TY - JOUR

T1 - Effect of vegetation and its succession on water repellency in sandy soils

AU - Lichner, Lubomir

AU - Felde, Vincent J.M.N.L.

AU - Büdel, Burkhard

AU - Leue, Martin

AU - Gerke, Horst H.

AU - Ellerbrock, Ruth H.

AU - Kollár, Jozef

AU - Rodný, Marek

AU - Šurda, Peter

AU - Fodor, Nándor

AU - Sándor, Renáta

N1 - Funding Information: The authors thank Prof. Smettem and two anonymous reviewers for their wise comments and suggestions, which helped to improve the paper. This work was supported by the Slovak Scientific Grant Agency VEGA Projects 2/0054/14 and 2/0118/18, the Slovak Research and Development Agency Project APVV‐15‐0160, the Széchenyi 2020 programme, the European Regional Development Fund, the Hungarian Government (GINOP‐2.3.2‐15‐2016‐00028), and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Bonn, Germany, under Grant LE 3177/1‐2: “Quantification of small‐scale physicochemical and microbiological properties of intact macropore surfaces in structured soils.” This publication is a result of the project implementation ITMS 26220120062 Centre of Excellence for the Integrated River Basin Management in the Changing Environmental Conditions, supported by the Research & Development Operational Programme funded by the ERDF.

PY - 2018/9/24

Y1 - 2018/9/24

N2 - Vegetation and its succession can change the parameters of soil water repellency (SWR) due to the change in amount and composition of soil organic matter. This hypothesis was tested in natural and agricultural environments in Germany, Hungary, and Slovakia. The parameters investigated were the extent (determined by the repellency indices RI, RI c, and RI m) and persistence (determined by the water drop penetration time and water repellency cessation time) of SWR, as well as the potential wettability index of organic matter in sandy soils. The SWR parameters and soil organic carbon (SOC) content increased in the course of primary succession at Mehlinger Heide, Germany, and Sekule, Slovakia. Dye tracer experiments undertaken at Sekule revealed contrasting flow patterns: (a) preferential flow in water-repellent soil under biological soil crust and grass and (b) piston flow in wettable soil that consists almost of pure quartz sand. The effective flow cross section decreased, and the degree of preferential flow increased in the course of primary succession at Sekule. No consistent trend of the SWR parameters and SOC was observed in the course of secondary succession at Csólyospálos, Hungary. This is the first time that differences between trends in SWR parameters due to primary and secondary successions were observed and related to the composition of SOC and extracellular polymeric substances. It can be concluded that dynamics of soil organic matter composition during the succession controls SWR.

AB - Vegetation and its succession can change the parameters of soil water repellency (SWR) due to the change in amount and composition of soil organic matter. This hypothesis was tested in natural and agricultural environments in Germany, Hungary, and Slovakia. The parameters investigated were the extent (determined by the repellency indices RI, RI c, and RI m) and persistence (determined by the water drop penetration time and water repellency cessation time) of SWR, as well as the potential wettability index of organic matter in sandy soils. The SWR parameters and soil organic carbon (SOC) content increased in the course of primary succession at Mehlinger Heide, Germany, and Sekule, Slovakia. Dye tracer experiments undertaken at Sekule revealed contrasting flow patterns: (a) preferential flow in water-repellent soil under biological soil crust and grass and (b) piston flow in wettable soil that consists almost of pure quartz sand. The effective flow cross section decreased, and the degree of preferential flow increased in the course of primary succession at Sekule. No consistent trend of the SWR parameters and SOC was observed in the course of secondary succession at Csólyospálos, Hungary. This is the first time that differences between trends in SWR parameters due to primary and secondary successions were observed and related to the composition of SOC and extracellular polymeric substances. It can be concluded that dynamics of soil organic matter composition during the succession controls SWR.

KW - primary succession

KW - secondary succession

KW - soil properties

KW - soil water repellency

KW - vegetation

KW - water flow

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85053659737&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/eco.1991

DO - 10.1002/eco.1991

M3 - Article

VL - 11

JO - ECOHYDROLOGY

JF - ECOHYDROLOGY

SN - 1936-0584

IS - 6

M1 - e1991

ER -