The role of interacting social and institutional norms in stressed groundwater systems

Groundwater resources play an important role for irrigation, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions, where groundwater depletion poses a critical threat to agricultural production and associated local livelihoods. However, the relationship between groundwater use, farming, and poverty, particularly with regards to informal mechanisms of resources management, remains poorly understood. Here, we assess this relationship by developing a behavioural model of groundwater user groups, empirically grounded in the politically fragile context of Tunisia. The model integrates biophysical aquifer dynamics, institutional governance, and farmer decision-making, all of which are co-occurring under conditions of aquifer depletion and illicit groundwater extraction. The paper examines how community-level norms drive distributional outcomes of farmer behaviours and traces pathways of local system collapse - whether hydrogeological or financial. Through this model, we explore how varying levels of trust and leadership, ecological conditions, and agricultural strategies can delay or avoid collapse of the social-ecological system. Results indicate limits to collective action under path-dependent aquifer depletion, which ultimately leads to the hydrogeological collapse of groundwater user groups independent of social and institutional norms. Despite this inevitable hydrogeological collapse of user groups, the most common cause of water user group failure is bankruptcy, which is linked to the erosion of social norms regarding fee payment. Social and institutional norms, however, can serve to delay the financial collapse of user groups. In the politically fragile system of Tunisia, low levels of trust in government result in low social penalties for illicit water withdrawals. In the absence of alternative irrigation sources, this serves as a temporary buffer against income-poverty. These results highlight the need for polycentric coordination at the aquifer-level as well as income diversification beyond agriculture to sustain local livelihoods

Effects of particle energy on proton-induced single-event latchup

International audienc

Atributos de solo e de plantas afetados pelo manejo da pastagem anual de inverno em sistema de integração lavoura-pecuária Soil and crop attributes affected by winter pasture management in integrated crop-livestock system

O uso continuado do sistema de integração lavoura-pecuária pode promover alterações em atributos físicos do solo, bem como afetar a produtividade das culturas semeadas em sucessão à pastagem. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito de formas de semeadura e do intervalo entre a retirada dos animais e a dessecação da pastagem anual de inverno sobre atributos físicos do solo, fitomassa aérea remanescente da pastagem e produtividade das culturas semeadas em sucessão. Foi instalado um experimento em propriedade rural em Campos Novos, SC, que utiliza o sistema integração lavoura-pecuária, onde foram aplicados os seguintes tratamentos: duas formas de semeadura da pastagem no outono (semeadura direta sem e com posterior revolvimento do solo com grade niveladora), alocados nas parcelas principais, e quatro intervalos de retirada dos animais antes da dessecação da pastagem (retirada dos animais aos 28, 14 e 1 dia antes da dessecação e testemunha, sem pastejo), alocados nas subparcelas. Foram determinados a fitomassa aérea de pastagem remanescente por ocasião da dessecação, os atributos físicos do solo após a dessecação da pastagem e o rendimento de grãos de soja e milho. A forma de semeadura da pastagem anual de inverno não afetou os atributos físicos do solo e o rendimento das culturas de soja e milho cultivadas em sucessão à pastagem, enquanto o aumento do intervalo entre a retirada dos animais e a dessecação aumentou a fitomassa aérea remanescente da pastagem por ocasião da dessecação.<br>Continued use of the crop-livestock system in agricultural areas can promote changes in soil physical attributes, as well as affect the productivity of crops grown in rotation with pasture. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of methods of sowing and the interval between the withdrawal and desiccation of pasture on soil physical attributes, aboveground biomass of pasture and productivity of crops sown in succession. It was conducted an experiment in a rural property in Campos Novos, which uses the crop-livestok system, with the following treatments: two types of pasture seeding in autumn (direct seeding without and with subsequent soil harrowing), allocated in main plots, and four intervals of removing animals from the pasture before desiccation (removal of the animals at 28, 14 and 1 day before the desiccation and control, without grazing), allocated as subplots. It was determined the aboveground biomass of pasture, the soil physical attributes after desiccation of grassland and yield of soybeans and corn. The form of winter pasture seeding does not affect the soil physical attributes and crop productivity, while increasing the interval between the withdrawal and desiccation of winter pasture increases the production of the aboveground biomass of the pasture