@misc{10481/71016,
year = {2021},
month = {9},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10481/71016},
abstract = {Assessing soil hydrological conditions can provide essential information for understanding the environmental processes that
affect ecosystem services and, particularly in the context of ongoing climate change. This is key in areas affected by water
scarcity such as the Mediterranean belt. Therefore, the main goals of this research are (i) to assess the main rainfall dynamics and
trends of some representative hotspots along with southern Spain and (ii) to determine the impact on the soil available water
content (AWC) over the last two decades. An analysis of daily precipitation and soil hydrological conditions was combined with
soil sampling (543) and laboratory analyses to evaluate the properties related to the soil infiltration and retention capacity. The
results show that the organic factors control soil properties and their hydrodynamics in southern Spain. Furthermore, a general
declining trend in soil water availability is observed over the last two decades. This is more extreme in arid and semi-arid areas,
where there have been several years in the last decade with more than 200 days without the available water content. Moreover, in
these areas, heavy rainfall during specific moments of the year is the key factor that manifests a greater incidence in areas with
steeper slopes, which in turn, also conditions the biological factors and the hydrodynamics of the soil. In short, in the context of
climate change, the analysis of soil hydrological dynamics could be used to identify biodiversity thresholds in the Mediterranean
area and even to detect phenological changes in specific plant species.},
organization = {Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness	CSO2016-75898-P},
publisher = {Springer},
keywords = {Regional studies},
keywords = {Climate change},
keywords = {Mediterranean belt},
keywords = {Soil dry periods},
title = {Factors determining the soil available water during the last two decades (1997–2019) in southern Spain},
doi = {10.1007/s12517-021-08265-y},
author = {Sillero Medina, José A. and Rodrigo Comino, Jesús and Ruiz Sinoga, José D.},
}