Browsing by Subject "Maaperän kosteus"
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(2020)The arctic-alpine tundra environment, located above treeline at mountainous areas in high latitudes, is a varying fine-scale mosaic of landscapes and biotopes driven by harsh and extreme environmental conditions. Soil moisture and temperature play a key part in the environmental processes of the area, as they regulate especially vegetation and soil microbial activity. Both soil moisture and temperature vary greatly in spatial as well as temporal scales even in small scale environments. Despite their variability and importance, the mechanisms driving these variables have been scarcely studied. In this study the focus was how soil moisture and temperature vary in the different biotopes of arctic-alpine environment in the Kilpisjärvi region. The study area is located in the slopes and valley between the fjells Saana and Korkea-Jehkas, where 1 200 study plots, 1 square meter in size and 50 meters from each other, were placed systematically. Soil moisture and temperature were measured from the plots three times during the growing season: in June, July and August. A vast collection of field measurements was gathered from the plots and then supplemented with variables extracted from a digital elevation model. The next step was to use statistical models to determine how topographic, soil and vegetation variables affect the spatial variability of soil moisture and temperature during the growing season. The methods used were Generalized Additive Models (GAM), Generalized Boosted Methods (GBM) and Random Forest (RF). The effect of the variables was studied by how adding different variable groups affected the explanatory and predictive powers of the different models. In addition the effect of individual explaining variables was examined by their relative influence on GBM-models. Soil moisture and temperature varied significantly during entire growing season and not only in the entire study area but also within biotopes as well. Soil temperature values increased throughout the growing season, whereas soil moisture values were highest in July and lowest in August. Modelling results suggest that topography and soil variables have stronger effect in June and July and the effect of vegetation variables strengthens in August. GBM-models suggest that the best individual variable in explaining soil moisture´s spatial variation during all field measurement periods is biotope class and organic layer depth. The best individual variable explaining soil temperature´s spatial variation during all field measurement periods is potential solar radiation. In addition elevation has a strong effect in June and July and soil moisture in August. In principle, the moisture models´ explanatory and predictive powers decrease during growing season due to drying soil while temperature models´ explanatory and predictive powers increase due to warming soil. The results of this study support and expand the findings of former studies on spatial and temporal variation of soil moisture and temperature modelling in arctic-alpine environment. In future studies it is important to consider the impact of using different variables in soil moisture and temperature in a versatile way. It is also important to study the temporal variation of soil moisture and temperature more thoroughly to understand the effects of climate change on arctic-alpine biotopes better.
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(2023)Soil moisture plays a key role in ecosystems. Soil moisture varies spatially and temporally, and the variations are influenced by many different factors. On a large scale, climate has a large effect on soil moisture, but more locally, especially topography, soil and vegetation become important factors. In addition, mean soil moisture content affects whether soil moisture variations are greatest when soil is dry or moist. Climate change will significantly affect soil moisture around the world, and effects will also be visible in the boreal forest. Therefore, it is important to study soil moisture more comprehensively in boreal environment. The purpose of this thesis is to find out how soil moisture varies spatially and temporally, and how topography, soil and vegetation explain this variation in different parts of the boreal forest and in different environments. Study area covers eight areas of varying size (3,5–37 km2) in the boreal forest around Finland. Each study area has 44–96 study points from which soil moisture has been measured every 15 minutes during July 2020. Mean and standard deviation of soil moisture (response variables) of each research point were calculated from the measurements, of which the mean describes the spatial variation of soil moisture and the standard deviation the temporal variation. The response variables were explained by environmental variables. Variables explaining topography’s effect were altitude, SAGA wetness index (SWI), topographic position index (TPI) and radiation. Vegetation was explained by canopy cover and site fertility class, and soil was explained by soil class. The effect of environmental variables on spatial and temporal variations of soil moisture was analysed using a generalized additive model (GAM), which was fitted for each study area and for both response variables separately. Explanatory power of the models was examined with an adjusted R2 value using the bootstrap method. Relative importance of the individual environmental variables in the model was examined by randomizing the variables, and the direction of the effect of the environmental variables was examined using response curves. Soil moisture varied considerably spatially and temporally within the study areas and between the areas. Soil moisture was generally high in study areas with a lot of peatlands, and moisture varied most spatially usually in topographically heterogeneous areas. Often, the temporal variation of moisture was highest on dryer study areas and lowest on moister areas. Indeed, it was found that when the mean soil moisture was high, the standard deviation was often small and vice versa. Topographic factors influenced to the mean and standard deviation of soil moisture more in the northern than in the southern regions, while the role of canopy cover was emphasized in the southern regions when explaining the mean moisture. Soil influenced to the moisture more in the northern than in the southern areas. From all variables, SWI clearly explained the best both the mean and standard deviation of moisture. Canopy cover and radiation also explained well the mean moisture in a part of the study areas. In addition to SWI, the standard deviation of moisture was best explained by site fertility class and soil class. Altitude and TPI rarely explained the mean and standard deviation of moisture well. SWI often increased moisture and decreased moisture’s temporal variability in the study areas, but the directions of the effects of other environmental variables varied a lot between areas. This study shows that the large spatial and temporal variability of soil moisture in different environments of the boreal forest is dominated by different factors, and even the same environmental factors affect soil moisture in very different ways between areas. Research must be continued to get a better general picture of the factors affecting soil moisture variations in the boreal forest, and to be able to prepare better for the environmental changes caused by climate change.
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