Soil Water Properties of Kerangas Forest Soil after Invasion by Acacia

• Main Authors: Moahamad Hilmi, Ibrahim, Faizah, Metali, Kushan, Tennakoon, Rahayu Sukmaria, Sukri
• Format: Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: QK Botany
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/38392/1/Proceeding%20of%20SOILS%202017.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/38392/; http://msss.com.my/soils2017/
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

Soil water is important for forest ecosystems as infiltration and percolation process use soil water for plant growth. The presence of invasive Acacia species may limit the availability of soil water because these species absorb more water than native species. Hence, the objective was to investigate the effect of Acacia invasion on the soil water properties of Kerangas forests. In each invaded and non-invaded Acacia plots, holes a lysimeter was installed into the holes and used to extract soil water by direct contact to the soil. The results shows the invasion of Acacia has affected the Kerangas forest by higher absorption of water and higher fixation of nitrate.