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Influence of Acacia Trees on Near‐Surface Soil Hydraulic Properties in Arid Tunisia

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Title Influence of Acacia Trees on Near‐Surface Soil Hydraulic Properties in Arid Tunisia
 
Creator De Boever, Maarten
 
Contributor Gabriels, Donald
Ouessar, Mohamed
Cornelis, Wim
 
Subject below canopy
soil–water
 
Description Studies in arid regions have shown that scattered trees strongly influence the environmental conditions under their canopies providing
favourable conditions for the recruitment of other plants. The most critical factor controlling plant productivity in arid regions is soil–water
availability. Hence, understanding the soil–water relationships below canopy is needed to better comprehend the rehabilitation of degraded
land by vegetation. In this study, scattered Acacia raddiana trees of three canopy size classes were selected to examine their effect on soil
physical properties, soil–water retention curve and saturated and unsaturated hydraulic conductivities of the upper soil layer (0–10 cm).
Compared with outside the canopy, below-canopy soils have a higher organic matter content causing a lower bulk density and a higher total
porosity. Higher hydraulic conductivities were found below as compared with outside the canopy and the rates increased with increasing
canopy size. This could be related to the ratio of water content at field capacity to saturation, suggesting that hydraulic conductivities were
mainly driven by macropores and large matrix pores. By improving the near-surface soil hydraulic properties, A. raddiana trees can positively
affect the water availability for the below-canopy herbaceous cover, which is of crucial importance in water-limited environments
 
Date 2016-11-04
2017-01-09T22:42:27Z
2017-01-09T22:42:27Z
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier https://mel.cgiar.org/dspace/limited
Maarten De Boever, Donald Gabriels, Mohamed Ouessar, Wim Cornelis. (4/11/2016). Influence of Acacia Trees on Near‐Surface Soil Hydraulic Properties in Arid Tunisia. Land Degradation and Development, 27 (8), pp. 1805-1812.
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11766/5441
Timeless limited access
 
Language en
 
Rights CC-BY-NC-4.0
 
Format PDF
 
Publisher Wiley (12 months)
 
Source Land Degradation and Development;27,(2014) Pagination 1805,1812