COMPARATIVE APPROACH FOR ASSESSING THE SOIL QUALITY IN AN URBAN CONSERVATION UNIT

This study aimed to verify the quality of the soil according to different stages of regeneration. Urban conservation units can be of great importance in land management and in the sustainable development process of cities. Monitoring soil quality in these spaces can help define strategies in the forest recovery process. A management performance evaluation method and consequent soil quality was applied, using data envelopment analysis (DEA). Soil was collected in the three stages of forest regeneration observed: land with established forests, reforested land, and open land, at three different depths (0-10; 20-30 and 40-50 cm). In the set of 54 analyzed observations, soils with low levels of fertility were verified. The area with reforested land showed the best performance in maximizing the selected variables and consequently better soil quality scores. The open lands showed the lowest performance in soil conservation. This quality score can help define soil management strategies.