Manejo silvicola, capacidad de infiltracion, escurrimiento superficial y erosion | Silvicultural treatments, infiltration capacity, runoff, and soil erosion
2006
Duenez-Alanis, J. | Gutierrez, J. | Perez, L. | Navar, J.
The Sierra Madre Occidental Mountain range of Durango, Mexico, a forested zone commercially important, is a source of groundwater recharge for the Provinces of the Pacific Ocean lowlands and the interior plains of the Chihuahuan Desert. Forests have been traditionally used for timber harvesting and extensive livestock grazing. In this research we measured the effect of four silvicultural treatments on the soil infiltration, surface runoff and soil erosion in Santa Barbara, Durango, México. These hydrological processes were evaluated in 1998 and 1999 by using a portable rainfall simulator, applying 10.47 cm h-1 of intensity during 30 min. During the first year, the largest infiltration and sediment rates and smaller runoff rates were observed in the second thinning treatments in contrast to the other silvicultural treatments (P = 0.0001). Grazing practices in contrast to the silvicultural treatments had the most significant effects on hydrology and soil sedimentation (P = 0.0001). For the second year, none of the silvicultural treatments showed significant differences indicating the short temporal and spatial effect of harvesting on soil and hydrological parameters. However, grazing sites continued to have higher runoff and sedimentation rates. The recommendations emerging from these results are i) to control land use changes from forests to grasslands and the carrying capacity on forests, ii) to minimize environmental soil impacts by harvesting operations, and iii) to realize soil and water conservation practices on grasslands and on forest soils immediately after harvesting operations to maintain functioning the water cycle in the western Sierra Madre mountain range of Durango, Mexico.
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