was developed which is highly significant (p<0.0001), explaining 81.08% of the variance (coefficient of multiple determination=0.8108), with all regressors significant (p{le}0.048, Type II Sums of Squares). The measurement of seven soil parameters are required to predict soil vegetation productivity: percent slope, available water holding capacity, percent rock fragments, topographic position, electrical conductivity, pH, and percent organic matter. While the equation was developed from data on undisturbed soils, the equation`s predictions were positively correlated (0.71424, p{le}0.0203) with a small data set (n=10) from reclaimed soils.
- OSTI ID:
- 588806
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9605286-; TRN: 98:001296-0032
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 13. annual meeting of the American Society for Surface Mining and Reclamation (ASSMR), Knoxville, TN (United States), 18-23 May 1996; Other Information: PBD: 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of Successes and failures: Applying research results to insure reclamation success; Daniels, W.L.; Burger, J.A.; Zipper, C.E. [Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA (United States). Depts. of Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences and Forestry] [eds.]; PB: 889 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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