Soil organic carbon and its relation with the reflectance spectroscopy in soil sampling by layers and compound in the Depositional Piedmont of Villavicencio (Colombia)

Monitoring and quantifying soil organic carbon content in different landscapes at different sampling depths is crucial to assessing the quality of soil, water and the functionality of the ecosystems that are established there. Monitoring results can guide practices that could be adopted to improve soil organic carbon storage and thus enhance and diversify ecosystem services. Inventories of soil organic carbon stocks at local level can be used to assess compliance with international climate change conventions. In the case of the Depositional Piedmont of Villavicencio (Colombia), the results of the integrated principal component variance analysis in spectral reflectance data with subsequent spatial modelling did not show differences in importance either at different depths of soil sampling or in the landscapes themselves, but showed a clear relationship of soil organic carbon content to bulk density and weighted average reflectance of the 1506.93-1846.38 nm band mainly, followed by the 1000.00-1245.02 nm band. This proposed methodology is simple to adopt and can be used involving a larger set of factors that may be associated with reflectance in experimental or observational data structures.