Unveiling Soil Variability: The Effects of Different Land Use in Mediterranean Region

KOCA, Yakup Kenan; GENCER, Murat; WAHAB, Taofeek Samuel; ACAR, Mert; TURGUT, Yavuz Şahin

doi:10.21608/ejss.2025.362842.2019

Unveiling Soil Variability: The Effects of Different Land Use in Mediterranean Region

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ University of Çukurova, Agriculture Faculty, Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition

² University of Çukurova, Department of Soil Science

³ University of Çukurova, Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition

10.21608/ejss.2025.362842.2019

Abstract

Land use has a significant effect on ecosystem health and agricultural productivity, as it is one of the most important factors affecting soil physical, chemical and biological properties. For this reasons, this study was carried out to the cumulative effects of different land use types on soil physical, chemical and biological properties of Xeralf soils found in Çukurova University campus with a Mediterranean climate. Disturbed and undisturbed soils were collected from different sampling points within Xeralf soil, which is characterized by three land use types: Non-irrigated arable land (NIAL), Olive groves (OG) and Broad-leaved forest (BLF) according to land use classification system. These samples were then analyzed for their physical, chemical and biological properties. Long term land use types had a significant effect on the available water contents and bulk density of the Xeralf soil, but not on porosity. There were significant effects of land use types on soil biological properties, whereas the effects on soil chemical properties were not significant. BLF (8.19%) sequestered more organic matter than the other land use types, while NIAL sequestered the least (2.20%). Furthermore, BLF attained the highest carbon stock having 51.7 Mg ha-1. The results suggest that long term different land use significantly affects soil quality indicators. From the perspective of organic carbon content and carbon stock demonstrated greater sustainability, in contrast to NIAL, which negatively affected these indicators. These results, shed lights on the development strategy for sustainable land use management. This research contributes to the further understanding of land use types on soil at a soil series level, however further exploration of these effects by soil horizons and soil depths is required.

Keywords