Impact of soil use on aggregate stability and its relationship with soil organic carbon at two different altitudes in the Colombian andes

­This study examined the conditions of soil aggregate stability expressed as a distribution of the size classes of stable aggregates (SA) and of the mean weighted diameter of the stable aggregates (MWD). To correlate these characteristics with the soil organic carbon (OC), we measured the particulate organic matter pool (POC), the OC associated with the mineral organic matter pool (HOC), the total organic carbon content (TOC), and the humification rate (HR). Soils were sampled at two altitudes: 1) Humic Dystrudepts in a cold tropical climate (CC) with three plots: tropical mountain rainforest, pastures, and crops; 2) Fluvaquentic Dystrudepts in a warm tropical climate (WC) with three plots: tropical rainforest, an association of oil palm and pastures, and irrigated rice. Soils were sampled at three depths: 0-5, 5-10 and 10-20 cm. Th­e physical properties, mineral particle size distribution, and bulk density were measured.