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The implementation of alley cropping in orchards has been suggested as a sustainable strategy to increase farmer revenues by crop diversification, enhance soil organic matter (SOM) and fertility, water retention, overall biodiversity, and contribute to climate change mitigation. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess if alley cropping with annual crops can contribute to i) mitigate soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, ii) enhance C sequestration in a semiarid Mediterranean irrigated citrus orchard, and iii) increase land productivity. For this, two different treatments were established: i) conventional mandarin monoculture (MC) with no alley cropping; and ii) mandarin diversified with alley cropping of barley/vetch and fava bean (DIV). Measurements of soil CO2 and N2O emissions were periodically performed (every 7–20 days) during two years. Soil CO2 emission rates followed the soil moisture trend, and showed no significant differences between treatments. As an average, soil CO2 emission rates were 147 mg m-2 h-1 in MC and 196 mg m-2 h-1 in DIV. Soil N2O emission rates were not correlated to soil moisture nor temperature, and showed average values of 0.026 mg m-2 h-1 in MC and − 0.002 mg m-2 h-1 in DIV. Alley cropping did not contribute to significantly increase soil organic C and total nitrogen in two years’ time. With regard to production, mandarin yield showed no significant differences between treatments, but alley crops contributed to complementary commodities to the main cash crop, increasing overall land productivity. Thus, alley cropping in irrigated Mediterranean orchards has no significant effect on soil C sequestration and GHG emissions at short-term, with increased land productivity owing to new commodities grown in the alleys. These results confirm that under semiarid Mediterranean climate, long periods are needed to efficiently assess soil C sequestration potential of sustainable practices in orchards. This work was supported by the European Commission Horizon 2020 Project Diverfarming [Grant agreement 728003]. Raúl Zornoza acknowledges the financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the “Ramón y Cajal” Program [RYC-2015-18758].

Sustainable grazing land management (SGLM) is crucial to prevent land degradation and support food security and human well-being and may contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation. To facilitate a wide-scale adoption of SGLM, further quantification of its multiple impacts and tradeoffs between ecosystem services is needed. The objective of this study was to assess the potential of SGLM measures to protect ecosystem services and contribute to sustainable development, based on an evaluation of 30 SGLM technologies in semi-arid regions documented in the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT) and an additional narrative literature review. We first analyzed (i) environmental characteristics and conditions, (ii) costs and benefits, and (iii) socioeconomic and environmental impacts of SGLM. Based on this analysis, we disentangle how SGLM affects ecosystem services and contributes to a sustainable development. The results show that SGLM represents a wide range of practices either aimed at (1) increasing the carrying capacity by improving the soil quality and the amount and type of vegetation or (2) preventing overgrazing by reducing animal pressure. The positive impacts of SGLM directly contribute to crucial provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural ecosystem services. On the other hand, while the management costs related to implementing SGLM are usually made by the landowners, many off-site impacts benefit wider society, indicating the need for political support and regulation. We recommend a large-scale implementation of SGLM as an effective means to deal with environmental challenges like desertification, soil degradation, loss of biodiversity, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

The implementation of alley cropping in orchards can be a sustainable strategy to increase farm productivity by crop diversification and contribute to climate change mitigation. In this research, we evaluated the short-term effect of alley cropping with reduced tillage on soil CO

Gully erosion causes severe damage to crops and infrastructures and affects the provision of ecosystem services worldwide. To assess the potential of gully control measures to protect ecosystem services and assess the conditions required for their large-scale implementation, this paper critically evaluates a range of gully control measures documented in the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT). Environmental and socio-economic impacts of technologies are assessed, as well as the implications for ecosystem services, costs and benefits of implementation, and stakeholder’s perception. It is demonstrated how gully control measures provide notable on-site and off-site benefits for socio-economic, cultural, ecological, and production goals, and to protect crucial ecosystem services. Control measures particularly contribute to soil and water conservation and to regulating ecosystem services by controlling soil erosion, water cycling, and natural hazards. Most effective control measures consist of combined vegetative and structural measures and of catchment wide interventions. While implementation of gully control can initially be expensive, on the long term, the cost-benefit ratio is usually positive. Moreover, the results emphasize the importance of evaluating control measures considering monetary aspects and all ecosystem services they provide. Nevertheless, individual farmers can often not afford the implementation and maintenance costs due to barriers for implementation and therefore require sustained institutional support.

The long-term effects of conservation agriculture on soil physical and chemical properties and their relationship with crop yields are still relatively poorly understood. In addition, the effects of those practices ranged widely depending on climatic and edaphic conditions and so they cannot be generalized for all agro-ecological regions and crop types. This study evaluates the effects of three conservation agriculture practices - reduced tillage (RT), reduced tillage plus incorporation of green manure (RTG), and no-tillage (NT) - on the soil quality on almond orchards under semiarid conditions and the soil factors explaining crop yield under these management practices. The soil physical indicators used were bulk density, resistance to penetration, total porosity, air capacity, relative field capacity, available water content, infiltration rate and field plant-available water content. The chemical parameters evaluated were soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, nitrate, and available phosphorus. Changes in the soil physical properties with the incorporation of green manure and with no-tillage, relative to RT were, mainly detected in the 5−15 cm soil layer, where improvements in soil water availability were observed. In addition, there was a positive effect of both green manure and no-tillage on the infiltration rate relative to RT. The shift from RT to RTG led to an improvement in total soil organic carbon and nitrogen, resulting in a positive effect on crop yield after six years of implementation. No-tillage led to a decline of about 70 % in crop yield with respect to the tillage treatments, despite the improvement in the soil available water content from the first year of its adoption. However, a strong decrease in the concentrations of available nitrogen was the factor mainly responsible for the crop yield reductions under NT., This study was funded by the National ProjectCGL2014-55-405-R and the Regional Séneca Foundation: 08757/PI/08//19350/PI/14. María Almagro was supported by the Juan de la Cierva Program (IJCI-2015-23500)

Soils play a major role in the global carbon cycle and are crucial to the management of climate change. Changes in plant cover derived from different agricultural practices induce variations in the quality of plant residue inputs and in the soil microbial community structure and activity, which may enhance the storage and protection of organic carbon (OC) and nitrogen (N) within aggregates. The aim of this study was to assess how differences in the chemical composition of plant residues in combination with tillage management practices affect the local microbial community activity and structure, and subsequent soil aggregation and OC and N dynamics in an organic, rainfed almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.) orchard. In the laboratory, three types of plant residue (shoots, roots, and the combination of both) coming from different species belonging to each agricultural practice (reduced tillage, reduced tillage plus green manure, reduced tillage plus organic manure, and no-tillage) were mixed with their respective soils and the CO released was measured over 243 days at 60% WHC and 28 °C. Water-stable aggregates (including microaggregates within macroaggregates), enzymatic activities related to carbon (dehydrogenase and β-glucosidase) and N (urease) cycling, and the microbial biomass and community structure through phospholipid fatty acid analysis, were measured at the end of the incubation period. Our results indicate that the chemical composition of plant residues controls the microbial community response, mediating decomposition and the incorporation of OC and N in stable aggregates. Therefore, the incorporation of labile and N-rich plant residues into the soil by reduced tillage is recommended since mixing roots and shoots from green manure increased the formation of free micro-aggregates and improved OC and N stabilization in our semiarid agroecosystem., This research was supported with funds from the Fundación Séneca of the Murcia Region (projects 08757/PI/08, EMISEMUR 19350/PI/14 and DECADE 20917/PI/18). Parts of this research were performed within the framework of the project IMPASEC AGL2011-25069 funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad. María Almagro was supported by the Juan de la Cierva Program (Grant IJCI-2015-23500) and Antonio Ruiz-Navarro by the Fundación General from the Spanish Research Council (CSIC, ConFuturo Progamme).

We assess the long-term environmental impacts and delivery of several ecosystem services of crop diversification (inter-crop with legumes/cereal) in two rainfed almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.) orchards under semiarid Mediterranean conditions. In addition, the effect of the intensity of tillage practices (conventional tillage vs. reduced tillage) in the almond monocultures was also tested. The study was carried out in two farms located in the province of Murcia (South East Spain) and the experimental design consisted of nine plots (49 m long and 7 m wide) in a randomized-block design, with three replicates for each treatment: inter-crop, (IRT), monoculture under conventional tillage (MCT), and monoculture under reduced tillage (MRT). Each plot comprised five almond trees: the three central trees were used for soil measurements and the other two trees constituted guard rows (a buffer zone to avoid edge effects). The conventional tillage consists in a chisel plowing to 15 cm depth using a cultivator between three and five times a year while the reduced tillage treatments (MRT and IRT) implies ploughing only twice a year (autumn and spring), to control weeds. The tillage affects the whole plot area, including the area around the trunk base. In the monoculture, weeds are the only vegetation present between the rows. The inter-crop consists of a mix (3:1) of common vetch (Vicia sativa L.) and common oat (Avena sativa L.), sown annually during early autumn at 150 kg seeds ha-1 and mowed in May. After manually mowing, it is incorporated into the soil using a cultivator.During ten years (2009-2018) the effects of crop diversification and reduced tillage on a range of soil quality indicators (including soil physical, chemical and biological properties) were monitored allowing the evaluation of different support, regulating and provisioning ecosystem services (e.g. carbon sequestration, water availability, crop yield).An improvement in soil quality with the inter-crop management (IRT) was detected after three years from its implementation, after which it was maintained or slightly increased for ten years. When comparing the inter-cropping system with the monoculture one, an improvement in soil quality indicators for regulating and supporting ecosystem services was observed at the plow layer (e.g., soil bulk density decrease, as well as increases in soil water retention capacity, plant water availability, infiltration capacity, fertility, microbial activity, and OC stabilized in aggregates). During the first seven years of inter-cropping implementation, an average reduction of about 30% in the crop yield (provisioning ecosystem service) in the inter-crop treatment respect to the monoculture was observed. However, those differences decreased, or even were reversed after eight years, suggesting that the observed positive effect on crop production with inter-crops does not occur at the same time than the improvement on soil quality but several years after that. All together, these results highlight the potential of inter-cropping in woody crops as a good option to be adopted by farmers and for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Soil erosion is one of the most important processes of soil degradation, especially vulnerable are many agricultural systems of SE Spain which are being transformed from a rainfed to irrigated agriculture. Crop diversification has been raised as a possible management measure with multiple benefits to combat soil degradation. Interrill soil erosion rates and processes were assessed in three land uses in SE Spain next to each other, with the same basic characteristics (climate, lithology and soils) representing a gradient of land use change: natural shrubland, rainfed almond crop (Prunus dulcis) on terraces and levelled citrus crops (Citrus reticulata) with street-ridge morphology. The experimental design included two diversifications in the rainfed almond: intercropping Capparis spinosa and Thymus hyemalis, respectively, while in the citrus irrigated area a rotation with Hordeum vulgare and Vicia sativa (from February to July) or Vicia faba (from October to January) were intercropped in the streets. In the rainfed and natural area interill erosion was measured using erosion pins with a 2 or 3 x 3 x 3 scheme (2 or 3 plots of 1 m2 with 9 pins at two diversifications and control, at three different agricultural terraces). In the natural area two pin plots were set up. At the irrigated area the experimental design was a 2 x 2 x 2 scheme (2 plots (ridge; street) x 2 replicates x 2 (bare, vegetated). Pins were measured after each rain event or each month during 14 months, identifying detachment (positive values) and sedimentation (negative values) within the erosion process. The preliminary results indicate significant higher erosion rates in the irrigated areas than in the traditional rainfed terraces (83.6±147.4 t ha-1 versus 9.59±170.34 t ha-1, respectively). Shrubland natural areas show significant higher deposition rates (-74.97±43.08 t ha-1) than recent diversified plots with Capparis and Thymus (-52.56±227.06 and -28.29±85.94 t ha-1, respectively). Neither differences within diversification type (Capparis versus Thymus) nor between control and diversifications in the rainfed almond area have been yet detected. In the Citrus irrigated area erosion rates under Hordeum vulgare and Vicia sativa were significantly higher than under Vicia faba (129.58±94.43 and 25.61±87.79 t ha-1, respectively).So far, those preliminary results indicate that natural shrubland and traditional rainfed crop systems facilitate sedimentation rates and are effective systems for soil conservation. However, the conversion from rainfed to irrigated crops mean a significant increase of erosion rates due to a system that does not facilitate retention of detached soils. Within this temporal framework, crop diversifications, both in rainfed and irrigated systems, have not yet significantly reduced erosion rates. A longer experimentation period is necessary to determine the effect of crop diversifications on soil erosion.

The systematic use of magnetic techniques for the characterization of soils is still scarce despite its great potential for the identification of pedogenetic processes. The main objective of this study is to analyze the magnetic properties of a soil profile with contrasting horizons and try to relate them to the properties determined through conventional techniques. The horizons of a soil profile located in a tectonic depression in Murcia, Spain are described and their physical, chemical, and mineralogical properties analyzed with conventional techniques. The following magnetic properties are included in the study: the mass-specific magnetic susceptibility, frequency-dependent susceptibility, continuous thermomagnetic curves at low field, isothermal remanent magnetization acquisition and the estimation of magnetic hardness (coercitivity) through the parameter S-200. Detailed description of the soil profile and the results of conventional analyses allowed the identification of a mollic horizon, an argic horizon, and a calcic horizon, as well as a textural discontinuity. Apparently, pedogenic magnetite occurs in the A horizon and is responsible for the magnetization in most cases. The magnetic carriers in the Bt horizons are superparamagnetic particles and they are related to the high percentage of clay. High coercivity minerals (hematite and probably goethite) were detected in different concentrations in all soil horizons. The amount of ferrimagnetic minerals decreases with depth. The magnetic properties allowed a better characterization of the diagnostic horizons. The results and information derived from the analysis of the magnetic properties could not be obtained using conventional soil analysis only.

Soil degradation continues to be of the major threats for sustainable development and human well-being. Despite the advances in research, there is still a gap between research and effective conservation. To fill this gap, a change is needed in the paradigm of soil conservation research. Therefore, this paper aims to: (i) introduce the concept of Eco-Holistic- Soil Conservation (EHSC) to support the Sustainable Development Goals, (ii) present a framework for the implementation of EHSC, and (iii) show practical examples and recommendations of EHSC. The theory behind the concept of EHSC builds on a critical review of the main causes for success or failure of previous conservation projects and evaluation of latest holistic concepts and visions on conservation of soils and socio-ecosystems. The key principles underlying EHSC are: (1) perception of soils as living-systems, (2) holistic ecosystem approach, (3) central role of soil conservation for climate change mitigation and adaptation, and (4) ethical behavior in soil use. Implementation of EHSC requires a transdisciplinary approach involving a range of actions in three iterative phases: (1) diagnosis of the causes and processes of land degradation and the socio-economic context, (2) integrated assessment of the interactions and synergies between the factors and actors involved and the selection of EHSC actions, and (3) participatory evaluation and monitoring of impacts. Successful conservation requires more research on the resilience and adaptation of soils to climate change, integrated economic valuations of soil conservation, and protection of native peoples right to land in international legislation., This study was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (CGL2013-48753-R co-funded by European Union FEDER funds) and Fundación Séneca (20917/PI/18)

The effects of drought in semiarid Mediterranean environments are known in many aspects; however, there are others for which information is lacking. In this work, two samplings were carried out - the first during a summer drought and the second during spring - in the rhizospheres of three gypsophytes and in non-rhizospheric soil, to detect the responses, fundamentally biochemical, to the availability of water in the soil. Urease and protease showed higher values after the drought whereas the activity of the β-glucosidase was highest in the spring. This pattern was the same for all the rhizospheres tested. However, the arylsulfatase and alkaline phosphatase did not change in terms of the sampling date or the rhizosphere under study. Surprising results were obtained when water retention and water loss were studied with the highest values being obtained for the dry season due to the association of Cyanoprokaryota (with high diversity and rarity) with the rhizospheresas a result of a water pulse. The results in our work are also explained by two water pulses that occurred before the samplings. Several indicators are proposed such as microbial biomass carbon and basal respiration rate responded best to the microbiological activation just after drought, together with the enzymes urease and protease. However, it was the dehydrogenase activity in spring that best reflected the microbiology associated with the carbon cycle, together with the enzyme β-glucosidase. It was showed the interrelationships between carbon and nitrogen through to the indices: water soluble nitrogen and water soluble carbon. We can propose three functional adaptation mechanisms of these plants associated with the Cyanoprokaryota in their rhizospheres. Herniaria fruticosa is a pioneer with the greatest diversity and abundance. An intermediate strategy is presented by Teucrium balthazaris, with a greater diversity and abundance of Cyanoprokaryota in spring. Finally, Helianthemum squamatum has lower diversity and abundance.

Este artículo contiene 16 páginas, 6 figuras, 2 tablas., Soil degradation by water is a serious environmental problem worldwide, with specific climatic factors being the major causes. We investigated the relationships between synoptic atmospheric patterns (i.e. weather types, WTs) and runoff, erosion and sediment yield throughout the Mediterranean basin by analyzing a large database of natural rainfall events at 68 research sites in 9 countries. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to identify spatial relationships of the different WTs including three hydro-sedimentary variables: rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield (SY, used to refer to both soil erosion measured at plot scale and sediment yield registered at catchment scale). The results indicated 4 spatial classes of rainfall and runoff: (a) northern sites dependent on North (N) and North West (NW) flows; (b) eastern sites dependent on E and NE flows; (c) southern sites dependent on S and SE flows; and, finally, (d) western sites dependent on W and SW flows. Conversely, three spatial classes are identified for SY characterized by: (a) N and NE flows in northern sites (b) E flows in eastern sites, and (c) Wand SW flows in western sites. Most of the rainfall, runoff and SY occurred during a small number of daily events, and just a few WTs accounted for large percentages of the total. Our results confirm that characterization by WT improves understanding of the general conditions under which runoff and SY occur, and provides useful information for understanding the spatial variability of runoff, and SY throughout the Mediterranean basin. The approach used here could be useful to aid of the design of regional water management and soil conservation measures., This research was supported by projects funded by the MINECOFEDER: CGL2014-52135-C3-3-R, CGL2014-59946-R, CGL2015-65569- R, CGL2015-64284-C2-2-R, and PCIN-2017-061/AEI. When this manuscript was first submitted Estela Nadal-Romero and Damià Vericat received a “Ramón y Cajal” postdoctoral contract (RYC-2013-14371 and RYC‐2010‐06264, Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, MEC). Damià Vericat is now a Serra Húnter Fellow at the University of Lleida. María Fernández-Raga received a “José Castillejo” postdoctoral grant (Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports). Carla Ferreira was supported by a post-doctoral research grant from the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (SFRH/ BPD/120093/2016). Mariano Moreno-de las Heras received a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral contract (IJCI-2015-26463) from the MEC. José Andrés López-Tarazón received a Vicenç Mut postdoctoral fellowship from the Autonomous Balearic Government (CAIB PD/038/2016). José Andrés López-Tarazón and Ramon Batalla also acknowledge the Secretariat for Universities and Research of the Department of the Economy and Knowledge of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia for supporting the Consolidated Research Group 2014 SGR 645 (RIUSFluvial Dynamics Research Group), and the CERCA Programme. This paper has benefited from the Lab and Field Data Pool created within the framework of the COST action CONNECTEUR (ES1306).

In the present work, a sampling grid of the urban core of the city of Murcia (South East Spain) was designed in order to analyze street dust, focusing on the contents of the heavy metals Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn and their relationships with the color of the sample, the traffic pattern, and the location where they were sampled (sidewalks, ledges, and roads). The characterization of the samples was carried out by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, whereas the heavy metals were extracted by acid digestion and determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The concentration (mg/kg) in urban dust of the city of Murcia was highest for Zn (653), followed by Cu (201) &gt, Pb (177) &gt, Cr (117) &gt, Ni (51) &gt, &gt, Cd (0.5). The color expounded statistically significant differences with regard to the heavy metals, including the pollutant load. The same pattern was found when the classification variable was the traffic intensity, except in the case of Ni. The areas with a higher risk of contamination by heavy metals in the urban dust are the ledges of narrow city center streets with moderate traffic, where Zn and Pb seem to accumulate most greatly.

"The ability of soils as natural reactors depends of soil properties such as organic matter content (OM), cation exchange capacity (CEC) and percentage of clay (PC) as well as the properties waste in question, in this case, swine wastewater (SWW) Pedotransfer functions (PTF) enable certain processes to be determined from easily measured soil properties. The aims of this study were i) to generate PTF to estimate the retention and mineralisation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) present in swine wastewater (SWW) based on measurements of OM, CEC and PC and ii) to identify the soils most suited to acting as natural reactors for treating SWW, using multicriteria analysis. Samples were taken from ten soils (epipedons or superficial samples) to measure the retention of dissolved organic matter (RDOM) in 30 cm high soil columns, making three applications of SWW. In addition, an experiment was carried out in pots to measure the effect of SWW on soil carbon evolution (SCE) and the potential anaerobic nitrogen mineralisation (PANM). Multiple regressions were made using soil OM (%), CEC (cmol+ kg-1) and PC (%) as independent variables and RDOM (measured as chemical oxygen demand), SCE and PANM as dependent variables. The PFT found were: RDOM = 41.5 + (2.8*CEC) - (0.81*PC) - (3.5*OM) r= 0.81; SCE = 542.3 + (20.1*OM) + (4.6*CEC) - (2.7*PC) r= 0.96; PANM = -8.4 + (3.45*OM) + (1.12*PC) - (2.20*CEC) r= 0.88. The most suitable soils for acting as natural reactors of SWW were the Luvisol (LVct) and an unclassified EPI-1."

In this study, we tested whether communities of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi associated with roots of plant species forming vegetative cover as well as some soil parameters (amounts of phosphatase and glomalin-related soil protein, microbial biomass C and N concentrations, amount of P available, and aggregate stability) were affected by different amounts (control, 6.5 kg m −2 , 13.0 kg m −2 , 19.5 kg m −2 , and 26.0 kg m −2 ) of an urban refuse (UR) 19 years after its application to a highly eroded, semiarid soil. The AM fungal small-subunit (SSU) rRNA genes were subjected to PCR, cloning, single-stranded conformation polymorphism analysis, sequencing, and phylogenetic analyses. One hundred sixteen SSU rRNA sequences were analyzed, and nine AM fungal types belonging to Glomus groups A and B were identified: three of them were present in all the plots that had received UR, and six appeared to be specific to certain amendment doses. The community of AM fungi was more diverse after the application of the different amounts of UR. The values of all the soil parameters analyzed increased proportionally with the dose of amendment applied. In conclusion, the application of organic wastes enhanced soil microbial activities and aggregation, and the AM fungal diversity increased, particularly when a moderate dose of UR (13.0 kg m −2 ) was applied.

The SIDASS model was developed to predict losses due to mechanical and hydraulic processes and it also enables users to simulate prevention strategies if the required basic datasets are available. SIDASS model is linking under the same umbrella of a spatially distributed information framework, the experimental and theoretical researches from various fields of soil physics directly to farming practices (soil mechanics, soil compaction, soil erosion, and soil hydrology) in order to have a tool for recommendations of site-specific land use and management practices, and to evaluate agriculture policies at local and regional scales. SIDASS is validated on some precise datasets from specific areas, and was proved to forecast the effects of soil mechanical processes like soil deformation on soil erosion. It may be also used to couple the effects of hydraulic and mechanical properties on soil erosion processes. Thus, in its final stage, it provides a tool for recommendations of site-specific land use and management strategies. In the validation tests, the predicted values according to the model equations were in very good agreement with independent datasets taken from experimental fields in Spain, Hungary, and Romania. Several application examples (GIS maps) with reference to European soils are shown pointing to the “hot” areas of Europe where soil erosion or soil compaction problems are high, and are furthermore increased by soil management using heavy machinery or non-site-specific management strategies.

The SIDASS project “A spatially distributed simulation model predicting the dynamics of agro-physical soil state within Eastern and Western Europe countries for the selection of management practices to prevent soil erosion based on sustainable soil–water interactions” required a method for estimating the dates (or soil water conditions) under which soil tillage operations could be performed. For this purpose, methods were developed for estimating the optimum and the range of soil water contents for tillage. These methods are based on the soil water retention curve. In this paper, we further develop the method in two ways. First, we take account of the fact that the soil properties: clay content, organic matter content and bulk density are not independent. This is done through the use of simple pedo-transfer functions which are based on measurements on many soils. Second, we present a simplified and more rapid method for estimating the lower (dry) limit for tillage. This enables this lower limit to be calculated using a computer spreadsheet instead of through tedious iterative calculations which were previously obtained with a special computer program. Examples are given for the tillage limits which take account of the interdependencies between the contents of clay, the content of organic matter and the bulk density. Estimated typical values of the tillage limits are presented for all the soil texture classes in the FAO/USDA classification system. Additionally, it is shown that the range of water contents for tillage is expected to decrease with decreasing soil physical quality as measured by S.

A model to predict the mechanical strength of arable soils and its effect on physical properties was developed and integrated within the framework of the SIDASS-project “A spatially distributed simulation model predicting the dynamics of agro-physical soil state within Eastern and Western Europe countries for the selection of management practices to prevent soil erosion based on sustainable soil–water interactions”. The mechanical strength quantification of agricultural or forest soils in order to assess the trafficability or the limitation of mechanical loading at given soil properties are presented. While agricultural engineering approaches are primarily restricted to the definition of stress distribution in relation to machine and tire type, soil scientists try to include in their approach, not only the mechanical strength properties of the soil horizons but also the inter-dependence of the hydraulic and mechanical strength properties. Soil scientists also understand soil genetical processes and are able to predict the consequences of stress applications for current and future soil physical properties. Thus, the present paper analyses the possibilities for applying pedotransfer functions that relate precompression stresses, as measures of soil strength at various scales, to stress effects on physical soil parameters, such as air permeability. It has been proven that multiregression equations can be used to calculate precompression stresses when they are based on physical properties like texture, aggregation, water retention properties, mechanical parameters like cohesion and angle of the internal friction values. This determination can be carried out and applied at various scales. Examples are presented from the 1:1,000,000 soil map for Europe up to the field or farm level (1:5000) as a very detailed scale. This method affords the separation of different sensitivity levels of stress application and consequences for a sustainable site management in the future. The proposed method is a useful tool towards fulfilling soil protection laws in Europe in the same way, as it can be used as a decision maker at the local farm level, both with respect to site-specific management strategies and for the machine industry for the development of regions and climate-dependent machinery. It can be also used as an index for landuse restrictions or to define non site-adjusted landuse techniques.

10 pages, 7 figures, 16 references., The multilingual soil profile database (named SDBm Plus) is user-friendly software designed to store and retrieve in an efficient and systematic way the large amounts of geo-referenced soil attribute data collected in soil surveys and laboratories. The database has the following main characteristics: (i) running on Windows platforms; (ii) ‘assist menus’ facilitating data entry; (iii) automatic translation from English to Spanish, French and German; (iv) metadata facility to describe the methods used in laboratory analysis; (v) temporal mode to collect over time the analytical, physical and hydraulic soil properties; and (vi) interface for the automatic transfer of soil attribute data to GIS and computerised land evaluation models. The following soil attribute datasets are included in SDBm Plus: (i) site characteristics, information related to the identification and taxonomic classification of the soil profile; (ii) horizon description; (iii) conventional soil survey analytical results; (iv) soluble salts and most trace elements present in the soil or considered as major soil contaminants; (v) general soil physical analytical results; (vi) water retention and hydraulic conductivity at different tensions; (vii) photographs; and (viii) analytical methods and procedures used. This database can be used in soil monitoring and evaluation regardless of scale (regional, national or local), and especially to implement tools on choosing optimal land use and management decisions in sustainable agriculture development., The SDBm Plus database system was developed by CSIC/IRNAS with the collaboration of FAO/AGLL through a joint project (Letter of Agreement PR#15621) This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Environment through the SEIS.net project, 1998–2000 (Agreement between MIMAM and CSIC). Important contributions were also made as a part of the SIDASS EU project, 1999–2001 (Contract # IC15-CT98-0106; Co-ordinator R. Horn), especially for developing the GIS/LES input file generator.

17 páginas, 3 figuras, 7 cuadros, 19 referencias., En el ámbito de los sistemas integrados de apoyo a las decisiones medioambientales, la evaluación de suelos se convierte en uno de los elementos esenciales. La información y el conocimiento sobre el medio ambiente y sus recursos se combinan en el uso continuado de las nuevas tecnologías de la información y de la comunicación. Este esquema agroecológico, desarrollado por el Grupo de Evaluación de Suelos del Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (Evenor-Tech, empresa derivada del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas), responde a una verdadera ingeniería de la información y el conocimiento sobre multitud de variables edáficas, climáticas, de cultivos y manejo agrícola y de atributos socioeconómicos; mediante el desarrollo y aplicación de programas de cómputo, bases de datos, sistemas expertos, simulación dinámica, redes neuronales artificiales, sistemas de información geográfica (sig) y recursos web, entre otras nuevas tecnologías. En el enfoque propuesto, los modelos de riesgo o vulnerabilidad a la contaminación global (Arenal) o específica (Pantanal) y a la erosión (Raizal) se describen y aplican a casos puntuales de Sevilla y a un escenario de evaluación, como es el caso de Andalucía (concretamente el modelo Pantanal).

11 páginas, 12 tablas, 1 figura, 44 referencias.-- cmartin@irnase.csic.es, To reverse the negative environmental impacts of agriculture, a land evaluation decision support system (DSS) known as MicroLEIS-DSS was used to design the most sustainable land use and management practices for selected Mediterranean benchmark sites in Sevilla Province, Southern Spain. This DSS is based on the multifunctional evaluation of soil quality, using input data collected in standard soil surveys, and with particular reference to the peculiarities of the Mediterranean region. Specific agro-ecological strategies to prevent soil degradation in the benchmark sites were designed within two major topics: (i) strategies related to land use planning at a regional level: segregation of agricultural lands, restoration of marginal areas, diversification of crop rotation, and identification of vulnerability areas; and (ii) those related to land management planning at a farm level: organic matter restoration, formulation of tillage practices andworkability timing, optimum machinery use, and input rationalization. The predicted results of applying the 12 agro-ecological land evaluation model constituents of MicroLEIS DSS are presented and discussed for each application site. The main conclusion of this paper is that using soil type information in decision-making is at the heart for sustainable use and management of agricultural land. This agro-ecological approach can be especially useful when formulating soil-specific agricultural practices to reverse environmental degradation, based on the spatial variability of soils and related resources., This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (CTM2005-02428 and CTM2006-03823 projects; coordinator D. de la Rosa)

Purpose: Diversification practices such as intercropping in woody cropping systems have recently been proposed as a promising management strategy for addressing problems related to soil degradation, climate change mitigation and food security. In this study, we assess the impact of several diversification practices in different management regimes on the main carbon fluxes regulating the soil carbon balance under semiarid Mediterranean conditions. Methods: The study was conducted in two nearby cropping systems: (i) a low input rainfed almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.) orchard cultivated on terraces and (ii) a levelled intensively irrigated mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) orchard with a street-ridge morphology. The almond trees were intercropped with Capparis spinosa or with Thymus hyemalis While the mandarin trees were intercropped with a mixture of barley and vetch followed by fava bean. Changes caused by crop diversifications on C inputs into the soil and C outputs from the soil were estimated. Results: Crop diversification did not affect soil organic carbon stocks but did affect the carbon inputs and outputs regulating the soil carbon balance of above Mediterranean agroecosystems. Crop diversification with perennials in the low-input rainfed woody crop system significantly improved the annual soil C balance in the short-term. However, crop diversification with annual species in the intensively managed woody crop system had not effect on the annual soil C balance. Conclusions: Our results highlight the potential of intercropping with perennials in rainfed woody crop systems for climate change mitigation through soil carbon sequestration., This work was supported by the European Commission Horizon 2020 project Diverfarming [grant agreement 728003]. Raúl Zornoza acknowledges the financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the “Ramón y Cajal” Program [RYC-2015-18758]

Diversifcation practices such as intercropping in woody cropping systems have recently been proposed as a promising management strategy for addressing problems related to soil degradation, climate change mitigation and food security. In this study, we assess the impact of several diversifcation practices in diferent management regimes on the main carbon fuxes regulating the soil carbon balance under semiarid Mediterranean conditions.The study was conducted in two nearby cropping systems: (i) a low input rainfed almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.) orchard cultivated on terraces and (ii) a levelled intensively irrigated mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) orchard with a street-ridge morphology. The almond trees were intercropped with Capparis spinosa or with Thymus hyemalis While the mandarin trees were intercropped with a mixture of barley and vetch followed by fava bean. Changes caused by crop diversifcations on C inputs into the soil and C outputs from the soil were estimated.

Producción Científica, Rainfall is the key factor to understand soil erosion processes, mechanisms, and rates. Most research was conducted to determine rainfall characteristics and their relationship with soil erosion (erosivity) but there is little information about how atmospheric patterns control soil losses, and this is important to enable sustainable environmental planning and risk prevention. We investigated the temporal and spatial variability of the relationships of rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield with atmospheric patterns (weather types, WTs) in the western Mediterranean basin. For this purpose, we analyzed a large database of rainfall events collected between 1985 and 2015 in 46 experimental plots and catchments with the aim to: (i) evaluate seasonal differences in the contribution of rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield produced by the WTs; and (ii) to analyze the seasonal efficiency of the different WTs (relation frequency and magnitude) related to rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield. The results indicate two different temporal patterns: the first weather type exhibits (during the cold period: autumn and winter) westerly flows that produce the highest rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield values throughout the territory; the second weather type exhibits easterly flows that predominate during the warm period (spring and summer) and it is located on the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula. However, the cyclonic situations present high frequency throughout the whole year with a large influence extended around the western Mediterranean basin. Contrary, the anticyclonic situations, despite of its high frequency, do not contribute significantly to the total rainfall, runoff, and sediment (showing the lowest efficiency) because of atmospheric stability that currently characterize this atmospheric pattern. Our approach helps to better understand the relationship of WTs on the seasonal and spatial variability of rainfall, runoff and sediment yield with a regional scale based on the large dataset and number of soil erosion experimental stations., Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad - FEDER (CGL2014 52135-C3-3-R; ESP2017-89463-C3-3-R; CGL2014-59946-R; CGL2015-65569-R; CGL2015-64284- C2-2-R; CGL2015-64284-C2-1-R; CGL2016-78075-P; GL2008-02879/BTE; LEDDRA 243857; RECARE-FP7; CGL2017-83866-C3-1-R y PCIN-2017- 061/AEI), Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (FJCI-2017-33652), Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económicos (TAD/CRP JA00088807), Junta de Castilla y León - FEDER (CLU-2018-04)

Mediterranean environments are especially susceptible to soil erosion and to inappropriate soil management, leading to accelerated soil loss. Sustainable Land Management (SLM) practices (such as reduced tillage, no-tillage, cover crops, etc.,) have the potential to reduce soil, organic carbon (OC), and nutrient losses by erosion. However, the effectivity of these practices is site-dependent and varies under different rainfall conditions. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the effects of SLM practices in two rainfed systems (a wheat field and an almond orchard) representative of a large area of the driest Mediterranean regions - on runoff, soil erosion, particle size distribution, and OC and nutrient (N and P) contents in sediments. The influence of the rainfall characteristics on the effectiveness of the SLM practices was also evaluated. The SLM implemented were: reduced tillage (RT) in the wheat field and almond orchard and reduced tillage combined with green manure (RTG) in the almond orchard; these were compared to conventional tillage, the usual practice in the area. Open erosion plots were set up to monitor the effects of SLM on soil carbon and nutrients and on soil erosion after each rainfall event over six years (2010 2016). The results show that the SLM practices evaluated resulted in increased organic carbon (OC) and nutrients (N and P) contents in the soil, and reduced runoff, erosion, and mobilization of organic carbon and nutrients in sediments. Reductions in runoff of 30% and 65% and decreases in erosion of 65 and 85% were found in the wheat field and almond orchards, respectively. In addition, the total OC, N, and P losses in the wheat field were reduced by 56%, 45%, and 64%, respectively, while in the almond field the OC, N, and P losses were reduced by 90% under RT and by 85% under RTG. The beneficial effect of the SLM practices on soil erosion was observed within 18 months of their implementation and continued throughout the six years of the study. Furthermore, the effectiveness of tillage reduction with respect to erosion control and carbon and nutrients mobilization was highest during the most intense rainfall events, which are responsible for the highest erosion rates in Mediterranean areas. Our results support the key role of SLM practices under semiarid conditions as useful tools for climate change mitigation and adaptation, given the expected increase in high-intensity rainfall events in semiarid areas. © 2019 The Authors This study site has been funded by several national (CYCIT AGL201125069//CICYT AGL2010-20941//CGL2013-42009-R//CGL2014-55-405-R), Regional (Séneca Foundation: 08757/PI/08//19350/PI/14), and European Commission H2020 (F6 DG RTD 037046 and Grant 728003, DIVERFARMING projects). Joris de Vente acknowledges support from a Ramón y Cajal research grant (RYC-2012-10375) and María Almagro was supported by the Juan de la Cierva Program (IJCI-2015-23500).