Soil chemical and microbial properties affected by land use type in a unique ecosystem (Fars, Iran)

Abstract

Land use type is an important parameter, affecting soil physicochemical and biological properties. Accordingly, it is important to find how land use type may affect soil properties in an ecosystem to avoid further environmental degradation. The objective was to investigate how different land use types including forest, rangeland, and dry and irrigated farming may alter soil chemical and biological properties including organic carbon (C), total nitrogen (N), potentially mineralizable N (PMN), particulate organic matter (POM), microbial respiration (MR), soil basal respiration (BR), and microbial biomass C (MBC) and N (MBN). The research was conducted in a unique ecosystem (having all types of the abovementioned land use), namely the Zanian region (17,000 ha, altitude of 1952-2657 m) of Fars province, Iran. A total of 130 samples (0-10 cm), collected from different stations across the research area, were analyzed. Geographical properties of the region including topography, slope, and altitude were also determined and presented by maps. POM, PMN, MBC, MBN, MR, and BR averaged to 0.48%, 53.44, 65.72 mg kg −1 soil, 8.85 mg N kg −1 soil, 0.118 mg CO 2 g −1 soil day −1 , and 41.22 mg CO 2 day −1 g −1 soil, respectively. Land use change from forest to farming (dry and irrigated) significantly decreased soil chemical and biological activities. Following forest, rangeland was the second most chemically and biologically active type of land. There were significant differences between rangeland and irrigated farming. Just POM was not different under rangeland and dry and irrigated farming. Land use change can profoundly alter soil chemical and biological properties.

Soil quality and health under different tree species in an urban university campus: A multidimensional study

“…The presence of herbs (Deb et al 2019) and less disturbed sites tend to have more OM. Higher soil erosion rates (Baligh et al 2021) and increased OM mineralization (Luo et al 2017) also decrease OM in soil. The positive correlation of clay with SWHC also presented it as a signi cant regulator of OM.…”