IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i19p12170-d925372.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Multiscale Cost–Benefit Analysis of Digital Soil Mapping Methods for Sustainable Land Management

Author

Listed:
  • Dorijan Radočaj

    (Faculty of Agrobiotechnical Sciences Osijek, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Vladimira Preloga 1, 31000 Osijek, Croatia)

  • Mladen Jurišić

    (Faculty of Agrobiotechnical Sciences Osijek, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Vladimira Preloga 1, 31000 Osijek, Croatia)

  • Oleg Antonić

    (Department of Biology, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Cara Hadrijana 8/A, 31000 Osijek, Croatia)

  • Ante Šiljeg

    (Department of Geography, University of Zadar, Franje Tuđmana 24 i, 23000 Zadar, Croatia)

  • Neven Cukrov

    (Ruđer Bošković Institute, Bijenička 54, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia)

  • Irena Rapčan

    (Faculty of Agrobiotechnical Sciences Osijek, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Vladimira Preloga 1, 31000 Osijek, Croatia)

  • Ivan Plaščak

    (Faculty of Agrobiotechnical Sciences Osijek, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Vladimira Preloga 1, 31000 Osijek, Croatia)

  • Mateo Gašparović

    (Faculty of Geodesy, University of Zagreb, Kačićeva 26, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia)

Abstract

With the emergence of machine learning methods during the past decade, alternatives to conventional geostatistical methods for soil mapping are becoming increasingly more sophisticated. To provide a complete overview of their performance, this study performed cost–benefit analysis of four soil mapping methods based on five criteria: accuracy, processing time, robustness, scalability and applicability. The evaluated methods were ordinary kriging (OK), regression kriging (RK), random forest (RF) and ensemble machine learning (EML) for the prediction of total soil carbon and nitrogen. The results of these mechanisms were objectively standardized using the linear scaling method, and their relative importance was quantified using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). EML resulted in the highest cost–benefit score of the tested methods, with maximum values of accuracy, robustness and scalability, achieving a 55.6% higher score than the second-ranked RF method. The two geostatistical methods ranked last in the cost–benefit analysis. Despite that, OK could retain its place as the most frequent method for soil mapping in recent studies due to its widespread, user-friendly implementation in GIS software and its univariate character. Further improvement of machine learning methods with regards to computational efficiency could additionally improve their cost–benefit advantage and establish them as the universal standard for soil mapping.

Suggested Citation

  • Dorijan Radočaj & Mladen Jurišić & Oleg Antonić & Ante Šiljeg & Neven Cukrov & Irena Rapčan & Ivan Plaščak & Mateo Gašparović, 2022. "A Multiscale Cost–Benefit Analysis of Digital Soil Mapping Methods for Sustainable Land Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-18, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:19:p:12170-:d:925372
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/12170/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/12170/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Adam F. A. Pellegrini & Anders Ahlström & Sarah E. Hobbie & Peter B. Reich & Lars P. Nieradzik & A. Carla Staver & Bryant C. Scharenbroch & Ari Jumpponen & William R. L. Anderegg & James T. Randerson , 2018. "Fire frequency drives decadal changes in soil carbon and nitrogen and ecosystem productivity," Nature, Nature, vol. 553(7687), pages 194-198, January.
    2. Cabrini, Silvina M. & Calcaterra, Carlos P., 2016. "Modeling economic-environmental decision making for agricultural land use in Argentinean Pampas," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 183-194.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dorijan Radočaj & Mladen Jurišić & Irena Rapčan & Fran Domazetović & Rina Milošević & Ivan Plaščak, 2023. "An Independent Validation of SoilGrids Accuracy for Soil Texture Components in Croatia," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-16, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hui Yan & Guixiang Liu, 2021. "Fire’s Effects on Grassland Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-15, October.
    2. Chao Xu & Teng-Chiu Lin & Jr-Chuan Huang & Zhijie Yang & Xiaofei Liu & Decheng Xiong & Shidong Chen & Minhuang Wang & Liuming Yang & Yusheng Yang, 2022. "Microbial Biomass Is More Important than Runoff Export in Predicting Soil Inorganic Nitrogen Concentrations Following Forest Conversion in Subtropical China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-15, February.
    3. Phélinas, Pascale & Choumert, Johanna, 2017. "Is GM Soybean Cultivation in Argentina Sustainable?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 452-462.
    4. Marcos Francos & Fernando Colino-Prieto & Carlos Sánchez-García, 2024. "How Mediterranean Ecosystem Deals with Wildfire Impact on Soil Ecosystem Services and Functions: A Review," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-17, March.
    5. Shu Wu, 2021. "RETRACTED: The Temporal-Spatial Distribution and Information-Diffusion-Based Risk Assessment of Forest Fires in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-18, December.
    6. Bilotto, Franco & Vibart, Ronaldo & Wall, Andrew & Machado, Claudio F., 2021. "Estimation of the inter-annual marginal value of additional feed and its replacement cost for beef cattle systems in the Flooding Pampas of Argentina," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    7. Freitag, Martin & Kamp, Johannes & Dara, Andrey & Kuemmerle, Tobias & Sidorova, Tatyana V. & Stirnemann, Ingrid A. & Velbert, Frederike & Hölzel, Norbert, 2021. "Post-Soviet shifts in grazing and fire regimes changed the functional plant community composition on the Eurasian steppe," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 27(2), pages 388-401.
    8. Xi Li & Yao Chen & Shixiong Jiang & Chongqing Wang & Sunxian Weng & Dengyong Rao, 2022. "The Importance of Adding Short-Wave Infrared Bands for Forest Disturbance Monitoring in the Subtropical Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-9, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:19:p:12170-:d:925372. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.