Efectos del cambio de uso del suelo en las propiedades físicas y químicas en la microcuenca del Soroche

Abstract

The páramo is an important ecosystem for the high Andean communities due to the ecosystem services that it supplies. However, due to population growth, the search of natural resources, and the expansion of the agricultural frontier are threatening the functioning in the páramo. This research addressed the effects of land use change on physical and chemical properties, in the Soroche micro-catchment. To achieve this, the soil properties were evaluated in different scenarios of land use/cover and topography, to finally elaborate guidelines that allow to make decisions in the management of the soils in the micro-catchment. The analyses of the physical and chemical parameters were obtained from the INIAP; after their grouping, the data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, to later identify significant differences and their degree of correlation. The available water (AD) in the A horizon was the only hydrophysical parameter that showed increases in the pasture with significant differences. In the páramo-pasture, horizon A, horizon C, coverage and curvature, our analyses showed that Ca and Mg were increased in the pasture. These results provide evidence that the effects of land use change, as the case of the Soroche microcuenca, mainly affect the chemical parameters of the soil due to the application of amendments to improve the production of pasturefor livestock