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Renewable energy sources are essential to reduce the negative impacts on the environment caused by burning fossil fuels. Using solar photovoltaic installations in recent years means that decision-makers must consider infrastructure renewal decisions. An expenditure framework to achieve the optimal renovation period of photovoltaic modules is proposed here from an economic standpoint. This approach includes not only the investment and maintenance costs but also energy and emissions savings. A sensitivity analysis was carried out using a case study in south-eastern Spain, achieving that the optimal renovation period ranges between 17.0 and 24.7 years. Many factors are studied to identify those with the greatest influence on this indicator. Installing a solar power system is always a profitable choice considering that the installation lifetime is 25 years. Neglecting the influence of these limits may cause potential savings not fully exploited., CRUE-CSIC, Springer Nature, research project "DESENREDA" through the 2021 call "Estancias de movilidad en el extranjero Jose Castillejo" of the Ministerio de Universidades CAS21/00085, project "Hi-Edu Carbon" Erasmus Plus Programme, Key Action KA22021, action type 2021-1-SK01-KA220-HED-000023274

The Sistan region located in Southeastern Iran is one of the most sensitive areas related to sandstorms and wind erosion in the world. It is well-known that one of the most influential factors in sandstorm interpretation is sand drift potential (SDP), which is directly related to wind speed. However, accurate monitoring of this phenomenon are scarce considering different temporal scales. Therefore, the main aim of this research is to analyze the trend of SDP on monthly and annual scales. Our results showed that monthly variations of SDP obtained the highest and lowest values in July (609 VU) and January (47 VU), respectively. Quicksand moved to the southeast, as well as the directional index fluctuated from 0.88 to 0.94. The annually SDP was equal to 2700 VU, which represents a relatively high value compared to other arid regions of the world. The results of trend analysis applying the Mann–Kendall test showed that there is a positive (1987–2001) and negative (2002–2016) trend, but the positive trend is not significant. Furthermore, the results of Sen’s slope test demonstrated that the negative trend could be obtained with a higher slope during July, September, and Au-gust; as well a positive trend could be obtained with a higher slope during November, December, and June. We concluded that land managers and stakeholders that are in charge to control quicksand using biological and physical methods should pay attention to these trends in arid environment to apply nature-based solutions or control strategies focusing on these temporal sequences.

Winemaking in Chile is a long tradition that is recognized around the world. It is especially important in the Maule region where more than 40% of the total wine in the country is produced. However, there is a lack of studies related to soil erosion in vineyards in Chile, especially considering the extreme rainfall events that occur in the country. This research estimates soil erosion mobilization rates before and after a rainy season between April 2020 and May 2020 using the "improved stock unearthing method" on two inter-row plots in a vineyard located in the Maule region of Chile. This method relies on the graft union as a bioindicator for assessing soil surface-level changes. Maps of the soil surface were obtained to show how soil depletion and accumulation points within the inter-row areas could be detected. It has been estimated that a total soil mobilization of 85.7 and 130 Mg ha yr(-1) had occurred in the inter-row areas 1 and 2, respectively, since the establishment of the plantation. However, a single rain event mobilized soil at rates of 5.5 and 3.5 Mg ha yr(-1), respectively, in the inter-row areas 1 and 2. We have demonstrated that erosive processes present in the study area exceed the rates of soil formation and the tolerable rates of erosion on a global scale. The results allow re-thinking of agricultural practices and management of soil systems to improve the sustainability of conventional Chilean vineyards and their soils., Universidad de Granada/CBUA, Comunidad de Madrid, BBVA Foundation

Climate change is modifying the spatiotemporal patterns of global precipitation events, temperatures, and winds, therefore, after extreme events, improving emergency responses in urban areas is key to saving its inhabitants. In Southern America, the number of extreme events is increasing. This is the case of Soledad, the municipality in Colombia where most of the catastrophic wind phenomena take place. To date, no studies have been conducted to quantify the impacts and effects of the urban cyclonic wind phenomena on society and the urban built environment. This lack of information and dissemination means that the population is not informed of the magnitude of the problem. This research aims to generate a risk map of atmospheric wind phenomena to evaluate their impacts and establish spatial-temporal correlations based on meteorological data from the last 20 years. Moreover, the online press has been used to identify the location of these phenomena and their negative impacts over time. For each event, the following indicators have been studied: (1) location of the atmospheric wind events; (2) occurrence rate; (3) impact of the events discriminated by fatalities, injuries, and affected houses. The results show that in 20 years, a total of 34 urban cyclonic wind events were reported. Those occurrences have impacted 60 neighbourhoods, leaving 7 deaths, 14,552 injured, and 5180 affected homes. These findings show the magnitude of the problem and the need to inform the population to improve emergency responses. We conclude that effective consideration of the resulting map will be crucial in the processes of decision-making related to territorial planning in Soledad, but also in other Southern American cities., Universidad de Granada / CBUA

Vegetation restoration is one of the most effective measures to control runoff and sediment by human management. Nevertheless, few studies have been undertaken to objectively analyze the effectiveness of the effects of plant restoration on regional water availability, especially, in mixed-cultivated grasslands in alpine degraded hillsides. In this research, we carried out in situ monitoring using micro-plots to investigate the impact of three strategies, combining two grass species per plot (three species in total), in a 20-degree slope on the activation and volume of surface runoff and soil loss in alpine degraded hillsides for three years (2019, 2020 and 2022). A bare-soil plot was used as control. The findings indicated that mixed-cultivated grasslands can effectively conserve water and decrease soil loss along the increasing planting ages. Grass community of Deschampsia cespitosa and Poa pratensis L.cv. Qinghai was the most effective in reducing soil erosion. From 2019 to 2022, the values of the runoff reduction ratio decreased for Deschampsia cespitosa and Elymus nutans (DE), Poa pratensis L.cv. Qinghai and Elymus nutans (PE), and Poa pratensis L.cv. Qinghai and Deschampsia cespitosa and (PD) from -79.3 % to -115.4 %, from -130.4 % to -156.1 %, and from -48.5 % to -87.6 %, respectively. On the contrary, the mean soil erosion reduction ratio of the cultivated grass communities increased from -184.8 % to 18.0 % (in DE), from -231.5 % to 24.3 % (in PE), and from -139.3 % to 31.9 % (in PD), respectively, from 2019 to 2022; and the corresponding mean values of sediment concentration reduction ratio also increased from -120.9 % to 55.8 % (in DE), -from 112.4 % to 59.7 % (in PE), and from -94.3 % to 62.1 % (in PD). This implied that protection measures should be considered a priority during the initial planting stage of cultivated grassland in alpine degraded hillsides. The key factors affecting soil loss and runoff were rainfall amount, duration and intensity (60-min intensity). We conclude that the results of this study can serve as scientific guides to design efficient policy decisions for planning the most effective vegetation restoration in the severely degraded hillside alpine grasslands.

In this research, the circulation weather types (CWTs) associated with individual surface pressure data at different atmospheric heights were used to correlate and quantify soil erosion events collecting soil loss (g m-2), runoff (l m-2) and sediment concentration (g L-1) using field plots and sediment collectors. Representative Mediterranean shrubland, located at Sierra de Enguera (Eastern Spain), was used as a case study where 213 rainfall episodes and related soil loss events were recorded for the 2010-2014 period. Average annual precipitation of 544 mm was registered, summarizing a total of 2,720.1 mm for the five years of the research period. A total of 34.4% of the registered precipitation events ranged from 10 to 29.9 mm, 23.5% from 30 to 49.9 mm, and 15.9% from 50 to 99.9 mm. The dynamic low-pressure with fronts (DLp+f) CWT was found to generate the highest precipitation amount reaching 60.6% of the total precipitation (105 of the 213 events). Over a third (35%) of the precipitation events occurred during Eastern CWT, which accounted for 48% of the total precipitation with average values of 17.6 mm per event. From the total runoff, 65.6% was related to the combined Eastern and cold drops (CD) CWT. The DLp+f CWT was found to produce 48.9% of sediment mobilization, of which 73.5% of this amount was generated by Eastern CWT. The highest sediment concentration event was found for the southern CWT under thermal low-pressure (TLp) reaching 51.65 g L-1, followed by A (anticyclones) with the Eastern CWT (42.23 g L-1). As a whole, the southern is the CWT generating the highest average sediment concentration (28.66 g L-1), followed by Easter CWT. Our findings suggest that CWTs contribute to foreseeing the periods with the highest soil losses and may help to prevent them. We discuss the need to analyse the changes in soil erosion rates due to CWT to better characterize the soil erosion process and assess the soil erosion rates, improve the current soil erosion models and investigate how climate change is changing the role CWT plays in runoff initiation and sediment delivery.

[ES] Los encargados de diseñar políticas, los trabajadores y los habitantes rurales deben ser conscientes de la relevancia de la erosión del suelo como un proceso irreversible de degradación de la tierra. Esto es clave para lograr la neutralidad en la degradación de la tierra y lograr la sostenibilidad para la humanidad y los ecosistemas naturales. Especialmente, las áreas agrícolas se ven afectadas por la erosión del suelo que amenaza la calidad del suelo y, posteriormente, la seguridad alimentaria. Por tanto, es necesario el desarrollo de nuevas técnicas atractivas visualmente, de fácil manejo y eficientes en la divulgación de los resultados. ISUM (Improve Stock Unearthing Method) es un procedimiento contrastado para estimar y cartografiar las tasas de movilización del suelo y los procesos de erosión. Para lograr este objetivo, el uso del injerto como biomarcador realizando mediciones topográficas in situ (cada 10 cm) a lo largo de transectos perpendiculares permite: i) explicar los factores de la activación de los procesos de erosión del suelo como la labranza, la edad de la plantación, material parental o posición en laderas; ii) complementar otros métodos bien contrastados como la RUSLE (Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation), IC (Índice de conectividad) o parcelas de erosión; y, iii) detectar áreas críticas afectadas por el agotamiento, acumulación o movilización del suelo. En esta tesis doctoral, se pretende mostrar cómo se ha desarrollado una nueva mejora de este método en diferentes cultivos (viñedos, cítricos, caquis, etc.), bajo diferentes condiciones ambientales (roca madre, edades de la planta, manejo del suelo o pendiente) con diversos procedimientos geomáticos (métodos de interpolación y análisis geoestadístico, mediciones y modelos topográficos) mediante técnicas SIG. Los resultados pretenden demostrar la utilidad de un método fácil de aprender, rápido de aplicar y de bajo coste para ser aplicado en diferentes tipos de cultivos injertados y ser una referencia a escala mundial para estudios comparados, por ejemplo, dentro de la geografía de los suelos, la agronomía o la ingeniería geomática., [CA] Els encarregats de dissenyar polítiques, els treballadors i els habitants rurals han de ser conscients de la rellevància de l'erosió del sòl com a procés irreversible de degradació de la terra. Això és clau per assolir la neutralitat en la degradació de la terra i assolir la sostenibilitat per a la humanitat i els ecosistemes naturals. Especialment, les àrees agrícoles es veuen afectades per l'erosió del sòl que amenaça la qualitat del sòl i, posteriorment, la seguretat alimentària. Per tant, cal el desenvolupament de noves tècniques atractives visualment, de fàcil maneig i eficients en la divulgació dels resultats. ISUM (Improve Stock Unearthing Method) és un procediment contrastat per estimar i cartografiar les taxes de mobilització del sòl i els processos d'erosió. Per assolir aquest objectiu, l'ús de l'empelt com a biomarcador realitzant mesuraments topogràfics in situ (cada 10 cm) al llarg de transectes perpendiculars permet: i) explicar els factors de l'activació dels processos d'erosió del sòl com el cultiu, l'edat de la plantació, material parental o posició en vessants; ii) complementar altres mètodes ben contrastats com la RUSLE (Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation), IC (Índex de connectivitat) o parcel·les d'erosió; i, iii) detectar àrees crítiques afectades per l'esgotament, l'acumulació o la mobilització del sòl. En aquesta tesi doctoral, es pretén mostrar com s'ha desenvolupat una nova millora d'aquest mètode en diferents cultius (vinyes, cítrics, caquis, etc) sota diferents condicions ambientals (roca mare, edats de la planta, maneig del sòl o pendent) amb diversos procediments geomàtics (mètodes d'interpolació i anàlisi geoestadístic, mesuraments i models topogràfics) mitjançant tècniques SIG. Els resultats pretenen demostrar la utilitat d'un mètode fàcil d'aprendre, ràpid d'aplicar i de baix cost per ser aplicat a diferents tipus de cultius empeltats i ser una referència a nivell mundial per a estudis comparats, per exemple, dins la geografia dels sòls , l'agronomia o l'enginyeria geomàtica., [EN] Policy makers, farmers and rural stakeholders need to be aware of the relevance of soil erosion as an irreversible process of land degradation. This is key to achieving land degradation neutrality and sustainability for the humankind and natural ecosystems. Especially agricultural areas are affected by soil erosion which threatens soil quality and subsequently food security. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new techniques that are visually attractive, easy to use and efficient in disseminating the results. ISUM (Improve Stock Unearthing Method) is a proven procedure for estimating and mapping soil mobilization rates and erosion processes. To achieve this goal, the use of the graft as a biomarker by performing in situ topographic measurements (every 10 cm) along perpendicular transects allows: i) to explain the factors that activate soil erosion processes such as tillage, age of the plantation, parent material or position on slopes; ii) complement other well-proven methods such as RUSLE (Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation), CI (Connectivity Index) or erosion plots; and, iii) detect critical areas affected by the depletion, accumulation or mobilization of the soil. In this doctoral thesis, it is intended to show how a new improvement of this method has been developed in different crops (vineyards, citrus, persimmons, etc.), under different environmental conditions (parent rock, plant ages, soil management or slope) with various geomatic procedures (interpolation methods and geostatistical analysis, measurements and topographic models) using GIS techniques. The results aim to demonstrate the usefulness of an easy-to-learn, fast-to-apply and low-cost method to be applied to different types of grafted crops and to be a worldwide reference for comparative studies, for example, within the soil geography, agronomy or geomatics engineering.

There is a worldwide risk of fire spread due to the mismanagement of stubble in agricultural land. In 2019, 3.6% of the forest area was damaged by fires in Turkey due to stubble burning. The burning of agriculture residues negatively affects soil properties, air quality and water resources. This finally threatens humankind sustainability. However, there is a lack of information analyzing this problem from the current policies in Turkey. Therefore, this paper reviews the legislation currently applied to understand the specific competencies to achieve sustainable fire and forest management. A holistic analysis of the legal regulations and practices to prevent stubble burning in Turkey shown here the farmer´s perception of the use of fire as an agriculture tool and the relevance of stubble burning to explain the location and recurrence of wildfires. Then, we discussed the relevance to shed light on how effective are the laws to avoid stubble burning and its impact on the environment. We claim for an update of the legislation to allow the farmers to manage the stubble and encourage the policymakers to develop new strategies to compost the stubble and achieve sustainable management within the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations that will contribute to achieving the Land Degradation Neutrality Challenge.

Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada/CBUA. This research was funded by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no 603498 (RECARE project). Artemi Cerda thanks the Co-operative Research programme from the OECD (Biological Resource Management for Sustainable Agricultural Systems) for its support with the 2016 CRP fellowship (OCDE TAD/CRP JA00088807)., The main goal of this research was to conduct a biophysical, economic, social, and perception-based approach to foresee the solutions that could be used to mitigate the soil loss problem cost-effectively in “La Ribera del Xúquer” district (Valencia Region, Spain). To achieve these goals, a farmer perception survey was carried out, and an assessment of the biophysical impact of catch crops on soil organic matter, bulk density, steady-state infiltration rate (double-ring infiltrometer) and runoff generation, and soil erosion (rainfall simulation experiments) was carried out in 2016. For the biophysical approach, two paired plots, i.e., catch crops vs. glyphosate herbicide treatment (in advance, control plot), were selected under clementine citrus production. The results show that soil organic matter increased from 1.14 to 1.63%, and bulk density decreased from 1.47 to 1.27 g cm− 3 after 10 years of treatments using catch crops. They also facilitated higher infiltration rates from 16.7 to 171 mm h− 1 and a delay in runoff generation from 149 to 654 s for control and catch crop plots. Both runoff rates (from 50.6 to 3.1%) and soil erosion (from 3.9 to 0.04 Mg ha− 1 h− 1) were reduced once the catch crops were deployed in the field. After surveying (2018–2019), farmers stated the use of catch crops as a speck of dirt and a cause of possible loss of reputation when used. Moreover, farmers (N = 73) would accept the catch crops as an effective nature-based alternative only if a subsidy of 131.17€ ha− 1 would be paid. The survey results also demonstrated that the farmers' community would see catch crop more as a benefit for the planet's health and society. Few constraints, such as ageing of the farmers’ population, lack of education and negative perception for other management factors, are the critical detrimental factors for adopting catch crops as a nature-based solution to reduce soil and water losses. There is a need for an effective agrarian extension service to change the fate of the current agriculture and achieve sustainability by adopting new management strategies in contemporary agricultural practices., Universidad de Granada/CBUA, European Commission 603498, Co-operative Research programme from the OECD (Biological Resource Management for Sustainable Agricultural Systems) OCDE TAD/CRP JA00088807

The design and application of multiple tools to spatially assess soil properties are key to efficient land management plans. While soil micronutrients are paramount soil properties for multiple purposes, collecting a representative number of samples is time-consuming and expensive. The main aim of this research was to evaluate different scenarios involving 41 environmental variables with two machine learning (ML) algorithms for predicting the spatial distribution of soil micronutrients within the piedmont plain in north-eastern Iran. Sixty-eight locations with different land uses were soil sampled to determine the contents of the micronutrients of iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu). The environmental variables were derived from a digital elevation model, open-source Landsat 8 OLI, Sentinel 2A MSI images, WorldClim climate variables and raster maps of key soil properties. Normalised Root Mean Square Error (NRMSE) and Taylor diagrams were used to evaluate the ML models. Based on the validation results and soil scientists evaluation of the produced maps, the Random Forest (RF) algorithm emerged as the most effective method for predicting the spatial distribution of the soil micronutrients. For the validation set, 91%, 94%, 91% and 108% NRMSE values for Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu, respectively, were given by the RF algorithm. However, one parsimonious scenario involving only the climate covariates also showed promising results. These digital maps produced at 30 m spatial resolution could be used as valuable reconnaissance base information to effectively identify micronutrient deficiencies and excess hotspots for large areas.

Tillage is the main force of soil redistribution in agricultural land use and has been seen as more critical than water erosion. This study aims to evaluate the effect of tillage with standard disk in vineyards. A representative study area with grapevines was selected, and 39 inter-rows were selected to test the effect of slope and forward speed. In each inter-row, a strip of soil was collected, and mixed with 2 kg of coloured sand used as a tracer, then replaced in the strip, and shallow soil tillage was performed by means of a standard disk plough. Three soil subsamples were collected along the slope every 0.30 m from the coloured strip and the sand tracer was separated from the soil and weighed. The results show that the mean soil translocation distance ranged from 0.73 to 1.14 m along the upslope direction, and from 0.32 to 0.84 m along the downslope direction. The net translocation was −0.33 ± 0.12 m which indicate an upslope soil movement. Mean translocation distance was not significantly affected by the considered forward speeds. These results demonstrate that tillage can reallocate soil upslope and open new insights into the use of disk plough as sustainable management in vineyards.

In developing countries, the intensification of urban processes affects the correct management of the territories. Specific natural hazards such as landslides, floods or soil sealing are influencing several urban settlements worldwide. One example can be found in the oldest city of the world, i.e., Hamadan City, where floods are associated with human and economic losses and the destruction of several ancient sites. However, solutions to be implemented to reduce the risks in such a city are still scarce. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate roof rainwater harvesting (RRWH) in reducing the urban floods in Hamadan City. To achieve this goal, three different scenarios are tested, i.e., simulation of the rainfall-runoff process through the Hamadan City (1) without any RRWH, (2) considering that the harvested rainfall is used for household consumes, and (3) considering that the RRWH is used for garden irrigation. The results showed that scenario 2 (using harvested rainfall for household consumption) presented reductions of 30.4% and 28.52% in the inflow volume compared to scenario 1 respectively for 2-year and 100-year return periods, whereas these reductions were 38% and 31.9% for scenario 3. Besides, a remarkable difference was noted between scenarios 2 and 3. In scenario 3, we found that the current drainage network has more capability to transfer surface runoff through Hamadan City, which would help reduce the risk of floods in the city. Therefore, it is concluded that the policymakers and land managers should consider these possibilities, and awareness of the urban inhabitants must be enhanced to reduce the risks and promote sustainability.

Modifying human activities is key to achieving land degradation neutrality in rangelands. Rangeland stakeholders encompass different ownership regimes; however, little is known about whether different ownership models benefit or degrade social conditions and ecosystem services in the Middle East. The aim of this research was to determine the effects of Collective or Council ownership on social and ecological indicators in the wintery rangeland of Iran. The study included a social network analysis of the 187 stakeholders in the communal rangelands of Kalat (NE Iran). We considered social network variables such as density, reciprocity, transitivity, geodesic distance and E–I (external–internal) and degree centrality combined with ecological indicators such as condition, forage yield and trend in range condition. The stocking rate was 2.43 AU ha−1 in Council rangelands and 0.94 AU ha−1 for Collective rangelands, with both exceeding recommended carrying capacity. Herbage mass and canopy cover were both higher in the Collective (247 kg/ha; 59%) than Council rangelands (140 kg/ha; 48.3%). Density (47.6% and 48.6%) and reciprocity (54.2% and 53.7%) were higher for Collective rangelands than Council rangelands, but were lower for geodesic distance (1.5 and 1.7–1.8) for trust and collaboration ties. Collective rangelands showed more bridging ties (55%) than the council rangelands (27.5%), suggesting they would be more resilient when problems occur. It concluded that social capital was richer in the Collective rangelands, which creates a willingness in operators to contribute to participatory management of rangelands to improve their condition. Finally suggested new tools and policies, and possible financial and pedagogic support be provided to the Council rangelands to increase social capital and improve outcomes.

Background As one of the main components of land-use change, deforestation is considered the greatest threat to global environmental diversity with possible irreversible environmental consequences. Specifically, one example could be the impacts of land-use changes from oak forests into agricultural ecosystems, which may have detrimental impacts on soil mobilization across hillslopes. However, to date, scarce studies are assessing these impacts at different slope positions and soil depths, shedding light on key geomorphological processes. Methods In this research, the Caesium-137 (137Cs) technique was applied to evaluate soil redistribution and soil erosion rates due to the effects of these above-mentioned land-use changes. To achieve this goal, we select a representative area in the Lordegan district, central Iran. 137Cs depth distribution profiles were established in four different hillslope positions after converting natural oak forests to rainfed farming. In each hillslope, soil samples from three depths (0–10, 10–20, and 20–50 cm) and in four different slope positions (summit, shoulder, backslope, and footslope) were taken in three transects of about 20 m away from each other. The activity of 137Cs was determined in all the soil samples (72 soil samples) by a gamma spectrometer. In addition, some physicochemical properties and the magnetic susceptibility (MS) of soil samples were measured. Results Erosion rates reached 51.1 t·ha− 1·yr− 1 in rainfed farming, whereas in the natural forest, the erosion rate was 9.3 t·ha− 1·yr− 1. Magnetic susceptibility was considerably lower in the cultivated land (χhf = 43.5 × 10− 8 m3·kg− 1) than in the natural forest (χhf = 55.1 × 10− 8 m3·kg− 1). The lower soil erosion rate in the natural forest land indicated significantly higher MS in all landform positions except at the summit one, compared to that in the rainfed farming land. The shoulder and summit positions were the most erodible hillslope positions in the natural forest and rainfed farming, respectively. Conclusions We concluded that land-use change and hillslope positions played a key role in eroding the surface soils in this area. Moreover, land management can influence soil erosion intensity and may both mitigate and amplify soil loss.

This paper aims to test different methods used for assessing sediment yield indices to identify hotspots and rank sediment yield hotspots. This process includes the assessment of the entropy weight...

Acknowledgments This study was funded by Forestry scientific and technological achievements Popularization Project of State Forestry Administration ([2019] 3) and China State Construction Technology R&D Program Funding (CSECE-2020-Z-5). The authors gratefully acknowledge the Jiufeng National Forest Park (Haidian District, Beijing) and Daxing Forestry Centre (Daxing district, Beijing) for giving access to conduct fieldwork on their experimental sites., Afforestation of degraded lands close to mega-urban areas such as Beijing may help to restore some of the original soil carbon stocks and hold the potential for ameliorating the rate of increase in atmospheric CO2. However, the determinants of the stability of different soil carbon pools and the utility of indices of stability remain poorly characterized near these highly anthropogenic areas. In the current study, we compared metrics of soil organic carbon (SOC) stability taking into account different soil types and plantation forest combinations (Quartisamment soil-poplar plantation–QP, Eutrochrepts soil-Chinese pine plantation–ECP, Haplustepts soils-East-Liaoning oak plantation–HEO), in an experimental sub-humid area close to a mega-urban area (Beijing, China). We evaluated the following relative stability indices sequence: respired carbon from incubations (RI) for several incubation days to respire 5% of initial SOC (D), aggregate stability index (ASI), the ratio of SOC to total nitrogen (C: N), water-soluble carbon (WSC), particulate organic carbon (POC) and microbial biomass carbon (MBC). We examined the indices by three repeated measurements on soil samples from four soil layers (0–40 cm) in three soil-forest types in a forest area close to the peri-urban area of Beijing. Our results showed that there are inconsistencies among the six SOC stability indexes. The contribution rates of different indexes to the SOC in three plantations were different, for QP the highest contributor is WSC (54.73%), and for ECP and HEO the highest contributor is RI, contribution rates are 34.85% and 36.382%, respectively. Respired carbon from incubations registered the largest contribution rate to SOC (69.79%), and the correlation between RI and soil physical and chemical properties was the highest. We conclude that a combination of indices and knowledge of soil and vegetation types are needed for assessing SOC stability in restoration and reforestation projects close to mega-urban areas., Forestry scientific and technological achievements Popularization Project of State Forestry Administration ([2019] 3), China State Construction Technology R&D Program Funding (CSECE-2020-Z-5)

Evaluation of grazing impacts on land degradation processes is a difficult task due to the heterogeneity and complex interacting factors involved. In this paper, we designed a new methodology based on a predictive index of grazing susceptibility to land degradation index (GSLDI) built on artificial intelligence to assess land degradation susceptibility in areas affected by small ruminants (SRs) of sheep and goats grazing. The data for model training, validation, and testing consisted of sampling points (erosion and no-erosion) taken from aerial imagery. Seventeen environmental factors (e.g., derivatives of the digital elevation model, small ruminants’ stock), and 55 subsequent attributes (e.g., classes/features) were assigned to each sampling point. The impact of SRs stock density on the land degradation process has been evaluated and estimated with two extreme SRs’ density scenarios: absence (no stock), and double density (overstocking). We applied the GSLDI methodology to the Curvature Subcarpathians, a region that experiences the highest erosion rates in Romania, and found that SRs grazing is not the major contributor to land degradation, accounting for only 4.6%. This methodology could be replicated in other steep slope grazing areas as a tool to assess and predict susceptible to land degradation, and to establish common strategies for sustainable landuse practices., Consiliul National al Cercetarii Stiintifice (CNCS) Unitatea Executiva pentru Finantarea Invatamantului Superior, a Cercetarii, Dezvoltarii si Inovarii (UEFISCDI) PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2019-1180

Predicting the effects of land-use (LU) changes and hydrological processes on a rapidly urbanized catchment using the Markov chain and WetSpa models is the main objective of this research. Hourly h...

This research aims to assess the impacts of soil use management on runoff, soil losses, and their main soil controls in vegetable cropland (CROP), tilled olives (OT), and grass-covered olive orchards (OGC) on Leptosol in Croatia. Soil analysis and rainfall simulation experiments were conducted to quantify runoff (Run), soil, and nutrient losses. Bulk density (BD) was significantly higher at OT plots, in addition to the CROP plots. Water-stable aggregates (WSA), mean weight diameter (MWD), and soil organic matter (OM) were significantly higher in OGC plots compared to the other land uses. Run and soil loss (SL) were significantly higher in CROP and OT plots compared to the OGC plots. The CROP plots showed soil management that can be considered as unsustainable with 52, 68- and 146-times higher losses of phosphorus (P loss), nitrogen (N loss), and carbon (C loss) compared to the OGC plots. The principal component analysis showed that MWD was associated with vegetation cover (VC), water-holding capacity (WHC), WSA, OM, total nitrogen (TN), time to ponding (TP), and time to runoff (TR). These variables were negatively related to P2O5, Run, SL, and P, N, and C loss. Results indicate the need for the adoption of conservation strategies in croplands and olive orchards.

To achieve sustainability and land degradation neutrality in rangeland ecosystems, understanding the growth stages of key plants to develop land management and conservation plans is vital. This study was conducted to determine the nutritional value of Gundelia tournefortii and its changes during different growth stages as one of the most dominant rangeland plants in Khorasan Razavi province, NE of Iran. The plants were randomly sampled in three stages of growth (vegetative, flowering and seeding) in the Senowbar rangeland and eventually moved to the laboratory for chemical analysis. Results showed that crude fiber and acid-detergent fiber and neutral-detergent fiber increased and dry matter, crude protein, ether extract decreased. Ash, Ca, P, K and Na decreased during plant matured; furthermore, these changes were statistically significant (Duncan’s test, 99% and 95%). Dry matter intake, digestible dry matter and relative feed value decreased during growth, which was statistically significant (p

The main aim of this research was to detect a possible urban heat island (UHI) in the tourist city of Málaga (Spain). To achieve this goal, different methods to validate annual and monthly temperature data have been used, and the internal variability of the UHI with respect to the topographical changes was also surveyed. Our results showed two types of atmospheric thermal gradients: one characterized by a positive gradient according to an elevation above sea level, and another with a negative gradient related to rural areas. The maximum impact of the UHI was found to be 9.1 ºC for an instantaneous event, 4.4 ºC for daily minimum temperatures in August, with a maximum weighted average difference of 2.3 ºC between data from urban and rural stations. We conclude that the detection of UHI is useful as a tool to help urban planners, in order to reduce the intensity of possible climate changes in cities. It is also concluded that UHI is not only a meteorological phenomenon in Málaga city but a climatic phenomenon, present during most days and across the transect of increasing intensity from the sea to the city.

A good understanding of the levels and distribution patterns of soil properties and/or quality indicators is a prerequisite for developing sustainable agricultural land management programs. Traditional assessments of these parameters of soil fertility status are somewhat costly, in both economics and time aspects. Different modelling techniques have been proposed as a useful tool for determination of soil quality indicators and development of soil fertility maps, but to what extent these results are reliable remains under-quantified in many regions worldwide. To address this uncertainty, Fuzzy-Analytical Hierarchy Process (Fuzzy-AHP) and Parametric analyses were conducted to ascertain the soil fertility status of a semiarid region in the Northeast of Iran for some selected crops: alfalfa, corn silage, potato, sugar beet, tomato and wheat. The Fuzzy-AHP and Parametric techniques using soil suitability indices were estimated for each crop and each soil delineation was achieved by Ordinary Kriging. The Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) was used as a compensatory method to allow tradeoffs among the selected criteria. Our results demonstrated that from the Fuzzy-AHP analysis, the soil fertility indices ranged from moderate to high for production of alfalfa; from low to high for production of corn silage and sugar beet; moderate to high for production of potato and tomato; and from low to moderate for production of wheat. However, the parametric analysis showed soil fertility classes ranging from very low to high for production of all the selected crops. High correlations were also observed between soil fertility indices predicted by both models. Similarly, the capacities of both models to predict soil fertility status for production of the selected crops were also highly correlated. The preference for the cultivation of the selected crops based on the Fuzzy-AHP analysis was sugar beet > corn silage > wheat > alfalfa > tomato > potato. On the other hand, using Parametric techniques, the crops preferences for cultivation ranked as corn silage > wheat > alfalfa > sugar beet > tomato > potato. We concluded that the findings would help to develop sustainable plans of cultivation based on patterns related to soil fertility classes depending on each crop’s requirement.