Morfología Fluvial.-El matorral como protector del suelo y los recursos hídricos en la Sierra de Enguera. Valencia. España. Implicaciones económicas de su manejo.

Abstract

Abstract John Thornes found that scrubland (matorral) was a key factor to control soil erosion on Mediterranean mountains. His research works inspired many scientist that researched the impact of scrubland changes and management on semiarid ecosystems. An experiment carried out on the El Teularet-Sierra de Enguera experimental station in 2004 show the erosion rates on a 30-years abandoned orchard with dense vegetation cover of Ulex parviflorus and Cistus albidus and a 20-year old fire affected Maquia with Quercus coccifera, Pistacia lentiscus and Juniperus oxycedrus. The 8 (4 at each treatment) plots (1, 2, 4 and 16 m2) under 715 mm of natural rainfall contributed with low runoff, sediment concentration and soil erosion. These measurements confirm the John Thornes� idea: matorral is an efficient vegetation cover protection on Mediterranean ecosystems.esentat