The potential of Eucalyptus plantations to restore degraded soils in semi-arid Morocco (NW Africa)

Table 1 Soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks for the ecosystems studied

Carbon stocks (Mg ha⁻¹)	Euca-P1	Euca-C2	Euca-C3	Euca-C4	Crop-5	Crop-6	Quercus-7	Quercus-8	Degraded-9
Forest floor	0.95	1.10	1.31	1.52	0.23	0.17	1.94	3.61	0.09
0–20 cm	25.1	38.1	45.0	59.6	6.29	8.62	44.0	50.8	3.56
20–40 cm	4.31	5.76	7.49	8.70	2.30	3.01	10.5	14.2	0.81
40–60 cm	2.45	3.25	3.96	4.37	0.83	0.42	3.06	4.39	0.43
60–80 cm	0.85	0.42	0.42	0.43	0.43	0.43	0.42	0.82	0.45
80–100 cm	0.43	0.44	0.43	0.42	0.41	0.44	0.42	0.42	0.43
Total SOC	34.1	49.0	58.6	75.0	10.5	13.1	60.4	74.3	5.77
Index of soil degradation	0.58	0.40	0.28	0.08	0.87	0.84	0.26	0.09	0.93

The index of soil degradation scales from 0 (i.e. no degradation of SOC stocks) to 1 (i.e. complete loss of SOC). This index was calculated based on properties of similar soils of the same regions and cannot consequently be used in another context (see Sect. 2 for details)
Euca-P1 eucalyptus plantation, Euca-C2, Euca-C3, and Euca-C4 coppiced eucalyptus stands (2nd, 3rd, and 4th rotations), Crop-5 and Crop-6 croplands, Quercus-7 and Quercus-8 native oak forests, Degraded-9 degraded land (formally a native forest)

ISSN: 1297-966X