Assessing the influence of land use change on soil quality across different ecosystems in Kolli hills, Eastern Ghats
摘要
Soil quality indices (SQIs) assess an ecosystem’s susceptibility to land-use change (LUC), highlighting the impacts on soil parameters. This study developed an SQI for six ecosystems in the Kolli Hills (KH), Eastern Ghats (EG), India: evergreen forest (EF), deciduous forest (DF), thorn forest (TF), agricultural system (AS), horticulture system (HS), and plantation system (PS). Soil samples were collected at two depths, surface (15 cm) and subsurface (30 cm), from 240 sites (40 samples per depth per ecosystem) and analyzed. LUC altered the soil physical and chemical properties. AS and HS had higher sand content (54.63%), bulk density (1.47 Mg m−3), and particle density (2.48 Mg m−3), whereas EF and DF had higher clay content (63.91%), porosity (52.03%), and available soil moisture (18.33%), all of which decreased with depth. The organic carbon and nutrient levels were greater in EF, DF, TF, and PS, with EF having the highest values (soil organic carbon: 60.70 g kg−1; nitrogen: 322.21 kg ha−1; phosphorus: 80.54 kg ha−1; potassium: 617.06 kg ha−1, iron—83.16 mg kg−1, manganese—60.16 mg kg−1, zinc—5.16 mg kg−1 and copper—5.35 mg kg−1) at 15 cm and decreasing with depth. In conclusion, the SQI for surface soil was the maximum in EF (2.50), followed by DF, TF, PS, HS, and AS, with a similar pattern in subsurface samples, suggesting an urgent need for land management strategies to improve soil quality in these ecosystems of the Eastern Ghats.