Recovery of Soil Hydraulic Properties for Assisted Passive and Active Restoration: Assessing Historical Land Use and Forest Structure

Author(s)

Lozano-Baez, Sergio Esteban ^[1] ; Cooper, Miguel ^[2] ; de Barros Ferraz, Silvio Frosini ^[3] ; Rodrigues, Ricardo Ribeiro ^[1] ; Castellini, Mirko ^[4] ; Di Prima, Simone ^[5]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Lab Ecol & Forest Restorat LERF, Dept Biol Sci, Luiz de Queiroz Coll Agr, Ave Padua Dias 11, BR-13418900 Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Soil Sci, Luiz de Queiroz Coll Agr, Ave Padua Dias 11, BR-13418900 Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Forest Hydrol Lab, Luiz de Queiroz Coll Agr, Ave Padua Dias 11, BR-13418900 Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

^[4] Council Agr Res & Econ, Res Ctr Agr & Environm CREA AA, Via C Ulpiani 5, I-70125 Bari - Italy

^[5] Univ Lyon 1, Univ Lyon, UMR5023 Ecol Hydrosyst Nat & Anthropises, CNRS, ENTPE, 3 Rue Maurice Audin, F-69518 Vaulx En Velin - France

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: WATER; v. 11, n. 1 JAN 2019.
• Web of Science Citations: 2

Abstract

Tree planting and natural regeneration are the main approaches to achieve global forest restoration targets, affecting multiple hydrological processes, such as infiltration of rainfall. Our understanding of the effect of land use history and vegetation on the recovery of water infiltration and soil attributes in both restoration strategies is limited. Therefore, we investigated the recovery of top-soil saturated soil hydraulic conductivity (K-s), soil physical and hydraulic properties in five land use types: (i) a secondary old-growth forest; (ii) a forest established through assisted passive restoration 11 years ago; (iii) an actively restored forest, with a more intensive land use history and 11 years of age; (iv) a pasture with low-intensity use; and (v) a pasture with high-intensity use, in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. For these land use types, we determined the historical land use patterns and conducted soil sampling, using the Beerkan method to determine K-s values in the field. We also measured tree basal area, canopy cover, vegetation height, tree density and species richness in forest covers. The K-s decreased when land use was more intense prior to forest restoration actions. Our results indicate that land use legacy is a crucial factor to explain the current difference in soil and vegetation attributes among study sites. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 99/09635-0 - Diversity, dynamics and conservation in São Paulo State Forests: 40ha of permanent parcels
• Grantee: Ricardo Ribeiro Rodrigues
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 13/50718-5 - Ecological restoration of riparian forests, native forest of economic production and of degraded forest fragments (in APP and RL) based on restoration ecology of reference ecosystems in order to scientifically test the precepts of the New Brazilian Forest Code
• Grantee: Ricardo Ribeiro Rodrigues
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Thematic Grants