10.25829/BEXIS.14447-1.10.28
Schöning, Ingo
Ingo
Schöning
Solly, Emily
Emily
Solly
Klötzing, Theresa
Theresa
Klötzing
Schrumpf, Marion
Marion
Schrumpf
Mineral soil pH values of all experimental plots (EP) of the Biodiversity Exploratories project from 2011, Soil (core project)
Biodiversity Exploratories Information System
2019
Dataset
soil pH values
soil acidity
soil reaction
soil alkalinity
coordinated soil sampling 2011
Ostrowski, Andreas
Andreas
Ostrowski
Petzold, Eleonora
Eleonora
Petzold
Fürstenau, Cornelia
Cornelia
Fürstenau
Exploratories For Large-Scale And Long-Term Functional Biodiversity Research (DFG Priority Programme 1374)
2012-01-20
2019-02-22
2019-02-22
6
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
The core project ‘Soil' provides essential information on soil properties and ecosystem functions across all 300 Experimental Plots (EPs) of the Biodiversity Exploratories. Soil pH is considered a master variable in soil science as it affects many chemical processes in soils. Most importantly, the plant nutrient availability is greatly affected by the soil pH as it controlls the chemical forms of the different nutrients and influences the chemical reactions they undergo.
Theory: The acidity or alkalinity of soil is measured in terms of pH. It is a measurement of the hydronium ion activity in a soil suspension. pH is defined as the negative logarithm (base 10) of the activity of hydronium ions. Acid soils have a pH <7 and alkaline soils have a pH >7.|Measurements Type: The soil pH was measured in a weak (0.01 M) calcium chloride solution using a pH meter. |instruments: WTW pH meter 538
(WTW, Weilheim, Germany)
WTW pH glass electrode SenTix 61
(WTW, Weilheim, Germany)|calibration: The pH meter was calibrated using buffer solutions with a pH of 4 and 7.|procedures: In each of the 300 experimental plots of the biodiversity exploratories we collected 14 soil cores with a split tube sampler (diameter of 5 cm) along two 20 m transects in grasslands and 40 m transects in forests in May 2011. Organic layers in forests and aboveground plant parts in grasslands were removed before coring. We then prepared a composite sample from the 14 soil cores by mixing the upper 10 cm of the soil. Soil samples were sieved to <2 mm and air-dried. Subsequently, 10 g of sieved and air-dried soil were mixed with 25 ml 0.01 M CaCl2 solution and shook for 2 hours. Afterwards the pH of the soil suspension was measured using a glass electrode. The pH of each sample was measured twice (pH 1 and pH 2). |