The effects of farmland abandonment and plant succession on soil properties and erosion processes: a study case in centre of Portugal

Abstract

The aim of this research was to assess changes in the physical and chemical properties of soil and the rate of erosion under traditional land use and during the natural vegetation succession following land abandonment, in a marginal area of Portugal. A chronosequence was used, which included soils cultivated with cereal crops (the traditional land use in the territory), the typical stages in vegetation succession following land abandonment (herbaceous, shrub and wood), and native forest (used as a reference ecosystem).The results indicated that the differences in both soil properties and soil erosion were related to land management and the different stages in plant succession, highlighting that continuous cropping is primarily responsible for depleting soil nutrients and intensifying the degradation processes.

Keywords

• Land abandonment
• plant succession
• soil quality
• soil erosion
• Portugal central