Local Climatic Changes Assessment and Influence over Edaphic Characteristics in the Mediterranean Basin

Mediterranean basin soils are markedly degrading due to several anthropic pressures while the general population continues to rise. In order to feed the actual and projected population in 2050 several strategies are in order, but all depend on the preservation and optimization of land resources. Resources that must be assessed and monitored in order to verify if such objectives are reachable. Using registered data from 1965 and 15,0000 soil samples collected in 2012 in a western Mediterranean basin field with 15,000 ha we track key edaphic health predictors where rain-fed evolution was measured. We tracked soil organic matter (SOM), pH and exchangeable bases (Ca2+, Mg2+, K+ and Na+). We found that while SOM, pH, exchange Ca2+, Mg2+ and K+ were significantly increasing, exchange Na+ was significantly decreasing. Normal climatic data comparisons revealed that climate has changed from sub-humid with great water excess (C1B2s2b4) in 1951/1980 to sub-humid with moderate water excess (C1B2sb4) in 1981/2010 to semi-arid with little or none water excess (DB2db4) in 1991/2016 according to the Thornthwaite classification. Our results suggest that this Mediterranean basin area is departing from sustainable goals of soil conservation and proper soil conservation and management practices, that face the local climatic changes, should be adopted.