A geospatial method for estimating soil moisture variability in prehistoric agricultural landscapes
A geospatial method for estimating soil moisture variability in prehistoric agricultural landscapes
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DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0220457
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发表时间：
2019-08
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Andrew Gillreath-Brown;Lisa Nagaoka;Steve Wolverton
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Andrew Gillreath-Brown;Lisa Nagaoka;Steve Wolverton
史前人类根据环境条件选择耕作地点，例如土壤湿度，这对农作物生产起着至关重要的作用。到公元 900 年，梅萨维德中部地区的祖先普韦布洛社区越来越依赖玉米农业来满足其生存需求。史前农业家（例如祖先普韦布洛农民）依赖于充足的土壤湿度来保证植物的成功生长。为了更好地了解农田的土壤湿度质量，本研究开发了一种静态地理空间土壤湿度模型，即土壤湿度代理模型，该模型使用土壤和地形变量来估计整个流域的土壤湿度潜力。该模型适用于科罗拉多州西南部梅萨维德中部地区古德曼流域的半干旱地区。我们通过将古德曼流域输出与其他两个流域以及土壤湿度传感器值进行比较来评估该模型。这个简单的框架可以用于世界其他地区，这些地区的水也是农业的一个重要限制因素。这项研究的总体成果是更好地了解当地景观中潜在的农田和人类与环境的关系。
Prehistoric peoples chose farming locations based on environmental conditions, such as soil moisture, which plays a crucial role in crop production. Ancestral Pueblo communities of the central Mesa Verde region became increasingly reliant on maize agriculture for their subsistence needs by AD 900. Prehistoric agriculturalists (e.g., Ancestral Pueblo farmers) were dependent on having sufficient soil moisture for successful plant growth. To better understand the quality of farmland in terms of soil moisture, this study develops a static geospatial soil moisture model, the Soil Moisture Proxy Model, which uses soil and topographic variables to estimate soil moisture potential across a watershed. The model is applied to the semi-arid region of the Goodman watershed in the central Mesa Verde region of southwestern Colorado. We evaluate the model by comparing the Goodman watershed output to two other watersheds and to soil moisture sensor values. The simple framework can be used in other regions of the world, where water is also an important limiting factor for farming. The general outcome of this research is an improved understanding of potential farmland and human-environmental relationships across the local landscape.