Impacto de la actividad antropogénica en el suelo de la reserva de la biosfera “el triunfo”, Chiapas (México)

The impact of human activity on the soil of “El Triunfo” Biosphere Reserve, Chiapas, was studied. For this purpose, the values of 14 parameters were determined throughout a year: six physical-chemical and eight biochemical, in forest, coffee plantation, pasture and milpa soils. The values of the parameters in the forest soil were significantly different from those in the coffee plantation, pasture and milpa soils. On the basis of the forest soil, it was considered that human activity altered the soil quality negatively. To have clarity about the level of impact, a scale of 0.0 to 5.0 was suggested, identified as the Soil Deterioration Index (SDI), and the procedure was developed to determine it in the soils with human alteration. The milpa soil had the highest SDI value, placing it in the range of high degradation. The coffee plantation and pasture soils were found in the range of medium degradation. The procedure and scale of SDI was reinforced by discriminant analysis.