Search

Due to the presence of toxic pollutants, soils in former military areas need remedial actions with environmentally friendly methods. Greenhouse experiments were conducted to investigate the aided phytostabilization of multi-heavy metals (HMs), i.e. Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, in post-military soil by Festuca rubra and three mineral amendments (diatomite, dolomite and halloysite). The amendments were applied at 0 and 3.0% to each pot filled with 5 kg of polluted soil. After seven weeks of the phytostabilization, selected soil properties, biomass yield of F. rubra and immobilization of HMs by their accumulation in plant and redistribution among individual fractions in soil were determined. In addition, ecotoxicology parameters of non-amended and amended soil were established using Phytotoxkit (Sinapsis alba) and Ostracodtoxkit (Heterocypris incongruens) tests. The addition of halloysite significantly increased F. rubra biomass. Diatomite significantly increased both the Cd, Cu, Pb and Cr concentrations in the roots and the pH of the soil. The application of halloysite significantly decreased the Cd and Zn contents of the soil after the completion of the experiment. Dolomite and halloysite were more effective in HM immobilization in soil by decreasing their content in an exchangeable fraction than diatomite. These soil amendments significantly differentiated the length of S. alba roots and had a positive effect on the development of H. incongruens.

Understanding the role of wildfire drivers is essential to implement more effective prevention strategies at the regional scale and to promote specific mitigation actions at the local scale. By considering municipalities as the elementary analysis domain, the present study investigates the spatial distribution of wildfires (1993–2015) in the Valencian Community, a Mediterranean fire-prone area with variable climate regimes, heterogeneous landscapes and increasing human pressure. Assuming that a denser road network increases the probability of wildfire occurrence, results of a quantitative analysis exploring the relationship between spatial location of ignition points and roads were presented. The empirical findings of this study contribute to ascertain the role of roads as a direct (or indirect) cause of wildfires in the Mediterranean region.

In arid and semi-arid areas, groundwater resource is one of the most important water sources by the humankind. Knowledge of groundwater distribution over space, associated flow and basic exploitation measures can play a significant role in planning sustainable development, especially in arid and semi-arid areas. Groundwater potential mapping (GWPM) fits in this context as the tool used to predict the spatial distribution of groundwater. In this research we tested four GIS-based models for GWPM, consisting of: i) random forest (RF); ii) weight of evidence (WoE); iii) binary logistic regression (BLR); and iv) technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) multi-criteria. The Shahroud plain located in Iran, was selected to research the water scarcity and over-exploitation of groundwater resources over the past 20 years. In this research, using Iranian Department of Water Resources Management data, and extensive field surveys, 122 groundwater well data with high potential yield of ≥11 m3 h−1 were selected for GWPM. Specifically, we generated four different models selecting 70% (n = 85) of the wells and validated the resulting GWP maps upon the complementary 30% (n = 37).A total of fifteen ground water conditioning factors to explain the groundwater well distribution over the Shahroud plain were selected. From the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS), a DEM (30 m resolution) was extracted to calculate a set of morphometric properties which were combined with thematic ones such as land use/land cover (LU/LC) and Soil Type (ST). Results show that in RF (LU/LC), LR (ST), and AHP (Slope) are the most relevant contributors to groundwater occurrence. After that, using the natural break method, final maps were divided into five susceptibility classes of very low, low, moderate, high, and very high. The accuracy of models was ultimately tested using prediction rate (validation data), success rate (training data) and the seed cell area index (SCAI) indicators. Results of validation show that BLR with prediction rate of 0.905 (90.5%) and success rate of 0.918 (91.8%) had higher accuracy than WoE, RF and TOPSIS models with respective prediction rates of 0.885, 0.873 and 0.870 (88.5%, 87.3%, and 87%) and success rate of 0.900, 0.889, and 0.881 (90%, 88.9%, and 88.1%). SCAI results show that all models have acceptable classification accuracy although BLR outperformed the other models in terms of accuracy. Results show that the combination of remote sensing (RS) data and geographic information system (GIS) with new approaches can be used as a powerful tool in GWPM in arid and semi-arid areas. The results of this investigation introduced a potential novel methodology that could be used by decision-makers for the sustainable management of ground water resources.

Soil erosion is generally recognized as the dominant process of land degradation. The formation and expansion of gullies is often a highly significant process of soil erosion. However, our ability to assess and simulate gully erosion and its impacts remains very limited. This is especially so at regional to continental scales. As a result, gullying is often overlooked in policies and land and catchment management strategies. Nevertheless, significant progress has been made over the past decades. Based on a review of >590 scientific articles and policy documents, we provide a state-of-the-art on our ability to monitor, model and manage gully erosion at regional to continental scales. In this review we discuss the relevance and need of assessing gully erosion at regional to continental scales (Section 1); current methods to monitor gully erosion as well as pitfalls and opportunities to apply them at larger scales (section 2); field-based gully erosion research conducted in Europe and European Russia (section 3); model approaches to simulate gully erosion and its contribution to catchment sediment yields at large scales (section 4); data products that can be used for such simulations (section 5); and currently existing policy tools and needs to address the problem of gully erosion (section 6). Section 7 formulates a series of recommendations for further research and policy development, based on this review. While several of these sections have a strong focus on Europe, most of our findings and recommendations are of global significance. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Understanding spatiotemporal geomorphological and pedological changes as a consequence of wildfires can allow stakeholders, land planners, and policymakers to design efficient fire safety-based afforestation and restoration programs of forest lands. The use of remote sensing techniques is a key tool to achieve this goal. The suitable combination of Sentinel-2 MSI data for mapping of different spectral indices related to burn severity and their relationship with other morphometric and soil properties can contribute to a better understanding of the impact of fire, and this is relevant in regions where is still scarce fire-related research such as Turkey. In this investigation, the use of NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), dNDVI (Difference Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), NDWI (Normalized Difference Water Index), NBR (Normalized Burn Ratio), dNBR (Difference Normalized Burn Ratio), RBR (Relativized Burn Ratio), SBI (Soil Bare Index), As (Upslope area), CTI (Compound Topographic Index), TCI (Terrain Characterization Index), SPI (Stream Power Index) and Curvature (Standard Curvature) were combined. As a study case, 47.43 ha in a burned area of Cinarpinar forest unit, Andirin, Kahramanmaras in Turkey was selected. The results showed that dNDVI, dNBR, RBR, SBI contribute to relevant information about the effect of the wildfire. According to the dNBR fire severity classification, 75% of the total area has been exposed to high-severity fire. The relationship of Sentinel MSI satellite images with some soil and morphometric features have been found meaningful to understand the impact of forest fire in Mediterranean ecosystems. The information collected in the Turkish forest areas affected by wildfires should be relevant for planning and represent a key contribution to the selection of restoration programs and afforestation techniques for a future fire-safe forest.

Sustainability in orchard crops is an important goal for farmers, decision-makers and consumers. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals emphasize the importance of the soils in the Earth System to achieve sustainability and accomplish the Land Degradation Neutrality Challenge. Within the world agriculture land, olive and vineyards are within the eldest crops in the world, and they are also the ones with the highest degree of soil degradation. Cover crops (CC) are widely accepted as sustainable crop management that reduces soil and water losses, restores organic matter, increases biodiversity and fertility in degraded agriculture soils. The agriculture land must shift into a more sustainable agricultural practices for achieving soil and water conservation targets, and CC are of help, but not widely applied by farmers that usually expect subsidies. Runoff and soil water storage are two key processes that determine the crop production, plant health and sustainability. However, after four decades of use, there is not a consistent State-of-the-Art that clarifies the impact of service crops. Our review highlights, in quantitative terms, the role of CC exerted in vineyard and olive grove in runoff reduction and soil water status. Statistical differences were found between the average values of RC (7.37 % and 10.05 % for CC and conventional tillage (CT) management, respectively). For the soil water conservation, the ratio SWCCT/SWCCC is always higher than 1. Water competition was more pronounced in spring and decreased after blooming. The use of CC is a strategy can have a positive influence on water use efficiency, through the reduction of the excessive vine vigour in fertile soils or favouring the growth of roots in deeper layers. In low vigour vineyards, low fertile soils and in dry environment, the water competition should be correctly monitored to avoid negative effect in grape yields. Cover crops are a positive contribution to the agriculture sustainability, although Mediterranean ecosystems, where most of the olive oil and wine is produced should pay attention to their impact on water availability

This study was conducted in the northwest highlands of Ethiopia to, (i) map the different land use types and detect land use changes between 2000 and 2017, (ii) assess whether A. Decurrens plantation brings a land use change, and (iii) evaluate the role of A. Decurrens plantation on man-made forest cover change. ArcGIS 10.3 was used for spatial analysis and mapping while ERDAS Imagine 9.2 was used for land use classification and change detection. Landsat images were used to generate the land use maps using unsupervised and supervised classification methods. Cultivated land, wetland, natural forest and bare lands were declining whereas plantation, grazing land and settlement lands were expanding. Plantation cover was the most expanded land use type, which increased by 16%. A. Decurrens plantation was found to be the main reason in changing the land use from crop based land use to plantation land use. Man-made plantation was also increased because of A. Decurrens plantation. Moreover, A. Decurrens planation based land use was found to be a means to rehabilitate the degraded mountainous areas by reducing soil erosion and increasing the fertility of the soil through nitrogen fixation.

Since December 2019, the world has witnessed the stringent effect of an unprecedented global pandemic, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). As of January 29,2021, there have been 100,819,363 confirmed cases and 2,176,159 deaths reported. Among the countries affected severely by COVID-19, the United States tops the list. Research has been conducted to discuss the causal associations between explanatory factors and COVID-19 transmission in the contiguous United States. However, most of these studies focus more on spatial associations of the estimated parameters, yet exploring the time-varying dimension in spatial econometric modeling appears to be utmost essential. This research adopts various relevant approaches to explore the potential effects of driving factors on COVID-19 counts in the contiguous United States. A total of three global spatial regression models and two local spatial regression models, the latter including geographically weighted regression (GWR) and multiscale GWR (MGWR), are performed at the county scale to take into account the scale effects. For COVID-19 cases, ethnicity, crime, and income factors are found to be the strongest covariates and explain most of the variance of the modeling estimation. For COVID-19 deaths, migration (domestic and international) and income factors play a critical role in explaining spatial differences of COVID-19 deaths across counties. Such associations also exhibit temporal variations from March to July, as supported by better performance of MGWR than GWR. Both global and local associations among the parameters vary highly over space and change across time. Therefore, time dimension should be paid more attention to in the spatial epidemiological analysis. Among the two local spatial regression models, MGWR performs more accurately, as it has slightly higher Adj. R2 values (for cases, R2 = 0.961; for deaths, R2 = 0.962), compared to GWR’s Adj. R2 values (for cases, R2 = 0.954; for deaths, R2 = 0.954). To inform policy-makers at the nation and state levels, understanding the place-based characteristics of the explanatory forces and related spatial patterns of the driving factors is of paramount importance. Since it is not the first time humans are facing public health emergency, the findings of the present research on COVID-19 therefore can be used as a reference for policy designing and effective decision making.

[EN] Saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, K-s, data collected by ponding infiltrometer methods and usual experimental procedures could be unusable for interpreting field hydrological processes and particularly rainfall infiltration. The K-s values determined by an infiltrometer experiment carried out by applying water at a relatively large distance from the soil surface could however be more appropriate to explain surface runoff generation phenomena during intense rainfall events. In this study, a link between rainfall simulation and ponding infiltrometer experiments was established for a sandy-loam soil. The height of water pouring for the infiltrometer run was chosen, establishing a similarity between the gravitational potential energy of the applied water, E-p, and the rainfall kinetic energy, E-k. To test the soundness of this procedure, the soil was sampled with the Beerkan estimation of soil transfer parameters procedure of soil hydraulic characterization and two heights of water pouring (0.03m, i.e., usual procedure, and 0.34m, yielding E-p=E-k). Then, a comparison between experimental steady-state infiltration rates, i(sR), measured with rainfall simulation experiments determining runoff production and K-s values for the two water pouring heights was carried out in order to discriminate between theoretically possible (i(sR)K(s)) and impossible (i(sR), The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007 2013) under grant agreement 603498 (RECARE project) and from the Università degli Studi di Palermo (Dottorato di Ricerca in Sistemi Agro-Ambientali, indirizzo Idronomia Ambientale). The authors also thank N. Pradetto Sordo for her assistance in the field activity. S.D.P. also thanks I.A., B.F., and A.H.

The soils of Mediterranean vineyards are usually managed with continuous tillage, resulting in bare soil, low infiltration and high soil erosion rates. Soil nutrients, such as nitrogen, could be lost dissolved in the runoff, causing a decrease in soil fertility on such degraded soils and producing eutrophication downstream. The influences of groundcover on the soil erosion processes and sediment yields in Mediterranean vineyards have been widely addressed. However, the runoff process itself, excluding the effect of raindrop impacts, has barely been studied. Thus, a field runoff simulator was built to assess runoff and nutrient losses under different soil management strategies in Central Spain. In the winter of the 2012–2013, four vineyards were selected, and two types of groundcover were established to compare with conventional tillage (T): spontaneous vegetation (CS) and seeded Brachypodium distachyon (CB). In 2014 and 2015, 72 runoff simulations were performed to assess the influence of the two different types of groundcover on the dissolved mineral nitrogen losses in runoff. The results showed that spontaneous vegetation cover was the most effective management choice to reduce runoff and nitrogen loss by producing 3 times less runoff than conventional tillage and 6 times less nitrate loss. Conventional tillage resulted in higher mineral nitrogen loss because it produced more runoff and higher runoff nitrate concentrations. The vegetation cover had a strong influence on runoff and nitrogen losses, while the slope angle and rock fragment cover showed a negligible impact.

Among the soil conservation practices that are used, mulching has been successfully applied to reduce soil and water losses in different contexts, such as agricultural lands, fire-affected areas, rangelands and anthropic sites. In these contexts, soil erosion by water is a serious problem, especially in semi-arid and semi-humid areas of the world. Although the beneficial effects of mulching are known, further research is needed to quantify them, especially in areas where soil erosion by water represents a severe threat. In the literature, there are still some uncertainties about how to maximize the effectiveness of mulching to reduce the soil and water loss rates. Given the seriousness of soil erosion by water and the uncertainties that are still associated with the correct use of mulching, this study review aims to (i) develop a documented and global database on the use of mulching with vegetative residues; (ii) quantify the effects of mulching on soil and water losses based on different measurement methods and, consequently, different spatial scales; (iii) evaluate the effects of different types of mulches on soil and water losses based on different measurement methods; and (iv) provide suggestions for more sustainable soil management. The data published in the literature have been collected. The results showed the beneficial effects of mulching in combating soil erosion by water in all of the environments considered here, with reduction rates in the average sediment concentration, soil loss and runoff volume that, in some cases, exceeded 90%. However, the economic feasibility of mulching application was not readily available in the literature. Therefore, more research should be performed to help both farmers and land managers by providing them with evidence-based means for implementing more sustainable soil management practices.

This paper evaluates an intercropping model with J atropha curcas L. (JCL) as an alternative crop on degraded sodic land in north India. Monoculture of JCL has not proven economically viable in India in view of its poor yield; therefore, intercrops in between JCL plantations were tried to optimize land use efficiency. The results revealed that the planting of JCL at 3 × 3 m spacing with inter-cultivation of sweet basil–matricaria (SB-M) cropping system for four years was more economically viable than planting at 3 × 2 m spacing and the other rotations tested in the study. Improvements in soil properties in terms of soil pH, EC and organic carbon were found with the SB-M cropping system with JCL as the main crop. Maximum soil microbial biomass carbon was recorded with the SB-M cropping system followed by sorghum-wheat (S-W) and maize-linseed (M-L), and the lowest values were found in the control plot where no intercrop was planted in between JCL plants. This study shows that intercropping with JCL on sodic soils stimulated the soil microbial population, which in turn led to high biological activity in the rhizosphere soil. Growing of medicinal and aromatic crops as intercrops between JCL plantations for four years appears to be a more suitable land use system than JCL mono-cropping to obtain maximum income. Simultaneously a soil improvement due to intercropping provides a new opportunity for even more competitive land use systems in the future.

There is a strong need to develop a simple method for rapid estimation of erodibility using readily available data. In this study, soil erodibility was measured using eleven soil textures at the plot scale (60 cm × 80 cm) on a slope of 9% in a semi-arid region. A total of 110 soil erosion experiments were conducted using ten simulated rainfalls (50 mm h− 1 for 30 min). A regression model was developed based on silt and clay content (R2 = 0.82, p

Organic residues release hydrophobic compounds to the soil that may induce soil water repellency (WR), which may inhibit infiltration and increase runoff and soil loss rates. Although there are many studies on soil WR through the world, very few investigations have been conducted in Mexican areas. This paper studies the natural background of soil WR in soils from central Mexico under representative forest types, analyzing the spatial distribution of soil WR in relation with tree canopy, vegetation cover and main soil chemical (pH, CaCO3, organic C content and exchangeable cations) and physical properties (texture). The water drop penetration time and the ethanol tests were used to assess persistence and intensity of soil WR, respectively. Although soil WR was not related with soil properties, it decreased strongly from soil below the canopy of conifers to soil below oaks. When different types of vegetation cover were considered, the proportion of water-repellent soil increased following the sequence: bare soil

Land abandonment is a global issue with important implications in Mediterranean mountain areas. Abandoned Mediterranean croplands start a process of secondary succession that is initially colonized by grasslands, shrubs and forest. In Mediterranean mountain areas, the process is very slow, so the shrubs remain for decades, preventing livestock from accessing pastureland. Therefore, farmers have to burn or clear the shrubs in order to provide pasture, a practice that has recently been encouraged by several regional governments in Spain. Data from experimental plots of the Aisa Valley Experimental Station in the Spanish Pyrenees allow to evaluate the effects of burning and clearing shrubs on physical and chemical soil properties, runoff production and soil erosion rates. The results suggested that clearing shrubs returned more positive results than burning, as it improved soil quality and slowed soil erosion while producing slightly higher runoff coefficients, which is very important in Mediterranean environments where water is a scarce resource. Clearing shrubs improves soil characteristics by increasing organic matter and CN ratio, which promote the expansion of herbaceous species with a high pastoral value. The results suggested that the policy of clearing shrubs is suitable for managing abandoned lands in Mediterranean mountain areas. Further studies at catchment scale will be needed to confirm the impact of substituting shrubs for meadows and to understand the connectivity of the flows measured from pedon and slope to the watershed scale.

Re-vegetation of mine spoil enhances carbon storage in both above-ground plant biomass and mine soil. The current study was conducted at the coalmine overburden dumps of Jharia Coalfield (India), with the aim to evaluate the effect of different tree species on the rhizosphere soil properties and to identify key rhizosphere soil indicators that influence tree biomass and carbon density. Rhizosphere soil samples were collected from five tree species ( Acacia auriculiformis , Albizia lebbeck , Cassia siamea , Delonix regia , and Dalbergia sissoo ) of the same age. An area without ground vegetation was selected as a non-rhizosphere soil. The carbon density was higher for D. sissoo and A. auriculiformis (39.6–43.7 kg C/tree) and lowest for A. lebbeck (20.7 kg C/tree). Except for C. siamea (4.38%), the total C (TC) content was lower in the rhizosphere than the non-rhizosphere soil. About 50% reduction in TC was observed for A. auriculiformis and A. lebbeck and 75% for D. sissoo . Labile C and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) were significantly higher in the rhizosphere than the non-rhizosphere soil. Dehydrogenase enzyme activity was higher in all the rhizosphere soils with the maximum activity under C. siamea (88.48 μg/TPF/g/24 h) and D. sissoo (71.95 μg/TPF/g/24 h) . Three types of carbon accumulation indices (CAI) were calculated: CAI-1, based on TC and labile C; CAI-2, TC, and MBC; and CAI-3, TC, labile C, and MBC. CAIs depending on rhizosphere effect were generally higher for D. sissoo and C. siamea . Principal component analysis showed that the tree carbon density is closely associated with CAI-3, CAI-2, carbon lability index (CLI), available N, and MBC. Thus, an integrated rhizosphere carbon accumulation index (CAI-3, based on rhizosphere effects) and N could be considered as indicators for carbon sequestration in reclaimed mine spoils.

Soil water erosion on cultivated lands represents a severe threat to soil resources in the world, and especially in Mediterranean areas, due to their topographic, edaphic and climatic conditions. Among the cultivated lands, vineyards deserve a particular attention because, aside representing one of the most important crops in terms of income and employment, they also have proven to be the form of agricultural use that causes one of the highest soil losses. Although the topic of soil water erosion on vineyards has been studied, it still raises uncertainties, due to the high variability of procedures for data acquisition, which consists into different scales of analysis and measurement methods. There is still a great gap in knowledge about the effect of triggering factors on soil water erosion and, so far, an effort to quantify this effect on the Mediterranean viticulture has not been made yet. Therefore, this paper review aims to (i) develop a documented database on splash, sheet and rill erosion rates in Mediterranean vineyards, (ii) identify and, if possible, quantify the effect of triggering factors such as topography, soil properties, rainfall characteristics and soil conservation techniques on soil water erosion, and (iii) provide suggestions for a more sustainable viticulture. Although the large variability of data, some general trends between erosion rates and triggering factors could be found, as long as data were categorized according to the same measurement method. However, no general rule upon which to consider one triggering factor always predominant over the others came out. This paper review supports the importance of monitoring soil water erosion by field measurements to better understand the relationship between the factors. However, protocols should be established for standardizing the procedure of collecting data and reporting results to enable data comparison among different study areas.

Understanding soil erosion processes in the Ecuadorian Andes with a tropical wet-dry climate and a variable topography, is fundamental for research on agriculture sustainable, environmental management, as well as for a stable water supply for the local populations. This work proposes method to estimate soil erosion risk in the semiarid Catamayo basin with limited data. The results show that the rainfall distribution and the erosivity along with the rugged topography, followed by the land cover (C-factor), are the most important factors to estimate soil erosion risk. The soil erodibility is the most important factor in the dry season for agricultural areas and where the ground cover is sparse. Soil erosion risk is higher in the centre and southwest than in the northeast of Catamayo basin. In protected areas with evergreen vegetation, the soil erosion risk is very low, even with steep slopes and high annual rainfall amounts. The methodology developed allows understanding of the soil erosion processes and the factors that lead to the spatio-temporal variability of soil erosion risk, and as a consequence improves the potential to achieve sustainability of this ecosystem through proposed conservation measures.

Few studies have considered the effect of organic amendments on soil microbial activity and its contributions to hydraulic conductivity under field conditions in semiarid region soils with different textures and degrees of aggregate stability. This study was performed to investigate the relationship between selected soil properties and hydraulic conductivity in response to different types and application rates of organic amendments. For this purpose, urban municipal solid waste (MSW) compost and alfalfa residue (AR) were applied at different rates of 0 (control), 10 Mg ha− 1 and 30 Mg ha− 1 to clay loam and loamy sand soils under field conditions. Results show that after two years, MSW-treated soils had lower soil organic carbon (SOC) compared to those treated with AR due to higher CO2 emissions from the soils treated with MSW. Higher microbial respiration and mineralization quotient (qmC) in the MSW-treated soils resulted in higher levels of water stable aggregates (WSA > 0.25 mm) and more macro-pore fraction, leading to greater hydraulic conductivity, with larger increases at the higher rate of application (i.e. 30 Mg ha− 1). Relative to the control treatment, the application of MSW caused greater increases in microbial respiration in the clay loam soil than in the loamy sand soil, whereas the reverse was found for AR. Apart from soil texture, aggregate size was found to play an important role in controlling the carbon stock and microbial respiration of soils and consequently hydraulic conductivity. The macro-pore fraction was more sensitive than the micro-pore fraction to the application of organic amendments. Correlation analysis indicated that during the reclamation process higher levels of microbial respiration, SOC, water stable aggregates and macro-pore fraction were associated with greater soil hydraulic conductivity.

Soil microbial populations and their functions related to nutrient cycling contribute substantially to the regulation of soil fertility and the sustainability of agroecosystems. A field experiment was performed to assess the medium-term effect of a mineral fertilizer and two organic fertilization systems with different nitrogen sources on the soil microbial community biomass, structure, and composition (phospholipid fatty acids, pattern, and abundance), microbial activity (basal respiration, dehydrogenase, protease, urease, β-glucosidase, and total amount of phosphomonoesterase activities), and physical (aggregate stability) and chemical (total organic C, total N, available P and water-soluble carbohydrates) properties in a vineyard under semiarid Mediterranean conditions after a period of 10 years. The three fertilization systems assayed were as follows: inorganic fertilization, addition of grapevine pruning with sheep manure (OPM), and addition of grapevine pruning with a legume cover crop (OPL). Both treatments, OPM and OPL, produced higher contents of total organic carbon, total N, available P, water-soluble carbohydrates, and stable aggregates. The organic fertilization systems increased microbial biomass, shifted the structure and composition of the soil microbial community, and stimulated microbial activity, when compared with inorganic fertilization. The abundances of fungi and G+ bacteria were increased by treatments OPM and OPL, without significant differences between them. Organic and inorganic fertilization produced similar grapevine yields. The ability of the organic fertilization systems for promoting the sustainability and soil biological and chemical fertility of an agroecosystem under semiarid conditions was dependent of the organic N source. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Rock fragments are key components of soil systems. However, the role of rock fragments is only sporadically researched and therefore it is essential to establish how they control soil physical, biological and chemical properties and to assess the impacts of land-use on soil functions. Further, rock fragments affect soil water retention and infiltration capacity, and this is relevant for the fate of soils because water determines soil biota and weathering and decomposition processes in the soil system. Herein, we investigated abandoned arable, meadow and forest soils to determine the effect of land-use on soil water retention properties in soils containing rock fragments. Results showed that forest soil had the highest content of rock fragments and that previous ploughing on shallow abandoned arable soil on dolomite bedrock ensured that this had higher rock fragment content than meadows. We then compared coarse rock fragment effects on water retention in three research plots. Measured points in the water retention curves depict the total porosity and water retention determined at 3–1000 hPa suction in the undisturbed soil samples and 1.5 MPa in disturbed samples. Two models with different macro-porosity expressions were applied to the experimental data, and their derivatives provided pore size distribution curves with maxima for textural, structural and macro-pores. However, a new combined model with six independent fitting parameters has proven more suitable to approximate tri-modal soil water retention curves. The textural porosity was highest in the meadows due to the direct effect of organic carbon content and the indirect influence of coarse fragments which reduced the volume of small pores in the soil. Organic carbon content positively affected water retention properties in these soils. This included the permanent wilting point, field capacity and plant available water capacity, but the coarse fragment content negatively correlated with these properties. In addition, the results highlighted the stones’ positive effect on structural pores in forest soils and on macro-pore formation in all soils, while structural pores in all soils were mainly influenced by organic carbon content. The combined structural and macro-pores determine the soil air capacity and this is positively influenced by the increased content of coarse rock fragments. The soil air capacity was therefore highest in the forest soil. Finally, although the irreversible increase in rock fragment content in the abandoned soil has negative impact on agricultural use, the coarse fragment influence on macro-pore volume is positive and this increases soil infiltration capacity and reduces surface runoff and soil erosion, as confirmed in the literature review.

Limited information is available on the role of raindrop impact (RI) in the particle size distribution of sediment (PSDs) and the homogeneous of sediment particles eroded in rills under slope gradients particularly in semi-arid soils. Toward this, a laboratory experiment was designed with three dominant semi-arid soils consist of loamy sand, clay and sandy clay, at four slope gradients (5, 10, 15, and 20%) under two soil surface conditions (SSC) i.e, with raindrop impact (RI) and without RI using a rainfall simulator with 90 mm h−1 in intensity for 30 min. Forty eight rainfall events were setted up to soil samples packed into the flumes with 0.4 m width by 4 m length. Runoff and sediment ratio for the two SSC was computed using the ratio of values with RI to their values without RI in each time interval from starting runoff. Based on the results, the soils appeared different behavior in runoff and sediment ratio during runoff generation time. In clay and sandy clay, contribution of RI in runoff and sediment increased during runoff generation in the rills which was associated to higher percentage of water-stable aggregates. The two soils produced higher runoff and sediment under RI with increasing slope gradient. The sediment selectivity by concentrated flow was determined using the comparison between PSDs in steady-state runoff and the PSD of original soil (PSDo). The PSDs curves of loamy sand were similar for the two SSC at slope gradients and overlapped almost with the PSDo, indicating lower importance of RI in the sediment transport selectivity in the soil with lower water-stable aggregates. Enrichment ratio of particles in sediment (ERs) varied with both soil texture and slope gradient. The contribution of RI in variation of ERs was more obvious in sand, indicating lower selectivity of sand to detachment by concentrated flow. The geometric mean diameter (dg) and standard deviation (δg) of the sediment particles were defined as a measure to determination of the homogeneity of sediment. Values of these indices increased under RI, indicating the contribution of RI in the transportability of all soil particles especially coarse particles. This study revealed that the RI is the major factor controlling runoff, sediment, the selectivity of soil particle by concentrated flow and sediment homogeneity in semi-arid soils. These variables can be quantified by PSDs, ERs, dg and δg for the two soil surface conditions and compared with the original soil.

Soil erosion determines landforms, soil formation and distribution, soil fertility, and land degradation processes. In arid and semiarid ecosystems, soil erosion is a key process to understand, foresee, and prevent desertification. Addressing soil erosion throughout watersheds scales requires basic information to develop soil erosion control strategies and to reduce land degradation. To assess and remediate the non-sustainable soil erosion rates, restoration programs benefit from the knowledge of the spatial distribution of the soil losses to develop maps of soil erosion. This study presents Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest (RF), and adaptive boosting (AdaBoost) data mining models to map soil erosion susceptibility in Kozetopraghi watershed, Iran. A soil erosion inventory map was prepared from field rainfall simulation experiments on 174 randomly selected points along the Kozetopraghi watershed. In previous studies, this map has been prepared using indirect methods such as the Universal Soil Loss Equation to assess soil erosion. Direct field measurements for mapping soil erosion susceptibility have so far not been carried out in our study site in the past. The soil erosion rate data generated by simulated rainfall in 1 m2 plots at rainfall rate of 40 mmh&minus, 1 was used to develop the soil erosion map. Of the available data, 70% and 30% were randomly classified to calibrate and validate the models, respectively. As a result, the RF model with the highest area under the curve (AUC) value in a receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve (0.91), and the lowest mean square error (MSE) value (0.09), has the most concordance and spatial differentiation. Sensitivity analysis by Jackknife and IncNodePurity methods indicates that the slope angle is the most important factor within the soil erosion susceptibility map. The RF susceptibility map showed that the areas located in the center and near the watershed outlet have the most susceptibility to soil erosion. This information can be used to support the development of sustainable restoration plans with more accuracy. Our methodology has been evaluated and can be also applied in other regions.

This article reviews the scientific literature on trail erosion and the magnitude of the erosive processes that occur on mountain trails due to recreational activities, mainly due to hiking. This work is necessary as a result of the increase in hiking and biking in forest, scrubland and grasslands, and the soil and vegetation degradation induced by these activities. We analysed results that have been compiled in the scientific literature, as well as other issues such as the geographical and temporal distribution of the research, the methods applied, the journals where the research was published, the types and quantity of uses of the pathways and the measures undertaken for damage mitigation. This paper highlights that there is a need for harmonization of methods. The results show that soil erosion rates are highly variable, high, and non-sustainable. Trail erosion research is growing at a rate of 3 papers per year and is published in a small group of scientific journals. Six journals published 47% of the papers on trail erosion, which show a high concentration in environmental journals. There are few papers published in the soil science and geomorphology disciplines, although the research topic and the science background are in these two disciplines. Reported world soil losses from trails ranged from 6.1 Mg ha-1 y-1 to 2090 Mg ha-1 y-1, all of which are not sustainable. Trail erosion has mainly been investigated in the USA and is a new topic in other regions of the world. There is a need to implement mitigation measures to avoid land degradation, and this should be researched in the near future as right now most of the research describes and quantifies the problem but does not provide solutions: mitigation, rehabilitation or restoration. From a pure scientific approach, we claim that there is a need to research the connectivity of flows and the role of the trails on runoff generation and then sediment yield at pedon, slope and watershed scales. There is a need to research the mechanisms of the soil erosion process in trails: trampling effect, wheel impact, factors and seasonal and temporal changes.

The high density of fuel accumulated in the Mediterranean ecosystems due to land abandonment results in high severity fires. Traditional fire practices and livestock grazing have played an important role in shaping the structure and composition of Mediterranean landscapes, and both can be efficient tools to manage them now that land abandonment is widespread. Attempts at controlling forest fires are essential for landscape management practices that, in their turn, seek to maintain a specific species composition. Against this backdrop, this study aims to determine the short- and long-term effects of the combined management practices of prescribed fires and goat grazing on the chemical properties of soils in Tivissa, Tarragona (NE Iberian Peninsula). Forty-two samples were collected in a 4 &times, 18 m plot before the prescribed fire of 2002 (1), immediately after the 2002 prescribed fire (PF) (2), one year after the 2002 PF (3), three years after the 2002 PF (4), and thirteen years after the 2002 PF (5). Soil samples were taken at each sampling point from the top layer (0&ndash, 5 cm), sieved to obtain a &lt, 2 mm fraction, and soil pH, EC, Total C, total N, available P, K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+ were determined. The results indicate that the short-term effects of fire are more relevant than those attributable to the livestock over the long term due to the low grazing intensity of less than one goat per ha. The long-term effects of prescribed fires were not visible in the research, suggesting that they recovered after burning with all their functions intact and with enhanced levels of natural fertility. Combined land management practices of prescribed fire and livestock grazing did not affect soil chemical properties. The applied management enhanced soil fertility and boosted the ecosystem&rsquo, s resilience.

Vineyards are a 7000-year-old land-use tradition and both management and abandonment have result in altered soil properties. These have a great effect on water resources and soil services, and this inspired our investigation into the effects of land-use and land-use change on soils in the Modra wine-growing region in South-western Slovakia. Ten topsoil samples were taken at each of the seven research sites (n = 70) on granite parent material in cultivated and afforested vineyards and original forest soils. Laboratory analyses included determination of soil texture, organic carbon content, soil pH, and water repellency. This was supplemented by infiltration measurements under near-saturated conditions at the vineyard and afforested study sites. Studied soils have a low clay content and a high proportion of sand. The vineyard soils have significantly higher pH than the forest and afforested soils because the naturally acidic soils have been limed. The forest and afforested soils have similar properties, with higher organic carbon content. This makes them strongly to extremely water repellent and contrasts sharply with the wettability of cultivated vineyard soils. One afforested site, however, was less acidic and therefore was considered transitional between forest and vineyard soils. Our infiltration measurements established the influence of soil water repellency on the infiltration process, and our results highlighted that the infiltration rate in the vineyard soils was significantly higher than in afforested soils. The infiltration rate also gradually increased over time in afforested soils due to decreasing water repellency. Physically impossible negative sorptivity values in afforested soils were noted because of changes in water repellency during the infiltration process. Finally, we conclude that soil afforestation results in increased soil water repellency and a subsequent reduction in the infiltration rate at the matrix scale.

Sediment control is important for supplying clean water. Although check dams control sediment yield, site selection for check dams based on the sediment trapping efficiency (TE) is often complex and time-consuming. Currently, a multi-step trial-and-error process is used to find the optimal sediment TE for check dam construction, which limits this approach in practice. To cope with this challenge, we developed a user-friendly, cost- and time-efficient geographic information system (GIS)-based tool, the trap efficiency tool (TET), in the Python programming language. We applied the tool to two watersheds, the Hableh-Rud and the Poldokhtar, in Iran. To identify suitable sites for check dams, four scenarios (S1: TE ≥ 60%, S2: TE ≥ 70%, S3: TE ≥ 80%, S4: TE ≥ 90%) were tested. TET identified 189, 117, 96, and 77 suitable sites for building check dams in S1, S2, S3, and S4, respectively, in the Hableh-Rud watershed, and 346, 204, 156, and 60 sites in S1, S2, S3, and S4, respectively, in the Poldokhtar watershed. Evaluation of 136 existing check dams in the Hableh-Rud watershed indicated that only 10% and 5% were well-located and these were in the TE classes of 80–90% and ≥90%, respectively. In the Poldokhtar watershed, only 11% and 8% of the 207 existing check dams fell into TE classes 80–90% and ≥90%, respectively. Thus, the conventional approach for locating suitable sites at which check dams should be constructed is not effective at reaching suitable sediment control efficiency. Importantly, TET provides valuable insights for site selection of check dams and can help decision makers avoid monetary losses incurred by inefficient check-dam performance.

Literature related to the carbon cycle and climate contains contradictory results with regard to whether agricultural practices increase or mitigate emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs). One opinion is that anthropogenic activities have distinct carbon footprints – measured as total emissions of GHGs resulting from an activity, in this case, “agricultural operations”. In contrast, it is argued that agriculture potentially serves to mitigate GHGs emissions when the best management practices are implemented. We review the literature on agricultural carbon footprints in the context of agricultural practices including soil, water and nutrient management. It has been reported that the management practices that enhance soil organic carbon (SOC) in arid and semi-arid areas include conversion of conventional tillage practices to conservation tillage approaches. We found that agricultural management in arid and semi-arid regions, which have specific characteristics related to high temperatures and low rainfall conditions, requires different practices for maintenance and restoration of SOC and for control of soil erosion compared to those used in Mediterranean, tropical regions. We recommend that in order to meet the global climate targets, quantification of net global warming potential of agricultural practices requires precise estimates of local, regional and global carbon budgets. We have conducted and present a case study for observing the development of deep soil carbon profile resulting from a 10-year wheat-cotton and wheat-maize rotation on semi-arid lands. Results showed that no tillage with mulch application had 14% (37.2 vs 43.3 Mg ha−1) higher SOC stocks in comparison to conventional tillage with mulch application. By implementing no tillage in conjunction with mulch application, lower carbon losses from soil can mitigate the risks associated with global warming. Therefore, it is necessary to reconsider agricultural practices and soil erosion after a land-use change when calculating global carbon footprints.

Biological soil crusts are a thin layer within the soil system but strongly determine the infiltration, runoff and water and solute movement. Little is known about the role of biological soil crusts on soil solute dynamics in arid ecosystems and the objective of this paper is to determine in Qara Qir rangeland how biological soil crusts control the water and salt distribution along the soil profile. Rainfall simulation experiments were carried out at five locations, and measurements of the soil at 0-5, 5-10, 10-20, 20-30, 30-50 and 50-80 cm depth were done before, 48 h and 21 days after the rainfall simulations. Soil particle size distribution, bulk density, water content, organic carbon and electrical conductivity were measured at each of the 270 samples (3 seasons × 3 times × 5 sites × 6 depths). Biological soil crusts increased soil organic carbon, soil water content, and infiltration rate; and biological soil crusts decreased soil bulk density, clay fraction, electrical conductivity, and other saline-sodic properties, especially in the upper layers (0-10 cm). Large pores in soils covered by biological soil crusts enhanced the preferential flows, infiltration and solute transport. Biological soil crusts not only directly affected the soil surface, but also influenced soil properties, and consequently determined spatio-temporal soil salinity distribution. Biological soil crusts act as a soil salinity reducing agent and contribute to the soil quality improvement under arid climatic conditions. Biological soil crusts can be considered as a soil conservation strategy and actively used in soil rehabilitation and ecosystems restoration.

Soil erosion on mountain trails threaten the sustainability of soils and vegetation. There is a wide theoretical knowledge about the effects produced by mountain recreational activities, but particularly for soil erosion there is a shortage of field data. This is why it is necessary to properly survey the soil losses on mountain trails. The most widely applied method in scientific literature is the Cross-Section field survey as is easy-to-apply and low-cost. However, there is a doubt about its accuracy and the development of the new technologies may improve the quality and accuracy of the measurements. Aerial and terrestrial photogrammetric methods are difficult to apply when vegetation is present but, an opportunity arises to apply this method when fire takes place. This paper analyses the soil losses in a recently fire-affected land to check the accuracy of the three methodologies to assess soil loss on mountain trails. The results obtained show an average soil loss between 1287 and 1404 Mg ha−1 of trail erosion for the three methodologies applied, which implies that the Cross-Sectional-Area method, aerial photography and terrestrial photography provide very similar values. Therefore, the conventional Cross-Section field surveys method is useful and adequate to evaluate the impacts generated on mountain trails as it provides accurate measurement and can be repeated any time and below different vegetation covers. The terrestrial photogrammetric methods are accurate too, but they can only be used when there is very little vegetation cover such as in semiarid and arid landscapes or after forest fires. Moreover, they are more expensive and time consuming.

Land subsidence (LS) is among the most critical environmental problems, affecting both agricultural sustainability and urban infrastructure. Existing methods often use either simple regression models or complex hydraulic models to explain and predict LS. There are few studies that identify the risk factors and predict the risk of LS using machine learning models. This study compares four tree-based machine learning models for land subsidence hazard modelling at a study area in Hamadan plain (Iran). The study also analyzes the importance of six risk factors including topography (elevation, slope), geomorphology (distance from stream, drainage density), hydrology (groundwater drawdown) and lithology on LS. Thematic layers of each variable related to the LS phenomenon are prepared and utilized as the inputs to the four tree-based machine learning models, including the Rule-Based Decision Tree (RBDT), Boosted Regression Trees (BRT), Classification And Regression Tree (CART), and the Random Forest (RF) algorithms to produce a consolidated LS hazard map. The accuracy of the generated maps is then evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and the True Skill Statistics (TSS). The RF approach had the lowest predictive error for mapping the LS hazard (i.e., AUC 96.7% for training, AUC 93.8% for validation, TSS 0.912 for training, TSS 0.904 for validation) followed by BRT. Groundwater drawdown was seen to be the most influential factor that contributed to land subsidence in the present study area, followed by lithology and distance from the stream network.

Vineyards have assumed a key role as rural landmarks in recent decades. Investigating vineyard dynamics and contexts may reveal various economic, cultural, and environmental aspects of rural landscapes, which can be linked to land-use changes and major soil degradation processes, including soil erosion. As a contribution to rural landscape studies, the purpose of this work is to investigate the spatial distribution of vineyard plots in the Valencian community, located in the eastern area of the Iberian Peninsula, focusing on the final product, the type of vineyard and how long each vineyard has been settled over time. The work provides a comprehensive analysis of a wine-growing landscape, considering strategic (spatial) assets in present and past times. Vineyards were interpreted as a distinctive landmarks that give value to local economies, basic knowledge of how long different types of wine plots have been present in the Valencian community is useful when estimating their degree of sustainability and formulating suggestions, policies, and strategies to prevent processes of landscape degradation at various spatial scales.

In north of Iran, flood is one of the most important natural hazards that annually inflict great economic damages on humankind infrastructures and natural ecosystems. The Kiasar watershed is known as one of the critical areas in north of Iran, due to numerous floods and waste of water and soil resources, as well as related economic and ecological losses. However, a comprehensive and systematic research to identify flood-prone areas, which may help to establish management and conservation measures, has not been carried out yet. Therefore, this study tested four methods: evidential belief function (EBF), frequency ratio (FR), Technique for Order Preference by Similarity To ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and Vlse Kriterijumsk Optimizacija Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) for flood hazard susceptibility mapping (FHSM) in this area. These were combined in two methodological frameworks involving statistical and multi-criteria decision making approaches. The efficiency of statistical and multi-criteria methods in FHSM were compared by using area under receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve, seed cell area index and frequency ratio. A database containing flood inventory maps and flood-related conditioning factors was established for this watershed. The flood inventory maps produced included 132 flood conditions, which were randomly classified into two groups, for training (70%) and validation (30%). Analytical hierarchy process (AHP) indicated that slope, distance to stream and land use/land cover are of key importance in flood occurrence in the study catchment. In validation results, the EBF model had a better prediction rate (0.987) and success rate (0.946) than FR, TOPSIS and VIKOR (prediction rate 0.917, 0.888, and 0.810; success rate 0.939, 0.904, and 0.735, respectively). Based on their frequency ratio and seed cell area index values, all models except VIKOR showed acceptable accuracy of classification.

In bare soils of semi-arid areas, surface crusting is a rather common phenomenon due to the impact of raindrops. Water infiltration measurements under ponding conditions are becoming largely applied techniques for an approximate characterization of crusted soils. In this study, the impact of crusting on soil hydraulic conductivity was assessed in a Mediterranean vineyard (western Sicily, Italy) under conventional tillage. The BEST (Beerkan Estimation of Soil Transfer parameters) algorithm was applied to the infiltration data to obtain the hydraulic conductivity of crusted and uncrusted soils. Soil hydraulic conductivity was found to vary during the year and also spatially (i.e., rows vs. inter-rows) due to crusting, tillage and vegetation cover. A 55 mm rainfall event resulted in a decrease of the saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, Ks , by a factor of 1.6 in the inter-row areas, due to the formation of a crusted layer at the surface. The same rainfall event did not determine a Ks reduction in the row areas (i.e., Ks decreased by a non-significant factor of 1.05) because the vegetation cover intercepted the raindrops and therefore prevented alteration of the soil surface. The developed ring insertion methodology on crusted soil, implying pre-moistening through the periphery of the sampled surface, together with the very small insertion depth of the ring (0.01 m), prevented visible fractures. Consequently, Beerkan tests carried out along and between the vine-rows and data analysis by the BEST algorithm allowed to assess crusting-dependent reductions in hydraulic conductivity with extemporaneous measurements alone. The reliability of the tested technique was also confirmed by the results of the numerical simulation of the infiltration process in a crusted soil. Testing the Beerkan infiltration run in other crusted soils and establishing comparisons with other experimental methodologies appear advisable to increase confidence on the reliability of the method that seems suitable for simple characterization of crusted soils.

The dramatic growth of the world&rsquo, s population is increasing the pressure on natural resources, particularly on soil systems. At the same time, inappropriate agricultural practices are causing widespread soil degradation. Improved management of soil resources and identification of the potential agricultural capability of soils is therefore needed to prevent further land degradation, particularly in dryland areas such as Egypt. Here, we present a case study in the El-Fayoum depression (Northern Egypt) to model and map soil suitability for 12 typical Mediterranean crops. Two management scenarios were analyzed: the current situation (CS) and an optimal scenario (OS) of soil variables. The Almagra model was applied to estimate soil suitability under CS and OS. Management options based on the CS assessment were proposed to reduce some limiting factors: a fixed value of 2 dSm&minus, 1 for soil salinity and 5% for sodium saturation, these defined the OS. Under optimal management, the OS scenario showed potential, where a notable increase of the area covered by a high suitability class (around 80%) for annual and semi-annual crops was observed. There was also a marked increase (about 70% for CS and 50% for OS) for perennial crops shifting from the marginal to moderate soil suitability class. The results reveal the importance of proper management to massively alter soil suitability into better states in order to achieve sustainable land use in this fertile agro-ecosystem.

Many scientists have recognized that there is diversity in nature, including biodiversity, geodiversity, and pedodiversity. Studies in biodiversity date back as far as the 1700s, but geodiversity and pedodiversity studies are much more recent, dating to the late 1970s to early 1980s. Given that we are now approaching 40 years of geodiversity and geoheritage work, this study was undertaken to determine areas that have been well addressed and where current gaps are. This was accomplished by reviewing the publications in the journal “Geoheritage”, the Scopus and Google Scholar databases, and established geoparks according to UNESCO records. It was found that geodiversity studies typically do not include the findings or utilize the techniques of biodiversity and pedodiversity research, despite the fact that common definitions of geodiversity include soils. Including the findings and techniques of bio- and pedodiversity would expand geodiversity work. Likewise, geoheritage preservation sites are not geographically balanced, with European countries, Brazil, Australia, and China creating the large majority. The European and East Asian countries, especially China, have dominated in the establishment of geoparks. The most pressing need in future studies is more balanced geographic distribution, as the current strong slant towards a limited portion of the world cannot adequately capture (on the research front) and preserve (on the geoparks front) global geodiversity. Finally, there is a need investigate whether the spatial patterns of biodiversity are idiosyncratic or are also a characteristic of abiotic resources, permitting the standardization of diversity research methods. This review contends that there are intriguing similarities in biodiversity, geodiversity, and pedodiversity patterns that should be explored, something that would benefit all of these research areas.

[EN] Leisure activities in natural areas have experienced a large increase in popularity. In Mediterranean ecosystems, research on soil erosion in agriculture and forest fire affected land has been well developed but trail erosion has not been widely studied. In this work we evaluated two trails in the eastern Iberian Peninsula to assess soil erosion rates and provide new data. The study area is located in a semi-arid Mediterranean climate (around 400 mm y(-1)) and in limestone terrain with scarce soil development. The average erosion rates were 24.39 Mg ha(-1) y(-1) and 40.40 Mg ha(-1) y(-1) for the "Barranc de la Cova de la Hedra" and "Casa del Raco" study trails, respectively. These are non-sustainable rates due to the shallow soils and slow soil development in Mediterranean ecosystems. We found that the depth at the centre of the trail and the maximum depth measured could quickly and easily assess soil erosion rates in the mountain trails. Measuring the width and depth in the centre of the trail can assess 91% of the total erosion and reduces the time of the survey by 80%. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved., This research is one of the results of the RECARE-FP7 project (ENV.2013.6.2-4, http://recare-project.eu).Professor Eric C Brevik from Dickinson University improved the draft manuscript with key comments and suggestions. Mauro Ponsoda, Antonio Minervino, Antonio Gimenez Morera, Farhat Bayat and Kivanc Yuksul contributed to the field and laboratory work. Saskia Keesstra contributed to the writing of the draft manuscript and improved the last version.

Soil hydrology determines the water–soil–plant interactions in the Earth’s system, because porous medium acts as an interface within the atmosphere and lithosphere, regulates main processes such as runoff discharge, aquifer recharge, movement of water and solutes into the soil and, ultimately, the amount of water retained and available for plants growth. Soil hydrology can be strongly affected by land management. Therefore, investigations aimed at assessing the impact of land management changes on soil hydrology are necessary, especially with a view to optimize water resources. This Special Issue collects 12 original contributions addressing the state of the art of soil hydrology for sustainable land management. These contributions cover a wide range of topics including (i) effects of land-use change, (ii) water use efficiency, (iii) erosion risk, (iv) solute transport, and (v) new methods and devices for improved characterization of soil physical and hydraulic properties. They involve both field and laboratory experiments, as well as modelling studies. Also, different spatial scales, i.e., from the field- to regional-scales, as well as a wide range of geographic regions are also covered. The collection of these manuscripts presented in this Special Issue provides a relevant knowledge contribution for effective saving water resources and sustainable land management.

J. Paz-Ferreiro1, A. Mendez6, A. M. Tarquis3,4, A. Cerda5, and G. Gasco2 1School of Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476, Melbourne 3001, VIC, Melbourne, Australia 2Departamento de Produccion Agraria, E.T.S.I. Agronomos, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, 28004 Madrid, Spain 3CEIGRAM, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, 28040 Madrid, Spain 4Departamento de Matematica Aplicada, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, 28040 Madrid, Spain 5Soil Erosion and Degradation Research Group, Department of Geography, University of Valencia, C/Blasco Ibanez 10, 46010 Valencia, Spain 6Departamento de Ingenieria Geologica y Minera, E.T.S.I. Minas, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, C/Rios Rosas 21, 28003 Madrid, Spain

Agricultural land management greatly affects soil properties. Microbial soil communities are the most sensitive and rapid indicators of perturbations in land use and soil enzyme activities are sensitive biological indicators of the effects of soil management practices. Citrus orchards frequently have degraded soils and this paper evaluates how land management in citrus orchards can improve soil quality. A field experiment was performed in an orchard of orange trees (Citrus Sinensis) in the Alcoleja Experimental Station (Eastern Spain) with clay-loam agricultural soils to assess the long-term effects of herbicides with inorganic fertilizers (H), intensive ploughing and inorganic fertilizers (P) and organic farming (O) on the soil microbial properties, and to study the relationship between them. Nine soil samples were taken from each agricultural management plot. In all the samples the basal soil respiration, soil microbial biomass carbon, water holding capacity, electrical conductivity, soil organic matter, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, available potassium, aggregate stability, cation exchange capacity, pH, texture, macronutrients (Na, Ca and Mg), micronutrients (Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu), calcium carbonate equivalent, calcium carbonate content of limestone and enzimatic activities (urease, dehydrogenase, β-glucosidase and acid phosphatase) were determined. The results showed a substantial level of differentiation in the microbial properties, which were highly associated with soil organic matter content. The management practices including herbicides and intensive ploughing had similar results on microbial soil properties. O management contributed to an increase in the soil biology quality, aggregate stability and organic matter content.

Flooding may damage important transportation infrastructures, such as roads, railways and bridges, which need to be well planned and designed to be able to withstand current and possible future climate-driven increases in flood frequencies and magnitudes. This study develops a novel approach to predictive statistical modelling of the probability of flooding at major road-stream intersection sites, where water, sediment and debris can accumulate and cause failure of drainage facilities and associated road damages. Two areas in south-west Sweden, affected by severe floods in August 2014, are used in representative case studies for this development. A set of physical catchment-descriptors (PCDs), characterizing key aspects of topography, morphology, soil type, land use, hydrology (precipitation and soil moisture) and sediment connectivity in the water- and sediment-contributing catchments, are used for the predictive flood modelling. A main novel contribution to such modelling is to integrate the spatiotemporal characteristics of remotely-sensed soil moisture in indices of sediment connectivity (IC), thereby also allowing for investigation of the role of soil moisture in the flood probability for different road-stream intersections. The results suggest five categories of PCDs as especially important for flood probability quantification and identification of particularly flood-prone intersections along roads (railways, etc.) These include: channel slope at the road-stream intersection and average elevation, soil properties (mainly percentage of till), land use cover (mainly percentage of urban areas), and a sediment connectivity index that considers soil moisture in addition to morphology over the catchment.

This study aimed at determining the field-saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, Kfs, of an unmanaged field affected by fire by means of single-ring infiltrometer runs and the use of transient and steady-state data analysis procedures. Sampling and measurements were carried out in 2012 and 2017 in a fire-affected field (burnt site) and in a neighboring non-affected site (control site). The predictive potential of different data analysis procedures (i.e., transient and steady-state) to yield proper Kfs estimates was investigated. In particular, the transient WU1 method and the BB, WU2 and OPD methods were compared. The cumulative linearization (CL) method was used to apply the WU1 method. Values of Kfs ranging from 0.87 to 4.21 mm·h−1 were obtained, depending on the considered data analysis method. The WU1 method did not yield significantly different Kfs estimates between the sampled sites throughout the five-year period, due to the generally poor performance of the CL method, which spoiled the soil hydraulic characterization. In particular, good fits were only obtained in 23% of the cases. The BB, WU2 and the OPD methods, with a characterization based exclusively on a stabilized infiltration process, yielded an appreciably lower variability of the Kfs data as compared with the WU1 method. It was concluded that steady-state methods were more appropriate for detecting slight changes of Kfs in post-fire soil hydraulic characterizations. Our results showed a certain degree of soil degradation at the burnt site with an immediate reduction of the soil organic matter and a progressive increase of the soil bulk density during the five years following the fire. This general impoverishment resulted in a slight but significant decrease in the field-saturated soil hydraulic conductivity.

In this paper, we present and analyze a global database of soil infiltration measurements, the Soil Water Infiltration Global (SWIG) database, for the first time. In total, 5023 infiltration curves were collected across all continents in the SWIG database. These data were either provided and quality checked by the scientists who performed the experiments or they were digitized from published articles. Data from 54 different countries were included in the database with major contributions from Iran, China, and USA. In addition to its global spatial coverage, the collected infiltration curves cover a time span of research from 1976 to late 2017. Basic information on measurement location and method, soil properties, and land use were gathered along with the infiltration data, which makes the database valuable for the development of pedo-transfer functions for estimating soil hydraulic properties, for the evaluation of infiltration measurement methods, and for developing and validating infiltration models. Soil textural information (clay, silt, and sand content) is available for 3842 out of 5023 infiltration measurements (~76 %) covering nearly all soil USDA textural classes except for the sandy clay and silt classes. Information on the land use is available for 76 % of experimental sites with agricultural land use as the dominant type (~40 %). We are convinced that the SWIG database will allow for a better parameterization of the infiltration process in land surface models and for testing infiltration models. All collected data and related soil characteristics are provided online in *.xlsx and *.csv formats for reference, and we add a disclaimer that the database is for use by public domain only and can be copied freely by referencing it. Supplementary data are available at doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.885492. Data quality assessment is strongly advised prior to any use of this database. Finally, we would like to encourage scientists to extend/update the SWIG by uploading new data to it.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is an important part of the global carbon (C) cycle. In addition, SOC is a soil property subject to changes and highly variable in space and time. Over time, some researches have analyzed entire soil profile (ESP) by pedogenetic horizons and other researches have analyzed soil control sections (SCS) to different thickness. However, very few studies compare both methods (ESP versus SCS). This research sought to analyze the SOC stock (SOCS) variability using both methods (ESP and SCS) in The Despeñaperros Natural Park, a nature reserve that consists of a 76.8 km(2) forested area in southern Spain. Thirty-four sampling points were selected in the study zone. Each sampling point was analyzed in two different ways, as ESP (by horizons) and as SCS with different depth increments (0-25, 25-50, 50-75 and 75-100 cm). The major goal of this research was to study the SOCS variability at regional scale. The soils investigated in this study included Phaeozems, Cambisols, Regosols and Leptosols. Total SOCS in the Despeñaperros Natural Park was over 28.2% greater when SCS were used compared to ESP, ranging from 0.8144 Tg C (10,604.2 Mg km(-2)) to 0.6353 Tg C (8272.1 Mg km(-2)) respectively (1 Tg = 10(12) g). However, when the topsoil (surface horizon and superficial section control) was analyzed, this difference increased to 59.8% in SCS compared to ESP. The comparison between ESP and SCS showed the effect of mixing pedogenetic horizons when depth increments were analyzed. This indicates an overestimate of T-SOCS when sampling by SCS.

South American countries with the highest surface of land under no-tillage (NT) management are Brazil, Argentina and Chile. In Argentina, 78.5% of the agricultural land is cropped under NT management. Several experiments have confirmed the improvements in soil aggregation and infiltration achieved by NT management in dry-land farming areas associated with increases of bulk density (δb) under NT management. An increase in bulk density implies a reduction of the macro and mesoporosity that is in contradiction with the increased infiltration that occurs at macro and mesopores. We hypothesize that the increase of bulk density in NT management mainly affects the mesopores. We evaluated the evolution of the soil physical parameters in three management systems in four farmers' fields. We found that the reduction in total porosity under NT management is mainly a product of a reduction in the percentage of mesopores in the soil. In this work, the results indicate a modification of some soil physical parameters (porosity, near-saturated hydraulic conductivity, soil structure) due to uninterrupted agricultural production, but the management system did not affect the yields of crop.

Vineyards incur the highest soil and water losses among all Mediterranean agricultural fields. The state-of-the-art shows that soil erosion in vineyards has been primarily surveyed with topographical methods, soil erosion plots and rainfall simulations, but these techniques do not typically assess temporal changes in soil erosion. When vines are planted they are about 30 cm high × 1 cm diameter without leaves, the root system varies from 2 to over 40 cm depth, and sometimes the lack of care used during transplanting can result in a field with highly erodible bare soils. This means that the time since vine plantation plays a key role in soil erosion rates, but very little attention has been paid to this by the scientific community. Thus, the main goal of this research was to estimate soil losses and assess soil erosion processes in two paired vineyard plantations of different ages. To achieve this goal, the improved stock unearthing method (ISUM) was applied to vineyards on colluvial parent materials with similar soil properties, topographical characteristics and land managements in the Les Alcusses Valley, southwestern Valencia province, Spain. Our findings suggested that the old vineyards showed lower erosion rates (− 1.61 Mg ha− 1 yr− 1) than those that were recently planted (− 8.16 Mg ha− 1 yr− 1). This is because of the damage that the plantation of the vines causes to soil. Tillage after planting (4 times per year) resulted in changes in the inter-row and row morphology, promoting the development of a ridge underneath the vines that disconnected the inter-rows and reduced soil losses with time. After the second year and until the 25th year after plantation, soil erosion was approximately 1 Mg ha− 1 y− 1, which means that most of the erosion took place during the first two years after the plantation. Soil conservation strategies should be applied immediately after the plantation works to allow sustainable grape production. That is when soil erosion most needs to be controlled.