The soils of Atlantic wet heathlands of Erica mackayana in N of Galicia

Abstract

Heathlands are a habitat type with a close and complex relationship between plant communities dominated by evergreen shrub species and soils characterised by nutrient poverty and high organic matter content. To characterise the soils of the Atlantic wet heathlands of northern Galicia, dominated by the mackayana species, physico-chemical properties were studied and organic matter was characterised in ninety plots at 18 sites. The main responsible for the nutrition of these habitats is a poorly evolved organic matter through an intense biorecycling with a strong local control by microclimatic conditions and with little relevance of the lithological nature. Cation exchange capacity is low and tends to be saturated in Al. In this context, the impact of climate warming and land use changes on the evolution of organic matter, as well as the possibility of stabilisation in organoaluminic compounds will be mainly responsible for the evolution of the plant-soil system in this habitat.