Determinación de indicadores de calidad de suelo para la conservación de la cuenca alta del Río Teusacá

Abstract

To make effective the prevention measures to the possible negative impacts generated by the eminent threats to which the strategic ecosystems such as the moors are exposed due to their proximity to large urban centers, first an initial diagnosis must be made or the approach of a line base of the natural resources of the area. When talking about diagnosis, reference is also made to the evaluation of the quality of the resource. That is why in the present investigation, a series of quality indicators of one of the most important resources for the conservation of the ecosystem such as the soil were determined, and were applied in a specific area with the purpose of evaluating their quality and at the same time apply the previously established indicators. The site chosen for this purpose is located in the conservation area of the Cruz Verde wasteland, in the village of El Verjón [1]. Where a positive result was hypothesized, due to the apparent absence of direct effects, according to the documentary review and observations made in the field. Once the theoretical indicators were established through the methodology proposed based on the literary review and after having defined and characterized the area where they were applied, the physical-chemical analysis of Fifteen (15) soil samples of the place with the in order to be able to compare it with the result of the determination of theoretical indicators and thus obtain a more precise evaluation of the soil quality of the place. The samples were taken by means of a simple sampling at convenience, taking as reference the two water sources of the place The evaluation of the soil quality gave an optimal result, with a value of 0.78 on a scale of 0 to 1 obtaining a high quality assessment according to the reference criteria used in the methodology. This methodology consisted in the selection of values directly from the literature taking into account the characteristics of the moor, some values were those suggested by each author and others using an equation that uses the maximum and minimum value (optimal and not optimal depending on the case) to catch the number under evaluation on the scale of 0 to 1 depending on the proximity with some quality end. It was also concluded that the most significant or relevant indicators to evaluate the quality of the soil in the area of the Matarredonda ecological park located in the Verjón village, were moisture retention, organic matter content and apparent density, it was also deduced that these Indicators are of great importance in terms of the conservation of the Cruz Verde Páramo ecosystem. Also, by comparing the results with others in different conditions, it is evident that the quality of the soil is given by the specific conditions of the particular environment, so it is wrong to consider the total quality as the sum of the results.