RT journal article
T1 Short and Long-Term Effect of Land Use and Management on Soil Organic Carbon Stock in Semi-Desert Areas of North Africa-Tunisia
A1 Baraket, Fatma
A1 González-Rosado, Manuel
A1 Brahim, Nadhem
A1 Roca, Nuria
A1 Ben Mbarek, Hadda
A1 Świtoniak, Marcin
A1 Chaker, Rayda
A1 Sánchez Bellón, Ángel
A1 Rigane, Hafedh
A1 Gargouri, Kamel
A1 Parras-Alcántara, Luis
A2 Ciencias de la Tierra
K1 arid climate
K1 land use
K1 land management
K1 Calcisols
K1 Arenosols
K1 soil organic carbon stocks
K1 olive grove
K1 almond grove
K1 pistachio grove
AB Soil organic carbon (SOC) plays an important role in the global C cycle, as well as in the maintenance and improvement of the soil quality. Over time, special attention has been paid to it in the study of the SOC reserves worldwide; however, reduced attention has been given to assessing the spatial patterns of SOC stock (SOCS) in semi-desert ecosystems. In this line, there are no conclusive studies in drylands of Africa affected by aeolian processes (semi-desert conditions) mainly due to the complexity of sample collection, and this is especially significant in some soil types such as Arenosols (AR) and Calcisols (CL). This study evaluated the spatial variability of SOC and SOCS in AR and CL with woody crops in relation to land use and management (old plantations > 100 years: centenary olive grove; new plantations < 12 years: young olive grove, almond, and pistachio) in semi-desert conditions. For this purpose, 16 soil profiles (for 0-40 and 40-100 cm depth) were selected and studied in an experimental area of Menzel Chaker-Sfax in southeastern Tunisia (North Africa). The main results indicated that the SOCS on average was higher in Old Cultivated AR (OC-AR) with 41.16 Mg ha(-1) compared to Newly Cultivated AR (NC-AR) with 25.13 Mg ha(-1). However, the SOCS decreased after a long period of cultivation in CL from 43.00 Mg ha(-1) (Newly Cultivated CL: NC-CL) to 32.19 Mg ha(-1) (Old Cultivated CL: OC-CL). This indicates that in the long term, CL has more capacity to store SOC than AR, and that in the short term, AR is more sensitive to land management than CL.
PB MDPI
SN 2077-0472
YR 2021
FD 2021-12
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/26451
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/26451
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 14-nov-2026