Are SSURGO organic matter estimates reliable for cold arid steppes? Implications for rangeland soil health

Abstract

The SSURGO (Soil Survey Geographic Database)-based Web Soil Survey (WSS) is a geospatial tool for managers to assess soil properties and make management decisions, presumably without field sampling. To determine whether WSS percent organic matter (%OM) estimates were reliable in cold arid rangelands, we sampled soils at a northern mixed-grass prairie site and a sagebrush-steppe site in Wyoming, USA. Loss on ignition testing was used to determine soil %OM. Field samples contained higher %OM than WSS %OM estimates and did not covary with WSS %OM estimates. Baseline sampling is necessary prior to management in order to detect %OM changes.

Keywords:

• Field sampling
• loss on ignition test
• soil health
• steppe
• web soil survey

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, through the Sustainable Rangelands Roundtable. Additional support was provided by the University of Wyoming Department of Ecosystem Science and Management and College of Agriculture and Natural Resources through a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture McIntire Stennis Project – ‘Animal-plant interaction ecology on Wyoming Rangelands’ (2015–2020, Project# WYO-559-15). Additional support was provided by University of Wyoming Extension.