Assessment of soil physical properties' statuses under different land covers within a landscape dominated by exotic industrial tree plantations in south-central Chile

Soto, L.; Galleguillos, Mauricio; Seguel, Óscar; Sotomayor, B.; Lara, Antonio

doi:10.2489/jswc.74.1.12

Cited by 19 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…These results reflect a landscape that is prone to diffusive erosion, which is consistent with densely stocked forest plantations along the hillslopes in Central Chile (Miranda et al, ). Observations at the hillslope scale (Banfield et al, ; Soto et al, ) and models at the catchment scale (Rodríguez‐Echeverry et al, ) indicate that Chile's intense forestry practices promote soil erosion by enhancing surface runoff. Furthermore, previous studies provide evidence for a runoff mechanism that is mainly controlled by saturation excess overland flow in areas mostly affected by the earthquake, even under drought conditions with rainfall‐runoff events restricted to the rainy winter seasons (e.g., Mohr et al, , ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suspended Sediments in Chilean Rivers Reveal Low Postseismic Erosion After the Maule Earthquake (Mw 8.8) During a Severe Drought

et al. 2019

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We address the question of whether all large‐magnitude earthquakes produce an erosion peak in the subaerial components of fluvial catchments. We evaluate the sediment flux response to the Maule earthquake in the Chilean Andes (Mw 8.8) using daily suspended sediment records from 31 river gauges. The catchments cover drainage areas of 350 to around 10,000 km2, including a wide range of topographic slopes and vegetation cover of the Andean western flank. We compare the 3‐ to 8‐year postseismic record of sediment flux to each of the following preseismic periods: (1) all preseismic data, (2) a 3‐year period prior to the seismic event, and (3) the driest preseismic periods, as drought conditions prevailed in the postseismic period. Following the earthquake, no increases in suspended sediment flux were observed for moderate to high percentiles of the streamflow distribution (mean, median, and ≥75th percentile). However, more than half of the examined stations showed increased sediment flux during baseflow. By using a Random Forest approach, we evaluate the contributions of seismic intensities, peak ground accelerations, co‐seismic landslides, hydroclimatic conditions, topography, lithology, and land cover to explain the observed changes in suspended sediment concentration and fluxes. We find that the best predictors are hillslope gradient, low‐vegetation cover, and changes in streamflow discharge. This finding suggests a combined first‐order control of topography, land cover, and hydrology on the catchment‐wide erosion response. We infer a reduced sediment connectivity due to the postseismic drought, which increased the residence time of sediment detached and remobilized following the Maule earthquake.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suspended Sediments in Chilean Rivers Reveal Low Postseismic Erosion After the Maule Earthquake (Mw 8.8) During a Severe Drought

et al. 2019

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“…Further, soil characteristics are affected by the land cover, particularly in watersheds where forest industrial activity is intensive. The extensive clear-cut strategy and the use of machinery for forest harvesting can cause soil compaction and the reduction of macropores, which reduces soil water holding capacity [37]. Soil compaction and lower soil water storage associated with FP (compared to NF) may induce lower infiltration (less water contributing to baseflow), and therefore higher surface runoff.…”

Section: Overall Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impacts of Native Forests and Forest Plantations on Water Supply in Chile

Álvarez-Garretón

Lara

Boisier

et al. 2019

Forests

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Over the past 40 years, south-central Chile has experienced important land-use-induced land cover changes, with massive conversion from native forests (NF) to Pinus radiata D.Don and Eucalyptus spp. exotic forest plantations (FP). Several case studies have related this conversion to a reduction in water supply within small catchments (<100 ha). In this work, we explore the impacts of NF and FP on streamflow by using a large-sample catchment dataset recently developed for Chile. We select 25 large forested catchments (>20,000 ha) in south-central Chile (35° S–41° S), analyze their land cover and precipitation spatial distributions, and fit a regression model to quantify the influence of NF, FP, grassland (GRA) and shrubland (SHR) partitions on annual runoff. To assess potential effects of land cover changes on water supply, we use the fitted model (R2 = 0.84) in synthetic experiments where NF, GRA and SHR covers within the catchments are replaced by patches of FP. We show that annual runoff consistently decreases with increments of FP, although the magnitude of the change (ranging from 2.2% to 7.2% mean annual runoff decrease for 10,000 ha increment in FP) depends on several factors, including the initial land cover partition within the basin, the replaced land cover class, the area of the catchment, and the type of catchment (drier or humid). Finally, in the context of the mitigation strategies pledged in the Chilean NDC (Nationally Determined Contributions defined after the Paris Agreement), which include the afforestation of 100,000 ha (mainly native forest) by 2030, we quantify the impacts on water supply due to the afforestation of 100,000 ha with different combinations of NF and FP. We show that annual runoff is highly sensitive to the relative area of FP to NF: ratios of FP to NF areas of 10%, 50% and 90% would lead to 3%, −18% and −40% changes in mean annual runoff, respectively. Our results can be used in the discussion of public policies and decision-making involving forests and land cover changes, as they provide scientifically-based tools to quantify expected impacts on water resources. In particular, this knowledge is relevant for decision making regarding mitigation strategies pledged in the Chilean NDC.

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“…Plantations based on fastgrowing species of the genera Pinus and Eucalyptus are usually managed as even-aged stands and harvested through clearcutting (INDUFOR, 2012). These plantations have been shown to generate significant changes in the physical environment in which they are established, including degradation and erosion of soils (Oyarzún and Peña, 1995;Turner and Lambert, 2000;Imaizumi et al, 2008;Soto et al, 2019) and an increase in water consumption (Licata et al, 2008;Scott and Prinsloo, 2008;Little et al, 2009), depending on the local environmental characteristics. In addition, management activities such as logging, weed control, fire or road construction, can have strong effects on biodiversity, for instance, facilitating the arrival of exotics or displacing organisms that are disturbances sensitive (Pauchard and Alaback, 2006;Tardif-Paradis et al, 2015;Cole et al, 2018;Speziale et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Land Use History on Biodiversity of Pine Plantations

2021

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The growing replacement of native vegetation by forest plantations is considered a global threat to biodiversity. Significant variation in biotic communities among stands with similar management suggests that previous land use might have an effect on the capacity of forest plantations to harbor native species. The goal of our study was to determine the effect of land-use history on the biodiversity currently present in pine plantations in the coastal range of Central Chile. In particular, we hypothesized that plantations that directly replaced native forests should have higher diversity of plants and birds than plantations that were established in agricultural areas. We also expected that plantations of higher number of rotations should have fewer habitat-specialists and more generalists/exotics, reflecting a process of biotic homogenization. Using aerial photographs and satellite images encompassing a period of six decades, we classified 108 4-ha sampling units into native forests, and mature (17–20 year) pine plantations of first, second, and third rotation, of either forest or agricultural origin. At each site, we collected data on the abundance and richness of diurnal birds and understory plants, and analyzed their behavior in relation to the land-use history using Generalized Linear Models (GLMs). Also, we evaluated dissimilarity of communities of each pine plantation “treatment” to assess the occurrence of biotic homogenization. As predicted, pine plantations that directly replaced native forests had a higher abundance of forest specialists and less abundance of exotics and generalists than plantations of agricultural origin. In contrast, the number of rotations of pine plantations not only did not affect negatively the diversity and abundance of forest specialist species, but the models showed some signs of naturalization in the studied systems over time, such as the increase in the abundance of native herbs and a reduction in the abundance of their exotic counterparts. These results agree with the lack of evidence for a decrease in the dissimilarity of biotic communities in plantations with time, suggesting that the management of pine plantations in Central Chile is not promoting biotic homogenization, beyond the impact of the initial stages of land use change.

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Assessment of soil physical properties' statuses under different land covers within a landscape dominated by exotic industrial tree plantations in south-central Chile

Cited by 19 publications

References 66 publications

Suspended Sediments in Chilean Rivers Reveal Low Postseismic Erosion After the Maule Earthquake (Mw 8.8) During a Severe Drought

Suspended Sediments in Chilean Rivers Reveal Low Postseismic Erosion After the Maule Earthquake (Mw 8.8) During a Severe Drought

The Impacts of Native Forests and Forest Plantations on Water Supply in Chile

Effect of Land Use History on Biodiversity of Pine Plantations

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