Effect of management and climate on biochemical properties of grassland soils from Galicia (NW Spain)

Biochemical properties are considered to be the best indicators available at present for assessing soil quality. However, there are still many gaps in our knowledge about how these properties are affected by abiotic factors and how these factors interact with soil management. With the aim of understanding how climate and soil management affect soil biochemical properties in grasslands soils from a temperate-humid area (Galicia, NW Spain), a total of 60 soils were analyzed for several microbial and biochemical properties. Grasslands were divided into groups according to the type of management applied (native compared with intensive) and to the climate in the area where they were sampled (Mediterranean subhumid with centroeuropean drift climate compared with Atlantic climate). We found that management had a greater influence on soil biochemical properties than climate. Altitude, which strongly influences climate in the region where the soils were analyzed, was found to be a significant factor that affected most soil biochemical properties. In conclusion, the results show that microbially-mediated processes are greatly affected by both, management and abiotic factors and that, for some properties (like net N mineralization and cellulase and casein-protease activities), abiotic factors can have an important influence on soil biochemical properties.