Analysing the effect of land use and vegetation cover on soil infiltration in three contrasting environments in northeast Spain

  1. D. Regües 1
  2. D. Badía 2
  3. M. T. Echeverría 2
  4. M. Gispert 3
  5. N. Lana-Renault 4
  6. J. León 2
  7. M. E. Nadal Romero 2
  8. G. Pardini 3
  9. P. Serrano Muela 1
  1. 1 Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología
    info

    Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología

    Zaragoza, España

    ROR https://ror.org/039ssy097

  2. 2 Universidad de Zaragoza
    info

    Universidad de Zaragoza

    Zaragoza, España

    ROR https://ror.org/012a91z28

  3. 3 Universitat de Girona
    info

    Universitat de Girona

    Girona, España

    ROR https://ror.org/01xdxns91

  4. 4 Universidad de La Rioja
    info

    Universidad de La Rioja

    Logroño, España

    ROR https://ror.org/0553yr311

Revue:
Cuadernos de investigación geográfica: Geographical Research Letters
  1. Seeger, Manuel (coord.)

ISSN: 0211-6820 1697-9540

Année de publication: 2017

Volumen: 43

Número: 1

Pages: 141-169

Type: Article

DOI: 10.18172/CIG.3164 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openDialnet editor

D'autres publications dans: Cuadernos de investigación geográfica: Geographical Research Letters

Objectifs de Développement Durable

Résumé

This study presents a joint analysis of the information from 195 field infiltration experiments, using double ring devices. The experiments were carried out in 20 contrasting types of land use, distributed across three geographic contexts (coast of NE Catalonia, low mountains in the central Ebro Valley and mid-height mountains from the southern range of the Central Pyrenees). The objective of this research was to determine the most important factors explaining infiltration variability: land use, type of vegetation cover, soil and bedrock characteristics, soil moisture and altitude. Data analysis was performed by comparing variables using statistical methods: bivariate lineal correlation, ANOVA and Bonferroni multiple comparison tests. Results show that infiltration variability is the most important factor and mainly linked to land use, followed by vegetation type. In contrast, soil moisture did not show any relation with infiltration. The interpretation of these results suggests that the characteristics of the study areas are more decisive than temporal variations of soil water content, although humidity can influence land use to a greater or lesser degree. The validity of the results obtained in this study is supported by the wide range of land use and land cover analysed, located in areas with different geographical and geological characteristics.

Information sur le financement

Field infiltration tests were done with a grant from the CETSUS (CGL2007-6644-C04-01/HID) project funded by the “Plan Nacional I+D+I 2004-2007” from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. The current analysis and all the expenses associated with the publication of this study were funded by ESPAS project Ref.: CGL2015-65569-R (MINECO/FEDER). Estela Nadal-Romero is the recipient of a “Ramón y Cajal” postdoctoral contract (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness).

Financeurs

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