Assessing Water Infiltration and Soil Water Repellency in Brazilian Atlantic Forest Soils

Author(s)

Lozano-Baez, Sergio Esteban ^[1] ; Cooper, Miguel ^[2] ; de Barros Ferraz, Silvio Frosini ^[3] ; Rodrigues, Ricardo Ribeiro ^[1] ; Lassabatere, Laurent ^[4] ; Castellini, Mirko ^[5] ; Di Prima, Simone ^{[4, 6]}

Affiliation

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

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

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

^[4] Univ Lyon 1, Univ Lyon, UMR5023, CNRS, ENTPE, Ecol Hydrosyst Nat & Anthropises, 3 Rue Maurice Audin, F-69518 Vaulx En Velin - France

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

^[6] Univ Sassari, Dept Agr Sci, Viale Italia 39, I-07100 Sassari - Italy

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL; v. 10, n. 6 MAR 2020.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

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. (AU)

• 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
• 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