Comparison of Different Soil Classification Systems Using 5 Profiles from Different Forest Ecosystems in Japan
2005 年 49 巻 1 号 p. 10-21
詳細
2005 年 49 巻 1 号 p. 10-21
Four soil classification systems (Soil Taxonomy, World Reference Base for soil resources, United Soil Classification Systems of Japan and Classification of Forest Soils in Japan) are compared and examined for appropriateness of fit in terms of soils properties and pedogenesis for five forest soils in Japan. The five profiles are BEECH, OAK, CEDAR from Miyazu and KYOTO and NOBEYAMA from the respective sites. The taxonomic names at the highest level disagreed for the three Miyazu profiles while they agreed as Inceptisol and its equivalents for KYOTO and Andisol and its equivalents for NOBEYAMA for the different classification systems. For the three Miyazu profiles studied, it is suggested that the OAK profile has the highest influence of volcanic material compared to the BEECH and CEDAR profiles. Soil Taxonomy has the strictest requirements for andic properties but this is alleviated at lower level and reflected in the taxonomic names for the BEECH and CEDAR profiles as intergrades. UCSJ classifies the three profiles all at the same level as Kuroboku soils, while WRB does not detect andic properties of the BEECH profile. The BEECH profile is suggested to have spodic properties and this is reflected in the highest level with Soil Taxonomy, while WRB, UCSJ and CFSJ somehow do not reflect such process to the taxonomic names. At the same time, some problems in reflecting spodic properties in taxonomic names as intergrades are pointed out for all the systems. When the five profiles are compared at the lower level, there are disagreements in the characteristics of the soil implied by taxonomic names between different classification systems. The importance of differentiation of allophanic and non-allophanic, or silandic and aluandic is felt comparatively neglected with Soil Taxonomy and WRB. Such distinction is related to important soil property and we consider it should not be neglected. Yellow Brown forest soil is unique to UCSJ and such category is not recognized in Soil Taxonomy and WRB although it has distinctive pedogenetic processes under warm climate.
