Closed vs. Open Forests: A Comparative study of Soil Properties and Microbial Biomass in Central India's Achanakmar-Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve

Abstract

Abstract Change in forest cover and forest loss greatly impact the physicochemical and microbiological properties of the soil. Mixed Sal forests have a significant impact on soil qualities, favourably affecting the amount of organic matter, the availability of nutrients, and the pH levels. So therefore, our hypothesis was to check the status, seasonal variations and vertical distribution of soil physiochemical and microbial soil properties under closed mixed sal forest (no human activities) and open mixed sal forest (human interferences). The data revealed that closed mixed sal forest were higher (p < 0.05) in soil moisture (41.5%), clay particles (36.5%), soil organic carbon (28.6%), available nitrogen (5%), available phosphorus (25%), available potassium (12%) and SOC stocks (23.5%), respectively over open mixed sal forest. Soil organic carbon stock (SOC stock) ranged 5.7 to 24.5 Mg ha− 1. Closed mixed sal forest had 43% higher SOC stock in the surface soil (D1:0-20cm)), 22–60% in subsurface to deeper soil profile (D2:20-40cm-D5:80-100cm). The SMBC content ranged 12.0 to 591µg C g− 1 irrespective of forest type and seasons. Closed mixed sal forest had 60% higher (p < 0.05) SMBC in D1 than the open mixed sal forest while it reduced with depth and 17.1 to 56.7% higher SMBC in the subsurface to bottom most soil profile (D2-D5). The SMBC content was higher in the Monsoon period ranged 48.2 to 591µg C g− 1 in closed mixed sal forest and 44.8 to 326.4 µg C g− 1 in open mixed sal forest. The SMBC reduced 24.2 to 45.1% in the post monsoon period while the reduction was more intense in the pre monsoon period (48.1 to 68.2%) compared to the monsoon period under the closed mixed sal forest. Similarly, the decline was more intense in the open mixed sal forest, where SMBC declined 12.1 to 54% in the post monsoon and 56.1 to 76.2% in pre monsoon period compared to the monsoon period. So, therefore, we conclude here that the study shows that human interferences in the mixed sal forests often leads to the loss of forest cover and may also have significant negative impact on the physicochemical and microbiological properties of soil, ultimately reducing soil fertility.