Soil-water characteristic curves and related properties of disturbed forest soils

Adela Joanna Hamerníková, Pavel Dlapa, Silvia Ihnačáková, Artemi Cerda, Róbert Kanka and Ľuboš Halada
Additional contact information
Adela Joanna Hamerníková: Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
Silvia Ihnačáková: Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
Artemi Cerda: Soil Erosion and Degradation Research Group, Department of Geography, Valencia University, Valencia, Spain
Róbert Kanka: Institute of Landscape Ecology SAS, Bratislava, Slovakia
Ľuboš Halada: Institute of Landscape Ecology SAS, Bratislava, Slovakia

Soil and Water Research, vol. preprint

Abstract: Forest logging activities negatively affect various soil properties. In this study, we focus on the logging effects on soil water retention and associated pore size distribution. We measured the soil-water characteristic curves (SWCCs) on 21 undisturbed samples from three research plots: a reference area, a clear-cut area and a forest track. A total of 12 SWCC points between saturation and wilting point were determined for each sample with a sand box and pressure plate apparatus. The trimodal behaviour is highlighted by the dependence between soil moisture and suction. Therefore, we proposed a revised model by combining two exponential expressions with the van Genuchten model. The exponential terms describe the influence of macro-and-structural porosities, and the latter is used to calculate textural porosity. This new model with eight independent parameters was suitable to fit trimodal SWCCs in all samples. Results revealed that logging had the most destructive effect on large pores, and the soil on the forest track was the most affected. Both soil-air and available water capacity were reduced and the permanent wilting point increased as a result of damage to the soil structure and pore system. Observed increased organic carbon content in compacted soils can be attributed to slowed decomposition due to reduced air capacity and increased waterlogging susceptibility of damaged soils.

Keywords: forest logging; LTER Báb; pore size distribution; soil compaction; soil water retention; trimodal SWCC (search for similar items in EconPapers)
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://swr.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/135/2024-SWR.html (text/html)
free of charge

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:caa:jnlswr:v:preprint:id:135-2024-swr

DOI: 10.17221/135/2024-SWR

Access Statistics for this article

Soil and Water Research is currently edited by Ing. Markéta Knížková, (Executive Editor)

More articles in Soil and Water Research from Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ivo Andrle ().