Soil Quality in Mediterranean Mountain Environments

Regulation of carbon mineralization rates by soil structure and water in an agricultural field and a prairie-like soil

“…the PRAIRIE aggregates is consistent with results from other studies that show total porosity and/or macroporosity are greater in less disturbed soils (Sanchez-Maranon et al, 2002;Lamande et al, 2003). Organic matter can accumulate in large pores where microbial activity is often limited by desiccation (Strong et al, 1998(Strong et al, , 2004.…”

Linking physical quality and CO2 emissions under long-term no-till and conventional-till in a subtropical soil in Brazil

“…6). These results are related to the absence of soil disturbance in the NT system, which preserves the soil structure (Tormena et al 1999), provides greater macropore volume and total porosity (Sanchez-Maranon et al 2002), and increase the organic carbon content in the upper soil layer (Franzluebbers et al 1995, Castro Filho et al 1998), in addition to maintaining an approximately constant soil moisture and temperature, increasing biological activity in the soil.…”

Soil quality and organic carbon ratios in mountain agroecosystems of South-east Spain

“…In semi-arid sites, soil degradation associated to inappropriate use is especially critical due to specific climatic constraints, which in mountain ecosystems are also linked to stressing topographical conditions (Sánchez-Marañón et al, 2002;Dunjo et al, 2003;Delgado et al, 2007). In fact, microtopographical features leading to abrupt changes in slope, orientation and exposure of soils have a significant bearing on the hydrological patterns in the geosystem (Brown, 1994;Del Barrio et al, 1997), generating mosaic-like patterns of the vegetation (Campbell, 1989).…”