Soil-Plant Interactions Across Spatial and Temporal Scales Are Not a Snapshot But a Movie.

Variation of plant growth and production across a landscape has been related to soil distribution; however, the view is that responses vary in predictable patterns. Previous observations have shown that yields vary within fields and among years based on a combination of soil and growing season weather conditions. If we examine the variation patterns within a field, there are combinations of responses which occur during a growing season which are dependent upon the interaction of soils and growing season weather conditions. For example, crop growth could be limited by excess soil water in lower parts of the landscape in springs with more rainfall and limited by deficit soil water in the higher parts of the landscape during the grain-filling part of the landscape. The assumption is that patterns within a field could be characterized by a single observation during the growing season; however, these patterns require multiple observations of the plant during the growing season coupled with the weather patterns during the growing season. There is a wealth of information contained in remote sensing observations over a field these have been used to quantify plant response extending into gross and net primary productivity. Applying this type of approach to fields has begun to offer methods of quantifying the spatial and temporal interactions within fields and across landscapes. Understanding the dynamics of plant response across a field permits discrimination among inherent soil properties and management practices.  Building this type of approach will open new insights into the interactions at the soil-plant nexus and the role of spatial and temporal variation on these interactions. Building this foundation will provide a more rigorous approach to identifying effective practices leading to enhanced crop production efficiency and reduced environmental impact.