Angelo Garcia Costa, Mauricio Fornalski Soares, Marília Alves Brito Pinto, Miguel David Fuentes‐Guevara, Rômulo Félix Nunes, Douglas Rodrigo Kaiser, Robson André Armindo, Luis Carlos Timm
{"title":"Exploring the Soil Structure Analysis of a Subtropical Watershed by Introducing a Blanket Physico‐Hydraulic Health Index","authors":"Angelo Garcia Costa, Mauricio Fornalski Soares, Marília Alves Brito Pinto, Miguel David Fuentes‐Guevara, Rômulo Félix Nunes, Douglas Rodrigo Kaiser, Robson André Armindo, Luis Carlos Timm","doi":"10.1002/ldr.5326","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Multiple disturbed and undisturbed soil samples were collected to assess the soil structure health in support of water use and management in a subtropical watershed, which is composed of shallow Entisols, near to Canguçu, RS state—Brazil. Various physico‐hydraulic properties related to soil structure, such as bulk density, total, micro and macroporosity, saturated hydraulic conductivity, organic carbon, soil water retention curve (SWRC), and the ranges of plant available water (PAWC) and drainable porosity (DP) were measured to be analyzed. The hydraulic‐energy indices of soil aeration and water retention were determined by integrating the areas under SWRC. Combining these properties with the contents of sand and clay, a unique blanket soil physico‐hydraulic health index (BSPHI) was formulated and applied to investigate the impact of land use and management on the soils of the Ellert Creek Watershed (ECW), thereby supporting soil physical health analysis and, consequently, the analysis of water and human health. The favorable outcomes found in the ECW soils under annual crops indicated good root aeration in the surface layer due to the balance between DP and PAWC. The BSPHI results showed that only about 19% of the areas exhibited unhealthy physical health. The soil structure in pasture areas of ECW was not significantly impacted by the extensive cattle grazing, whereas lands under native forest served as a control for the natural soil quality status. The BSPHI successfully captured small changes in soil structure, regardless of land use and management, highlighting its potential as a promising tool for evaluating soil health by assessing the soil physical quality.","PeriodicalId":203,"journal":{"name":"Land Degradation & Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Land Degradation & Development","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.5326","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Multiple disturbed and undisturbed soil samples were collected to assess the soil structure health in support of water use and management in a subtropical watershed, which is composed of shallow Entisols, near to Canguçu, RS state—Brazil. Various physico‐hydraulic properties related to soil structure, such as bulk density, total, micro and macroporosity, saturated hydraulic conductivity, organic carbon, soil water retention curve (SWRC), and the ranges of plant available water (PAWC) and drainable porosity (DP) were measured to be analyzed. The hydraulic‐energy indices of soil aeration and water retention were determined by integrating the areas under SWRC. Combining these properties with the contents of sand and clay, a unique blanket soil physico‐hydraulic health index (BSPHI) was formulated and applied to investigate the impact of land use and management on the soils of the Ellert Creek Watershed (ECW), thereby supporting soil physical health analysis and, consequently, the analysis of water and human health. The favorable outcomes found in the ECW soils under annual crops indicated good root aeration in the surface layer due to the balance between DP and PAWC. The BSPHI results showed that only about 19% of the areas exhibited unhealthy physical health. The soil structure in pasture areas of ECW was not significantly impacted by the extensive cattle grazing, whereas lands under native forest served as a control for the natural soil quality status. The BSPHI successfully captured small changes in soil structure, regardless of land use and management, highlighting its potential as a promising tool for evaluating soil health by assessing the soil physical quality.
期刊介绍:
Land Degradation & Development is an international journal which seeks to promote rational study of the recognition, monitoring, control and rehabilitation of degradation in terrestrial environments. The journal focuses on:
- what land degradation is;
- what causes land degradation;
- the impacts of land degradation
- the scale of land degradation;
- the history, current status or future trends of land degradation;
- avoidance, mitigation and control of land degradation;
- remedial actions to rehabilitate or restore degraded land;
- sustainable land management.