TY - JOUR

T1 - Measuring heterogeneity in soil networks

T2 - a network analysis and simulation-based approach

AU - Davis, Natalie

AU - Polhill, J. Gareth

AU - Aitkenhead, M. J.

N1 - This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Ecological Modelling. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Ecological Modelling, 439, 2020 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2020.109308

PY - 2021/1/1

Y1 - 2021/1/1

N2 - Quantifying soil structural and ecological heterogeneity is crucial for understanding their interactions and their relationships to the resilience and health of the wider ecosystem. However, a clear understanding of how structural heterogeneity affects soil biodiversity is still emerging. Previous work has primarily used expensive, often laboratory-based methods to quantify soil pore network structure, and typically separated study of structural and biological dimensions. Here, we test whether standard network metrics can be used to quantify structural heterogeneity in soil pore networks, and how this network structure, along with characteristics of the consumer and resource populations, affects the heterogeneity of a population of consumers. Specifically, we extract simplified soil pore networks from digital photographs of soil profiles and apply established metrics from network science and transport geography to quantify and compare the networks. The networks are also used as the medium for an agent-based model of generalised consumers, to analyse the effects of consumer and resource parameterisations and network structure. Combining network analysis and simulation modelling in this way can provide insights on the structure, function, and diversity possible in the soil, as well as avenues for exploring the impact of future structural or environmental changes.

AB - Quantifying soil structural and ecological heterogeneity is crucial for understanding their interactions and their relationships to the resilience and health of the wider ecosystem. However, a clear understanding of how structural heterogeneity affects soil biodiversity is still emerging. Previous work has primarily used expensive, often laboratory-based methods to quantify soil pore network structure, and typically separated study of structural and biological dimensions. Here, we test whether standard network metrics can be used to quantify structural heterogeneity in soil pore networks, and how this network structure, along with characteristics of the consumer and resource populations, affects the heterogeneity of a population of consumers. Specifically, we extract simplified soil pore networks from digital photographs of soil profiles and apply established metrics from network science and transport geography to quantify and compare the networks. The networks are also used as the medium for an agent-based model of generalised consumers, to analyse the effects of consumer and resource parameterisations and network structure. Combining network analysis and simulation modelling in this way can provide insights on the structure, function, and diversity possible in the soil, as well as avenues for exploring the impact of future structural or environmental changes.

KW - Agent-based model

KW - Digital soil morphometrics

KW - Ecological heterogeneity

KW - Network analysis

KW - Soil networks

KW - Soil structure

U2 - 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2020.109308

DO - 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2020.109308

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85095448554

VL - 439

JO - Ecological Modelling

JF - Ecological Modelling

SN - 0304-3800

M1 - 109308

ER -