Cumulative frequency distributions of soil health properties under grasslands and woodlands across North Carolina

Abstract Soil health conditions can vary by inherent (climate, soil texture) and management (land use, practices) factors. A robust database to reference soil health conditions is a priority, particularly for soil metrics that vary by method. A survey of soil properties under 309 grassland fields and 29 farm woodlots on private farms was conducted across North Carolina. Classifying soil texture simply by sand concentration (kg kg −1 ) into fine (0.5) categories effectively separated the magnitude of most soil health metrics, particularly between medium and coarse textures. Most populations of soil properties under grasslands did not differ from those of a previous land use survey on research stations in North Carolina and private farmland in Virginia. Some exceptions were greater Mehlich‐3‐extractable phosphorus (P), zinc (Zn), and copper (Cu) under private grasslands in North Carolina, suggesting greater prevalence of animal manure applications. Similarity in populations of soil properties between studies indicates that consistent interpretations could be made across the region. Most soil chemical, physical, biological, and biogeochemical properties were greater under grassland than under woodland, while basal soil respiration and total, particulate, and non‐particulate organic carbon (C) were lower under grassland than under woodland. Soil health scores (0–1) using median values for each soil texture group were greater ( p < 0.001) under grassland (0.54 ± 0.02) than under woodland (0.37 ± 0.02). This study confirms that populations of dynamic soil properties sorted by soil textural group were effective to assess soil health across a diversity of soil types within a similar environmental setting, such as the southeastern US.