Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Organizational Unit

College of Natural Science and Mathematics, Geography and the Environment

First Advisor

Matthew J. Taylor

Second Advisor

Michael J. Daniels

Third Advisor

Patrick Martin

Keywords

Agriculture, Soil science, Fungi

Abstract

In Mexico’s state of Yucatán, climate change impacts like prolonged and less predictable dry season length are manifesting as threats to agricultural production and food security. Nearly two thirds of Yucatán’s population is indigenous, many of whom live in rural communities that rely on rainfed subsistence agriculture (INEGI 2015). Ensuring sufficient food production in the face of climate change relies on the quality of agricultural soils. With both mismanagement of agricultural soils and climate change posing as threats to food production in Mexico, soil management practices that increase a soil quality should be identified and promoted. The primary objective of this project was to evaluate and compare a number of important soil quality indicators across various soil management practices in rural Maya towns of Yucatán, Mexico. Soil samples were collected from milpas, and several soil quality indicators related to soil resilience were analyzed. This project revealed that fallow period length was the management type most influential on overall soil resilience, with longer fallow length periods resulting in more resilient soils overall.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Courtney Mathers

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

117 pgs

Discipline

Agriculture, Soil sciences, Climate change

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