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Title: Measuring organic matter in Everglades wetlands and the Everglades Agricultural Area

Abstract

Here, organic matter is a complex material that represents the long-term decay products from plants and other organisms in the soil. When organic matter is allowed to build up in a soil, the soil color at the surface usually turns a darker color, often with a red or brown hue. Typically in Florida mineral soils, organic matter content is quite low, within the range of 1 to 5%. However, in some soils that remain flooded for most of the year, organic matter can build up with time and actually become the soil. Such is the case for the organic soils, or histosols, found in southern Florida. These organic soils comprise much of the Water Conservation Areas, Everglades National Park (ENP), Big Cypress Basin, and the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA). It is important to document organic matter accumulation in the Everglades to gauge the effectiveness of wetland creation and succession. For the EAA, the drained soils lose organic matter due to oxidation, so measurement of the organic matter content of these soils over the course of time indicates the oxidation potential and mineral incorporation from bedrock. Due to the wide diversity of soil types and methods of measuring soil organic matter,more » there is a need to devise a more universal method applicable to many types of histosols in south Florida. The intent of this publication is: 1.To describe a simple laboratory method for determining the organic matter content of the organic soils of southern Florida and demonstrate the importance of using this new procedure for improved accuracy and precision; 2.To utilize this updated laboratory procedure for field sites across Everglades wetlands and the EAA; and 3. To recommend this procedure be used by growers, state and federal agencies, and university and agency researchers dealing with the management of organic soils in southern Florida. Growers can use this improvement to organic matter measurement to keep lab testing costs low while getting a better, more quantitative estimate of organic carbon (organic matter) for decisions regarding pesticide applications and estimated contribution of nutrients released from the organic matter in their fields. Restoration efforts in the Everglades wetlands can be better documented with the lower cost, but now equally as useful, LOI test for organic carbon. Improvements to soil organic matter coupled with other measurements of biological health of the system can be documented with less work using the adjusted LOI calculations.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Intelligentsia International, LaBelle, FL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Sustainable Transportation Office. Bioenergy Technologies Office
OSTI Identifier:
1337331
Report Number(s):
DOE-HENDRYFLA-00303-203; EDIS-SL285
DOE Contract Number:  
EE0000303
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Resource Relation:
Related Information: Electronic Data Information Source (EDIS) of UF/IFAS Extension, publication number SL285
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; organic matter; Everglades Wetlands; Everglades Agriculture Area; Southern Florida; land use; Histosols; CNS method; LOI method; organic carbon; organic matter accumulation; oxidation

Citation Formats

Wright, Alan L., and Hanlon, Edward A. Measuring organic matter in Everglades wetlands and the Everglades Agricultural Area. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.2172/1337331.
Wright, Alan L., & Hanlon, Edward A. Measuring organic matter in Everglades wetlands and the Everglades Agricultural Area. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1337331
Wright, Alan L., and Hanlon, Edward A. 2015. "Measuring organic matter in Everglades wetlands and the Everglades Agricultural Area". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1337331. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1337331.
@article{osti_1337331,
title = {Measuring organic matter in Everglades wetlands and the Everglades Agricultural Area},
author = {Wright, Alan L. and Hanlon, Edward A.},
abstractNote = {Here, organic matter is a complex material that represents the long-term decay products from plants and other organisms in the soil. When organic matter is allowed to build up in a soil, the soil color at the surface usually turns a darker color, often with a red or brown hue. Typically in Florida mineral soils, organic matter content is quite low, within the range of 1 to 5%. However, in some soils that remain flooded for most of the year, organic matter can build up with time and actually become the soil. Such is the case for the organic soils, or histosols, found in southern Florida. These organic soils comprise much of the Water Conservation Areas, Everglades National Park (ENP), Big Cypress Basin, and the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA). It is important to document organic matter accumulation in the Everglades to gauge the effectiveness of wetland creation and succession. For the EAA, the drained soils lose organic matter due to oxidation, so measurement of the organic matter content of these soils over the course of time indicates the oxidation potential and mineral incorporation from bedrock. Due to the wide diversity of soil types and methods of measuring soil organic matter, there is a need to devise a more universal method applicable to many types of histosols in south Florida. The intent of this publication is: 1.To describe a simple laboratory method for determining the organic matter content of the organic soils of southern Florida and demonstrate the importance of using this new procedure for improved accuracy and precision; 2.To utilize this updated laboratory procedure for field sites across Everglades wetlands and the EAA; and 3. To recommend this procedure be used by growers, state and federal agencies, and university and agency researchers dealing with the management of organic soils in southern Florida. Growers can use this improvement to organic matter measurement to keep lab testing costs low while getting a better, more quantitative estimate of organic carbon (organic matter) for decisions regarding pesticide applications and estimated contribution of nutrients released from the organic matter in their fields. Restoration efforts in the Everglades wetlands can be better documented with the lower cost, but now equally as useful, LOI test for organic carbon. Improvements to soil organic matter coupled with other measurements of biological health of the system can be documented with less work using the adjusted LOI calculations.},
doi = {10.2172/1337331},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1337331}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2015},
month = {Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2015}
}