The Effect of Land Use on Soil Erosion in the Guadiana Watershed in Puerto Rico

摘要

The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) was used in conjunction with a Geo- graphic Information System to determine the influence of land use and other environmental factors on soil erosion in the Guadiana watershed in Puerto Rico. Mean annual erosion, suspended sediment discharge, and the rainfall-erosion factor of the RUSLE increased with annual rainfall. Median soil erosion rates varied among the seven land uses: bare soil (534 Mg ha~-1yr-~1), open canopy forest (26 Mg ha~-1yr~-1), agriculture (22 Mg ha~-1yr~-1), pasture (17 Mg ha~-1yr~-1), less dense urban (15 Mg ha~-1yr~-1), closed canopy forest (7 Mg ha~-1yr~-1), and dense urban (1 Mg ha~-1yr~-1).