<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Abandonment of agricultural lands in recent decades is occurring mainly in Europe, North America and Oceania, and changing the fate of landscapes as the ecosystem recovers during fallow stage. The objective of this study was to find the impact of secondary succession in abandoned fields on some parameters of acidic sandy soils in the Borská nížina lowland (southwestern Slovakia). We investigated soil chemical (pH and soil organic carbon content), hydrophysical (water sorptivity, and hydraulic conductivity), and water repellency (water drop penetration time, water repellency cessation time, repellency index, and modified repellency index) parameters, as well as the ethanol sorptivity of the studied soils. Both the hydrophysical and chemical parameters decreased significantly during abandonment of the three investigated agricultural fields. On the other hand, the water repellency parameters increased significantly, but the ethanol sorptivity did not change during abandonment. As the ethanol sorptivity depends mainly on soil pore size, the last finding could mean that the pore size of acidic sandy soils did not change during succession.</p></abstract>

Abandonment of agricultural lands in recent decades is occurring mainly in Europe, North America and Oceania, and changing the fate of landscapes as the ecosystem recovers during fallow stage. The objective of this study was to find the impact of secondary succession in abandoned fields on some parameters of acidic sandy soils in the Borská nížina lowland (southwestern Slovakia). We investigated soil chemical (pH and soil organic carbon content), hydrophysical (water sorptivity, and hydraulic conductivity), and water repellency (water drop penetration time, water repellency cessation time, repellency index, and modified repellency index) parameters, as well as the ethanol sorptivity of the studied soils. Both the hydrophysical and chemical parameters decreased significantly during abandonment of the three investigated agricultural fields. On the other hand, the water repellency parameters increased significantly, but the ethanol sorptivity did not change during abandonment. As the ethanol sorptivity depends mainly on soil pore size, the last finding could mean that the pore size of acidic sandy soils did not change during succession.

Impact of secondary succession in abandoned fields on some properties of acidic sandy soils

Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Forestali

Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute

Agricultural Institute, Centre for Agricultural Research

Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Abandonment of agricultural lands in recent decades is occurring mainly in Europe, North America and Oceania, and changing the fate of landscapes as the...

Impact of secondary succession in abandoned fields on some properties of acidic sandy soils

Published Online: Feb 13, 2020

Page range: 12 - 18

Received: Sep 06, 2019

Accepted: Dec 06, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/johh-2019-0028

Keywords
Water repellency, Acidic sandy soil, Land abandonment, Secondary succession, Soil properties

© 2020 Ľubomír Lichner et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Impact of secondary succession in abandoned fields on some properties of acidic sandy soils

Published Online: Feb 13, 2020

Page range: 12 - 18

Received: Sep 06, 2019

Accepted: Dec 06, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/johh-2019-0028

KeywordsWater repellency, Acidic sandy soil, Land abandonment, Secondary succession, Soil properties

© 2020 Ľubomír Lichner et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Water repellency, Acidic sandy soil, Land abandonment, Secondary succession, Soil properties