Fuensanta García-Orenes

• Miguel Hernández University of Elche

Understanding the role of biocrust-forming mosses in soil recovery after wildfires is necessary for assessing the resilience of managed ecosystems. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mid-term impacts of two contrasting post-fire management strategies on soil recovery in eucalypt plantations in north-central Portugal, where a high cove...

Postfire management actions are used to mitigate damage caused by wildfires. Salvage logging, often employed to restore ecosystem functions in burnt stands, plays an essential role in reducing economic losses and the burn severity of future wildfires. However, its ecological implications for soil functionality still need to be understood, especiall...

Wildfires are a natural part of the dynamics of Mediterranean forest ecosystems. The fire patterns in the Mediterranean basin have been altered mainly due to changes in land use and climate change. In 2017, a wildfire in Yeste (Spain) burned 3200 hectares of two Mediterranean pine forests. We investigated the effects of burn severity and postfire s...

Large vertebrate herbivores are ecosystem engineers, provoking cascading effects on soil properties through modifications of plant communities as well as direct modulation of organic matter incorporated into soils. However, most studies have been carried out with domestic ungulates in grasslands, and the effects which predominate in grasslands may...

Mulches are highly effective in mitigating the risk of erosion generated after wildfires in fire-prone ecosystems. Despite being a technique commonly used, it remains completely unexplored how mulches interact with the positive effects of the emergent moss biocrust on the recovery and resilience of soils and their microbial communities. For this pu...

Although Mediterranean ecosystems are adapted to fire disturbances, soils are prone to degradation. Therefore, post-fire forest management is a critical step for ecosystem recovery: it can either reduce soil degradation or add a new disturbance. Post-fire management in Mediterranean burnt forests includes interventions with contrasting approaches,...

Unsustainable management in food production has led to the degradation of fertile and biodiverse soils in agricultural and forestry areas of the planet, reducing the supply of ecosystem services and the quality of human life. Therefore, it is a priority to establish policy that promote productivity, as well as the stability and biodiversity of agri...

Mosses play an important role after wildfires, acting as early colonizers before the establishment of vascular vegetation, thus stabilizing, and protecting soil against erosion. However, little is known about the effect of moss development on soil recovery after wildfires. In this work, we studied effects of mosses on soil physicho-chemical propert...

After wildfires in Mediterranean ecosystems, ruderal mosses are pioneer species, stabilizing the soil surface previous to the establishment of vascular vegetation. However, little is known about the implication of pioneer moss biocrusts for the recovery and resilience of soils in early post-fire stages in semi-arid areas. Therefore, we studied the...

Salvage logging is one of the most common post-fire management strategies, known for trigger soil degradation processes. Soil compaction, the major disturbance associated with logging operations, could seriously hamper the resilience of soil microorganisms after the perturbation produced by fire. The main objective of this work was to assess the im...

Global climatic conditions have exacerbated the occurrence of fires, particularly in Mediterranean biomes. In Chile, during the 2016-2017 summer, a megafire affected more than 5,000 km2 in the nation’s southcentral area, compromising sclerophyllous forests characteristic of the Chilean mediterranean ecosystem. This work aims to evaluate the effect...

With this study we aimed to assess the effect of the prior development of Piptatherum miliaceum (Pm) in a Technosol on the establishment of Salvia rosmarinus (Sr) as a cash crop. An experimental pot was performed with two biochar (BCh) doses (BCh1 and BCh2) mixed with marble waste and pyritic tailings, with and without Pm. After 12 months of Pm gro...

Soil microorganisms maintain soil functions, playing a key role in nutrient cycling. However, human activities may alter ecological processes through, for instance, wildlife management tools, which affect environment conditions. Some management tools, such as diversionary feeding, are a source of organic matter and promote high animal densities in...

This study evaluates the effects of prescribed burnings on soil physico‐chemical and biological properties in the short term. This practice is still in the process of evaluation and its effect on Mediterranean pine forests is not understood completely. Prescribed burning was carried out in three plots of mixed Pinus halepensis and Pinus pinaster st...

The intensification of agricultural practices to increase food and feed outputs is a pressing challenge causing deterioration of soil quality and soil functions. Such a challenge demands provision of empirical evidence to provide context‐sensitive guidance on agricultural management practices (AMPs) that may enhance soil quality. The objectives of...

The intensification of agricultural practices to increase food and feed outputs is a pressing challenge causing deterioration of soil quality and soil functions. Such challenge demands provision of empirical evidence to provide context-sensitive guidance on agricultural management practices (AMPs) that may enhance soil quality. The objectives of th...

After a wildfire, moss crust develops in early post-fire stages revealing important roles related to soil erosion prevention and increase of soil fertility. However, the post-fire management selected could determine the capacity of soil to recover and the active role of mosses in the ecosystem recovery. Salvage logging (SL) was performed in the wil...

In the Mediterranean Basin, changes in climate and fire regime (increased recurrence and severity) reduce ecosystem services after wildfires by increasing soil degradation and losses in plant diversity. Our study was a biological approach to relate soil properties to vegetation recovery and burn severity. We focused our study on the natural recover...

Water shortage and soil degradation are common environmental stressors encountered in the Mediterranean area. We evaluated how different soil moisture levels, dependent on distance from drip irrigation points, impact on the biological, chemical and physical properties of citrus soil under organic and inorganic fertilization. We measured soil physic...

iSQAPER project - Interactive Soil Quality Assessment in Europe and China for Agricultural Productivity and Environmental Resilience - aims to develop an app to advise farmers on selecting the best Agriculture Management Practice (AMPs) to improve soil quality. For this purpose, a soil quality index has to be developed to account for the changes in...

Wildfire in abandoned terraces represents a challenge of land management and soil protection in the Mediterranean region due to afforestation of former agricultural land is a major driving force in changing fire regimes and hence land degradation. The effects on physicochemical and biological parameters caused by wildfires on abandoned terraces and...

Soil plays an important role in processes that maintain ecosystems function and support biodiversity. Physicochemical and biological soil properties can be altered by human activities, and through management tools that affect environment conditions. Diversionary feeding is a widely employed management tool to avoid human-wildlife conflicts. This pr...

Forest fires are a regular occurrence in the Mediterranean basin. High severity fires and post-fire management can affect biological, chemical and physical properties of soil, including the composition and abundance of soil microbial communities. Salvage logging is a post-fire management strategy, which involves the removal of burnt wood from land...

The growing world population poses a major challenge to global agricultural food and feed production through the pressure to increase agricultural outputs either by increasing the land area dedicated to agriculture or by productivity increases. Whether in developed or developing regions, agricultural intensification based on conventional approaches...

Post-fire management can have an additional impact on the ecosystem; in some cases, even more severe than the fire. Salvage logging (SL) is a common practice in most fire-affected areas. The management of burnt wood can determine microclimatic conditions and seriously affect soil properties. In some cases, the way of doing it, using heavy machinery...

Traditional intensive agricultural practices negatively impact soil quality, leading to a 23 reduction in soil fertility and increased erosion in the Mediterranean region. In 24 contrast, sustainable management systems that utilized organic fertilization over a 25 decade promoted microbial abundance and diversity, and improved soil quality in the 2...

Soil microbial populations and their functions related to nutrient cycling contribute substantially to the regulation of soil fertility and the sustainability of agroecosystems. A field experiment was performed to assess the medium-term effect of a mineral fertilizer and two organic fertilization systems with different nitrogen sources on the soil...

Plant community influence on microbial response after fire has been studied in a Sierra Nevada National Park area affected by a wildfire in 2005. Two different plant communities adapted to different altitudes were selected to analyse possible differences on soil microbial recolonisation process after fire, in oak forest and high mountain shrub comm...

Intensive agriculture has increased crop yields but also posed severe environmental problems. Unsustainable land management such as excessive tillage can lead to a loss of soil fertility and a drastic reduction in the aggregate stability and soil organic matter content. However sustainable agriculture can keep good crop yields with minimal impact o...

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Soil and water losses due to agricultural mismanagement are high and non-sustainable in many orchards. An experiment was set up with rainfall simulation at 78 mm h–1 over 1 hour on 20 paired plots of 2 m² (bare and straw covered) in new persimmon plantations in Eastern Spain. Effects of straw cover on the control of soil and water losses were asses...

Agricultural land management greatly affects soil properties. Microbial soil communities are the most sensitive and rapid indicators of perturbations in land use and soil enzyme activities are sensitive biological indicators of the effects of soil management practices. Citrus orchards frequently have degraded soils and this paper evaluates how land...

Agricultural land management greatly affects soil properties. Microbial soil communities are the most sensitive and rapid indicators of perturbations in land use and soil enzyme activities are sensitive biological indicators of the effects of soil management practices. Citrus orchards frequently have degraded soils and this paper evaluates how land...

Forest fires must be considered a natural factor in Mediterranean ecosystems, but the changes in land use in the last six decades have altered its natural regime making them an ongoing environmental problem. Some big forest fires (> 500 has) also have a great socio-economical impact on human population. Our research team has experience of 20 years...

In the Mediterranean countries, forest fires are common and must be considered as an ecological factor, but changes in land use, especially in the last five decades have provoked a modification in their natural regime. Moreover, post-fire management can have an additional impact on the ecosystem; in some cases, even more severe than the fire. Salva...

Agricultural land management greatly affects soil properties. Microbial soil communities are the most sensitive and rapid indicators of perturbations in land use and soil enzyme activities are sensitive biological indicators of the effects of soil management practices. Citrus orchards frequently have degraded soils and this paper evaluates how land...

Flood irrigated citrus orchard abandonment in eastern Spain is due to socio-economic changes and the small size of the farms. By means of a cylinder infiltrometer and measurements of soil organic matter we conclude that land abandonment favours an increase in total carbon and infiltration rates. The recovery showed a crisis in the first year after...

Flood irrigated citrus orchard abandonment in eastern Spain is due to socio-economic changes and the small size of the farms. By means of a cylinder infiltrometer and measurements of soil organic matter we conclude that land abandonment favours an increase in total carbon and infiltration rates. The recovery showed a crisis in the first year after...

Aims Plant species can influence fire intensity and severity causing different immediate and long-term responses on the soil microbial community. The main objective of this work was to determine the role of two representative Mediterranean plant species as soil organic matter sources, and to identify their influence on microbial response before and...

Soil quality is important for the sustainable development of terrestrial ecosystem. Agricultural land management is one of most important anthropogenic activities that greatly alters soil characteristics, including physical, chemical, and microbiological properties. The unsuitable land management can lead to a loss in soil fertility and a reduction...

Soil degradation is one of the most important environmental problems in the Mediterranean area intensify by the semiarid conditions, including low and irregular precipitation and frequent drought period. These soils are also submitted to unsustainable agricultural management with clearing of natural vegetation and loss of organic matter content; un...

Biological activity is a crucial soil property affecting soil sustainability and crop production. The unsuitable land management can lead to a loss in soil fertility and a reduction in the abundance and diversity of soil microorganisms. This can be as a consequence of high erosion rates due to the mismanagement of farmers (Cerdà et al., 2009a). How...

Soil water repellency (SWR) can influence many hydrological soil properties, including water infiltration, uneven moisture distribution or water retention. In the current study we investigated how variable SWR persistence in the field is related to the soil microbial community under different plant species (P. halepensis, Q. rotundifolia, C. al-bid...

The restoration technologies in areas degraded by extractive activities require the use of their own mine spoils. Reducing deficiencies in physical properties, organic matter, and nutrients with a contribution of treated sewage sludge is proposed. This experiment was based on a controlled study using columns. The work was done with two mine spoils,...

Agricultural practices have proven to be unsuitable in many cases, causing considerable reductions in soil quality. Land management practices can provide solutions to this problem and contribute to get a sustainable agriculture model. The main objective of this work was to assess the effect of different agricultural management practices on soil mic...

The water shortage is one of the most serious environmental problems in semi-arid areas around the world, which implicates the search for alternatives sources of water to satisfy the water demand in these regions. The use of wastewater for the irrigation of agricultural land is one of most suitable solutions to save better quality water when the na...

Agriculture has been practiced in semi-arid Mediterranean regions for 10.000 years and in many cases these practices have been unsuitable causing land degradation for millennium and an important loss of soil quality. The land management can provide solutions to find the best agricultural practices in order to maintain the soil quality and get a sus...

Soil erosion is a major problem in the Mediterranean region due to the arid conditions and torrential rainfalls, which contribute to the degradation of agricultural land. New strategies must be developed to reduce soil losses and recover or maintain soil functionality in order to achieve a sustainable agriculture. An experiment was designed to eval...

Soil freezing has been reported as both beneficial and detrimental for soil structure depending on various factors (Dagesse, 2011), but the subsequent thawing process has not been adequately investigated as a factor in determining the net effect of freezing and thawing. In this study changes in soil aggregate stability (AS) were studied under diffe...

The arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are a key, integral component of the stability, sustainability and functioning of ecosystems. In this study a field experiment was performed at the El Teularet-Sierra de Enguera Experimental Station (eastern Spain) to assess the influence during a 6-yr period of different agricultural practices on the diversit...

The supply of water is limited in some parts of the Mediterranean region, such as southeastern Spain. The use of treated wastewater for the irrigation of agricultural soils is an alternative to using better-quality water, especially in semi-arid regions. On the other hand, this practice can mod-ify some soil properties, change their relationships a...

El presente trabajo muestra una primera aproximación experimental para el seguimiento del proceso de compostaje a gran escala de un lodo de depuradora, mediante el empleo de radiometría visible e infrarrojo cercano (VNIR).

Unsuitable agricultural practices can cause loss in soil quality and erodibility to thus increase or trigger desertification under Mediterranean conditions. A field experiment was performed at the El Teularet-Sierra de Enguera Experimental Station (eastern Spain) to assess the influence during a 5-yr period of different agricultural practices on ph...

The supply of water is limited in some parts of the Mediterranean region, such as southeastern Spain. The use of treated wastewater for the irrigation of agricultural soils is an alternative to using better-quality water, especially in semi-arid regions. On the other hand, this practice can modify some soil properties, change their relationships, t...

The effects of irrigation with treated urban wastewater (WW) on the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) diversity and soil microbial activities were assayed on a long-term basis in a semiarid orange-tree orchard. After 43 years, the soil irrigated with fresh water (FW) had higher AMF diversity than soils irrigated with WW. Microbial activities were...

Land abandonment throughout the twentieth century led to an intense landscape transformation in the mountain areas of the Iberian Peninsula. In some cases, and after 50 years of abandonment, agriculture returned with the development of commercial farms and the intensification of the agrarian activities. In the Easter Iberian Peninsula, following th...

Since 2007 the group on Sustainability Assessment of the Spanish Rectors' Conference is working on the definition of a framework for the assessment and benchmarking of environmental and sustainable activities and strategies at Spanish Universities. During 2010 and 2011 it has carried out a study called "Evaluation of sustainability policies and the...

The use of treated wastewater for the irrigation of agricultural soils is an alternative to utilizing better-quality water, especially in semiarid regions where water shortage is a very serious problem. Wastewater use in agriculture is not a new practice, all over the world this reuse has been common practice for a long time, but the concept is of...

Soil water repellency (WR) is commonly observed in forest areas showing wettable and water repellent patches with high spatial variability. This has important hydrological implications; in semiarid areas where water supply is limited, even slight WR may play an important role in infiltration patterns and distribution of water into the soil (Mataix-...

Quarrying activity entails significant environmental impact affecting the soil, water, plants, landscape, etc. One of the most important impacts is the loss of the productive layer of the soil and its vegetation cover. However, mining activities are absolutely necessary for human development; keeping them sustainable implicates looking for viable s...

A great part of Mediterranean soils are affected by salinization. This is an important problem in semiarid areas and the level of salinity soil can be moderate to high in many cases. The salinization affects to 25 % of irrigated agriculture producing important losses on the crops. The salinization of soil produces important degradation processes in...

We investigated the diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in roots of Prunus persica under two fertilization treatments (CF: consisted of application of chicken manure (1400 kg.ha-1), urea (140 kg.ha-1), complex fertilizer 12-12-17/2 (280 kg.ha-1), and potassium sulfate (40 kg.ha-1) and IF: consisted of application of urea (140 kg.ha-1),...

Shortage of water is one of the most important environmental problem in the Mediterranean areas that implicates the search for strategies for saving good quality water. The use of treated waste water for the irrigation of agricultural land can be a good solution for this problem because it reduces the utilization of fresh water and potentially coul...

Soil erosion in Mediterranean Type Ecosystems is highly dependent on the land use and land management (Cerdà et al., 2010). This is due mainly to the impact of agriculture (Cerdà et al., 2009) as a consequence of tillage and the use of herbicides. Both strategies contribute to a reduction in the vegetation cover and the soil biological activities (...

Land abandonment throughout the twentieth century led to an intense landscape transformation in the mountain areas of the Iberian Peninsula. In some cases, and after 50 years of abandonment, agriculture returned with the development of commercial farms and the intensification of the agrarian activities. In the Easter Iberian Peninsula, following th...

Previous studies have shown that long-term irrigation with wastewater can lead to the development of soil water repellency. Little is known about the longevity of this effect. Here we address this research gap by examining the effect of long-term (~ 20 years) use of low-quality wastewater for disposal purposes, followed by 6 years of ‘recovery’ wit...

The capacity of different microbial groups to recolonise soil after a fire event will be decisive in determining the microbial community after the fire. Microbial recovery after a wildfire that occurred in Sierra la Grana (Alicante province, southeast Spain) was tracked for 32 months after the fire. Colony forming units (CFUs) of different microbia...

Water shortage and soil degradation are the two most important environmental problems in the Mediterranean area. For this reason, strategies for soil and water conservation are necessary. Our objective was to evaluate the use of treated wastewater as an irrigation source to help alleviate these problems. Short-term effects on several soil fertility...

The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of using near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy as an easy, inexpensive and rapid method to predict stability parameters in sewage sludge and compost derived there from. In the compost samples, predictions were successful (residual predictive deviation (RPD) higher than 2) for both CO2 accumulation...

A field experiment was carried out in a semiarid agricultural Mediterranean area located at the “El Teularet” experimental field in the Enguera Sierra (Valencia, southeast Spain) to assess the influence of different agricultural management systems on indicators of soil biological quality and activity (microbial biomass C, basal respiration, C miner...

Freshwater availability and soil degradation are two of the most important environmental problems in the Mediterranean area acerbated by incorrect agricultural use of irrigation in which organic matter is not correctly managed, the use of low quality water for irrigation, and the inefficiency of dose irrigation. For these reasons strategies for sav...

Advances in knowledge and technologies during the last decades have led to considerable water savings in many irrigated areas around the world. These have often been achieved through modern water supply methodologies involving, for example, advanced drip and sprinkler irrigation. These methods, however, are costly and socio-economically not always...

Project co-funded by the European Commission within the Sixth Framework Programme (2002-2006) Dissemination Level PU Public PU PP Restricted to other programme participants (including the Commission Services) RE Restricted to a group specified by the consortium (including the Commission Services) CO Confidential, only for members of the consortium...

In Spain, agriculture triggers soil degradation and erosion processes. New strategies have to be developed to reduce soil losses and recover or maintain soil functionality in order to achieve a sustainable agriculture. An experiment was designed to evaluate the effect of different agricultural management on soil properties and soil erosion. Five di...

Gypsiferous soils have a high agricultural value, but their utilization is limited by the presence of gypsum that can induce hardpan and vertical crusting. This paper reports on sulphate reduction in this soil type as a basis of a bioremediation technology to remove the gypsum content of calcareous gypsiferous soils. Both the endogenous and bioaugm...

The semi-arid zones as the Mediterranean coast are densely populated and their aquifers are being hardly exploited. The use of waste water for irrigation is an alternative for the water shortage. Consequently, it is considered necessary to improve the efforts to investigate changes of soil properties. The main objective of this work was to compare...

Shortage of water and soil degradation are the most important environmental problems in the Mediterranean areas due, in many cases, to inadequate agricultural management of irrigation to which organic matter is not correctly added, and the use of low quality waters for irrigation. For this reason strategies for saving water and for the restoration...

Near infrared (NIR) reflectance spectroscopy offers important advantages because is a non-destructive technique, the pre-treatments needed in samples are minimal, and the spectrum of the sample is obtained in less than 1 minute without the needs of chemical reagents. For these reasons, NIR is a fast and cost-effective method. Moreover, NIR allows t...

One of the consequences of long-term irrigation with waste water can be the development of soil water repellency (WR). Its emergence can affect soil-water balance, irrigation efficiency and crop yield. Water repellency development has been suggested to be controlled by parameters such as organic matter quantity and type present in the waste water,...

Soil microbiology is crucial for soil system functioning. Fire can affect soil microbes directly through heating and indirectly by modifying soil properties. Microbes will also be affected by post-fire environmental factors and the reestablishment of vegetation. The most important factor affecting soil microbes seems to be the burn severity, which...