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A soil quality index for seven productive landscapes in the Andean‐Amazonian foothills of Ecuador
Author(s) -
BravoMedina C.,
GoyesVera F.,
ArteagaCrespo Y.,
GarcíaQuintana Y.,
Changoluisa D.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
land degradation and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.403
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1099-145X
pISSN - 1085-3278
DOI - 10.1002/ldr.3897
Subject(s) - soil quality , amazon rainforest , forestry , geography , land use , deforestation (computer science) , agroforestry , environmental science , ecology , agriculture , archaeology , biology , computer science , programming language
Abstract Few studies have comprehensively evaluated the effect of changing land use on the soil quality in the Ecuadorian Amazon region that is subject to continued deforestation processes. This study evaluated the influence of different types of land use on soil quality using an integrated soil quality index (SQI) with a minimum set of indicators, based on 140 soil samples from 7 land use types, in seven productive distinct landscapes in Pastaza Province, Ecuador. The land use type evaluated was Chakra_A, Chakra_B, Chakra_C, Cattle_A, Cattle_B, Cattle_C, and Forest. Land use type had significant effects on soil properties and thus on soil quality. SQI was developed by using, AP, Zn, TOC, BD, and LL; AP and Zn had highest weighting values (0.38), which indicated that these indicators contributed the most to final SQI. In general, the SQI varied significantly depending on the type of land use and two groups were established: the first categorized as of moderate quality with mean SQI values of 0.45, 0.44, and 0.41 for Chakra_A, Forest and Chakra_B, respectively; while the second group registered average SQI values of 0.33, 0.33, 0.32, and 0.30 for Chakra_C, Cattle_C, Cattle_A and Cattle_B, respectively, considered of low quality. The methods used are applicable to the study of changes in soil properties as functions of agroforestry systems, which are generated by changes in land use in similar landscape of the Ecuadorian Amazon.