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Impact of deforestation on soil physicochemical characteristics, microbial biomass and microbial activity of tropical soil
Author(s) -
Sahani U.,
Behera N.
Publication year - 2001
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.429
Subject(s) - deforestation (computer science) , environmental science , biomass (ecology) , soil carbon , bulk density , agroforestry , total organic carbon , agronomy , soil water , soil science , ecology , biology , computer science , programming language
The study dealt with the assessment of the impact of deforestation on tropical soil through a comparative analysis of physicochemical and microbiological parameters of natural forest and a deforested barren site. With significant decline in clay, texturally the soil of the deforested barren site was observed to be different from that of natural forest. Bulk density and porosity data revealed structural deterioration of deforested barren soil. The soil hydrological regime was also adversely affected by the deforestation. Levels of soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, microbial biomass C, N and microfungal biomass also exhibited significant decline in deforested site. Analysis of microbial respiratory quotient (q CO 2 ) was also observed to be impaired in the deforested site. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.