An assessment of the causes and consequences of agricultural land abandonment in Europe

ABSTRACT

The agriculture sector is the principal source of income for around 20% of the EU-26 population, which live in predominantly rural regions that would be devastated without its contribution. Moreover, the combined agricultural and food sector forms an important part of the EU economy, accounting for 15 million jobs (8.3% of total employment) and 4.4% of GDP. The 12 million active farmers across Europe today, have an average farm size of about 15 ha, and are expected to meet the needs of 500 million Europeans. In addition, they are also expected to promote a sustainable and balanced development of their land, also in areas where production conditions are difficult. Yet, despite the relevance of the sector, the use of land for agriculture purposes is not very sustainable. Among other issues, there is a serious problem in respect of the abandonment of agricultural land. Based on the perceived need for research on this topic, the aim of this paper is to examine the causes and consequences of agricultural land abandonment, outlining its social, economic and environmental impacts, as well as the implications for territorial integration.     

Tenure diversity and dependent causation in the effects of regional integration on land use: evaluating the evolutionary theory of land rights in Acre,Brazil

In the complex causation behind land change, dependent causation can play a central role. A case in point concerns land tenure diversity, where contrasting use rules for different lands may affect the impacts of other drivers on land use outcomes. We therefore evaluate the evolutionary theory of land rights (ETLR), which assumes homogeneous private property rights, in order to test for dependent causation due to distinct use rules among various types of private lands. In the present analysis, we focus on whether land tenure type modifies the effects of highway infrastructure on key outcomes highlighted in the ETLR framework. We take up the case of rural settlements along the Inter-Oceanic Highway in the eastern part of the Brazilian state of Acre, where there is considerable land tenure diversity. Findings from multivariate models for land titling, the castanha nut harvest, and cattle pasture all indicate that the effects of infrastructure depend on land tenure type. These results confirm the importance of dependent causation behind land use and bear implications for theory on land change, infrastructure impacts, and land system science.     

Response of ecological storage and conservation to land use transformation: A case study of a mining town in China

Rapid land use transformation shaped by agriculture, industrialization and population urbanization has a great influence on ecological environment. Based on theory of ecosystem service functions, this study aims at revealing the response of ecological storage and conservation to each unit area of land use transformation. Taking Cishan Town, a mining town in China, as a case study, this paper estimates the “past-present-future” ecological storage impacted by the process, result and possibility of land use transformation. The local land use and industrial distribution show that the active areas of land use transformation are also the areas of concentration of human (industrial) activities. Ecological storage shows the different responses to land use ways. And then this study combines the ecological storage indices with the indices of ecosystem pattern and land condition into the“5A” framework (active state, active degree, active possibility, active balance and active condition) for grading ecological conservation, and then assigns all regions of Cishan Town into different grades through membership functions for complex mapping of ecological conservation. The research results show that the ecological conservation in Cishan goes toward two extreme grades (best grade and worst grade). Uneven and unbalanced land use transformation is the main cause of that. Hence, rational and timely reflection of impact of land use transformation on ecological storage and conservation can assist land use planners and local government in adjusting land use ways and balancing regional ecology and economy.     

Evaluating the environmental flows of China's Wolonghu wetland and land use changes using a hydrological model, a water balance model, and remote sensing

Environmental flows are critical to sustaining a variety of plant and animal communities in wetlands. However, evaluation of environmental flows is hampered by the problem of hydrological and ecological data shortage, especially in many developing countries such as China. Based on a hydrological model, a water balance model and remote sensing data, we assessed the environmental flows of China's Wolonghu wetland with limited data. The hydrological model provides input data for the water balance model of the wetland, and the remote sensing data can be used to assess land use changes. Integration of these two models with the remote sensing data revealed both the environmental flows of the Wolonghu wetland and the relationships between these environmental flows and land use changes. The results demonstrate that environmental flows have direct and indirect influences on the wetland ecosystem and should be linked to sustainable wetland management.     

黄土小流域水沙输移过程对土地利用/覆被变化的响应

以甘肃定西安家沟小流域为典型研究区,基于TM、ALOS遥感影像解译和地面长期水文数据,深入分析了1997至2010年间流域土地利用变化特征及其产流产沙效应。结果显示,（1）14年间,流域林灌草面积分别增加160.23%、176.33%和80.75%;坡耕地、居民地、裸地和梯田面积分别减少25.57%、0.16%、48.45%和21.52%。以2005年为时间节点,发现前期灌草增加较多、裸地减少明显,后期则是乔木增加比例和坡耕地减少比例更为显著,彰显出不同历史阶段植被恢复的策略变化。（2）流域出口多年平均径流量和输沙量分别由前期的18 249 m3和6 383 kg锐减至后期的2 292 m3和2 267 kg,流域土地利用/覆被有效增加是其主要驱动。（3）春冬季节,由于降雨稀少、径流泥沙的本底值很低,前后两个阶段的水沙输移量差异较小,土地利用/覆被变化的影响相对尚不显著。但在夏秋季节,随着降雨事件增多,土地利用/覆被变化减水减沙的效应趋于显性化。     

Urbanization and small household agricultural land use choices in the Brazilian Amazon and the role for the water chemistry of small streams

Many small watersheds and streams in the Brazilian Amazon have been impacted by agriculture and urban development, often due to household economic needs and migration processes. This study examined the relationships between land use, soil type, and household factors on stream water chemistry in and near the city of Altamira, Pará, Brazil, in 2008–2009. While soil weathering and stream discharge may have affected several stream water ion concentrations, agriculture and especially urban development were associated with high dissolved nitrogen concentrations, high water temperatures, and low dissolved oxygen concentrations in streams. Younger interviewed households were generally associated with these watersheds, and many urban residents reported disposing of household waste directly into streams. In contrast, older households were generally associated with forest and cocoa agriculture, along with lower water temperatures and higher dissolved oxygen concentrations in streams. These conditions persisted despite reported uses of herbicides and fertilizers by some residents.     

A simulation model to explore the response of the Gulf of Maine food web to large-scale environmental and ecological changes

A dynamic simulation model was constructed using outputs from a balanced Gulf of Maine (GOM) energy budget model as the initial parameter set. The model was structured to provide a recipient control set of dynamics, largely based off of flows to and from different biological groups. The model was used to produce Monte Carlo simulations that were compared (percent change in biomass) with basecase simulations for a variety of scenarios. Changes in primary production, large increases in pelagic and demersal fish biomass, increases in fishing mortality, and large increases in top predators such as baleen whales and pinnepids were simulated. These scenarios roughly simulated the potential impacts of climate change, altered fishing pressure, additional protected species mitigations, and combinations thereof. Results suggest that the GOM system is primarily influenced by bottom-up processes involving phytoplankton, zooplankton, and bacterial biomass. Pelagic and demersal fish were important in determining trends in some of the scenarios. Marine mammals, large pelagic fish, and seabirds have a minor role in the GOM system in terms of biomass flows among the ecosystem components. The system is resilient to large-scale change due, in part to many predator–prey linkages. However, major alterations could occur from sustained climate change, high fishing rates, and by combinations of these types of external forcing mechanisms.     

Sensitivity of the SWAT model to the soil and land use data parametrisation: a case study in the Thyle catchment,Belgium

The sensitivity of the distributed hydrological SWAT model to the pre-processing of soil and land use data was tested for modelling rainfall-runoff processes in the Thyle catchment in Belgium. To analyse this sensitivity, 32 different soil and land use parameterisation scheme were generated and evaluated. The soil input data sources were a generalised soil association map at a scale of 1:500,000, a detailed soil map at a scale of 1:25,000 and the soil profile analytical database AARDEWERK. These soil data were combined with a detailed and a generalised land use map. The results suggest that the SWAT model is extremely sensitive to the quality of the soil and land use data and the adopted pre-processing procedures of the geographically distributed data. The resolution and fragmentation of the original map objects are significantly affected by the internal aggregation procedures of the SWAT model. The catchment size threshold value (CSTV) is thereby a key parameter controlling the internal aggregation procedure in the model. It is shown that a parabolic function characterises the relationship between the CSTV and the hydrological modelling performance of the uncalibrated model, suggesting that optimal uncalibrated modelling results are not obtained when the CSTV is minimised. The hydrological response of the SWAT model to the calculated soil properties is significant. Therefore preference should be given to the calculation of the derived hydrologic soil properties prior to averaging of the profile data. Finally some general guidelines are suggested for parameterising soil and land use in the SWAT model application.     

Allowing macroalgae growth forms to emerge: Use of an agent-based model to understand the growth and spread of macroalgae in Florida coral reefs,with emphasis on Halimeda tuna

The growth patterns of macroalgae in three-dimensional space can provide important information regarding the environments in which they live, and insights into changes that may occur when those environments change due to anthropogenic and/or natural causes. To decipher these patterns and their attendant mechanisms and influencing factors, a spatially explicit model has been developed. The model SPREAD (SPatially-explicit Reef Algae Dynamics), which incorporates the key morphogenetic characteristics of clonality and morphological plasticity, is used to investigate the influences of light, temperature, nutrients and disturbance on the growth and spatial occupancy of dominant macroalgae in the Florida Reef Tract. The model species, Halimeda and Dictyota spp., are modular organisms, with an “individual” being made up of repeating structures. These species can also propagate asexually through clonal fragmentation. These traits lead to potentially indefinite growth and plastic morphology that can respond to environmental conditions in various ways. The growth of an individual is modeled as the iteration of discrete macroalgal modules whose dynamics are affected by the light, temperature, and nutrient regimes. Fragmentation is included as a source of asexual reproduction and/or mortality. Model outputs are the same metrics that are obtained in the field, thus allowing for easy comparison. The performance of SPREAD was tested through sensitivity analysis and comparison with independent field data from four study sites in the Florida Reef Tract. Halimeda tuna was selected for initial model comparisons because the relatively untangled growth form permits detailed characterization in the field. Differences in the growth patterns of H. tuna were observed among these reefs. SPREAD was able to closely reproduce these variations, and indicate the potential importance of light and nutrient variations in producing these patterns.     

A simulation framework for water allocation to meet the environmental requirements of urban rivers: model development and a case study for the Liming River in Daqing City,China

In this paper, we describe the development of a simulation framework for allocating water from different sources to meet the environmental flows of an urban river. The model permits the development of a rational balance in the utilization of storm water, reclaimed water from wastewater treatment plants, and freshwater from reservoirs with consideration of the limited capacities of different water resources. It is designed to permit the full utilization of unconventional water sources for the restoration of river water quality by increasing river flow and improving water quality. To demonstrate practical use of the model, a case study is presented in which the model was used to simulate the environmental water allocation for the Liming River in Daqing City, China, based on the three water sources mentioned above. The results demonstrate that the model provides an effective approach for helping managers allocate water to satisfy the river’s environmental water requirements.     

Differential responses of honeybee (<Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">Apis mellifera</Emphasis>) patrilines to changes in stimuli for the generalist tasks of nursing and foraging

Which task a social insect worker engages in is influenced by the worker’s age, genotype and the colony’s needs. In the honeybee, Apis mellifera, genotype influences both the age a worker switches tasks and its propensity of engaging in specialist tasks, such as water collecting, which only some workers will perform. In this study, we used colonies with natural levels of genetic diversity and manipulated colony age demography to drastically increase the stimuli for the generalist tasks of foraging and nursing, which all workers are thought to engage in at some point in their lives. We examined the representation of worker patrilines engaged in nursing and foraging before and after the perturbation. The representation of patrilines among foragers and nurses differed from that of their overall colony’s population. In the case of foraging, over- and underrepresentation of some patrilines was not simply due to differences in rates of development among patrilines. We show that replacement foragers tend to be drawn from patrilines that were overrepresented among foragers before the perturbation, suggesting that there is a genetic component to the tendency to engage in foraging. In contrast, the representation of patrilines in replacement nurses differed from that in the unperturbed nursing population. Our results show that there is a genetic influence on even the generalist tasks of foraging and nursing, and that the way patrilines in genetically diverse colonies respond to increases in task stimuli depends upon the task. The possible significance of this genetic influence on task allocation is discussed. Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at doi: and is accessible to authorized users.     

A study of peroxyacetyl nitrate at a rural site in Beijing based on continuous observations from 2015 to 2019 and the WRF-Chem model

•PAN concentrations at a rural site near Beijing were monitored from 2015 to 2019. •PAN concentrations exhibited high values in spring and low values in winter. •Anomalously southerlies induced extreme high PAN concentration in spring 2018. Peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) is one of the most important photochemical pollutants and has aroused much concern in China in recent decades. However, few studies described the long-term variations in PAN in China. In this study, we continuously monitored the PAN, O₃ and NO_x concentrations at a regional background site near Beijing from August 2015 to February 2019. Based on the observed concentrations and climate data, we analyzed the seasonal PAN variations. The results revealed that the monthly mean PAN concentration ranged from 0.33–2.41 ppb, with an average value of 0.94 ppb. The PAN concentration exhibited a distinct seasonal variation, with high values in spring and low values in winter. After analyzing the corresponding meteorological data, we found that stronger ultraviolet (UV) radiation, a relatively longer lifetime and a higher background PAN concentration contributed to the high PAN concentrations in spring. In addition, with the utilization of the WRF-Chem (Weather Research and Forecasting with Chemistry) model, the cause of the extremely high PAN concentration in spring 2018 was determined. The model results demonstrated that an anomalously low pressure and the southwesterly winds in northern China might be the main causes of the increased PAN concentration in Beijing and its surrounding area in spring 2018.