Plantation establishment using invasive alien plants is common in South Africa, but the effects of these plants on soil physical properties in the Vhembe biosphere is unknown. In this comparative study, soils underneath Pinus elliottii and Eucalyptus cloeziana were assessed for differences in physical properties compared to soils underneath adjacent natural sites in the Entabeni plantation in the Vhembe biosphere in Limpopo Province, South Africa. Soils were collected from topsoil over 3 months and quantified for gravimetric soil moisture, penetration resistance, soil infiltration, hydraulic conductivity and soil water repellency. For all 3 months, soils from both P. elliottii and E. cloeziana plantations were compact and had low penetration resistance compared to soils from adjacent natural sites. Soil infiltration and hydraulic conductivity were significantly (p < 0.05) lower in soils from plantations compared to soils from adjacent natural sites, and more so from the E. cloeziana plantation than from P. elliottii. Soil water repellency was observed in soils from E. cloeziana only in May and June. Soils from the invasive alien tree plantation have decreased soil moisture, infiltration rate, hydraulic conductivity and are compact as well as repellent (only E. cloeziana), all poor soil physical properties. However, this decline in soil physical properties was not uniform between the two invasive alien plantation species; hence we cannot generalize about the effects of invasive alien plantation species on soil physical properties, and further research is required across different ecological regions.

在南非，使用外来入侵植物进行人工林建设很普遍，但是这些植物对Vhembe生物圈中土壤物理特性的影响尚不清楚。在这项比较研究中，与南非林波波省Vhembe生物圈的Entabeni种植园的恩塔贝尼人工林相邻自然地点下的土壤相比，对松树和桉树下的土壤进行了物理性质差异评估。在3个月的时间里从表层土壤中收集土壤，并对土壤水分，渗透阻力，土壤渗透，水力传导率和土壤疏水性进行量化。在这3个月中，埃氏疟原虫和克氏杆菌均存在土壤与邻近自然地点的土壤相比，人工林非常紧凑，并且具有较低的抗穿透性。 与邻近自然地点的土壤相比，人工林的土壤入渗和水力传导率显着降低（p <0.05），而比拟埃氏菌的人工林比人工林更容易。仅在5月和6月才在Cloeziana的土壤中观察到土壤疏水性。入侵的外来树人工林的土壤具有降低的土壤湿度，渗透率，水力传导性，并且具有致密性和驱避性（仅E. cloeziana），所有土壤物理特性较差。但是，两种外来入侵物种在土壤物理性质上的下降并不均匀。因此，我们无法概括外来入侵物种对土壤物理特性的影响，因此需要在不同的生态区域进行进一步的研究。