Short-temporal variation of soil organic carbon in different land use systems in the Ramsar site 2027 ‘Presa Manuel Ávila Camacho’ Puebla

Abstract

The soil organic carbon (SOC) was determined in 40 sites at two depths (0–10 and 10–20 cm) for different uses of soil during one year (February 2014–February 2015). The total SOC stored in the analysed soil from the Ramsar site was $9{,}67 \times 10^{5}$ t, from which 40% was stored in induced pasture, followed by the red oak forest with shrubbery secondary vegetation, rain-fed agriculture and human settlements (24%, 23%, and 13%, respectively); the last was evaluated to determine how the proximity of the city impacts the SOC. The SOC concentrations present significant differences with respect to soil depth ($p=0.0$) and land use ($p=0.0$). The temporal distribution maps showed that SOC did not present significant variations in the short-term. A relation between SOC and bulk density was found ($r = -0.654$, $p=0.00$), with respect to other physicochemical properties. Moreover, a significant relation between SOC and stored total nitrogen ($r = 0.585$; $p = 0.00$) was found. This work represents the first study that analyses the current condition of the soils in the Ramsar site ‘Presa Manuel Ávila Camacho’.