scholarly journals Effects of tropical rainforest conversion to rubber plantation on soil quality in Hainan Island, China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Sun ◽  
Guoyu Lan ◽  
Chuan Yang ◽  
Zhixiang Wu ◽  
Banqian Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
Tropical Rainforest ◽  
Hainan Island ◽  
Tropical Rainforests ◽  
Forest Conversion ◽  
Rubber Plantation ◽  
Cellulose Decomposition ◽  
Rubber Plantations

Abstract. Land-use changes can alter soil properties and thus affect soil quality. Our understanding of how forest conversion (from tropical rainforest to rubber plantations) affects soil properties and soil quality is limited. An ideal testing ground for analyzing such land-use change and its impacts is Hainan Island, the largest tropical island in China. Based on 21 soil physicochemical and biological properties, a soil quality index (SQI) employed principal component analysis to assess soil quality changes from the conversion of tropical rainforests to rubber plantations. The results showed that (i) soil available potassium, available phosphorus, microbial biomass carbon, cellulose decomposition, acid phosphatase, and urease were vital soil properties for soil quality assessment on Hainan Island. (ii) The SQI of rubber plantations decreased by 26.48 % compared to tropical rainforests, while four investigated soil properties (soil pH, total phosphorus, cellulose decomposition, and actinomyces) increased. (iii) The SQI of both the tropical rainforests and rubber plantations showed significant spatial differences, which, under tropical rainforests, was more sensitive to seasonal changes than those under rubber plantations. (iv) Structural equation modeling suggested that forest conversion directly impacted soil quality and, indirectly impacted soil qualities' spatial variation by their interaction with soil types and geographical positions. Overall, though the conversion of tropical rainforest to rubber plantation did not decrease all soil properties, the tropical rainforest with its high soil quality should be protected.

scholarly journals Network complexity of rubber plantations is lower than tropical forests for soil bacteria but not fungi

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guoyu Lan ◽  
Chuan Yang ◽  
Zhixiang Wu
Keyword(s):  
Network Structure ◽  
Tropical Rainforest ◽  
Soil Microbial Communities ◽  
Hainan Island ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Forest Conversion ◽  
Rubber Plantation ◽  
Microbial Composition ◽  
Rubber Plantations ◽  
Soil Microbial

Abstract. Soil microbial communities play a crucial role in ecosystem functioning. Past research has examined the effects of forest conversion on soil microbial composition and diversity, but it remains unknown how networks within these communities respond to forest conversion such as when tropical rainforest are replaced with rubber plantations. In this study, we used Illumina sequencing and metagenome shotgun sequencing to analyze bacterial and fungal community network structure in a large number of soil samples from tropical rainforest and rubber plantation sites in Hainan Island, China. Our results showed only a few shared network edges were observed in both bacterial and fungal communities, which indicates that forest conversion altered soil microbial network structure. We found a greater degree of network structure and a larger number of network edges among bacterial networks in samples from tropical rainforest compared to samples from rubber plantations. The difference was especially pronounced during the rainy season and indicates that rainforest bacterial networks were more complex than rubber plantation bacterial networks. However, rubber plantations soil fungal networks showed more higher links and higher network degree, suggesting that forest conversion does not reduce fungal network complexity. We found that some groups of Acidobacteria were keystone taxa in our tropical rainforest soils, while Actinobacteria were keystone taxa in rubber plantation soils. In addition, seasonal change had a strong effect on network degree, the complexity of soil bacterial and fungal network structure. In conclusion, forest conversion changed soil pH and other soil properties, such as available potassium (AK) and total nitrogen (TN), which resulted in changes in bacterial and fungal network composition and structure.

scholarly journals Effects of Afforestation on Plant Diversity and Soil Quality in Semiarid SE Spain

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1730
Author(s):  
Carmen Segura ◽  
María N. Jiménez ◽  
Emilia Fernández-Ondoño ◽  
Francisco B. Navarro
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Soil Quality Indicators ◽  
Higher Plant ◽  
Se Spain ◽  
Semiarid Environments ◽  
Edaphic Variables

Farmland afforestation has been promoted in recent decades and is one of the main strategies included in the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration to recover degraded areas. However, the impacts of afforestation on plant diversity and soil quality indicators are still not well-understood in semiarid environments. In this study, we assessed the relationships between plant diversity indicators (abundance, total richness, richness by functional groups, and Shannon diversity) and a large number of variables in 48 afforestation sites in southeast Spain. We considered associated environmental factors, such as geographical, climatic or edaphic variables, age, and land-use history. We compared plant diversity and soil properties following land-use change from cereal cropping to afforestation, which is one of the most common land-use changes in Mediterranean areas. Plant diversity in afforested sites was found to be dependent on previous land use, the proximity of natural vegetation, several soil properties (texture, pH, and total nitrogen), and plantation age. Afforested soils showed higher plant diversity and an improvement in edaphic parameters related to multifunctionality in semiarid ecosystems (i.e., soil organic carbon, nitrogen, and potassium) than arable cropped soils.

scholarly journals Soil Properties Variability Under Various Agroecosystems In Ultisols Of Bengkulu

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-59
Author(s):  
Priyono Prawito ◽  
Impetus Hasada Windu Sitorus ◽  
Zainal Muktamar ◽  
Bandi Hermawan ◽  
Welly Herman
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Oil Palm ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
The Other ◽  
Rubber Plantation ◽  
Total N ◽  
Organic C ◽  
Rubber Plantations ◽  
Similar Texture

Understanding the relation of agroecosystem types, ages, and soil properties are vital in maintaining good quality soil. This study aims to explore the variation of selected soil properties with agroecosystem types and ages. The research has been conducted in North Bengkulu, Indonesia. Soil properties on agroecosystems of 5-yr, 10-yr, 15-yr oil palm plantation, 5-yr, 10-yr, 15-yr rubber plantation, food cropland, and scrubland were evaluated. The study found that soil in oil palm and rubber plantations of any age have a similar texture, bulk density (BD), and actual soil moisture (ASM). All plantation agroecosystems and scrubland have higher clay and lower silt content than that in food cropland. In addition, the scrubland has the highest ASM content among the agroecosystems. On the other hand, both agroecosystems enhances soil chemical properties than food cropland and scrubland as indicated by the improvement of organic-C, total-N, available P, exchangeable K and CEC of Ultisols. Older plantation also provides higher soil chemical improvement than younger one. This finding is significant for management of sub optimal soil mainly Ultisols for oil palm and rubber plantation.

scholarly journals Response of Potential Indicators of Soil Quality to Land-Use and Land-Cover Change under a Mediterranean Climate in the Region of Al-Jabal Al-Akhdar, Libya

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 162
Author(s):  
Jamal Suliman Alawamy ◽  
Siva K. Balasundram ◽  
Ahmad Husni Mohd. Hanif ◽  
Christopher Teh Boon Sung
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
Quality Indicators ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Rainfed Agriculture ◽  
Soil Quality Indicators ◽  
Al Jabal Al Akhdar ◽  
Effects Of Land Use

Conversion of native lands into agricultural use, coupled with poor land management practices, generally leads to changes in soil properties. Understanding the undesirable effects of land-use and land-cover (LULC) changes on soil properties is essential when planning for sustainable land management. This study was conducted in Al Jabal Al Akhdar region, Libya, to assess the effects of land-use and land-cover changes on soil quality inferred by analyzing the relative changes in 17 chemical, physical, and biological soil properties in the upper layer (0–20 cm) of disturbed and undisturbed soil systems. Soil samples were collected from 180 sampling sites with 60 from each of the three types of LULC prevalent in the study area: natural Mediterranean forests (NMF), rainfed agriculture (RA), and irrigated crops (IC). The soil properties of the two agricultural land uses were compared with soil properties under an adjacent natural forest, which served as a control to assess changes in soil quality resulting from the cultivation of deforested land. The results indicate significant reductions in most soil quality indicators under rainfed agriculture as compared to native forest land. Under irrigated agriculture, there were significant changes (p ≤ 0.05) in most of the soil quality indicators, generally, indicating a significant reduction in soil quality, except for improvement of nitrogen and phosphorus levels due to frequent fertilizer application. Our data support the notion that changes in land use and land cover, in the absence of sustainable management measures, induce deterioration of soil properties and ultimately may lead to land degradation and productivity decline.

scholarly journals Soil nitrogen oxide fluxes from lowland forests converted smallholder rubber and oil palm plantations in Sumatra, Indonesia

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelyn Hassler ◽  
Marife D. Corre ◽  
Syahrul Kurniawan ◽  
Edzo Veldkamp
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Oil Palm ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Fertilizer Application ◽  
Forest Conversion ◽  
Land Uses ◽  
Soil N ◽  
Land Use Conversion ◽  
Rubber Plantations ◽  
No Fluxes

Abstract. Oil palm and rubber plantations cover large areas of former rainforest in Sumatra, Indonesia, supplying the global demand for these crops. Although forest conversion is known to influence soil nitrous oxide (N2O) and nitric oxide (NO) fluxes, measurements from oil palm and rubber plantations are scarce (for N2O) or nonexistent (for NO). Our study aimed to (1) quantify changes in soil-atmosphere fluxes of N oxides with forest conversion to rubber and oil palm plantations, and (2) determine their controlling factors. In Jambi, Sumatra, we selected two landscapes that mainly differed in texture but both on heavily weathered soils: loam and clay Acrisol soils. Within each landscape, we investigated lowland forest, rubber trees interspersed in secondary forest (termed as jungle rubber), both as reference land uses, and smallholder rubber and oil palm plantations, as converted land uses. Each land use had four replicate plots within each landscape. Soil N2O fluxes were measured monthly from December 2012 to December 2013, and soil NO fluxes were measured four times between March and September 2013. In the loam Acrisol landscape, we also conducted weekly to bi-weekly soil N2O flux measurements from July 2014 to July 2015 in a large-scale oil palm plantation with four replicate plots for comparison with smallholder oil palm plantations. Land-use conversion to smallholder plantations had no effect on soil N-oxide fluxes (P = 0.58 to 0.76) due to the generally low soil N availability in the reference land uses that further decreased with land-use conversion. Over one-year measurements, the temporal patterns of soil N-oxide fluxes were influenced by soil mineral N and water contents. Across landscapes, annual soil N2O emissions were controlled by gross nitrification and sand content, which also suggest the influence of soil N and water availability. Soil N2O fluxes (µg N m−2 h−1) were: 7 ± 2 to 14 ± 7 (reference land uses), 6 ± 3 to 9 ± 2 (rubber), 12 ± 3 to 12 ± 6 (smallholder oil palm), and 42 ± 24 (large-scale oil palm). Soil NO fluxes (µg N m−2 h−1) were: −0.6 ± 0.7 to 5.7 ± 5.8 (reference land uses), −1.2 ± 0.5 to −1.0 ± 0.2 (rubber) and −0.2 ± 1.2 to 0.7 ± 0.7 (smallholder oil palm). The low N fertilizer application in smallholder oil palm plantations (commonly 48 to 88 kg N ha−1 yr−1) resulted in N-oxide losses of only 0.2–0.7 % of the applied N. To improve estimate of soil N-oxide fluxes from oil palm plantations in this region, studies should focus on large-scale plantations (which usually have two to four times higher N fertilization rates than smallholders) with frequent measurements following fertilizer application.

Effects of Native Tree Planting on Soil Recovery in Tropical Montane Cloud Forests

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 700-711
Author(s):  
Jorge Mendoza-Vega ◽  
Victor M Ku-Quej ◽  
Ingmar Messing ◽  
Juan Carlos Pérez-Jiménez
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
Cloud Forest ◽  
Tree Planting ◽  
Tropical Montane Cloud Forest ◽  
Tree Establishment ◽  
Montane Cloud Forest ◽  
Native Tree ◽  
Moderate Disturbance

Abstract The tropical montane cloud forest is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth and is one of the areas most threatened by anthropogenic disturbance. This study assessed the temporal impact on soil properties (organic carbon, total nitrogen, cation exchange capacity, bulk density) following establishment of native tree species in two degraded tropical montane cloud forest areas with different soil types and land-use intensities in south-east Mexico. In Pueblo Nuevo, Chiapas, Pinus chiapensis and Alnus spp. were established at two sites with humic Nitisols with low and moderate disturbance levels, respectively. In Xalapa, Veracruz, plum pine (Podocarpus matudae), American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana), Oaxaca walnut (Juglans pyriformis Liebm.), and sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) were established on a grassland-covered humic Andosol with a high level of disturbance. After 16 years, soil properties had generally improved, although in the initial years after planting, the values declined, indicating a possible negative impact because of disturbance during tree establishment. Land-use intensity prior to tree establishment influenced the level of recovery in soil properties. The Pueblo Nuevo sites, with low to moderate disturbance levels, regained soil quality faster than the highly disturbed Xalapa site, despite better initial soil quality in the latter.

Assessment of soil quality for different land uses in the Chure region of Central Nepal

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pramod Ghimire ◽  
Balram Bhatta ◽  
Basudev Pokhrel ◽  
Ishu Shrestha
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
Total Nitrogen ◽  
Quality Index ◽  
Land Use Management ◽  
Land Uses ◽  
Soil Quality Index ◽  
Central Nepal

Soil quality is the capacity of soil to sustain biological productivity and environmental quality. Assessment of soil quality in different land use systems is essential as inappropriate land use management can degrade and deteriorate its function and stability. In this regard this study was carried out to evaluate soil quality of different land use types in Chure region of central Nepal. Soil quality index (SQI) was determined on the basis of the soil physiochemical parameters. Soil properties like soil pH, organic matter (OM), total nitrogen (TN), available potassium (AK), and available phosphorous (AP) were significantly affected by land uses types. Forest soil had the highest soil quality index (0.82) followed by bari (0.66), khet (0.64), and degraded land (0.40). Of the soil properties studied, total nitrogen and soil organic matter had the determining role in making significant impacts in the SQI among the different land uses. Hence, the results of this study can be important tool for planner, policy makers, and scientific community to frame appropriate land use management strategy.

The effects of conversion of tropical rainforest to rubber plantation on splash erosion in Xishuangbanna, SW China

2013 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 168-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjie Liu ◽  
Qinpu Luo ◽  
Jintao Li ◽  
Pingyuan Wang ◽  
Hongjian Lu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Erosion Rate ◽  
Tropical Rainforest ◽  
Rubber Plantation ◽  
Sw China ◽  
Rubber Plantations ◽  
Splash Erosion ◽  
The Past ◽  
Average Potential ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Raindrop Splash

The Xishuangbanna (SW China) landscape has changed dramatically during the past three decades due to the conversion of tropical rainforest to rubber plantations. This study characterized the influence of conversion of tropical rainforest to rubber plantation on potential splash erosion rate and actual splash erosion rate. The average potential splash erosion rate was 2.1 times higher in the rubber plantation than in the open, while for the rainforest it was only 1.2 times higher than in the open, suggesting that the rubber plantation canopy greatly increased the rainsplash erosion. The average actual splash erosion rate was 2.0 times higher in the rubber plantation than in the rainforest, demonstrating that the rainforest was more effective in controlling splash erosion. The actual splash erosion rate was considerably lower in the terrace bench than in the riser bank in the rubber plantation, indicating that the riser bank was more sensitive to raindrop splash. Hence, protection of terrace risers with productive vegetation or litter/mulch layer is of vital importance in this bench-terraced rubber plantation. These results clearly show that conversion of tropical rainforest to rubber plantation had a negative effect on controlling splash erosion.

Using reflectance spectroscopy for detecting land-use effects on soil quality in drylands

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Levi ◽  
Arnon Karnieli ◽  
Tarin Paz-Kagan
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Least Squares ◽  
Partial Least Squares ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
Reflectance Spectroscopy ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Near Infrared Reflectance ◽  
Chemical Soil ◽  
Geographical Units

<p>The rapid growth in the global population over the past few decades has resulted in the transformation of many natural ecosystems into human-dominated ones. Land-use (LU) dynamics are accompanied by an increase in resource exploitation, often causing deteriorated environmental conditions that are reflected in the soil quality. Soil quality differences between LUs can be observed and measured using near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) methods. The research goal was to apply, measure, and evaluate soil properties based solely on the spectral differences between both natural and human-dominated LU practices, in the dryland environment of the central Negev Desert, Israel. This goal was achieved through the development and implementation of chemometrics techniques that were generated from soil point spectroscopy. Soil quality index (SQI) values, based on 14 physical, biological, and chemical soil properties, were quantified and compared between LUs and geographical units across the study area. Laboratory spectral measurements of soil samples were applied. Significant differences in SQI values were found between the geographical units. The statistical and mathematical methods for evaluating the soil properties’ spectral differences included principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares-regression (PLS-R), and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). Correlations between predicted spectral values and measured soil properties and SQI were calculated using PLS-R and evaluated by the coefficient of determination (R<sup>2</sup>), the Root Mean Square Error of Calibration, and Cross-Validation (RMSEC and RMSECV), and the ratio of performance to deviation (RPD). The PLS-R managed to produce “excellent” and “good” prediction values for some of the soil properties, including EC, Cl, Na, Ca + Mg, SAR, NO<sub>3</sub>, P, and SOM. Results of the PLS-R model for SQI are R<sup>2</sup> = 0.90, RPD = 2.46, RMSEC = 0.034, and RMSECV = 0.057. The PLS-DA classification of the laboratory spectroscopy was applied and resulted in high accuracy and kappa coefficient values when comparing LUs. In contrast, comparing the sampling sites resulted in lower overall accuracy (Acc = 0.82) and kappa values (K<sub>c</sub> = 0.80). It is concluded that differentiation between physical, biological, and chemical soil properties, based on their spectral differences, is the key feature in the successful results for recognizing and characterizing various soil processes in an integrative approach.  The results prove that soil quality and most soil properties can be successfully monitored and evaluated using NIRS in a comprehensive, non-destructive, time- and cost-efficient method.</p>

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