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Vegetation indicators of salinity in northern Queensland
Author(s) -
BUI E. N.,
HENDERSON B. L.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
austral ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.688
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1442-9993
pISSN - 1442-9985
DOI - 10.1046/j.1442-9993.2003.01311.x
Subject(s) - edaphic , vegetation (pathology) , salinity , geography , ecology , plant community , physical geography , phytosociology , canonical correspondence analysis , environmental science , hydrology (agriculture) , geology , soil water , species richness , biology , geotechnical engineering , medicine , pathology
The possibility that plants could serve as indicators of underlying soil salinity in northern Queensland, Australia, was investigated using 2197 site observations recorded during a land resources inventory of the Dalrymple Shire. The area surveyed intersects three biogeographical regions: the desert uplands, the Einasleigh uplands and the northern brigalow belt. The three dominant plant species in the lower, middle, and upper vegetation strata were recorded, along with laboratory measurements of electrical conductivity down each soil profile. Correspondence analysis, generalized additive models and clustering were used to investigate the relationship between plant occurrence, climatic and edaphic factors. The results of these statistical analyses strongly suggest a relationship between salinity and brigalow plant communities. A generalized additive model to predict soil salinity from environmental variables including vegetation data is presented.