Soil and litter properties from a riparian to non-riparian zone in a tropical dry forest

Abstract

Riparian zones of dry tropical forests are important due to their effect on nutrient cycling and carbon dynamics. It’s important to evaluate the changes that occur when these areas are altered, in order to ascertain the magnitude of nutrient gains or losses. This work evaluates chemical changes in soil and litter transitioning from a riparian to a non-riparian zone. Plots were established for soil and litter sampling in riparian and non-riparian zones. For chemical analysis, litter and soil surface sampling were performed at depths of 0.0 to 0.10 m and 0.10 to 0.20 m. The descriptive and principal component analysis assessed chemical attribute sets' soil and litter characteristics. We observed higher P, K, and Ca content at both depths in soils of the non-riparian zone. The total soil organic carbon content in the non-riparian zones was 1.28 and 1.51 times greater at 0-10 and 10-20 cm depths, respectively than in the riparian zones. This study revealed that despite the chemical and organic inputs in the non-riparian zones, no significant differences were observed regarding the chemical properties of the soils of riparian areas as opposed to the soils of non-riparian areas since the litter of the riparian zones was richer in nutrients. Additionally, this study suggests that the humic acid and humin fractions are responsible for maintaining fertility in riparian areas due to strong correlations with soil nutrients.