Spatial distribution of hydraulic conductivity in soils of secondary tropical montane cloud forests and shade coffee agroecosystems

Disturbance of the tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF) produces secondary forests and coffee agroecosystems that conserve part of the arboreal-shrub vegetation of the native forest&However, it remains unknown whether the contribution of these two land use types to the conservation of the soil hydraulic properties is comparable to that of the original forest Given the heterogeneous nature of both the land use within the landscape and the vegetation within the plots, the spatial distribution of these properties also remains unclear. We used variography and linear models to study the mean variation and spatial heterogeneity of field-saturated hydraulic conductivity (K-fs) at two different scales (plot and landscape) and examined its relationship with soil properties that are sensitive to land use change. The results suggest that secondary forests and coffee agroecosystems have a high capacity for water conduction, although this capacity is significantly lower in the latter. No structure was apparent in the spatial distribution of K-fs within the plots; however, a north-south gradient was detected at landscape level. In addition to a similar gradient, the soil properties that control K-fs (i.e., organic matter content, initial water content and bulk density) presented nested patches of average diameter 119-150 m. The average values of K-fs and its distribution in a gradient across the landscape were explained statistically by land use type, initial soil moisture and clay content This suggests that there is an interaction between land use and the soil properties that determine K-fs and its spatial distribution at landscape level. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.