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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #105499
Title: CHARACTERIZING THE DISTRIBUTION OF ORGANIC CARBON AND EXTRACTABLE PHOSPHORUS AT A REGIONAL SCALE

Author
item Brejda, John
item Meek, David
item Karlen, Douglas

Submitted to: Applied Statistics In Agriculture Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/27/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Greater awareness of potential environmental problems has created the need to monitor total organic carbon (TOC) and extractable phosphorus (P) concentrations at a regional scale. The probability distribution of these soil properties can have a significant effect on the power of statistical tests and the quality of inferences applied to these properties. The objectives of this study were to: (1) evaluate the probability distribution of TOC and extractable P at the regional scale in three Major Land Resource Areas (MLRAs), and (2) identify appropriate transformations that will result in a normal distribution. Both TOC and extractable P were non-normally distributed in all three MLRAs. Suggested power transformations did not result in normality, but a natural log and negative binomial transformation did produce distributions that met the assumptions of normality in most cases. Statistical analysis of TOC and extractable P data at the regional scale will need to take into account the non-normal distribution of these properties for accurate and precise estimates.