Influence of forest stand age on soil water repellency and hydraulic conductivity in the Mediterranean environment

2021 ◽  
Vol 753 ◽  
pp. 142006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Demetrio Antonio Zema ◽  
Pedro Antonio Plaza-Alvarez ◽  
Xiangzhou Xu ◽  
Bruno Gianmarco Carra ◽  
Manuel Esteban Lucas-Borja
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kegan Farrick ◽  
Darnell Gittens

<p>In many parts of the tropics, the increased demand for cocoa and its products has led to the development of new plantations. The soil properties in these young plantations may differ from older plantations or natural forests, which may affect soil water flow. As cocoa trees are very shallow rooted, the growth and survival of trees can be prone to changes in soil hydrology. We monitored the soil properties, soil water repellency and hydraulic conductivity in a 5, 12 and >30 year old cocoa plantation. During the dominant wet period, soil water repellency was absent in all stands while the hydraulic conductivity showed no significant differences among them. This suggests that water movement in the wet was not impacted by stand age. However, during the dry season, the water drop penetration times at the 5 (4.1 hours) and 12 (4.4 hours) year old stands were twice as long as the >30 year old plantation (2.1 hours). The extreme repellency in the younger stands were expected to reduce infiltration rates; however, higher rates were recorded in the 5 and 12 year old stands. We suggest that the higher infiltration rates in the younger stands are due to a combination of a highly repellent soil matrix and the presence of large, deep soil cracks which enhanced preferential flow. With the degree of repellency not being correlated with soil properties, we hypothesised that the high grass/sedge cover and high temperatures in the 5 and 12 year old stands enhanced it. While further research is needed to investigate the roll that grass and sedges play in developing repellent conditions and affecting soil water flow, managing their cover may prove beneficial for the growth and survival of young cocoa trees.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 1950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Esteban Lozano-Baez ◽  
Miguel Cooper ◽  
Silvio Frosini de Barros Ferraz ◽  
Ricardo Ribeiro Rodrigues ◽  
Laurent Lassabatere ◽  
...  

This study presents the results of the soil hydraulic characterization performed under three land covers, namely pasture, 9-year-old restored forest, and remnant forest, in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Two types of infiltration tests were performed, namely tension (Mini-Disk Infiltrometer, MDI) and ponding (Beerkan) tests. MDI and Beerkan tests provided complementary information, highlighting a clear increase of the hydraulic conductivity, especially at the remnant forest plots, when moving from near-saturated to saturated conditions. In addition, measuring the unsaturated soil hydraulic conductivity with different water pressure heads allowed the estimation of the macroscopic capillary length in the field. This approach, in conjunction with Beerkan measurements, allowed the design better estimates of the saturated soil hydraulic conductivity under challenging field conditions, such as soil water repellency (SWR). This research also reports, for the first time, evidence of SWR in the Atlantic Forest, which affected the early stage of the infiltration process with more frequency in the remnant forest.


Biologia ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Viliam Novák ◽  
Ľubomír Lichner ◽  
Bin Zhang ◽  
Karol Kňava

AbstractThe impact of heating on the peristence of water repellency, saturated hydraulic conductivity, and water retention characteristics was examined on soils from both forest and meadow sites in southwest Slovakia shortly after a wet spell. The top 5 cm of meadow soils had an initial water drop penetration time WDPT at 20°C of 457 s, whereas WDPT in the pine forest was 315 s for the top 5 cm and 982 s if only the top 1 cm was measured. Heating soils at selected temperatures of 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 and 300°C caused a marked drop in water drop penetration time WDPT from the initial value at 20°C. However, samples collected in different years and following an imposed cycle of wetting and drying showed much different trends, with WDPT sometimes initially increasing with temperature, followed by a drop after 200–300°C. The impact of heating temperature on the saturated hydraulic conductivity of soil was small. It was found for both the drying and wetting branches of soil water retention curves that an increase in soil water repellency resulted in a drop in soil water content at the same matric potential. The persistence of soil water repellency was strongly influenced by both the sampling site and time of sampling, as it was characterized by the results of WDPT tests.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Esteban Lozano-Baez ◽  
Miguel Cooper ◽  
Silvio Frosini de Barros Ferraz ◽  
Ricardo Ribeiro Rodrigues ◽  
Mirko Castellini ◽  
...  

<p>This study presents the results of the soil hydraulic characterization performed under three land covers, namely pasture, 9-year-old restored forest, and remnant forest, in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Two types of infiltration tests were performed, namely tension (Mini-Disk Infiltrometer, MDI) and ponding (Beerkan) tests. MDI and Beerkan tests provided a complementary information, highlighting a clear increase of the hydraulic conductivity, especially at the remnant forest plots, when moving from near-saturated to saturated conditions. In addition, measuring the unsaturated soil hydraulic conductivity with different water pressure heads also allowed to estimate the macroscopic capillary length in the field. This approach, in conjunction with Beerkan measurements, allowed to generate better estimates of the saturated soil hydraulic conductivity under challenging field conditions, such as soil water repellency (SWR). This research also reports for the first time evidence of SWR in the Atlantic Forest, which affected the early stage of the infiltration process with more frequency in the remnant forest.</p>


Geoderma ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 338 ◽  
pp. 187-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Weninger ◽  
Vilim Filipović ◽  
Mirel Mešić ◽  
Brent Clothier ◽  
Lana Filipović

Biologia ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ľubomír Lichner ◽  
Jozef Capuliak ◽  
Natalia Zhukova ◽  
Ladislav Holko ◽  
Henryk Czachor ◽  
...  

AbstractPines, used for sand dune stabilization, can influence the hydrophysical parameters and water flow in an aeolian sandy soil considerably, mainly due to soil water repellency. Two sites, separated by distance of about 20 m, formed the basis of our study. A control soil (“Pure sand“) with limited impact of vegetation or organic matter was formed at 50 cm depth beneath a forest glade area. This was compared to a “Forest soil” in a 30-year old Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) forest. Most of the hydrophysical parameters were substantially different between the two soil surfaces. The forest soil was substantially more water repellent and had two-times the degree of preferential flow compared to pure sand. Water and ethanol sorptivities, hydraulic conductivity, and saturated hydraulic conductivity were 1%, 84%, 2% and 26% those of the pure sand, respectively. The change in soil hydrophysical parameters due to soil water repellency resulted in preferential flow in the forest soil, emerging during a simulated heavy rain following a long hot, dry period. The wetting front established in pure sand exhibited a form typical of that for stable flow. Such a shape of the wetting front can be expected in the forest soil in spring, when soil water repellency is alleviated substantially.


Geoderma ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 402 ◽  
pp. 115264
Author(s):  
Enoch V.S. Wong ◽  
Philip R. Ward ◽  
Daniel V. Murphy ◽  
Matthias Leopold ◽  
Louise Barton

2014 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 360-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Kim ◽  
R. R. Pullanagari ◽  
M. Deurer ◽  
R. Singh ◽  
K. Y. Huh ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naama Tessler ◽  
Lea Wittenberg ◽  
Noam Greenbaum

Variations in forest fires regime affect: (1) the natural patterns of community structure and vegetation; (2) the physico-chemical properties of soils and consequently (3) runoff, erosion and sediment yield. In recent decades the Mediterranean ecosystem of Mount Carmel, north-western Israel, is subjected to an increasing number of forest fires, thus, the objectives of the study were to evaluate the long-term effects of single and recurrent fires on soil water repellency (WR) and organic matter (OM) content. Water repellency was studied by applying water drop penetration time (WDPT) tests at sites burnt by single-fire, two fires, three fires and unburnt control sites. Water repellency in the burnt sites was significantly lower than in the unburnt control sites, and the soil maintained its wettability for more than 2 decades, whereas after recurrent fires, the rehabilitation was more complicated and protracted. The OM content was significantly lower after recurrent than after a single fire, causing a clear proportional decrease in WR. The rehabilitation of WR to natural values is highly dependent on restoration of organic matter and revegetation. Recurrent fires may cause a delay in recovery and reduced productivity of the soil for a long period.


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