Land use and soil-vegetation relationships in a Mediterranean ecosystem: El Ardal, Murcia, Spain

Several pedological (water retention capacity, hydraulic conductivity, distribution and stability of aggregates, organic matter content, texture) and vegetal charateristics (litter production and litter decomposition, below ground biomass), have been studied in a transect of the Experimental Field of El Ardal (SE, Spain). This transect reflects several typical land use types of a Mediterranean semi-arid environment. The main objective of this paper is to study soil-vegetation and land-use relationships and to analyze de dynamics of field abandonment. The results show a close relationship between soil development and vegetation characteristics, a notable difference between soils from cultivated plots and those in a semi-natural state, and an appreciable recovery of the soil characteristics of plots where cultivation has been abandoned.