Reply to “A critical analysis of Vacca, A., Aru, F., and Ollesch, G. (2017). Short‐term impact of coppice management on soil in a Quercus ilex L. stand of Sardinia. Land Degradation & Development, 28(2), 553–565.” by Giadrossich and Guastini

In their critical review of Vacca, Aru, and Ollesch (2017), Giadrossich and Guastini noted substantial deficiencies in the research design and methodology, analysis and interpretation of data, and conclusions in the paper that are not supported by the findings. In this reply, we (a) reiterated the aim of our study, (b) provided the evidence that similar research designs are not rare in soil studies, (c) provided the evidence that Giadrossich and Guastini misused our data in their analysis and interpretation, and (d) highlighted that Giadrossich and Guastini used inappropriate citations. Consequently, our findings and conclusions that coppicing has negative short‐term impacts on the soil and that the short‐term soil erosion risk must be considered very high in coppicing management are unaffected by the comments from Giadrossich and Guastini.