Skip to content
Research Article Open access CC BY 4.0

Conceptual Modelling of the Dynamics of Soil Macroporosity Based on an in Situ and Direct Observation of Major Soil Structuring Agents During Early Stage of Pedogenesis

Nouhou Salifou Jangorzo, Sophie Leguedois, Françoise Watteau, François Lafolie, Christophe Schwartz

International Journal of Plant & Soil Science · pp. 217–230 · Published 20 Jan 2024

10.9734/ijpss/2024/v36i14352

Abstract

Many factors affect soil porosity but major of them are soil fauna, plant roots and the climate. Many studies attempted to investigate the effect of these factors on the evolution of soil porosity separately. The objective of this study is, based on an in situ experiment including three major porosity factors, propose a conceptual model of soil macroporosity evolution. In situ observation and quantification of the evolution of macroporosity under the influence of each agent separately and the three agents combined allow to propose a model for each case. Results show that the evolution of macroporosity due to plant roots is linear and reachs its maximum at the end of the plant cycle. Earthworms create and destruct macroporosity during the up and down movement for food searching. At long term, the consequence of earthworm action results to an increase of macroporosity. Wetting and drying cycle has the same effect as earthworm. At the beginning, when soil shrinks, it leads to a creation of macroporosity that could be disturbed by swelling during soil humectation. Some soil particles migrate in the shrink and reduce the surface of macroporosity. When faced to many wetting drying cycles, the surface of macropores increase during time. Mathematical algorithms and computing are necessary to formalize this model and long-term experiment is needed to validate it.

Differential equations soil structure earthworms casts production swelling shrinkage plant roots

References (6)

  1. 1 Modeling Soil Processes: Review, Key Challenges, and New Perspectives [DOI]
  2. 2 A idealized framework for the analysis of cohesive soils undergoing desiccation [DOI]
  3. 3 A Unified Model for Soil Shrinkage, Subsidence, and Cracking [DOI]
  4. 4 Growth rates of Aporrectodea caliginosa (Oligochaetae: Lumbricidae) as influenced by soil temperature and moisture in disturbed and undisturbed soil columns [DOI]
  5. 5 Ecosystem Management [DOI]
  6. 6 Modeling the Swelling Curve for Packed Soil Aggregates Using the Pedostructure Concept [DOI]

Cited by 1

1 citation reported by external sources — individual citing-article records aren't available to list yet.

Related research

Article metrics

Real usage data collected on this platform.

4

Page views

0

PDF downloads

8

Outbound clicks

1

Citations

Views over time

Views by country

Approximate, from request IP at view time — not citizenship or institution. Countries with fewer than 5 views are grouped as "Other".

Traffic sources

Referring site, by host.

Views and downloads exclude known bots/crawlers. Citations combines this platform's own DOI-resolved index with each external source's own reported total — see Cited by above for individually listed citing works. Last refreshed 0 seconds ago.