Biologia 70/11: 1474—1479, 2015 Section Botany DOI: 10.1515/biolog-2015-0172 Effects of vegetation at different succession stages on soil properties and water flow in sandy soil Peter Šurda 1 *, Ľubomír Lichner 1 , Viliam Nagy 1 , Jozef Kollár 2 , Massimo Iovino 3 & Ágota Horel 4 1 Institute of Hydrology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Račianska 75, SK-83102 Bratislava, Slovakia; e-mail: surda@uh.savba.sk 2 Institute of Landscape Ecology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Štefánikova 3, SK-81499 Bratislava, Slovakia; e-mail: j.kollar@savba.sk 3 Universit`a degli Studi di Palermo, Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Forestali, Vialedelle Scienze, I-90128 Palermo, Italy; e-mail: massimo.iovino@unipa.it 4 Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Herman Ottó út 15, H–1022 Budapest, Hungary; e-mail: horel.agota@agrar.mta.hu Abstract: The effects of vegetation at different succession stages on soil properties and water flow were assessed in sandy soil at 3 experimental sites near Sekule village (southwest Slovakia). Site S1 was a pioneer site dominated by mosses, site S2 was an early successional stage with a thin stand of grasses, and site S3 was an early successional stage (more advanced compared to the previous), richer in species, with a denser stand of grasses. It was found that vegetation at different succession stages affected soil properties and water flow in sandy soil, but the order of changes in some soil properties and water penetration depths were different from the order of succession stages. Key words: sandy soil; vegetation succession; soil properties; water flow; water repellency Introduction Vegetation succession is the evolution of plant commu- nities at a site over time from pioneer species to climax vegetation (Glenn-Lewin et al. 1992). At each stage of the succession the vegetation alters the soil and micro- climate, allowing the establishment of another group of species (Tesař et al. 2006; Kodešová et al. 2006, 2007; Lichner et al. 2010; Jian et al. 2013; Orfánus et al. 2014; Lozano et al. 2014; Zhang et al. 2014; Kořenková et al. 2015). Succession on the nutrient-poor eolic sand dunes has its own patterns. For initial stage of succession species resistant to the most extreme conditions are typical. Of vascular plants, Corynephorus canescens, Digitaria sp., Cynodon dactylon, Spergula morisonii etc. play major role. Lichens and bryophytes are repre- sented mainly by species of Cladonia and Polytrichum genus. They stabilize sand and enrich it by organic matters. This type of vegetation, which is weakly cov- ered (10–60%) and poor in species, is treated as Thymo angustifolii-Corynephoretum canescentis Krippel 1954 association from Corynephorion Klika 1931 alliance. Next stage is characteristic by stabilization of substrate and higher content of organic matter. Stands of vascu- lar plants and cryptogams are denser (40–100%) and richer in species. It is usually dominated by Festuca vaginata subsp. dominii. This type is described as Di- antho serotini-Festucetum vaginatae Klika 1934 associ- ation from Festucion vaginatae Soó 1929 alliance. Un- der proper conditions, seedlings of trees and shrubs may appear here, forming a base for advanced successional stages leading to the climax pine-oak or oak forest vegetation (Krippelová & Krippel 1956; Krippel 1969; Stanová 1995a, b). The process of succession is affected also by biological soil crust (BSC) communities of liv- ing organisms on the soil surface composed of fungi, lichens, cyanobacteria, bryophytes, and algae in vary- ing proportions – which perform important ecological roles including carbon fixation, nitrogen fixation, soil stabilization, soil albedo and water relation alterations, and affect germination and nutrient levels in vascular plant (Drahorad et al. 2013; Lichner et al. 2013; Cantón et al. 2014; Lázaro & Mora 2014). The objective of this study was to quantify the ef- fects of vegetation at different succession stages on soil properties and water flow in sandy soil. To investigate the differences between mean value of water flow in soil tubes with the radius of 25–30 cm, infiltration experi- ments were undertaken at three 100 cm × 100 cm plots * Corresponding author c 2015 Institute of Botany, Slovak Academy of Sciences Unauthenticated Download Date | 6/15/16 9:54 AM