Soil erosion assessment of the various vegetation cover in Mt. Musuan, Philippines
Journal Title: Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences (JBES) - Year 2017, Vol 11, Issue 1
Abstract
Soil erosion is one of the main causes of land degradation. This is very prominent in developing countries where large tracts of forest land are converted to other land uses. Mt. Musuan, a land mark of Central Mindanao University in Bukidnon, is not spared in this phenomenon. This study is conducted to assess and quantify soil erosion rates of the various land cover across the landscape of the mountain. These include the forest area, grassland and the agro-ecosystem components. Soil erosion plots were established in various slope gradients of the three vegetative/land cover. Erosion bar method was used in measuring the soil erosion rates and the micro-infiltrometer was used to determine infiltration rates. Findings show that agro-ecosystem had the highest soil losses at 41.43 ton ha-1 yr-1 followed by grassland with 26.39 ton ha-1 yr-1 while the forest area had the least with 13.98 ton ha-1 yr-1. In terms of slope gradient, though non-significant, the slope greater than 20 % had the highest soil loss of 35.37 ton ha-1 yr-1 followed slope gradient between 10% to 20% with 29.17 ton ha-1 yr-1. The slope less than 10 % had the least soil losses with 17.35 ton ha-1 yr-1. In terms of infiltration rate, the forest area is highest with 94.67 mm hr-1. Agro-ecosystem and grassland ecosystem had infiltration rates of 52.44 mm hr-1and 54.89 mm hr-1, respectively. The soil erosion rates of Mt. Musuan are beyond the tolerable limit and need immediate actions particularly in the agro-ecosystem. Rehabilitation like planting of perennial crops in these areas needs to be prioritized.
Authors and Affiliations
Rico A. Marin, Jupiter V. Casas
Keywords
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