A New Approach to Monitor Soil Microbial Driven C/N Ratio in Temperate Evergreen Coniferous Forests Managed via Sentinel-2 Spectral Imagery

Lizardo Reyna (), Jarosław Lasota, Lizardo Reyna-Bowen, Lenin Vera-Montenegro, Emil Cristhian Vega-Ponce, Maria Luisa Izaguirre-Mayoral and Ewa Błońska
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Lizardo Reyna: Facultad de Ingeniería Agrícola, Universidad Técnica de Manabí, Lodana 130401, Ecuador
Jarosław Lasota: Department of Ecology and Silviculture, Faculty of Forestry, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Al. 29 Listopada 46, 31-425 Krakow, Poland
Lizardo Reyna-Bowen: Facultad de Ingeniería Agrícola, Escuela Superior Politécnica Agropecuaria de Manabí MFL, Calceta 130602, Ecuador
Lenin Vera-Montenegro: Facultad de Ingeniería Agrícola, Escuela Superior Politécnica Agropecuaria de Manabí MFL, Calceta 130602, Ecuador
Emil Cristhian Vega-Ponce: Facultad de Ingeniería Agrícola, Universidad Técnica de Manabí, Lodana 130401, Ecuador
Maria Luisa Izaguirre-Mayoral: Facultad de Ingeniería Agrícola, Universidad Técnica de Manabí, Lodana 130401, Ecuador
Ewa Błońska: Department of Ecology and Silviculture, Faculty of Forestry, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Al. 29 Listopada 46, 31-425 Krakow, Poland

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-8

Abstract: Forests are key ecosystems for climate change mitigation, playing a pivotal role in C and N land sequestering and storage. However, the sustainable management of forests is challenging for foresters who need continuous and reliable information on the status of soil conditions. Yet, the monitoring of soils in temperate evergreen forests, via satellite data, is jeopardized by the year round prevailing heavily dense canopy. In this study, the Sentinel-2 spectral imagery derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), proved to be a reliable tool to determine the C/N ratio in two managed pine-dominated forests, in southern Poland. Results showed a strong negative correlation between NDVI values and the on-site C/N ratios measured at the upper soil horizons in 100 and 99 randomly distributed sampling points across the Kup (r 2 = −0.8019) and Koniecpol (r 2 = −0.7281) forests. This indicates the feasibility of using the NDVI to predict the microbial driven soil C/N ratio in evergreen forests, and to foresee alterations in the vegetation patterns elicited by microbial hindering soil abiotic or biotic factors. Spatial/temporal variations in C/N ratio also provide information on C and N soil dynamics and land ecosystem function in a changing climate.

Keywords: remote sensing; soil properties; land vegetation index; Pinus sylvestris (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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