Soil degradation processes and plant colonization in abandoned terraced fields overlying pumice tuffs

The state of soil degradation/regeneration in abandoned agricultural terraced fields over pumiceous tuffs has been assessed in this paper. In an initial stage, the relationships between soil types, surface microfeatures as indicators of soil degradation, physicochemical properties, plant colonization and vegetation structure were studied by means of multivariate statistical analyses (PCA, DCA, CCA and TWINSPAN®). Aerial photographs interpretation, DEMs and field surveys allowed us to identify 47 different environments for abandoned fields along 7 altitudinal transects (33 abandoned field terraces). In each study site, an inventory of the existing plant species and of morphological surface microfeatures were also made, by the line‐intercept method. Plant colonization in the field plots studied relates to the variation of soils properties according to a climatic altitudinal gradient. The soil properties most closely related to the abandonment age (decrease of soil salinity and clay content, and increase of soil alkalinity and total organic C and N), have contributed to the growth of plant communities with a high degree of climacity. The protection degree offered to the soils by the different vegetation types as a function of their structure and life‐forms strongly determines the occurrence of the different soil surface microfeatures as indicators of soil degradation or recovery. The acceleration of the early stages of succession by active planting of seeds from shrub species in the lower and upper areas, followed by reforestation in the latter ones, may be the best improvement practices to achieve an effective ecological recovery of the fields and simultaneously to attenuate soil degradation. The reassuming of agriculture may be desirable in those fields placed in middle heights, provided they show the best soil and climate conditions. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.