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Alkaline soils are considered much less prone to developing water repellency induced by fire than acidic soils. Here we report on the persistence of water repellency present in calcareous soils immediately after wildfires in 10 burned... more
Alkaline soils are considered much less prone to developing water repellency induced by fire than acidic soils. Here we report on the persistence of water repellency present in calcareous soils immediately after wildfires in 10 burned areas in SE Spain, its distribution in different aggregate size fractions (<2, 2–1, 1–0.5, 0.5–0.25 and <0.25 mm) and on results from aggregate stability tests.
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[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0080522.].
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Flood irrigated citrus orchard abandonment in eastern Spain is due to socio-economic changes and the small size of the farms. By means of a cylinder infiltrometer and measurements of soil organic matter we conclude that land abandonment... more
Flood irrigated citrus orchard abandonment in eastern Spain is due to socio-economic changes and the small size of the farms. By means of a cylinder infiltrometer and measurements of soil organic matter we conclude that land abandonment favours an increase in total carbon and infiltration rates. The recovery showed a crisis in the first year after abandonment, when the vegetation did not recover and the soil was affected by a surface crust. Although the abandoned orchards did not receive fertilizers or irrigation, the abandonment is positive for recovery of organic matter and infiltration rates.
Shortage of water is one of the most important environmental problem in the Mediterranean areas that implicates the search for strategies for saving good quality water. The use of treated waste water for the irrigation of agricultural... more
Shortage of water is one of the most important environmental problem in the Mediterranean areas that implicates the search for strategies for saving good quality water. The use of treated waste water for the irrigation of agricultural land can be a good solution for this problem because it reduces the utilization of fresh water and potentially could improve soil key parameters, but can modify physical-chemical and biological properties of the same. The aim of this work was to study the effect of long-term irrigation with treated waste water on microbial diversity, mainly arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) of the soil and other properties related with the microbial community. The experiment was developed in an agricultural area with Citrus orchard, located in Alicante in the southeast Spain. Here, we tested whether the communities of AMF as well as soil microbial properties were affected by irrigation with water coming from sewage treatment plant during 40 years in a soil. To carry o...
El presente trabajo muestra una primera aproximación experimental para el seguimiento del proceso de compostaje a gran escala de un lodo de depuradora, mediante el empleo de radiometría visible e infrarrojo cercano (VNIR).
ABSTRACT We investigated the diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in roots of Prunus persica under two fertilization treatments (CF: consisted of application of chicken manure (1400 kg.ha-1), urea (140 kg.ha-1), complex... more
ABSTRACT We investigated the diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in roots of Prunus persica under two fertilization treatments (CF: consisted of application of chicken manure (1400 kg.ha-1), urea (140 kg.ha-1), complex fertilizer 12-12-17/2 (280 kg.ha-1), and potassium sulfate (40 kg.ha-1) and IF: consisted of application of urea (140 kg.ha-1), complex fertilizer 12-12-17/2 (400 kg.ha-1) and potassium sulfate (70 kg.ha-1)) combined with integrated pest management (IM) or chemical pest management (CM), in a tropical agroecosystem in the north of Venezuela. Our goal was to ascertain how different fertilizers/pest management can modify the AMF diversity colonizing P. persica roots as an important step towards sustainable soil use and therefore protection of biodiversity. The AM fungal small-subunit (SSU) rRNA genes were subjected to PCR, cloning, sequencing and phylogenetic analyses. Twenty-one different phylotypes were identified, which were grouped in five families: Glomeraceae, Paraglomeraceae, Acaulosporaceae, Gigasporaceae and Archaeosporaceae. Sixteen of these sequence groups belonged to the genus Glomus, two to Paraglomus, one to Acaulospora, one to Scutellospora and one to Archaeospora. A different distribution of the AMF phylotypes as consequence of the difference between treatments was observed. Thus, the AMF communities of tree roots in the (IF+CM) treatment had the lowest diversity (H'=1.78) with the lowest total number of AMF sequence types (9). The trees from both (CF+IM) and (IF+IM) treatments had similar AMF diversity (H'?2.00); while the treatment (CF+CM) yielded the highest number of different AMF sequence types (17) and showed the highest diversity index (H'=2.69). In conclusion, the crop management including combination of organic and inorganic fertilization and chemical pest control appears to be the most suitable strategy with respect to reactivate the AMF diversity in the roots of this crop and thus, the agricultural and environmental sustainability in the agroecosystem.
ABSTRACT Agricultural land management greatly affects soil properties. Microbial soil communities are the most sensitive and rapid indicators of perturbations in land use and soil enzyme activities are sensitive biological indicators of... more
ABSTRACT Agricultural land management greatly affects soil properties. Microbial soil communities are the most sensitive and rapid indicators of perturbations in land use and soil enzyme activities are sensitive biological indicators of the effects of soil management practices. Citrus orchards frequently have degraded soils and this paper evaluates how land management in citrus orchards can improve soil quality. A field experiment was performed in an orchard of orange trees (Citrus Sinensis) in the Alcoleja Experimental Station (Eastern Spain) with clay-loam agricultural soils to assess the long-term effects of herbicides with inorganic fertilizers (H), intensive ploughing and inorganic fertilizers (P) and organic farming (O) on the soil microbial properties, and to study the relationship between them. Nine soil samples were taken from each agricultural management plot. In all the samples the basal soil respiration, soil microbial biomass carbon, water holding capacity, electrical conductivity, soil organic matter, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, available potassium, aggregate stability, cation exchange capacity, pH, texture, macronutrients (Na, Ca and Mg), micronutrients (Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu), calcium carbonate equivalent, calcium carbonate content of limestone and enzimatic activities (urease, dehydrogenase, β-glucosidase and acid phosphatase) were determined. The results showed a substantial level of differentiation in the microbial properties, which were highly associated with soil organic matter content. The management practices including herbicides and intensive ploughing had similar results on microbial soil properties. O management contributed to an increase in the soil biology quality, aggregate stability and organic matter content.
Research Interests: Sustainable agriculture, Land management, Biological Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Soil Erosion, and 13 moreSoil organic matter, Erosion Control, Soil Degradation, Agricultural land use change, Microbial Biomass, Water Loss, Soil loss, Soil Properties, Aggregate Stability, Soil Water, Soil Tillage, Rainfall Simulation, and Return period
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ABSTRACT Plant species can influence fire intensity and severity causing different immediate and long-term responses on the soil microbial community. The main objective of this work was to determine the role of two representative... more
ABSTRACT Plant species can influence fire intensity and severity causing different immediate and long-term responses on the soil microbial community. The main objective of this work was to determine the role of two representative Mediterranean plant species as soil organic matter sources, and to identify their influence on microbial response before and after heat exposure.A laboratory heating experiment (300 °C for 20 min) was performed using soil collected under Pinus hallepensis (PIN) and Quercus coccifera (KER). Dried plant material was added before heating for a total of six different treatments: non-heated control samples amended with the original plant material (PIN0 and KER0); PIN samples heated with pine (PINp) or kermes oak litter (PINk); KER samples heated with kermes oak (KERk) or pine litter (KERp). Heated soils were inoculated with the original fresh soil and different microbial parameters related to abundance, activity and possible changes in microbial community composition and chemical soil parameters that could be conditioning microbial response were measured for 28 days after inoculation.The effect of heating on the soil microbial parameters studied was influenced to a small extent by the plant species providing fuel, being evident in soil samples taken under pine influence. Nevertheless heating effect showed marked differences when plant species influence on soil origin was analyzed.In general, samples taken under pine appear to be more negatively affected by heating treatment than samples collected under kermes oak, highlighting the importance of vegetation as a fresh organic matter source in soil ecosystems before and after fire.
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Gypsiferous soils have a high agricultural value, but their utilization is limited by the presence of gypsum that can induce hardpan and vertical crusting. This paper reports on sulphate reduction in this soil type as a basis of a... more
Gypsiferous soils have a high agricultural value, but their utilization is limited by the presence of gypsum that can induce hardpan and vertical crusting. This paper reports on sulphate reduction in this soil type as a basis of a bioremediation technology to remove the gypsum content of calcareous gypsiferous soils. Both the endogenous and bioaugmented sulphate-reducing potential of the soil was assessed in anaerobic batch tests. An endogenous population of sulphate-reducing bacteria was found to be present in the calcareous gypsiferous soil investigated, which could form the basis of both in situ and ex situ bioremediation schemes for this soil type.
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In Eastern Spain, almond trees have been cultivated in terraced orchards for centuries, forming an integral part of the Mediterranean forest scene. In the last decades, orchards have been abandoned due to changes in society. This study... more
In Eastern Spain, almond trees have been cultivated in terraced orchards for centuries, forming an integral part of the Mediterranean forest scene. In the last decades, orchards have been abandoned due to changes in society. This study investigates effects of changes in land use from forest to agricultural land and the posterior land abandonment on soil microbial community, and the influence of soil physico-chemical properties on the microbial community composition (assessed as abundances of phospholipids fatty acids, PLFA). For ...
Información del artículo Evolución de las poblaciones de hongos y bacterias viables en suelos degradados enmendados con lodo de depuradora.
Información del artículo Seguimiento del proceso de compostaje de un lodo en la EDAR de Aspe (ALicante).