2026-10-15T00:47:54Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/33958933 2026-09-21T18:05:05Z category_23857 category_23881 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Agroforestry Systems as a Sustainable Strategy for Improving the Quality of Sandy Soils in Tropical Environments Cyndi Ferreira (25084969) Agricultural land management Sustainable agricultural development management sustainability soil indicators environmental quality <p dir="ltr">Under tropical conditions, sandy-textured soils present limitations associated with rapid organic matter decomposition, hindering its accumulation and stability. In this context, agroforestry systems stand out as promising strategies by promoting greater organic matter input through litter deposition, favoring soil biodiversity. This study evaluated chemical, physical, and biological soil attributes, including edaphic macrofauna, microbial activity, fungal and bacterial communities, as well as relative soil quality indices in an agroforestry system (AFS) and a regenerating forest (FOR), located in Seropédica, RJ, Brazil. The AFS exhibited higher soil fertility, including higher pH, available phosphorus, base saturation, and total carbon, as well as greater macrofauna abundance and fungal and bacterial alpha diversity. In contrast, AMF spore abundance was higher in the FOR, while several physical attributes, carbon fractions, enzyme activities, EE-GRSP, and microbial beta diversity did not differ significantly between sites. The relative chemical and biological soil quality indices were higher in the AFS, whereas the physical and overall indices did not differ between sites. Despite the intrinsic limitations of sandy-textured soils, the AFS exhibited physical conditions comparable to those observed in the regenerating forest, together with favorable differences in some chemical attributes and higher local microbial diversity. The integration of these responses indicates that the AFS can support multiple dimensions of soil quality under tropical sandy-soil conditions, while also highlighting the importance of combining chemical, physical, and biological indicators for a comprehensive assessment of soil functioning.</p> 2026-09-21T18:05:05Z Dataset Dataset 10.6084/m9.figshare.33958933.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Agroforestry_Systems_as_a_Sustainable_Strategy_for_Improving_the_Quality_of_Sandy_Soils_in_Tropical_Environments/33958933 CC BY 4.0