4.0 Article

Quality assurance and quality control in forest soil analyses: a comparison between European soil laboratories

Journal

ACCREDITATION AND QUALITY ASSURANCE
Volume 9, Issue 11-12, Pages 688-694

Publisher

SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00769-004-0856-4

Keywords

interlaboratory variability; intralaboratory variability; forest soil; Europe; analytical quality control

Ask authors/readers for more resources

In transnational monitoring programmes, a balance between international reference methods, which improve spatial comparability, and national analysis methods that favour temporal comparability, by their use and testing over many years, needs to be sought. Prior to the next Pan-European Forest Soil Survey, a third interlaboratory comparison of soil analysis methods was organised. All participating laboratories were requested to use the same reference methods. Fifty-two soil laboratories from 27 European countries analysed a total of 48 soil parameters on three soil samples which were typical for European forest soils. The results of the statistical analysis showed a high interlaboratory and intralaboratory variability, especially for the acid oxalate extractions, particle size distribution, exchangeable elements and total carbonates. The intercomparability of the test results did not improve compared to the previous ring test. As the exercise aimed primarily at comparing the performance of the laboratories, it was not powerful enough to find cause-effect relationships between the meta information provided by the laboratories and the variability of the test results.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.0
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available