Lesson plan
Pedotransfer function
In soil science, pedotransfer functions (PTF) are predictive functions of certain soil properties using data from soil surveys. The term pedotransfer function was coined by Johan Bouma as translating data we have into what we need. The most readily available data comes from a soil survey, such as the field morphology, soil texture, structure and pH. Pedotransfer functions add value to this basic information by translating them into estimates of other more laborious and expensively determined soil properties. These functions fill the gap between the available soil data and the properties which are more useful or required for a particular model or quality assessment. Pedotransfer functions utilize various regression analysis and data mining techniques to extract rules associating basic soil properties with more difficult to measure properties. Although not formally recognized and named until 1989, the concept of the pedotransfer function has long been applied to estimate soil properties that are difficult to determine. Many soil science agencies have their own (unofficial) rule of thumb for estimating difficult-to-measure soil properties. Probably because of the particular difficulty, cost of measurement, and availability of large databases, the most comprehensive research in developing PTFs has been for the estimation of water retention curve and hydraulic conductivity.
Article summary
In soil science, pedotransfer functions (PTF) are predictive functions of certain soil properties using data from soil surveys. The term pedotransfer function was coined by Johan Bouma as translating data we have into what we need. The most readily available data comes from a soil survey, such as the field morphology, soil texture, structure and pH. Pedotransfer functions add value to this basic information by translating them into estimates of other more laborious and expensively determined soil properties. These functions fill the gap between the available soil data and the properties which are more useful or required for a particular model or quality assessment. Pedotransfer functions utilize various regression analysis and data mining techniques to extract rules associating basic soil properties with more difficult to measure properties. Although not formally recognized and named until 1989, the concept of the pedotransfer function has long been applied to estimate soil properties that are difficult to determine. Many soil science agencies have their own (unofficial) rule of thumb for estimating difficult-to-measure soil properties. Probably because of the particular difficulty, cost of measurement, and availability of large databases, the most comprehensive research in developing PTFs has been for the estimation of water retention curve and hydraulic conductivity.
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
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