Vicky Arcenegui

• Doctor
• Miguel Hernández University of Elche

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...

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...

Easily Extractable Glomalin (EEG) represents an organic fraction of the soil that contains mainly glomalin-related soil proteins (GRSP), a glycoprotein abundantly found in soils produced by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in the phylum Glomeromycota. The EEG fraction is confirmed to have multiple ecological functions in soils, including its contributi...

Easily Extractable Glomalin (EEG) represents an organic fraction of the soil that contains mainly glomalin-related soil proteins (GRSP), a glycoprotein abundantly found in soils produced by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in the phylum Glomeromycota. The EEG fraction is confirmed to have multiple ecological functions in soils, including its contributi...

Forest management practices in Mediterranean ecosystems are frequently employed to reduce both the risk and severity of wildfires. However, these pre-fire treatments may influence the effects of wildfire events on soil properties. The aim of this study is to examine the short-term effects of a wildfire that broke out in 2015 on the soil properties...

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...

Intense rainfall events in the Mediterranean environment after severe wildfires can have an impact on soil water repellency. This study seeks to examine the immediate impact and the effect after a year of an intense rainfall event on a Mediterranean forest affected by a high severity wildfire. The aim of this work is to analyze soil water repellenc...

Forest fires are a recurrent natural phenomenon in the Mediterranean basin. Fires can affect physical, chemical and biological soil properties. The effects on soil properties are closely controlled by fire severity, which is a consequence of temperatures reached and the length of residence of heat in the soil. In this study, the response of Glomali...

Ash can provide valuable soil protection. However, ash is also very mobile, and soil protection patterns can be quickly changed, favouring the protection of some areas and exposing others with implications for soil erosion. In this research, the effects of a high severity wildfire on ash thickness were studied, 1 and 15 days after the fire. For thi...

In Lithuania, fire is frequently used by farmers as a tool to remove dry grass, improve soil nutrient status and help soil tilling. However, little is known about the ecological impacts of these fires, including vegetation recovery. The objective of this work is to study the impacts of a spring grassland fire on vegetation recuperation on an east-f...

The stability of aggregates has an important role in soil functioning and its behavior to avoid erosion and degra-dation, the ability to transfer liquids and gases, which are important features for crop production and ecosystem health (Tisdall and Oades, 1982). It's also a property that is highly influenced by land use and management (Angers et al....

Fire induced soil water repellency (WR) is controlled by many different factors (temperature reached, amount and type of fuel, etc.). Soil properties may determine the occurrence and intensity of this property in burned soils. The objectives of this paper are to make advances in the study of soil properties as key factors controlling the behaviour...

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...

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 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...

En este trabajo se resumen los principales resultados de la investigación llevada a cabo sobre la repelencia al agua (RA) del suelo por ambos grupos de investigación durante algo más de una década. Comenzamos a estudiar esta propiedad en suelos afectados por incendios forestales, dado que era más evidente y mostraba importantes implicaciones en la...

En este trabajo se resumen los principales resultados de la investigación llevada a cabo sobre la repelencia al agua (RA) del suelo por ambos grupos de investigación durante algo más de una década. Comenzamos a estudiar esta propiedad en suelos afectados por incendios forestales, dado que era más evidente y mostraba importantes implicaciones en la...

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...

Water repellency is a property of soils that inhibits or delays infiltration. Long-term conservation practices as no-tillage, manure addition, application of herbicides may contribute to increase soil organic matter and, hence, soil water repellency. In this research, we have studied the effect of long-term addition of plant residues and organic ma...

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...

This study addressed the impacts of wildfire and, in particular, its severity on the seed bank of the litter/ash layer and the topsoil of a Mediterranean pine plantation (Pinus pinaster Ait.) in north-central Portugal. The study location was selected for presenting a homogeneous pine cover before the fire, on the one hand, and, on the other, hetero...

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-...

Soil aggregate stability is a key property for soil and water conservation, and a synthetic parameter to quantify the soil degradation. Aggregation is relevant in soils where vegetation cover is scarce (Cerdà, 1996). Most of the research carried out to determine the soil aggregate stability was done in forest soils (Mataix-Solera et al., 2011) and...

Soil water repellency (WR) is one of the properties most affected by combustion during a forest fire. Different factors such as temperatures reached, type and amount of fuel, affect the changes observed in this property. Measurements of water repellency can be made directly in the field or in soil samples under laboratory conditions. On the other h...

Fire induced soil water repellency (WR) is controlled by many different factors (temperatures reached, amount and type of fuel, etc). Some soil properties may determine the occurrence and intensity of this property in burned soils. In this research, experimental laboratory burning have been carried out using soil samples from different sites and co...

Fire can affect soil properties depending on a number of factors including fire severity and soil type. Aggregate stability (AS) refers to soil structure resilience in response to external mechanical forces. Many authors consider soil aggregation to be a parameter reflecting soil health, as it depends on chemical, physical and biological factors. T...

Soil water repellency (WR) is one of the properties most affected by combustion during a forest fire (Doerr, et al., 2000). The modifications of soil organic matter by the heating and the condensation of distilled organic compounds over mineral surfaces are the main factors responsible..After a fire, a layer of ash covers the soil surface affecting...

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...

Fire can affect soil properties depending on a number of factors including fire severity and soil type. Aggregate stability (AS) refers to soil structure resilience in response to external mechanical forces. Many authors consider soil aggregation to be a parameter reflecting soil health, as it depends on chemical, physical and biological factors. T...

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...

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...

Fire causes changes in soil moisture content (MC) and also in other soil properties depending on the maximum temperature reached. However, after fire, MC is partially rapidly restored due to re-equilibrium with air moisture or following rainfall, which in turn affects the near infrared (NIR) spectra of soil. The degree to which MC is restored depen...

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...

Fire causes changes in soil moisture content (MC) and also in other soil properties depending on the maximum temperature reached. However, after fire, MC is partially rapidly restored due to re-equilibrium with air moisture or following rainfall, which in turn affects the near infrared (NIR) spectra of soil. The degree to which MC is restored depen...

In semiarid ecosystems plant cover plays an important role in the improvement of physical, chemical and biochemical soil properties. With the aim of studying the influence of different plant species on soil properties, and establishing the relationships between them, 160 soil sam-ples from under four different plant species (Pinus halepensis, Querc...

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...

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Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. T...

In Eastern Spain, almond trees have been cultivated in terraced orchards for centuries, forming an integral part of the Mediterranean forest scene. In the last decades, orchards have been abandoned due to changes in society. This study investigates effects of changes in land use from forest to agricultural land and the posterior land abandonment on...

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...

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. However, this practise can modify the soil equilibrium and affect its quality. In this work two soil quality indices (models) are used to evaluate...

Fire usually induces water repellency (WR) in soils. Reduction in infiltration rates, increase of runoff and erosion are some of the consequences of WR in fire-affected soils. Most forest soils can develop WR by burning; however some previous observations in burned terra rossa soils have shown little changes in WR. Laboratory controlled experiments...

Soils from natural ecosystems have specific physical, chemical and biochemical properties determined by the conditions in which these soils have developed. These soils that develop without external disturbance reach a balance amongst their properties. Thus, the creation of a model that represents the established balance of different soil properties...

Alkaline soils are considered much less prone to developing water repellency induced by fire than acidic soils. Here we report on the persistence of water repellency present in calcareous soils immediately after wildfires in 10 burned areas in SE Spain, its distribution in different aggregate size fractions (< 2, 2–1, 1–0.5, 0.5–0.25 and < 0.25 mm)...

The aim of this work was to assess the effect of the presence of ash on maximum temperature reached (MTR) estimation using near infrared reflectance (NIR) spectroscopy. The degree of combustion (ash produced by heating to 100, 300, 500 and 700 °C), the type (ash from Pinus halepensis and Rosmarinus officinalis), and different quantities of ash (0–2...

The potential of near infrared (NIR) reflectance spectroscopy to predict various physical, chemical and biochemical properties in Mediterranean soils from SE Spain was evaluated. Soil samples (n = 393) were obtained by sampling 13 locations during three years (2003–2005 period). These samples had a wide range of soil characteristics due to variatio...

The supply of water is limited in some parts of the Mediterranean region, such as south-eastern Spain. For this reason strategies for saving water are necessary, especially in agriculture. The use of treated waste waters for the irrigation of agricultural land is a good solution to this problem, because it reduces the utilization of fresh water and...

Information about the mineralisation rates and effects on soil microorganisms must be obtained prior to the rational use of organic wastes in agriculture or forestry. The objective of this work was to study the mineralisation of two manures derived from the solid phase of pig slurries and the effects on the soil microbial biomass of an agricultural...

For millennia, land use in the Mediterranean region has led to situations in which soil has been severely degraded showing high risks of erosion and impoverishment. Thus, the establishment of soil quality indices is considered to be of crucial importance in determining the state of degradation and recovery of soils. Soils from stable forest ecosyst...

Water repellency (WR) is a property affected by fire and of crucial importance in the hydrological behaviour of soils after burning. In dry Mediterranean areas knowledge of the factors that control the development of water repellency by fire is of particular interest. We examined such factors in two calcar-eous soils, a Regosol and a Luvisol, repre...

Water repellency (WR) is a property that has implications on the hydrologic balance in affected soils. In semi-arid areas where water supply is limited, even slight WR may play an important role in the infiltration and spatial distribution of precipitation into the soil. Acidic and sandy-textured soils have been demonstrated to be more prone to dev...

The aim of this work is to obtain an expression using multiple lineal regressions (MLR) to evaluate environmental soil quality. We used four forest soils from Alicante province (SE Spain), comprising three Mollisols and one Entisol, developed under natural vegetation with minimum human disturbance, considered as reference soils of high quality. We...

We studied the use of near-infrared (NIR) refl ectance spectroscopy as a potential method to estimate a posteriori the maximum temperatures reached (MTR) on burned soils. When soils are heated, the NIR spectra change in accordance with the MTR. Thus, after calibrating, these patterns of NIR could be used as a fi ngerprint to estimate the MTR in bur...

Soil biochemical properties are useful indicators of soil quality as they are very sensitive to disturbance. Sample storage or pre-treatments could affect the results in these assays, which are normally determined on fresh samples, kept cold or frozen. The objectives of this study were to (i) evaluate the effect of air-drying or incubation of rewet...

Soil enzyme activities are useful indicators of soil quality as they are very sensitive to disturbance. Sample storage or pre-treatments could affect the results in these assays, which are normally determined in fresh samples, kept cold or frozen. The objectives of this study were to (i) evaluate the effect of air-drying or air-drying and rewetting...