Evaluation of soil fertility status based on CEC and variation across disturbed and intact tropical coastal forests sites in Tanzania
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Date
2018
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Asian Journal of Environment & Ecology
Abstract
Although an understanding of different levels of soil calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium,
cation exchange capacity, and percentage base saturation, is important in the management of forest
ecosystems; however, there is limited documentation on the status of these elements in forest
subjected to crop-agriculture and livestock grazing disturbances in the tropical coastal forests. This
study aimed to evaluate soil fertility based on exchangeable bases’ status and variation across
closed forest (control), agriculture and livestock disturbed sites in the coastal zone of Tanzania to
add knowledge on the management of tropical coastal forests.
Methodology: Systematic sampling and stratification approaches were used to get representative
samples of forested blocks and disturbed sites. Forty-seven (50 m x 50 m) sampling plots on each
of the forest sites were established in the study area from which 141 soil samples were drawn.
Ammonium acetate solution was used to extract exchangeable calcium, potassium, magnesium,and sodium from which cation exchange capacity and base saturation were calculated.
Results: The mean, correlation and t-values were used to compare nutrients across land uses. The
mean values were 3.75, 3.11 and 0.63 for Ca2+; 0.80, 5.87 and 6.67 for Mg2+; 0.03, 0.55, and 0.52
for K+; 0.01, 0.31 and 0.31 for Na+; 2.61, 13.74 and 16.36 (cmol(+)/kg) for cation exchange capacity
and 10.29, 5.86 and 4.42 (V%) for base saturation in three areas: closed forest, agriculture and
livestock disturbed sites.
Conclusions: The variations show that crop-agriculture and livestock grazing disturb soil chemical
properties in tropical coastal forests. Therefore, it is essential to protect closed forest sites while
putting more efforts to restore the disturbed sites for sustainable forest management along the
coastal areas.
Description
Asian Journal of Environment & Ecology, 2018; 6(2): 1-12
Keywords
Base elements, Cation exchange capacity, Base saturation, Forest ecosystems, Land use change.