Soil quality under riparian forest in different stages of ecological succession and cultivated with sugarcane

• Grant number: 12/07156-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2012
• End date: August 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Soil Science
• Principal Investigator: Jose Carlos Casagrande
• Grantee: Luiz Gabriel da Silva
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Agrárias (CCA). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). Araras , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Riparian forests are entrusted with important hydrological functions, such as riparian zone protection, filtering sediments, and nutrients, mitigation of the number of nutrients and xenobiotic molecules from surrounding agroecosystems, erosion control of channel slope, and the temperature of the aquatic ecosystem. In the State of São Paulo, there are one million acres of riparian areas that need to be recovered and reforested. In natural ecosystems edaphic characteristics determine the distribution and development of plant species. Will be evaluated two riparian forests, aged ten and twenty years, and an adjacent area with sugar cane, located on the shores of Mill dam Saint Lucia-Araras/SP. The soil will be sampled in the depths of 0-0.2 and 0.2-0.4 m and will be determined chemical (nutrient content and organic matter, cation exchange capacity - CTC, the sum of bases - SB, a saturation of bases - V% and aluminum-m%), physical (particle size distribution, density, and porosity) and microbiological attributes (basal respiration and microbial biomass) of soil. The goal of the work is to assess the soil quality by means of chemical, physical and microbiological soil attributes, employing the comparative additive model for two areas of riparian forest at different stages of ecological succession and an adjacent area with sugarcane.(AU)