ATLANTIS: DEVELOPMENT OF SOIL-SMART FORESTRY
PRACTICES AND OF EARLY VULNERABILITY DIAGNOSIS TOOLS TO IMPROVE SOIL CONSERVATION AND LONG-TERM STABILITY
OF IBERIAN ATLANTIC FORESTS

The forestry practices to which the Atlantic forests of the Iberian Peninsula have been subjected to in the last century have generated a forest dominated by monospecific plantations of exotic species (especially Eucalyptus globulus from Australia and Pinus radiata from California, Unites States). This trend has perpetuated the loss of both plant and animal biodiversity and the proliferation of forest diseases and fires, along with important losses of soil functioning, soil biodiversity, and soil organic matter (soil erosion), which have increased the incidence of floods and landslides. The ATLANTIS project aims to develop knowledge to reverse these current trends that call into question the long-term soil conservation of the Iberian Atlantic Forests, the stability of these forest ecosystems and the sustainable provision of key ecosystem services. With these purposes in mind, this coordinated project proposal has been designed: (1) to collect robust evidence on how, and to which extent, the current forestry practices determine trends of soil erosion, including losses of soil physical (e.g. soil structure, water infiltration), chemical (e.g. nutrient content, soil organic matter) and biological (soil microbiota diversity and functioning) properties; (2) to link the current status of soil conservation with tree and ecosystem health and with key ecosystem services that forests provide; (3) to develop smart, ecologically friendly forest management practices, which could improve soil conservation and hence the long-term sustainability of the Iberian Atlantic Forests; and (4) to develop tools that may be used to detect early stages of forest vulnerability in order to understand current trends and improve decision-making to optimize forest conservation