Impact of Land Use Change and Afforestation on Soil Properties in a Mediterranean Mountain Area of Central Spain

Jorge Mongil-Manso, Joaquín Navarro-Hevia and Roberto San Martín
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Jorge Mongil-Manso: Faculty of Science and Arts, Catholic University of Ávila, 05005 Ávila, Spain
Joaquín Navarro-Hevia: Forest, Water and Soil Research Group, Spanish National Research Council, 05005 Ávila, Spain
Roberto San Martín: Sustainable Forest Management Research Institute, University of Valladolid, 34004 Palencia, Spain

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 7, 1-23

Abstract: Afforestation can improve hydrological processes, such as infiltration, in basins and, therefore, reduce the impact on human populations of floods, soil erosion, landslides, droughts, and climate variation. The aim of this work was to analyze how afforestation and other changes in land use influence infiltrability and the evolution of soils. Infiltration rates, soil water repellency, and physical and chemical properties of sandy loam soils were measured in four types of land: native holm oak forest, afforested 20-year-old pine forest, shrubs, and grasslands. Non-forest covers are the result of the degradation of native oak forests for centuries, while the pine afforestation in this study took place on a perennial wet mountain pasture (cervunalito). Our results show that soil infiltration rates are much higher in pine afforestation areas (857.67 mm·h −1 ) than in holm oak forest (660.67 mm·h −1 ), grasslands (280.00 mm·h −1 ), or shrubs (271.67 mm·h −1 ). No statistically significant differences in fertility, organic matter content, bulk density, or effective porosity were found between afforestation areas and other types of cover; however, pine afforestation improved the drainage of the soil, as its infiltration rate was higher than that of the native holm oak forest.

Keywords: ecological restoration; forest restoration; global change; infiltration; soil (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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