Seasonal changes in the soil hydrological and erosive response depending on aspect, vegetation type and soil water repellency in different Mediterranean microenvironments

Abstract

Abstract. Mediterranean areas are characterized by a strong spatial variability that makes the soil hydrological response highly complex. Moreover, Mediterranean climate has marked seasons that provoke dramatic changes on soil properties determining the runoff rates, such as soil water content or soil water repellency (SWR). Thus, soil hydrological and erosive response in Mediterranean areas can be highly time-as well as space-dependant. This study shows SWR, aspect and vegetation as factors of the soil hydrological and erosive response. Erosion plots were set up in the north-and the south-facing hillslope and rainfall, runoff, sediments and SWR were monitored. Soil water repellency showed a seasonal behaviour and it was presented in three out of four microenvironments after the summer, disappearing in the wet season. In general, runoff rate was higher in shrubs patches (0.47 ± 0.67 mm) than in inter-shrub soils (1.54 ± 2.14 mm), but it changed seasonally in different ways, depending on the aspect considered, decreasing in the north-facing hillslope and increasing in the south-facing one. The main factor determining the hydrological and erosive response was the rainfall intensity, regardless of the rainfall depth of the event. This response was modulated mainly by SWR in the north-facing hillslope and the vegetation pattern in the south-facing one.

Analysis of soil moisture condition under different land uses in the arid region of Horqin sandy land, northern China

“…In general, the infiltration process is controlled by precipitation patterns, ground cover, soil characteristics, slop and initial soil moisture (Gabarrón-Galeote et al, 2013;Gómez-Plaza et al, 2000;Wang et al, 2013), which in turn affects soil water. In our study, the amount of medium precipitation was 6.2 times that of low rainfall; however the increase of soil water after medium precipitation was only 1.2 times that after low precipitation.…”

Reducing sediment concentration and soil loss using organic and inorganic amendments at plot scale

“…For example, various natural, organic and inorganic mulches, viz. crop residues, leaf litter, woodchips, bark chips, biological geotextiles, gravel and crushed stones (Gilley et al, 1986;Cerdà, 2001;Smets et al, 2008;Xu et al, 2012;Gabarrón-Galeote et al, 2013;Mandal and Sharda, 2013;Zhao et al, 2013;Moreno-Ramón et al, 2014), have been applied for soil conservation. Mulches can increase the infiltration capacity of a soil and strongly control soil erosion (Morgan, 1986), runoff and sediment yield (Poesen and Lavee, 1991;Cerdà, 1998).…”

Predicting parameters of degradation succession processes of Tibetan <i>Kobresia</i> grasslands

“…Therefore, the vegetation cover plays a fundamental role in the soil development and soil erosion (Cerdà, 2002;Keesstra et al, 2014), and soil degradation (Ziadat and Taimeh, 2013), and also in the geomorphological (Nanko et al, 2015) and hydrological behavior of the Earth system (Keesstra, 2007;Gabarrón-Galeote et al, 2013) and their interactions with the biota (Araújo et al, 2014;Bochet et al, 2015). At the same time, plants can shape soil microenvironments through living roots (Bardgett, 2002;Puente et al, 2004;Cerdà, 2002;Dai et al, 2013;Keesstra et al, 2014;Shang et al, 2014;Keesstra, 2014;Gabarrón-Galeote et al, 2013) and affect microbial function (Wang et al, 2015;Pereg and McMillan, 2015). In contrast to vegetation, the soil system provides an important carrier for growth of plants and microorganisms.…”