Examining the Effectiveness of Catch Crops as a Nature‑Based Solution to Mitigate Surface Soil and Water Losses as an Environmental Regional Concern

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/CBUAEuropean Commission 603498Co-operative Research programme from the OECD (Biological Resource Management for Sustainable Agricultural Systems) OCDE TAD/CRP JA0008880

Influencias de las costras biológicas en el comportamiento hidrológico y erosivo de los suelos en los cordones dunares de Nizzana, Desierto del Negev, Israel

También en las dunas es relevante la erosión hídrica al determinar la remoción y la redistribución de los sedimentos en los cordones dunares. En esto ejerce un papel clave las costras biológicas y la vegetación, ya que determinan las tasas de infiltración, escorrentía y erosión. Mediante el uso de lluvia simulada se ha comprobado como los suelos arenosos desnudos tienen altas tasas de infiltración que evitan pérdidas de agua y sedimentos por escorrentía. Los suelos con costra biológica generan grandes escorrentías, que aunque bastante limpias de sedimentos contribuyen en total con mayores tasas de erosión. Las costras maduras (macroporos) favorecen mayores infiltraciones y por lo tanto una reducción de las escorrentías y de la producción de sedimentos. Finalmente, la cubierta de plantas impide la formación de escorrentía y con ello de erosión por arroyadas superficiales. Las costras biológicas y su evolución son la clave en la explicación de la variabilidad espacio-temporal de las tasas de escorrentía y erosión en las zonas dunares como es el caso de las de Nizzana en el oeste del Desierto del Negev en Israel.The fluvial erosion is also outstanding in the dunes where it determines the remotion and redistribution of sediment in the sandy ridge. The biologic crust and the vegetation are the key factors of the infiltration, runoff and erosion rates of soils. By means of the simulated rainfall was found that the sandy bare soils reach very high infiltration rates which avoid water and sediment losses. The soils with biologic crust results in very high runoff rates, which were clean of sediments but resulted in the greater erosion rates. The mature crust (macropores) develops greater infiltration rates, and as a consequence a reduction of the sediment and runoff production. Finally, the plant cover prevents the runoff production and the erosion by surface wash. The biologic crusts and his evolution are the key in the explanation of the spatial and temporal variability of the runoff and erosion in the dune areas such as the Nizzana in the western Negev Desert

Long-term non-sustainable soil erosion rates and soil compaction in drip-irrigated citrus plantation in Eastern Iberian Peninsula.

Abstract Agriculture is known to commonly cause soil degradation. In the Mediterranean, soil erosion is widespread due to the millennia-old farming, and new drip-irrigated plantations on slopes, such as the citrus ones, accelerate the process of soil degradation. Until now, the published data about soil erosion in citrus orchards is based on short-term measurements. Long-term soil erosion measurements are needed to assess the sustainability of drip-irrigated citrus production and to design new strategies to control high soil erosion rates. The objective of this study is to assess long-term soil erosion rates in citrus plantations and report the changes in soil bulk density as indicators of land degradation. We applied ISUM (Improved Stock-Unearthing Method) to 67 paired trees in an inter-row of 134 m (802 m2 plot) with 4080 measurements to determine the changes in soil topography from the plantation (2007) till 2020. Soil core samples (469) were collected (0–6 cm depth) to determine the soil bulk density at the time of plantation (2007) and in 2020. The results demonstrate an increase in soil bulk density from 1.05 g cm−3 to 1.33 g cm−3. Changes in soil bulk density were higher in the center of the row as a result of compaction due to passing machinery. Soil erosion was calculated to be 180 Mg ha−1 y−1 due to a mean soil lowering of 1.5 cm yearly. The highest soil losses were found in the center of the inter-row and the lowest underneath the trees. The extreme soil erosion rates measured in new drip-irrigated citrus plantations are due to soil lowering in the center of the inter-row and in the lower inter-row position where the incision reached 80 cm in 13 years. The whole field showed a lowering of the soil topography due to extreme soil erosion and no net sedimentation within the plantation. The results show the urgent need for soil erosion control strategies to avoid soil degradation, loss of crop production, and damages to off-site infrastructures

A 13-year approach to understand the Effect of prescribed fires and livestock grazing on soil chemical properties in Tivissa, NE Iberian Peninsula

The high density of fuel accumulated in the Mediterranean ecosystems due to land abandonment results in high severity fires. Traditional fire practices and livestock grazing have played an important role in shaping the structure and composition of Mediterranean landscapes, and both can be e cient tools to manage them now that land abandonment is widespread. Attempts at controlling forest fires are essential for landscape management practices that, in their turn, seek to maintain a specific species composition. Against this backdrop, this study aims to determine the short- and long-term e ects of the combined management practices of prescribed fires and goat grazing on the chemical properties of soils in Tivissa, Tarragona (NE Iberian Peninsula). Forty-two samples were collected in a 4 18 m plot before the prescribed fire of 2002 (1), immediately after the 2002 prescribed fire (PF) (2), one year after the 2002 PF (3), three years after the 2002 PF (4), and thirteen years after the 2002 PF (5). Soil samples were taken at each sampling point from the top layer (0-5 cm), sieved to obtain a <2 mm fraction, and soil pH, EC, Total C, total N, available P, K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+ were determined. The results indicate that the short-term e ects of fire are more relevant than those attributable to the livestock over the long term due to the low grazing intensity of less than one goat per ha. The long-term e ects of prescribed fires were not visible in the research, suggesting that they recovered after burning with all their functions intact and with enhanced levels of natural fertility. Combined land management practices of prescribed fire and livestock grazing did not a ect soil chemical properties. The applied management enhanced soil fertility and boosted the ecosystem's resilience

Weed cover controls soil and water losses in rainfed olive groves in Sierra de Enguera, eastern Iberian Peninsula

[EN] Soil erosion is a threat for the sustainability of agriculture and severely affects the Mediterranean crops. Olive groves are among the rainfed agriculture lands that exhibit soil and water losses due to the impact of unsustainable practices such as conventional tillage and herbicides abuse. To achieve a more sustainable olive oil production, alternative, greener crop management practices need to be tested in the field. Here, a weed cover (CW) treatment is tested at an olive tree plantation that has undergone conventional mechanical tillage for 20 years and results were compared against an adjacent control plantation that maintained tillage as a weed control strategy (CO). Both plantations were under the same tillage management for centuries and macroscopic analysis confirms they are otherwise comparable. Compared to the CO, where tilled soil cover was zero, 20 years of CW (weeds cover 64%; litter cover 5%) had led to significantly higher values of soil bulk density and soil organic matter. Results from rainfall simulation experiments at 55 mm h¿1 on 0.25 m2 plots under CO (N = 25) and CW (N = 25) show that as a result of the improved soil structure, CW (i) reduced soil losses by two orders of magnitude (140 times), (ii) decreased runoff yield by one order of magnitude (from 2.65 till 27.6% of the rainfall), (iii) significantly reduced runoff sediment concentration (from 18.6 till 1.43 g l¿1), and (iv) significantly delayed runoff generation (CO = 273 s; CW = 788 s). These results indicate that weed cover is a sustainable land management practice in Mediterranean olive groves and promotes sustainable agriculture production in mountainous areas under rainfed conditions, which are typically affected by high erosion rates such those found in the CO plots. Due to the spontaneous recovery of plant cover, we conclude that weed cover is an excellent nature-based solution to increase in the soil organic matter content and soil erosion reduction in rainfed olive orchards.We thank Nathalie Elisseou Leglise for her kind management of our financial support. We wish to thank the Department of Geography members for their support along three decades to our research at the Soil Erosion and Degradation Research team (SEDER), with special thanks to the scientific researchers that as visitors from other research teams contributed to the SEDER research. And we also thank the Laboratory for Geomorphology technicians (Leon Navarro) for the key contribution to our research. The collaboration of the Geography and Environmental Sciences students was fruitful and enjoyable. The music of Feliu Ventura and Els Jovens was an inspiration during the writing of this paper at the COVID19 time. We thank the editor and the reviewers for the wise advises. This research was funded by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no 603498 (RECARE project). A.C. 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). I.N.D. conducted this research in the framework of "DRip Irrigation Precise-DR.I.P: Development of an Advanced Precision Drip Irrigation System for Tree Crops" (Project Code: T1EDK-03372) which is co-financed by the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, under the call RESEARCHCREATE-INNOVATE.Cerdà, A.; Terol, E.; Daliakopoulos, IN. (2021). Weed cover controls soil and water losses in rainfed olive groves in Sierra de Enguera, eastern Iberian Peninsula. Journal of Environmental Management. 290:1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112516S1929

Changes in soil microbial community structure influenced by agricultural management practices in a mediterranean agro-ecosystem.

Agricultural practices have proven to be unsuitable in many cases, causing considerable reductions in soil quality. Land management practices can provide solutions to this problem and contribute to get a sustainable agriculture model. The main objective of this work was to assess the effect of different agricultural management practices on soil microbial community structure (evaluated as abundance of phospholipid fatty acids, PLFA). Five different treatments were selected, based on the most common practices used by farmers in the study area (eastern Spain): residual herbicides, tillage, tillage with oats and oats straw mulching; these agricultural practices were evaluated against an abandoned land after farming and an adjacent long term wild forest coverage. The results showed a substantial level of differentiation in the microbial community structure, in terms of management practices, which was highly associated with soil organic matter content. Addition of oats straw led to a microbial community structure closer to wild forest coverage soil, associated with increases in organic carbon, microbial biomass and fungal abundances. The microbial community composition of the abandoned agricultural soil was characterised by increases in both fungal abundances and the metabolic quotient (soil respiration per unit of microbial biomass), suggesting an increase in the stability of organic carbon. The ratio of bacteria:fungi was higher in wild forest coverage and land abandoned systems, as well as in the soil treated with oat straw. The most intensively managed soils showed higher abundances of bacteria and actinobacteria. Thus, the application of organic matter, such as oats straw, appears to be a sustainable management practice that enhances organic carbon, microbial biomass and activity and fungal abundances, thereby changing the microbial community structure to one more similar to those observed in soils under wild forest coverage

El método mejorado del tocón (ISUM) permite evaluar procesos de erosión del suelo en plantas injertadas utilizando medidas topográficas in situ

[EN] Policymakers, stakeholders and rural inhabitants must be aware of the relevance of soil erosion as an irreversible landdegradation process. This is key to achieve the land degradation neutrality challenge and the sustainability of humankindand natural ecosystems. Agricultural areas are being affected by soil erosion threatening soil quality and, subsequently,food security. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new techniques and methods visually friendly and easy to be accessedto survey and assess the soil erosion concerns. ISUM (Improve Stock Unearthing Method) is a well-contrasted procedureto estimate and map soil mobilisation and erosion rates. To achieve this goal, using the plant graft union as a biomarkerconducting in situ topographical measurements along perpendicular transects allow us to i) explain key factors related tothe activation of soil erosion processes such as tillage, the age of plantation, parent material or hillslope positions; ii)complete other well-contrasted methods such as RUSLE (Revised Soil Loss Equation), IC (Index of connectivity) orStructure from Motion; and, iii) identify hotspot areas affected by soil depletion, accumulation or mobilisation. In thisconference, we will show how we developed a new improvement of this method in different crops (vineyards, citrus,persimmons or almonds), under different environmental conditions (parent material, vine ages, soil management, or slopeangle) with diverse geomatic procedures (interpolation methods and geostatistical analysis, topographical measurementsand models) using GIS techniques.[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 conferencia, queremos mostrar cómo desarrollamos una nueva mejora de este método en diferentes cultivos (viñedos, cítricos, caquis, y almendros), bajo diferentes condiciones ambientales (roca madre, edades de la vid, manejo del suelo o pendiente) con diversos procedimientos geomáticos (métodos de interpolación y análisis geoestadístico, mediciones y modelos topográficos) mediante técnicas SIG.Rodrigo-Comino, J.; Terol, E.; Cerdà, A. (2021). Improved stock unearthing method (ISUM) allow to assess soil erosion processes in grafted plants using in situ topographical measurements. En Proceedings 3rd Congress in Geomatics Engineering. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 186-193. https://doi.org/10.4995/CiGeo2021.2021.13256OCS18619

The age of vines as a controlling factor of soil erosion processes in Mediterranean vineyards

Vineyards incur the highest soil and water losses among all Mediterranean agricultural fields. The state-of-the-art shows that soil erosion in vineyards has been primarily surveyed with topographical methods, soil erosion plots and rainfall simulations, but these techniques do not typically assess temporal changes in soil erosion. When vines are planted they are about 30 cm high × 1 cm diameter without leaves, the root system varies from 2 to over 40 cmdepth, and sometimes the lack of care used during transplanting can result in a field with highly erodible bare soils. This means that the time since vine plantation plays a key role in soil erosion rates, but very little attention has been paid to this by the scientific community. Thus, the main goal of this research was to estimate soil losses and assess soil erosion processes in two paired vineyard plantations of different ages. To achieve this goal, the improved stock unearthing method (ISUM) was applied to vineyards on colluvial parent materials with similar soil properties, topographical characteristics and landmanagements in the Les Alcusses Valley, southwestern Valencia province, Spain. Our findings suggested that the old vineyards showed lower erosion rates (−1.61 Mg ha−1 yr−1) than those that were recently planted (−8.16 Mg ha−1 yr−1). This is because of the damage that the plantation of the vines causes to soil. Tillage after planting (4 times per year) resulted in changes in the inter-rowand rowmorphology, promoting the development of a ridge underneath the vines that disconnected the inter-rows and reduced soil losseswith time. After the second year and until the 25th year after plantation, soil erosionwas approximately 1Mg ha−1 y−1,whichmeans thatmost of the erosion took place during the first two years after the plantation. Soil conservation strategies should be applied immediately after the plantationworks to allow sustainable grape production. That is when soil erosion most needs to be controlled

Exploring Gender and Climate Change Nexus, and Empowering Women in the South Western Coastal Region of Bangladesh for Adaptation and Mitigation

This study has been conducted to identify vulnerabilities and effects of climate change on women in 12 unions in Shyamnagar upazila in the Satkhira district in the Southwestern Coastal Region of Bangladesh (SWCRB). Climate vulnerability and gender inequality may increase due to climate change. Women may, thus, face specific conditions of vulnerability in society and daily livelihood. This paper focuses on investigating factors that influence women’s vulnerability from climate change, their adaptations, and the importance of women empowerment to reduce their inequality in SWCRB. This study also emphasizes gender inequality caused by climate change, and looks at accommodations for women to reduce hostile influences of climate change. From the 9 unions in SWCRB, a total of 320 household respondents were randomly selected to complete a questionnaire. The results of the statistical analysis showed that most of the survey’s perimeter has significant. Interviews, case studies, focus group discussions, workshops, and key informant interviews were also conducted from 12 unions, and it was found that climate change impacts men and women differently, with women being more vulnerable than men. Through case study this paper investigated the main factors influencing the vulnerability of women. In terms of empowerment women may also be well positioned to lead adaptation efforts alongside men, as this analysis represent that gender inequalities are leading by social norms. Women being more vulnerable both in short-term i.e., major natural disasters, cyclones, flood, and long-term i.e., sea level rise, salinity intrusion in water and soil, land erosion, droughts, climatic events, as they enhance gender inequalities. Further, gender inequality is seen in illiteracy, food shortages and poor health conditions, traditional norms, religious taboos, and patriarchy. Moreover, gender-based economic opportunities, women’s mobility, and income are changing, while household authority relations and gender-based socio-economic, cultural, and institutional constraints remain. This study examines the increased vulnerability of women in SWCRB to climate change, which can be mitigated through women empowerment; female involvement with environmentally friendly stoves, rural electrification and renewable energy development, microfinancing, and nakshikantha. (Nakshikantha is a special type of sewing art that is made by creating designs with different types of colored threads on plain stitches). Lastly, women may also lead adaptation efforts alongside men, make decisions, and promote their participation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Experimentos con lluvia simulada en la cuenca experimental de Guadalperalón. Norte de Extremadura. Primeros resultados

La dehesa es uno de los usos del suelo más frecuentes en el suroeste de la Península Ibérica. La extensión de este tipo de explotación ha hecho que quede configurado como un paisaje típico en grandes zonas de Extremadura. A pesar de su importancia espacial, pero también económica y sobre todo ambiental, se conoce muy poco del comportamiento hidrológico y erosivo de los suelos de la dehesa. En este trabajo se presenta la metodología utilizada para la cuantificación de las tasas de erosión, escorrentía, infiltración, etc, ante chaparrones de reducida frecuencia y elevada magnitud. Para ello se han llevado a cabo experimentos con lluvia simulada (53,6 mm durante una hora) sobre parcelas de 0,25 m2, por lo que se reproduce el proceso de transformación de la lluvia en caudal o generación de escorrentía a escala de pedón. Los suelos de la cuenca experimental de Guadalperalón, representativa de la dehesa extremeña, se caracterizan por generar elevados volúmenes de escorrentía debido a que el sobrepastoreo ha favorecido la reducción de las tasas de infiltración (27 mm h-1). A pesar de las elevadas escorrent.as, las pérdidas de suelo son bajas (8 g m-2 h-1), lo que se debe a la reducida concentración de sedimentos en la escorrentía (0,46 g l-1). Esto .último es consecuencia de la permanencia de una capa de hierbas y hojarasca, lo que junto a la compactación del suelo (densidad aparente 1,29 g cm-3) por el pisoteo del ganado favorece una baja erodibilidad de los suelos. Gran parte del material transportado por la arroyada es materia orgánica lo que da lugar a la pérdida de nutrientes, y a la larga, a la degradación de los suelos.The present work forms part of a research project carried out in the dehesas, a system of multiple landuse (grazing, forestry, etc.) which occupies large parts of South-West Iberian Peninsula, and consists of openly spaced evergreen woodland with pasture cover. First results of a study are presented which deal with the effect of low frequency, high magnitude rainstorms on soil loss, surface runoff and infiltration. Experiments were carried out using simulated rainfall of 53,6 mm and one hour duration over a closed plot of 0,25 m2. They reproduce the process of rainfall transformation into runoff at the pedon scale. The soils of the Guadalperal.n study catchment are representative of the Extremenian dehesas, and are characterized by high runoff production as a consequence of low infiltration rates (27 mm h1) probably related with overgrazing. In spite of high surface flow soil loss is low (8,3 g m-2 h-1). The latter is owing to a moderately dense cover of pasture and litter, together with soil compaction caused by animal trampling. Large parts of the material transported by overland flow consist of organic matter, which gives rise to nutrient losses, and produces soil degradation in the long-term