Soil moisture in oak-wood and pinewood of the Moncayo (Iberian Range, Spain)

Abstract

Water behaviour in forest soils, an oak-wood (Quercus pyrenaica) and a pine-wood (Pinus sylvestris) located on the northern side of the Moncayo Massif (Sistema Ibérico, Zaragoza, Spain) is analysed in this study. The results demonstrate the different behaviour of water in the soils of the two forests subject to study. Soil moisture values correspond to the different depths (dead leaves, 0-5, 5-10 and 10-15 cm) and at different times during the year, and are related to climatic parameters such as rain -fall and temperature, linked phenologically to the presence of canopy and soil cover, pointing out the texture and quantity of organic matter in each of the defined depths. A clear seasonal behaviour of soil moisture in relation to climatic and phenological factors is observed in both forests. Soil moisture is always higher in the pine-wood in the upper subhorizons (0-5 and 5-10 cm), and in the oak-wood in the lower ones (10-15 cm).