Preliminary study on the use of the 137 Cs method for soil erosion investigation in the pampean region of Argentina

Soil erosion is the most important degradation process in A rgentine. According to the estimation of 4.9 millon ha in Pampa Ondulada Region, 1.600.000 ha (36% of agricultural soils) are affected by the erosion. Field measurements of soil erosion and sediment deposition using classical techniques are difficult, time consuming, and expensive but indispensable to feed the prediction models for conservation practices design and fa rm planning. Many authors have reported that the measurement of fallout nuclides is useful tool to characterize geomorphical processes. Walling and He proposes models for conve rting 137Cs depletion/enrichment amounts to net soil loss/deposition. These models are based in the comparison between a reference 137Cs profile in a long term undisturbed site (control site) and the 137Cs profiles in the suspected eroded or deposited sites in the landscape. The aim of this study is to provide a complete and well representative set of data on the erosion intensity in topographical conditions for the Pampa Ondulada Region in A rgentine by using a tracer technique. The study area is a small watershed (about 300 ha), located in Arroyo del Tala medium basin, within Partido of San Pedro in Buenos Aires Province, Argentine. This paper presents a group of results from a detailed investigation of erosion and sediment delivery, within a 49 ha cultivated field study site in this watershed. The base of sampling strategy is the grid approach. A reference inventory, representing the local fallout input, was searched for at a site experiencing neither erosion nor deposition. Radiocaesium analyses were made at the Nuclear Regulatory Authority Laboratory by a GE Hp detector. To make an interpretation of 137Cs distribution of soil losses and sedimentation, the Mass Balance Model 2 was used (Walling and He 1997). The erosion/deposition rates from Mass Balance Model 2 are in the range of 0 to -30 t·ha-1·y-1 for erosion, and 0 to 19 t·ha-1·y-1 for deposition, and these values matched well, with the rates of erosion obtained by classical methods. The 137Cs spatial and depth distribution are showed in a map, and enabled to study the relationship of the erosion to the topography, and a good discrimination in subclasses within moderate erosion class and sedimentation class

Categorizing coefficients of variation in sunflower trials.

This study was carried out to categorize coefficients of variation (CV?s) associated with important traits of routine use in the sunflower breeding programs. Separate categories were obtained for the August/September and February/March sowings. Data were used from the intermediate and final sunflower experiments carried out by Embrapa Soybean and other collaborator institutions of the Network of Official Sunflower Trials. Taking into account the mean and the standard deviation of the CV?s obtained from the analyses of variance of the experiments, they were fitted into the low, medium, high and very high categories. An additional classification was made using the median and pseudo-sigma, in place of the mean and standard deviation, respectively. In this study it was ascertained that the CV?s categorization depended on the trait studied. Sowing date effects were more pronounced for seed and oil yield and plant height. For all assessed traits in February/March, the methodologies adopted were similar (regardless of the CV?s distribution) and satisfactory to assess the experimental accuracy of the trials. In the August/September trials there was good agreement between the results of the methodologies adopted and that of Gomes (1985) for seed and oil yield. For the other traits, the former methodologies were shown to be more adequate. The proposed CV?s categorizations for the sunflower traits use as maximum acceptable limits the values of 23.5% (August/September sowing) and 31.5% (February/ March sowing) for seed and oil yield, 6.0% for oil content (August/September and February/March) and plant height (August/September), 9.5% for plant height (February/March) and 4.5% for flowering and physiological maturity (August/September and February/March

Distribución de poros en una ladera de pampa ondulada cultivada con siembra directa

243-248In order to select the most appropriate management techniques for eroded soils it is essential to first of all identify those soil attributes modified by this degradation process. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of different degrees of water erosion in a Vertic Argiudoll under direct sowing on the distribution of pores at two depths (0-5 cm and 5-10 cm). Sampling was carried out in three parallel transects in the slope direction. The volume occupied by different poresize classes, total porosity and depth to the argilic horizon were measured at 8 m-intervals in each transect. Soil texture was also measured at the two depths in different sections of the study area. The depth of the argilic horizon ranged between 32 and 19 cm and clay content varied between 22.6 (0-5 cm) and 28.0 percent (5-10 cm). However, no significant differences were found in the volume occupied by different pore-size classes between soils with varying degrees of erosion. Grouping the findings in terms of total porosity shows that greater porosity in each stratum is associated with a higher total volume (P less than 0.05) of pores larger than 51 um

Distribución de poros en una ladera de pampa ondulada cultivada con siembra directa

243-248In order to select the most appropriate management techniques for eroded soils it is essential to first of all identify those soil attributes modified by this degradation process. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of different degrees of water erosion in a Vertic Argiudoll under direct sowing on the distribution of pores at two depths (0-5 cm and 5-10 cm). Sampling was carried out in three parallel transects in the slope direction. The volume occupied by different poresize classes, total porosity and depth to the argilic horizon were measured at 8 m-intervals in each transect. Soil texture was also measured at the two depths in different sections of the study area. The depth of the argilic horizon ranged between 32 and 19 cm and clay content varied between 22.6 (0-5 cm) and 28.0 percent (5-10 cm). However, no significant differences were found in the volume occupied by different pore-size classes between soils with varying degrees of erosion. Grouping the findings in terms of total porosity shows that greater porosity in each stratum is associated with a higher total volume (P less than 0.05) of pores larger than 51 um

Social Models for Dealing with Inequalities

Production of INCASI Project H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015 GA 691004This chapter compares social models in Europe and Latin America. The goal is to study the interaction between two institutions: on the one hand, pre-distributive (ex ante) institutions, such as the structure and coverage of collective bargaining and, on the other hand, post-distributive (ex post) institutions, such as unemployment protection and social policy. Pre-distributive institutions are important for correcting inequalities in the labour market, because they introduce guidelines for egalitarian wage structures. Post-distributive institutions help to mitigate inequalities generated in the labour market. The methodology is based on statistical analysis of a series of indicators related to pre and post-distributive policies. The results present three types of model: (1) coordinated economies, typical of neo-corporatist Scandinavian countries; (2) mixed economies, typical of Mediterranean systems, and (3) uncoordinated economies, which equate to liberalism and the Latin American 'structural heterogeneity' model. It is neo-corporatist coordinated economies that generate the most pre and post-distributive equality. In turn, uncoordinated economies, and Latin American ones in particular, generate more inequalities due to highly informal employment and the weakness of their post-distributive institutions

The Botanical Record of Archaeobotany Italian Network - BRAIN: a cooperative network, database and website

The BRAIN (Botanical Records of Archaeobotany Italian Network) database and network was developed by the cooperation of archaeobotanists working on Italian archaeological sites. Examples of recent research including pollen or other plant remains in analytical and synthetic papers are reported as an exemplar reference list. This paper retraces the main steps of the creation of BRAIN, from the scientific need for the first research cooperation to the website which has a free online access since 2015

The Botanical Record of Archaeobotany Italian Network - BRAIN: a cooperative network, database and website

The BRAIN (Botanical Records of Archaeobotany Italian Network) database and network was developed by the cooperation of archaeobotanists working on Italian archaeological sites. Examples of recent research including pollen or other plant remains in analytical and synthetic papers are reported as an exemplar reference list. This paper retraces the main steps of the creation of BRAIN, from the scientific need for the first research cooperation to the website which has a free online access since 2015