Impact of Anthropic Activities on Soil Quality under Different Land Uses

Lucia Santorufo, Valeria Memoli, Speranza Claudia Panico, Francesco Esposito, Luca Vitale, Gabriella Di Natale, Marco Trifuoggi, Rossella Barile, Anna De Marco and Giulia Maisto
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Lucia Santorufo: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Via Cinthia, 80126 Napoli, Italy
Valeria Memoli: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Via Cinthia, 80126 Napoli, Italy
Speranza Claudia Panico: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Via Cinthia, 80126 Napoli, Italy
Francesco Esposito: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Via Cinthia, 80126 Napoli, Italy
Luca Vitale: National Research Council (CNR), Institute for Agricultural and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean (ISAFoM), P.le E. Fermi 1-Loc. del Granatello, 80055 Portici, Italy
Gabriella Di Natale: Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Via Cinthia, 80126 Napoli, Italy
Marco Trifuoggi: Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Via Cinthia, 80126 Napoli, Italy
Rossella Barile: Parco Nazionale del Vesuvio, Via Palazzo del Principe c/o Castello Mediceo, 80044 Ottaviano, Italy
Anna De Marco: BAT Center—Interuniversity Center for Studies on Bioinspired Agro-Environmental Technology, University of Naples Federico II, 80100 Naples, Italy
Giulia Maisto: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Via Cinthia, 80126 Napoli, Italy

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 16, 1-14

Abstract: Anthropization often leads to land use transformation, causing deep changes to soil properties and its quality. Land use change could be an environmental and socioeconomic problem, as it impacts soil quality and ecosystem services. There is an urgent need to understand the pressures affecting soil quality. The aim of the work is to quantify the impact of different land uses on soil abiotic and biotic properties and on its quality. To achieve the aims, soils from different land uses (forest, urban and agricultural) were collected in the surroundings of Naples and analyzed for pH, water content, contents of C and N, C/N ratio and total and available concentrations of Cu, Ni and Pb, microbial and fungal biomasses, basal respiration and metabolic quotient. Then, a soil quality index (SQI) was calculated for each land use. The results showed that soil abiotic and biotic properties of the agricultural sites differed from those of forest and urban sites. At agricultural sites, microbial abundances decreased due to low amount of C and N and to high amount of Cu and Pb. This caused low use efficiency of energetic substrates and a reduced soil quality of agricultural sites as compared to forest and urban sites.

Keywords: soil quality; urban soils; forest; agricultural practices; microbial biomass and activity; Mediterranean area (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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