Forest restoration rehabilitates soil multifunctionality in riparian zones of sugarcane production landscapes

Bieluczyk, Wanderlei; Merloti, Luís Fernando; Cherubin, Maurício Roberto; Mendes, Lucas William; Bendassolli, José Albertino; Rodrigues, Ricardo Ribeiro; Camargo, Plínio Barbosa de; Putten, Wim H. van der; Tsai, Siu Mui

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164175

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 100 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Nevertheless, our findings suggest that the positive effect of increasing complexity on MAOC, P, macroporosity and AWC is not constrained to the most shallow topsoil (0-10 cm) layer, but impacts (at least) the top 30 cm evenly. That is in contrast to studies on forest restoration conducted in the same region, which showed that even after 15 years positive effects on multiple soil-based ecosystem services were concentrated in the 0-10 cm layer (Bieluczyk et al, 2023a;Bieluczyk et al, 2023b).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 58%

“…20-30 cm). This has been observed in naturally regenerating forests in south-eastern Brazil (Bieluczyk et al, 2023b). While global studies show that C sequestration rates (Mg ha -1 year -1 ) are highest in the early years of agroforestry implementation (Feliciano et al, 2018;Ma et al, 2020), it could still be that complexity and age positively interact, meaning that older and more complex systems would have stronger effects on ecosystem service indicators than younger ones.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

See 1 more Smart Citation

On the complexity of agroforestry systems

Steinfeld

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Tropical soils are prone to rapid degradation if not managed well, and agroforestry systems have the potential to restore degraded soils and support agricultural production together with other ecosystem services. In Brazil, an increasing number of pioneering farmers are establishing agroforestry systems on previously cleared farmland. However, while there are a wide range of agroforestry systems, this diversity has hardly been quantified, and it is not clear how these systems differ in their capacity for nutrient cycling to reverse soil degradation. The objectives of the study were to assess innovative agroforestry systems in terms of taxonomic and functional diversity, spatial structure and management, and to assess how these systems differ in terms of structural complexity and their potential for nutrient cycling. We assessed a LiDAR-derived stand structural complexity index (SSCI), interrow spacing, stem density, tree species richness and diversity, community weighted means (CWM) of foliar nitrogen and wood density, livestock density, pruning and mowing regimes in 30 agroforestry systems in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. We used N, P, K, Ca and Mg stocks in litter as a proxy for nutrient cycling. The agroforestry systems could be broadly categorized into silvopastures, multistrata and successional agroforestry systems. These types spanned a gradient of structural complexity, and this complexity was positively associated with tree species richness and planting density. Litter nutrient stocks were positively associated with pruning and mulching, and negatively associated with CWM of wood density, indicating the importance of pioneer trees. Overall, our results suggest that densely planted, pruned agroforestry systems that contain high species richness, including pioneer trees, contain relatively high amounts of N, P, K, Ca and Mg in their litter. These findings provide insight in the key characteristics of agroforestry systems to support nutrient cycling, and can inform the design of agroforestry systems for the regeneration of degraded agricultural land.

show abstract

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 58%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

On the complexity of agroforestry systems

Steinfeld

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The soil functions indicated by these properties are as follows: (i) soil bulk density is associated with the support for root growth; (ii) jointly, macroporosity and microporosity represent the soil aeration and water retention capacity; (iii) soil pH reveals soil acidity regulation for nutrient uptake; (iv) available P and the sum of bases demonstrate the soil nutrient availability for weathered tropical soils; (v) cation exchange capacity corresponds to the nutrient storage and release in the soil; and (vi) collectively, CO 2 and CH 4 fluxes reflect biological activity in the soil. These soil health indicators and their represented soil functions are widely recognized in the literature (e.g., Rinot et al, 2019;Lehmann et al, 2020;Simon et al, 2022;Bieluczyk et al, 2023). Therefore, these parameters were used to perform a distance-based redundancy analysis (db-RDA) based on Bray-Curtis dissimilarity matrices.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Active forest restoration, by planting diverse native plant species to rapidly cover the soil and rehabilitate ecological functions (Brancalion et al, 2015(Brancalion et al, , 2016Zanini et al, 2021), is the most cost-efficient method in such cases (Ribeiro et al, 2009). Recovering degraded pastures and restoring Atlantic forests are urgent and critical socio-environmental challenges for Brazil to fulfill the agreements to mitigate the climate crisis (Sá et al, 2017;Rezende et al, 2018), helping to re-establish environmental services (Lima et al, 2020) and reverse ecosystem degradation (Zanini et al, 2021), simultaneously contributing to global efforts on the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (Bieluczyk et al, 2023).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking above and belowground carbon sequestration, soil organic matter properties, and soil health in Brazilian Atlantic Forest restoration

Bieluczyk

Asselta

Navroski

et al. 2023

Journal of Environmental Management

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…We conducted a physical and biochemical characterization of the soil in each sampling plot to assess VESS suitability to reflect alterations in quantitative soil indicators. Based on previous studies, the author's experience, the specific study context, and the cost associated with its evaluation, nine soil properties were evaluated and used as proxy indicators of five critical soil functions (Table 1; Bieluczyk et al, 2023;Cherubin et al, 2016;Olaya-Montes et al, 2020;Polanía-Hincapié et al, 2021;Silva-Olaya et al, 2022).…”

Section: Soil Sampling and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual evaluation of soil structure is a reliable method to detect changes in the soil quality of Colombian Amazon pasturelands

Mora‐Motta,

Llanos‐Cabrera,

Chavarro‐Bermeo

et al. 2024

Soil Science Soc of Amer J

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The visual evaluation of soil structure (VESS) is an affordable and easy‐to‐use method for assessing soil quality that could help in the early detection of soil quality changes in pasturelands of less developed countries where ranchers cannot afford quantitative soil studies. Here, we assessed the soil quality of three pasture areas in the Colombian Amazon region using the VESS method and tested its suitability through a correlation analysis with key physical and biochemical soil indicators of quality measured at the same study locations. Moreover, by integrating all assessed soil indicators, we determined a soil quality index (SQI) to correlate with VESS scores. A forest area was used as a reference to evaluate changes in soil indicators and soil quality due to pasture use for >25 years. Our results revealed high VESS scores, indicating poor soil quality in pasture areas and suggesting a compaction process that starts at 6.5 cm soil depth, corroborated by increases in soil bulk density, soil resistance to penetration, and reduction in soil porosity. Soil C and N contents were 35% and 33% lower in pasture than forest. This same pattern was observed in the geometric mean of the enzymatic activity. The VESS scores were significantly correlated with most of physical and biochemical soil indicators and with the overall SQI, demonstrating the ability of VESS to integrate and reflect attributes related to the essential physical, chemical, and biological functioning of soils from the Colombian Amazon region, becoming a useful tool for detecting signs of soil quality degradation in pasturelands.

show abstract

Forest restoration rehabilitates soil multifunctionality in riparian zones of sugarcane production landscapes

Cited by 7 publications

References 100 publications

On the complexity of agroforestry systems

On the complexity of agroforestry systems

Linking above and belowground carbon sequestration, soil organic matter properties, and soil health in Brazilian Atlantic Forest restoration

Visual evaluation of soil structure is a reliable method to detect changes in the soil quality of Colombian Amazon pasturelands

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About