A field study of the influence of land management and soil properties on runoff and soil loss in central Spain

Since the 1950s afforestation of degraded land has been the principal means of combatting erosion in a seasonally arid area of central Spain. In the 1970s tree planting of steep hillsides and gully sides was preceded by bench terracing. Experimental sites have been established to monitor runoff and soil losses under mature Pinus forest, 12-year-old Pinus forest, and Cistus matorral. The experiment is being conducted at three scales: large gully or small watershed (c. 3.5 ha), runoff erosion plot (10–21.5 m²), and rainfall simulation plot (1 m²). Monitoring began in October 1992. Discharge was recorded continuously, while sediment loss and soil moisture content were measured on a storm basis. The paper presents summary data on runoff and soil erosion for the three scales and comments on relationships between land management, site characteristics, and these losses. We stress the crucial role of vegetation and its interrelationship with soil properties such as structure and aggregate stability. Matorral was effective in combatting water and soil loss, but we question the practice of afforesting seasonally arid, steeply sided areas that have highly erodible soils.     

An experimental method to verify soil conservation by check dams on the Loess Plateau, China

A successful experiment with a physical model requires necessary conditions of similarity. This study presents an experimental method with a semi-scale physical model. The model is used to monitor and verify soil conservation by check dams in a small watershed on the Loess Plateau of China. During experiments, the model–prototype ratio of geomorphic variables was kept constant under each rainfall event. Consequently, experimental data are available for verification of soil erosion processes in the field and for predicting soil loss in a model watershed with check dams. Thus, it can predict the amount of soil loss in a catchment. This study also mentions four criteria: similarities of watershed geometry, grain size and bare land, Froude number (Fr) for rainfall event, and soil erosion in downscaled models. The efficacy of the proposed method was confirmed using these criteria in two different downscaled model experiments. The B-Model, a large scale model, simulates watershed prototype. The two small scale models, D_a and D_b, have different erosion rates, but are the same size. These two models simulate hydraulic processes in the B-Model. Experiment results show that while soil loss in the small scale models was converted by multiplying the soil loss scale number, it was very close to that of the B-Model. Obviously, with a semi-scale physical model, experiments are available to verify and predict soil loss in a small watershed area with check dam system on the Loess Plateau, China.     

Erosivity, surface runoff, and soil erosion estimation using GIS-coupled runoff–erosion model in the Mamuaba catchment, Brazil

This study evaluates erosivity, surface runoff generation, and soil erosion rates for Mamuaba catchment, sub-catchment of Gramame River basin (Brazil) by using the ArcView Soil and Water Assessment Tool (AvSWAT) model. Calibration and validation of the model was performed on monthly basis, and it could simulate surface runoff and soil erosion to a good level of accuracy. Daily rainfall data between 1969 and 1989 from six rain gauges were used, and the monthly rainfall erosivity of each station was computed for all the studied years. In order to evaluate the calibration and validation of the model, monthly runoff data between January 1978 and April 1982 from one runoff gauge were used as well. The estimated soil loss rates were also realistic when compared to what can be observed in the field and to results from previous studies around of catchment. The long-term average soil loss was estimated at 9.4 t ha^?1 year^?1; most of the area of the catchment (60 %) was predicted to suffer from a low- to moderate-erosion risk (<6 t ha^?1 year^?1) and, in 20 % of the catchment, the soil erosion was estimated to exceed >?12 t ha^?1 year^?1. Expectedly, estimated soil loss was significantly correlated with measured rainfall and simulated surface runoff. Based on the estimated soil loss rates, the catchment was divided into four priority categories (low, moderate, high and very high) for conservation intervention. The study demonstrates that the AvSWAT model provides a useful tool for soil erosion assessment from catchments and facilitates the planning for a sustainable land management in northeastern Brazil.     

WEPP and ANN models for simulating soil loss and runoff in a semi-arid Mediterranean region

This paper presents the use of both the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) and the artificial neural network (ANN) for the prediction of runoff and soil loss in the central highland mountainous of the Palestinian territories. Analyses show that the soil erosion is highly dependent on both the rainfall depth and the rainfall event duration rather than on the rainfall intensity as mostly mentioned in the literature. The results obtained from the WEPP model for the soil loss and runoff disagree with the field data. The WEPP underestimates both the runoff and soil loss. Analyses conducted with the ANN agree well with the observation. In addition, the global network models developed using the data of all the land use type show a relatively unbiased estimation for both runoff and soil loss. The study showed that the ANN model could be used as a management tool for predicting runoff and soil loss.     

Effects of land use on phosphorus loss in the hilly area of the Loess Plateau, China

The hilly area of Loess Plateau has some of the highest soil erosion rates in the world, and serious soil erosion causes great losses of plant nutrients. As the most common land use in Loess Plateau, slope farmland contributed most of the erosion soils. This study was designed to examine the effects of land use and slope angle of farmland on phosphorus (P) loss in the hilly area of loess plateau. Farmland (FR), barrenland (BR), and four forest treantment (seabuckthorn+ poplar (SP), immature seabuckthorn (IS), mature seabuckthorn (MS), immature Chinese pine (ICP)) were the types of land use; 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 degrees were the slope angles of FR that were compared. The results showed a larger proportion of P loss occurred in erosion soil fraction of FR, ICP, ICP, and the five slope treatments of FR; in SP, IS, and MS, P loss was primarily through runoff. FR produced more P loss than SP, IS, ICP, BR, and MS. 20∼30 degrees may be the slope ranges for P loss of FR; FR in this ranges would loss more P with soil erosion. SP, IS, and MS were reasonable land uses for their less runoff, soil loss, and P loss. Farmlands over 15 degrees should be abandoned or reforested for it would produce more runoff, soil loss, and P loss.     

Effect of Mediterranean shrub on water erosion control

In the Spanish Mediterranean environment, scrub vegetation occupies a greater area than does forest. The impact of wildfire on the scrub vegetation and recovery afterward affects a number of other processes, including water erosion. While recovered vegetation considerably influences soil protection and erosion control, this function has scarcely been studied. This study discusses the behavior and architecture of recovering (or regenerating) typical Mediterranean shrub vegetation and the subsequent impact on soil protection. The study compared two protective forage species (Medicago arborea L. and Psoralea bituminosa L.). The research was performed in field conditions on a set of four experimental plots. A control plot was maintained with no vegetation cover. Runoff and soil loss by water erosion between 1989 and 1992 were studied on each of these plots. The natural vegetation was found to have a more significant protective effect (69.2% decrease in soil loss) than the other species tested. Soil loss on the Medicago plot decreased by 41.7%, and soil loss on the Psoralea plot decreased by 29.3%. That the Psoralea was only recently planted must be considered in evaluating its protective effects.     

Hurricane Katrina-induced forest damage in relation to ecological factors at landscape scale

Forest stand stability to strong winds such as hurricanes has been found to be associated with a number of forest, soil and topography factors. In this study, through applying geographic information system (GIS) and logit regression, we assessed effects of forest characteristics and site conditions on pattern, severity and probability of Hurricane Katrina disturbance to forests in the Lower Pearl River Valley, USA. The factors included forest type, forest coverage, stand density, soil great group, elevation, slope, aspect, and stream buffer zone. Results showed that Hurricane Katrina damaged 60% of the total forested land in the region. The distribution and intensity of the hurricane disturbance varied across the landscape, with the bottomland hardwood forests on river floodplains most severely affected. All these factors had a variety of effects on vulnerability of the forests to the hurricane disturbance and thereby spatial patterns of the disturbance. Soil groups and stand factors including forest types, forest coverage and stand density contributed to 85% of accuracy in modeling the probability of the hurricane disturbance to forests in this region. Besides assessment of Katrina's damage, this study elucidates the great usefulness of remote sensing and GIS techniques combined with statistics modeling in assessment of large-scale risks of hurricane damage to coastal forests.     

Properties and erosional response of soils in a degraded ecosystem in Crete (Greece)

To study desertification processes relating to soil erosion, a climatological and altitudinal gradient from south to north was selected in Crete (Greece) and four locations were selected along the gradient. At the locations precipitation ranged from 1400 mm/year at the highest location to 400 mm/year at the lowest. All locations are affected by the actual land use: intensive grazing, small controlled fires, and abandoned agricultural terraces. Representative soil profiles were described in the field and analyzed in the laboratory, and rainfall simulation experiments in the field measured soil erosion over different soil surfaces and land uses. Data on physical and chemical properties were obtained from the soil profiles and soil hydrology, and erosion data were obtained from the rainfall simulation experiments. Soil aggregation was studied with samples taken from the soil in the rainfall simulation plots and special attention being paid to the aggregate size distribution and the water-stable microaggregation. The interaction between climatological conditions and land use seems to be the main factor controlling soil erosion. This paper describes how the expected erosion along the gradient (from the most humid to the driest site) can be affected and disturbed by specific processes derived from land use.     

Effect of land use land cover change on soil erosion potential in an agricultural watershed

Universal soil loss equation (USLE) was used in conjunction with a geographic information system to determine the influence of land use and land cover change (LUCC) on soil erosion potential of a reservoir catchment during the period 1989 to 2004. Results showed that the mean soil erosion potential of the watershed was increased slightly from 12.11 t ha^???1 year^???1 in the year 1989 to 13.21 t ha^???1 year^???1 in the year 2004. Spatial analysis revealed that the disappearance of forest patches from relatively flat areas, increased in wasteland in steep slope, and intensification of cultivation practice in relatively more erosion-prone soil were the main factors contributing toward the increased soil erosion potential of the watershed during the study period. Results indicated that transition of other land use land cover (LUC) categories to cropland was the most detrimental to watershed in terms of soil loss while forest acted as the most effective barrier to soil loss. A p value of 0.5503 obtained for two-tailed paired t test between the mean erosion potential of microwatersheds in 1989 and 2004 also indicated towards a moderate change in soil erosion potential of the watershed over the studied period. This study revealed that the spatial location of LUC parcels with respect to terrain and associated soil properties should be an important consideration in soil erosion assessment process.     

Land degradation assessment by geo-spatially modeling different soil erodibility equations in a semi-arid catchment

Land degradation by soil erosion is one of the most serious problems and environmental issues in many ecosystems of arid and semi-arid regions. Especially, the disturbed areas have greater soil detachability and transportability capacity. Evaluation of land degradation in terms of soil erodibility, by using geostatistical modeling, is vital to protect and reclaim susceptible areas. Soil erodibility, described as the ability of soils to resist erosion, can be measured either directly under natural or simulated rainfall conditions, or indirectly estimated by empirical regression models. This study compares three empirical equations used to determine the soil erodibility factor of revised universal soil loss equation prediction technology based on their geospatial performances in the semi-arid catchment of the Saraykoy II Irrigation Dam located in Cankiri, Turkey. A total of 311 geo-referenced soil samples were collected with irregular intervals from the top soil layer (0-10?cm). Geostatistical analysis was performed with the point values of each equation to determine its spatial pattern. Results showed that equations that used soil organic matter in combination with the soil particle size better agreed with the variations in land use and topography of the catchment than the one using only the particle size distribution. It is recommended that the equations which dynamically integrate soil intrinsic properties with land use, topography, and its influences on the local microclimates, could be successfully used to geospatially determine sites highly susceptible to water erosion, and therefore, to select the agricultural and bio-engineering control measures needed.     

Short-term responses of soil chemistry, needle macronutrients and tree growth to clinker dust and fertiliser in a stand of Scots pine

Waste management of clinker dust by spreading it on forest soil was studied in a 25-year-old Scots pine stand on acidic sandy soil. Clinker dust (0.5 kg m?2), fertiliser (N, P, K, Mg, 0.05 kg m?2; N 190 kg ha?1) and untreated soil were applied on 120-m2 plots in four replicates. The fertiliser was included to confirm the nutrient limitation in the stand. Clinker dust increased the soil pH by 1.2 units relative to the pH of 4.6 in the untreated soil by the second year. Soil K and Mg concentrations were larger in the dust and fertiliser treatments. Nutrient diagnostics indicated that needles of untreated trees were deficient in N and K. Fertiliser treatment indicated that the growth of trees was limited by N, since the fertiliser tended to increase needle K, N, N/P, needle dry mass and diameters of stem and shoots. By an auxiliary dataset, no effects of the dust and fertiliser on possible excess of the micronutrient Mn were observed. Clinker dust increased needle K concentration, but due to the N limitation, there was no increase in the growth of stems, branches, shoots and needles. It was concluded that in plots of 120 m2 application of clinker dust at a rate of 0.5 kg m?2 was safe for the 21-year-old Scots pine stand in this trial on an acid nutrient-poor sandy soil during 4 years after the treatment.     

Spatial and temporal estimation of soil loss for the sustainable management of a wet semi-arid watershed cluster

The ungauged wet semi-arid watershed cluster, Seethagondi, lies in the Adilabad district of Telangana in India and is prone to severe erosion and water scarcity. The runoff and soil loss data at watershed, catchment, and field level are necessary for planning soil and water conservation interventions. In this study, an attempt was made to develop a spatial soil loss estimation model for Seethagondi cluster using RUSLE coupled with ARCGIS and was used to estimate the soil loss spatially and temporally. The daily rainfall data of Aphrodite for the period from 1951 to 2007 was used, and the annual rainfall varied from 508 to 1351 mm with a mean annual rainfall of 950 mm and a mean erosivity of 6789 MJ mm ha^?1 h^?1 year^?1. Considerable variation in land use land cover especially in crop land and fallow land was observed during normal and drought years, and corresponding variation in the erosivity, C factor, and soil loss was also noted. The mean value of C factor derived from NDVI for crop land was 0.42 and 0.22 in normal year and drought years, respectively. The topography is undulating and major portion of the cluster has slope less than 10°, and 85.3 % of the cluster has soil loss below 20 t ha^?1 year^?1. The soil loss from crop land varied from 2.9 to 3.6 t ha^?1 year^?1 in low rainfall years to 31.8 to 34.7 t ha^?1 year^?1 in high rainfall years with a mean annual soil loss of 12.2 t ha^?1 year^?1. The soil loss from crop land was higher in the month of August with an annual soil loss of 13.1 and 2.9 t ha^?1 year^?1 in normal and drought year, respectively. Based on the soil loss in a normal year, the interventions recommended for 85.3 % of area of the watershed includes agronomic measures such as contour cultivation, graded bunds, strip cropping, mixed cropping, crop rotations, mulching, summer plowing, vegetative bunds, agri-horticultural system, and management practices such as broad bed furrow, raised sunken beds, and harvesting available water using farm ponds and percolation tanks. This methodology can be adopted for estimating the soil loss from similar ungauged watersheds with deficient data and for planning suitable soil and water conservation interventions for the sustainable management of the watersheds.     

Spatiotemporal changes of landscape pattern in response to deforestation in Northeastern Turkey: a case study in Rize

Recognition and understanding of landscape dynamics as a historical legacy of disturbances are necessary for sustainable management of forest ecosystems. This study analyzes spatial and temporal changes in land use and forest cover patterns in a typical mountain forest area in Rize Forest Enterprise of the Northeastern part of Turkey. The area is investigated by evaluated the temporal changes of spatial structure of forest conditions through spatial analysis of forest cover type maps from 1984 and 2007 using GIS and FRAGSTATS. The quantative evidences presented here showed that there were drastic changes in the temporal and spatial dynamics of land use/forest cover. As an overall change between 1984 and 2007, there was a net decrease of 2.30% in total forested areas. On one hand, productive forest areas decreased 12,506 ha, on the other hand, degraded forest areas increased 14,805 ha. In examining the changes of crown closure and development stages of forest ecosystem during the study period, the forest stand area with medium crown closures increased. Regenerated area increased while the other development stages were left to grow to mature development stages in the period. These results regarding to crown closure and development stage showed that forest quality has increased but total forest areas decreased. This is partially due to out-migration of rural population in Rize and Cayeli towns. In terms of spatial configuration, analysis of the metrics revealed that landscape structure in Study area had changed substantially over the 23-year study period, resulting in fragmentation of the landscape as indicated by the large patch numbers and the smaller mean patch sizes due to heavy timber subtraction, illegal cutting, and uncontrolled stand treatments.     

Use of USLE/GIS Methodology for Predicting Soil Loss in a Semiarid Agricultural Watershed

The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) is an erosion model to estimate average soil loss that would generally result from splash, sheet, and rill erosion from agricultural plots. Recently, use of USLE has been extended as a useful tool predicting soil losses and planning control practices in agricultural watersheds by the effective integration of the GIS-based procedures to estimate the factor values in a grid cell basis. This study was performed in the Kazan Watershed located in the central Anatolia, Turkey, to predict soil erosion risk by the USLE/GIS methodology for planning conservation measures in the site. Rain erosivity (R), soil erodibility (K), and cover management factor (C) values of the model were calculated from erosivity map, soil map, and land use map of Turkey, respectively. R values were site-specifically corrected using DEM and climatic data. The topographical and hydrological effects on the soil loss were characterized by LS factor evaluated by the flow accumulation tool using DEM and watershed delineation techniques. From resulting soil loss map of the watershed, the magnitude of the soil erosion was estimated in terms of the different soil units and land uses and the most erosion-prone areas where irreversible soil losses occurred were reasonably located in the Kazan watershed. This could be very useful for deciding restoration practices to control the soil erosion of the sites to be severely influenced.     

Retrospective assessment of dryland soil stability in relation to grazing and climate change

Accelerated soil erosion is an aspect of dryland degradation that is affected by repeated intense drought events and land management activities such as commercial livestock grazing. A soil stability index (SSI) that detects the erosion status and susceptibility of a landscape at the pixel level, i.e., stable, erosional, or depositional pixels, was derived from the spectral properties of an archived time series (from 1972 to 1997) of Landsat satellite data of a commercial ranch in northeastern Utah. The SSI was retrospectively validated with contemporary field measures of soil organic matter and erosion status that was surveyed by US federal land management agencies. Catastrophe theory provided the conceptual framework for retrospective assessment of the impact of commercial grazing and soil water availability on the SSI. The overall SSI trend was from an eroding landscape in the early drier 1970s towards stable conditions in the wetter mid-1980s and late 1990s. The landscape catastrophically shifted towards an extreme eroding state that was coincident with the “The Great North American Drought of 1988”. Periods of landscape stability and trajectories toward stability were coincident with extremely wet El Niño events. Commercial grazing had less correlation with soil stability than drought conditions. However, the landscape became more susceptible to erosion events under multiple droughts and grazing. Land managers now have nearly a year warning of El Niño and La Niña events and can adjust their management decisions according to predicted landscape erosion conditions.     

Sediments deposition due to soil erosion in the watershed region of Mangla Dam

Soil erosion is the most important reason of sedimentation load of water reservoirs in the world. In Pakistan, Mangla dam is one of the most important water reservoirs used for the production of electricity and for the supply of water for irrigation purposes. However, the capacity of Mangla dam reservoir has reduced by more than 20% since its construction. This study highlights the impact of rainfall on soil erosion and consequently on sedimentation deposition in Mangla dam reservoir. Sedimentation, annual rainfall, and normal rainfall data of 39 years were used in this study. Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission data were used to calculate the total drainage area of the Mangla watershed region. The sedimentation data of Mangla reservoir from 1967 to 2005 were retrieved from Water and Power Development Authority in Pakistan. The meteorological observatories in the Mangla watershed region are identified. Annual rainfall data from 1967 to 2005 for the meteorological observatories in the Mangla watershed regions were retrieved from Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD). In addition, normal rainfall data for the years 1949 to 1978 and for the years 1979 to 2008 were also retrieved from PMD. The impact of annual rainfall is observed on sedimentation load in Mangla dam. The correlation coefficient between annual rainfall and sedimentation load is 0.94. This study shows that with an increase in rainfall, the soil erosion of the area increases which subsequently is responsible for the increase in the rate of sedimentation load in Mangla dam. This study further demonstrates that better soil management can reduce the sedimentation load in the Mangla reservoir.     

Assessing implications of land use and land cover changes in forest ecosystems of NE Turkey

Monitoring land use and land cover change (LUCC) and understanding forest cover dynamics is extremely important in sustainable development and management of forest ecosystems. This study analyzed the spatial and temporal pattern of LUCC in the Yaln?zçam and U?urlu forest planning units which are located in the northeast corner of Turkey. The investigation also evaluates the temporal changes of the spatial structure of forest conditions through the spatial analysis of forest-cover type maps from 1972 and 2005 using geographical information systems and FRAGSTATS^TM. As an overall change between 1972 and 2005, there was a net increase of 1,823 ha in forested areas, and cumulative forest improvement accounted for 2.06 %. In terms of spatial configuration, the landscape structure in the study area changed substantially over the 33-year study period, resulting in fragmentation of the landscape as indicated by large patch numbers and smaller mean patch sizes, owing to heavy grazing, illegal cutting, and uncontrolled stand treatments.     

Soil Type and Forest Vegetation Influences on Forest Floor Nitrogen Dynamics at the Bear Brook Watershed in Maine (BBWM)

The paired watershed experiment at the Bear Brook Watershed in Maine (BBWM) provided an opportunity to study changes in forest soil O horizon properties as a result of experimental, chronic N additions. The West Bear brook watershed received elevated N and S inputs since November 1989 as bimonthly applications of (NH4)2SO4. Forest floor samples (O horizon) were collected in July of 1992 from three dominant stand and five soil types at BBWM. The (NH4)2SO4 amendments in the treated watershed (West Bear) stimulated potential net nitrification, but significant increases were found only in hardwood O horizons after three years of treatment. Hardwood stand forest floor soil materials had the lowest C:N ratios (mean=23), compared with mixedwood (mean=27) and softwood stands (mean=33). NH4-N accounted for over 95% of the inorganic N in the forest floor. The lack of a strong relationship between soil type and potential net N mineralization at BBWM, coupled with conflicting results in the literature, suggested that stand characteristics were more important than conventional soil nomenclature based on pedogenetic features, or 2.5 years of treatments, in defining differences in soil N dynamics and responses to increased N inputs.     

The use of spatial empirical models to estimate soil erosion in arid ecosystems

The central objective of this project was to utilize geographical information systems and remote sensing to compare soil erosion models, including Modified Pacific South-west Inter Agency Committee (MPSIAC), Erosion Potential Method (EPM), and Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), and to determine their applicability for arid regions such as Kuwait. The northern portion of Umm Nigga, containing both coastal and desert ecosystems, falls within the boundaries of the de-militarized zone (DMZ) adjacent to Iraq and has been fenced off to restrict public access since 1994. Results showed that the MPSIAC and EPM models were similar in spatial distribution of erosion, though the MPSIAC had a more realistic spatial distribution of erosion and presented finer level details. The RUSLE presented unrealistic results. We then predicted the amount of soil loss between coastal and desert areas and fenced and unfenced sites for each model. In the MPSIAC and EPM models, soil loss was different between fenced and unfenced sites at the desert areas, which was higher at the unfenced due to the low vegetation cover. The overall results implied that vegetation cover played an important role in reducing soil erosion and that fencing is much more important in the desert ecosystems to protect against human activities such as overgrazing. We conclude that the MPSIAC model is best for predicting soil erosion for arid regions such as Kuwait. We also recommend the integration of field-based experiments with lab-based spatial analysis and modeling in future research.     

Functional forest road network planning by consideration of environmental impact assessment for wood harvesting

Forest management today has to meet a number of objectives. Planning of multi-functional forest road networks is one essential for meeting the aims of the sustainable forest concept. Road construction damages the natural environment unless it is carefully thought out. As forest engineers we have to consider the protection of nature when designing forest roads. With this aim in mind, a new network planning approach was developed for wood-harvesting. A geographical information system (GIS) was used to evaluate the data and planning process. The new forest road network plan for Catak Forest District constituted the addition of a new 16-road segment, total length 59.067 km, to the existing road network plan, for the purpose of wood-harvesting operations. Forest road density value was determined as 22.8 m/ha: the opening-up rate of the area was increased to 77.8% and the opening-up rate of the existing stand value was increased to 94.3% after close examination. 90.2% of roads were planned for the forest areas where there is likely to be minimal negative environmental impact.