Pedotop

The position of the pedotope / pedosystem within the ecotope / ecosystem.

The pedotope denotes the smallest delimitable or mappable area of ​​the soil in geoecology and landscape ecology . It is one of the components of an ecotope .

Within soil science , the pedon is differentiated as the smallest, no longer divisible soil individual ; methodologically, a pedon largely corresponds to a soil profile in a pit or borehole; it is often conventionally assigned a size of one square meter, but some workers allow sizes up to ten square meters . Neighboring peda of the same soil shape are conceptually combined into a unit, the polypedon. A pedotope, if strictly interpreted, is the spatial extension of a polypedon; but the terms polypedon and pedotope are often used synonymously . In the definition of a pedotope, geomorphological factors such as relief, slope and exposure can also be included. If neighboring Polypeda are so intertwined that it would be impossible to break them down even with detailed mapping, they are grouped into pedocomplexes from a pedological point of view.

The term was first used in a font by the geographer Günter Haase . However, the term is not generally used in soil science, for example it is not used in the context of soil mapping instructions . When mapping in Lower Saxony, the pedotope according to Haase corresponds to the second aggregation level “societies with a similar soil shape”. North American soil mapping prefers the term polypedon.

literature

• Reader H: Landscape Ecology . Stuttgart, 1997: 145,147-148 ISBN 3-8252-0521-5

Individual evidence

1. ↑ George GS Holmgren (1988): The Point Representation of Soil. Soil Science Society of America Journal 52: 712-716. doi : 10.2136 / sssaj1988.03615995005200030022x
2. ↑ P. Schachtschabel, H.-P. Blume, C. Brümmer, K.-H. Hartge, U.Schwertmann: Scheffer / Schachtschabel textbook of soil science. 12th edition, 1989. Enke Verlag, Stuttgart. ISBN 3 432 84772 6 . on p. 450.
3. ↑ G. Haase (1968): Pedon and Pedotop - Comments on basic questions of regional soil geography. In: H. Barthel (editor): Landscape research - contributions to theory and application. Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen, Supplement 271: 57-76.
4. ↑ E. Gehre, H. Sponagel, K.-H. Oelkers (1991): A proposal for the pedoregional structure and systematics of soil associations, presented using the example of the large soil landscapes of Lower Saxony. Communications of the German Soil Science Society 66, II: 791-794.
5. ^ Soil Survey Division Staff, 1993: Soil survey manual. Soil Conservation Service. US Department of Agriculture Handbook 18. Introduction. on-line