Abstract
A study was conducted on 14 grassland communities located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula and their edaphology, which is identified as specific plant associations. The edaphic study of each association allows a rapid evaluation of the nutrient content in the soil without the need for laboratory edaphic analysis. For each phytosociological relevé and soil, samplings were carried out. The field data were subjected to various statistical analysis—canonical correspondence analysis (CCA), Bayesian networks, and decision trees—to establish nutrient content. When the abundance value of the species is 9 in the Van der Maarel scale, there is an increase in the values of several soil parameters. In the case of Hordeum leporinum, when the Van der Maarel index is 9, the Kc (exchangeable potassium in cmol/kg) undergoes the greatest variation, to a value of up to 0.729 cmol/kg. The application of the decision tree to this species reveals that the soil attributes with the greatest influence in the classification are conductivity, %_si (silt texture), pH, and pF 15 atm (pressure at 15 atmospheres (water retention capacity) in %). Indeed, this interlaced edaphic and phytosociological study provides us with a high-value tool to obtain quick information on the content of nutrients in the soil.
Highlights
Introduction in published maps and institutionalThe great diversity of Mediterranean grazings and their use in livestock and agriculture has been analyzed in olive areas in Spain, Italy, and Portugal, with a focus on the Iberian Peninsula [1,2,3]
The sampling was repeated 20 times in different areas for each plant association, all with the same dominant species, for a total of 280 botanical relevés following the Braun–Blanquet [39] abundance–dominance index, which was subsequently transformed into Van der Maarel indices [40]
Many authors have worked on plant associations from the floristic point of view [4], others established relationships between plant associations and substrate [5,6,16,22,23,24], or works are being done on the value of plant covers to mitigate climate change [40], and certain species are even used as indicators of heavy ion pollutants in the soil [43]
Summary
The great diversity of Mediterranean grazings and their use in livestock and agriculture has been analyzed in olive areas in Spain, Italy, and Portugal, with a focus on the Iberian Peninsula [1,2,3]. Pastures and grasslands are relevant as plant covers, because they prevent soil erosion [4]. Each plant association of pasture or grassland has few or more dominant species thanks to the type and quantity of soil nutrient [5]. The interest of knowing these plant communities relates to fast and correct agricultural management, enabling the avoidance or reduction of the economic cost of laboratory analysis as well as the use of fertilizers and herbicides. The great abundance of floristic and phytosociological studies [6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15], and the lack of studies that correlate plant associations with soils, allows proposing a new applied model, through which quick information on the nutritional status of soils is obtained. affiliations.
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