REPORT B ON SOIL PROPERTIES OF SOILS FROM

UBD HEATH FOREST AND

ANDULAU MIX DIPTEROCARP FOREST

By Mazarinna Matkasim
14b3130

Submitted on 7TH April 2018

Results

Soil property Habitat Mean ± SEM t (df= 14) P

pH MDF 4.18 ± 0.15 -2.96 0.010

HF 3.67 ± 0.08
Gravimetric water MDF 25.84 ± 1.94 0.57 0.580
content
HF 28.4 ± 4.031918
Organic matter MDF 5.82 ± 0.45 -1.73 0.105
HF 4.31 ± 0.75
Ash content MDF 94.2 ± 0.45 1.73 0.105
HF 95.7 ± 0.75
Organic carbon MDF 2.90 ± 0.21 -1.73 0.105
HF 2.18 ± 0.35

Available MDF 0.0029 ± 0.0003 4.82 0.0003

phosphorus
HF 0.04 ± 0.01
Table 1 gives six properties of soils namely pH, gravimetric water content (GWC),

organic matter (OM), ash content, organic carbon and available phosphorus in mean between

mixed-dipterocarp forest (MDF) at Andulau and heath forest (HF) at UBD. Soils of MDF had a

higher pH, organic matter and organic carbon than HF soils. On the other hand, GWC, ash

content and available phosphorus were higher in HF soils than in MDF. From the independent-

samples t-test results, it was found that between MDF and HF soils, the mean pH and available

phosphorus were significantly different from each other. The p-values for pH and available

phosphorus are 0.010 and 0.0003, respectively. While the mean GWC, OM, ash content, organic

carbon had no significant difference between MDF and HF soils as their p-values shown in table

1 are more than 0.05.

Table 1 shows mean pH, gravimetric water content (%), organic matter (%), ash content (%),

organic Carbon (%) and available Phosphorus (mean ± SE of mean (SEM)) of soils from mixed

dipterocarp forest (MDF) at Andulau and heath forest (HFs) at UBD in Brunei Darussalam.

The summarized results of principal components analysis (PCA) for the soil properties

are shown in table 2. About 79% of the total variation in soil pH, GWC, organic matter, ash

content, organic C and available P was explained by the first two axes of the PCA. There were

53% and 26% variation to the first and second axes, respectively. The organic matter and organic

C were positively inter-correlated and strongly associated with PC axis 1. Furthermore, ash

content was negatively related with PC axis 1. Similarly, pH and available P were strongly

associated with PC axis 2 but available P had a negative association.

Principal component axes

Parameters 1 2

Eigenvalue 1.8 1.3

% of total variation explained 52.9 26.3
Cumulative % variation 52.9 79.2
explained
Loadings of soil properties
pH 0.19 0.66
Gravimetric water content 0.18 -0.16
Organic matter 0.55 -0.11
Ash content -0.55 0.11
Organic carbon 0.55 -0.11
Available phosphorus -0.13 -0.71
Table 2 shows eigenvalues from principal components analysis (PCA) of six soil properties (pH,

gravimetric water content, organic matter, ash content, organic carbon and available phosphorus)

for 8 subplots in mixed dipterocarp forest (MDF) and 8 subplots in heath forest (HFs) and

percentage of total variation explained by each principal component axis.

Figure 1 provides a biplot of PC 1 and PC 2 axes that showed MDF and HF subplots

were partitioned in ordination space. From the biplot, the HF subplots were grouped lower on PC

axis 2 than the MDF subplots. This association of the HF subplots shows that the subplots

possessed higher GWC, ash content and available P. Whereas MDF subplots were differentiated

based on higher pH, organic matter and organic C on PC axis 1.

Figure 1. Biplot of eigenvectors (scores) for principal component (PC) axes 1 and 2 from

principal components analysis (PCA) of soil properties (pH, gravimetric water content, organic

matter, ash content, organic carbon and available phosphorus) across 8 mixd dipterocarp forest

(MDF) subplots and 8 heath forest (HF) subplots.

Conclusions
According to the results obtained, the significant differences between MDF and HF soils

are their pH and available P. HF soils are said to be more acidic and have a higher available P

than in MDF soils. While the rest of the soil properties did not show any significant differences

between the two types of forest. Moreover, principle component axis 1 shows that organic

matter, ash content and organic carbon accounted for the most variations in the dataset as they

had the highest loadings. Whereas in principle component axis 2, pH and available phosphorus

showed the most variations. Also, as shown in the biplot, HF is grouped lower than MDF on

PCA 2.