Some options for Climate-Smart Forestry in Europe’s mountain regions

This is the introduction for the partial special issue containing a collection of papers presented at the CLImate-Smart Forestry in MOuntain Regions (CLIMO) workshop held in Stará Lesná, Slovakia, 9–11 September 2019

Sustainable rural development in Serbia - relationship between population dynamicss and environment

In this paper the relationship between populatiOn and the environment, and their influence on rural sustainability in Serbia, using quantitative typology of rural areas will be examined. The typology is based on the net relative change of population in rural areas in Serbia, according to the difference between the number of inhabitants at the end of the studied period (2011) and a hypothetical population that each rural settlement would have if the population in base year (1961) was changed proportionally to the change of total rural population. Research results indicate types of population dynamics of rural areas with different scale and intensity of environmental degradation: progressive type with favorable human and economic potentials, strong urban influence and huge environmental transformation; stagnant type with advanced agricultural and demographic dimension which imposed pressures to the natural environment; regressive type with heterogeneous demographic, social and economic features, and different impacts on natural and social environment, and dominant regressive type of rural areas highly characterised by the deficient in human and economic potential and preserved natural resources. Based on analysed rural particularities it can be concluded that the different human, environmental and economic potentials and obstacles of determined types of rural areas should be the starting point in defining appropriate sustainable strategies and development directions

Badlands in volcano-clastic rocks: examples from Serbia and Hungary

Badlands can develop under different climatic conditions ranging from arid to humid on materials that have a specific combination of physico-chemical properties depending on their mineralogical composition. Mostly these materials are fine-grained terrigenous, lacustrine or marine sediments of different age. However, badlands can also form in volcano-clasitc materials, and Cappadocia badlands in Turkey is the most prominent example. Less known in the literature are two sites also developed in this type of sediments: Đavolja Varoš, on Radan Moutain in SE Serbia and the Kazár badlands in NW Hungary. The Đavolja Varoš badlands, 0.7 km2 in size is formed by the intensive development of rills and gullies on slopes built from thick volcano-clastic material. The initial relief is reduced only to sharp ridges between adjacent gullies. This badland is developed in dacito-andesitic poorly-consolidated poorly-sorted tuffs. The weathering processes are intense and governed by high intensity precipitation and prolonged drying periods. The reddish earth pyramids built of these erodible materials are protected by the cap rock. Loss of balance and fall of the protective cap rock accelerates the erosion. The smaller Kazár badlands covering the area of 1ha are developed in rhyolitic poorly-consolidated highly porous tuffs. Rills and gullies are the dominant geomorphic processes and the weathering is dominated by freeze-thaw processes. At the Kazár badlands earth pyramids are not protected with the cap rock and weathering, disintegration and sheet wash erosion intensively shape the landscape. Although the materials differ slightly in composition, both being poorly sorted, clay-size rich materials make them sensitive to erosion, proving once more the importance of material composition, in this case namely grain size including sorting and mineralogical composition, for badlands development and future evolution

Supplementary data for the article: Ranđelović, D.; Mutić, J.; Marjanović, P.; Đorđević, T.; Kašanin-Grubin, M. Geochemical Distribution of Selected Elements in Flotation Tailings and Soils/Sediments from the Dam Spill at the Abandoned Antimony Mine Stolice, Serbia. Environ Sci Pollut Res 2020, 27 (6), 6253–6268. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07348-4

Related to published version: [http://cherry.chem.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/3966]Supplementary material for: [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11356-019-07348-4

Measuring the Size of Pendant Water Drop Generated by Hypodermic Needles for Construction of Rainfall Simulator for Soil Erosion Research

Dripping rainfall simulators for soil erosion research generate pendant water drops of simulated rainfall with different types of drippers, such as plastic and glass tubes, drippers in a form of holes, irrigation drippers and hanging yarn, among which metal tubes are the most commonly used. Metal tubes appear in the form of capillaries with a flat tip or in the form of hypodermic needles. Hypodermic needles are suitable for this purpose because their diameter size is standardized with relatively small deviations from the standardized dimensions, they are available on the market, relatively cheap, made of stainless material and have a threaded connector (Luer taper). Since scientific papers that used dripping rainfall simulators are often incomplete in terms of data for diameter, length, and type of hypodermic needle as a dripper, as well as data on pendant water drop size that needles can generate, a performance analysis of hypodermic needles was performed. For the purpose of this study, dripping rainfall simulator was originally designed and made for laboratory use. Pendant water drops are generated with 11 different needles, ranging in size from 16 G to 32 G, at different dripping intensities. Obtained water drops size ranging from 3.70 to 1.48 mm, were acquired using weight measuring method. Based on research data, two nomograms were made for determination of interconnected parameters of simulated rainfall: pendant water drops size under different dripping intensity, drippers discharge, number of drippers, and kinetic energy of water drops for the given falling height. The results of research facilitate the design of dripping rainfall simulators for soil erosion research

Dripping Rainfall Simulators for Soil Research—Design Review

Dripping rainfall simulators are important instruments in soil research. However, a large number of non-standardized simulators have been developed, making it difficult to combine and compare the results of different studies in which they were used. To overcome this problem, it is necessary to become familiar with the design and performances of the current rainfall simulators. A search has been conducted for scientific papers describing dripping rainfall simulators (DRS) and papers that are thematically related to the soil research using DRS. Simulator design analysis was performed integrally, for simulators with more than one dripper (DRS>1) and with one dripper (DRS=1). Descriptive and numerical data were extracted from the papers and sorted by proposed categories, according to which the types and subtypes of used simulators are determined. The six groups of elements that simulators could consist of have been determined, as well their characteristics, representation and statistical analyses of the available numerical parameters. The characteristics of simulators are analyzed and presented, facilitating the selection of simulators for future research. Description of future simulators in accordance to the basic groups of simulator elements should provide all data necessary for their easier replication and provide a step closer to the reduction of design diversification and standardization of rainfall simulators intended for soil research

Sustainable rural development in Serbia - relationship between population dynamicss and environment

In this paper the relationship between populatiOn and the environment, and their influence on rural sustainability in Serbia, using quantitative typology of rural areas will be examined. The typology is based on the net relative change of population in rural areas in Serbia, according to the difference between the number of inhabitants at the end of the studied period (2011) and a hypothetical population that each rural settlement would have if the population in base year (1961) was changed proportionally to the change of total rural population. Research results indicate types of population dynamics of rural areas with different scale and intensity of environmental degradation: progressive type with favorable human and economic potentials, strong urban influence and huge environmental transformation; stagnant type with advanced agricultural and demographic dimension which imposed pressures to the natural environment; regressive type with heterogeneous demographic, social and economic features, and different impacts on natural and social environment, and dominant regressive type of rural areas highly characterised by the deficient in human and economic potential and preserved natural resources. Based on analysed rural particularities it can be concluded that the different human, environmental and economic potentials and obstacles of determined types of rural areas should be the starting point in defining appropriate sustainable strategies and development directions

Effectiveness of Nature-Based Solutions in Mitigating Flood Hazard in a Mediterranean Peri-Urban Catchment

Urbanization alters natural hydrological processes and enhances runoff, which affects flood hazard. Interest in nature-based solutions (NBS) for sustainable mitigation and adaptation to urban floods is growing, but the magnitudes of NBS effects are still poorly investigated. This study explores the potential of NBS for flood hazard mitigation in a small peri-urban catchment in central Portugal, prone to flash floods driven by urbanization and short but intense rainfall events typical of the Mediterranean region. Flood extent and flood depth are assessed by manually coupling the hydrologic HEC-HMS and hydraulic HEC-RAS models. The coupled model was run for single rainfall events with recurrence periods of 10–, 20–, 50–, and 100–years, considering four simulation scenarios: current conditions (without NBS), and with an upslope NBS, a downslope NBS, and a combination of both. The model-simulation approach provides good estimates of flood magnitude (NSE = 0.91, RMSE = 0.08, MAE = 0.07, R2 = 0.93), and shows that diverting streamflow into abandoned fields has positive impacts in mitigating downslope flood hazard. The implementation of an upslope NBS can decrease the water depth at the catchment outlet by 0.02 m, whereas a downslope NBS can reduce it from 0.10 m to 0.23 m for increasing return periods. Combined upslope and downslope NBS have a marginal additional impact in reducing water depth, ranging from 0.11 m to 0.24 m for 10– and 100–year floods. Decreases in water depth provided by NBS are useful in flood mitigation and adaptation within the peri-urban catchment. A network of NBS, rather than small isolated strategies, needs to be created for efficient flood-risk management at a larger scale

Laboratory study of the effect of temperature difference on the disintegration of redbed softrock

To explore the impact of temperature difference (TD) on the disintegration of redbed softrock, three types of redbed rock, collected from Nanxiong Basin, were analyzed under three different treatments: TD, wetting and drying (WD), and TDWD-temperature difference and WD. To better understand the influence of different ranges of TD on disintegration during WD cycles, pH (hydrogen ion concentration) values, electrical conductivity (EC) values, and concentration of cations in leachate released during treatment were measured. The results show that no significant change can be observed under single TD treatment but that TD can increase the disintegration rate by accelerating the water–rock interaction. The effect of TD is more significant for rock with weak resistance to disintegration

Anthropogenic and Climate Influence on Land Degradation

Badlands are areas with scarce or completely absent vegetation formed in a wide range of lithologies in different climate conditions and exposed to a wide range of geomorphological processes [1]. Generally, rapid evolution governed by erosion processes is a consequence of complex mineralogical and physico-chemical sediment composition and climate conditions. Because of that, badlands are often described as natural field laboratories and, furthermore, badland material is suitable for laboratory experiments that can, in controlled conditions, provide insight of changes that occur in the field. As indicated above, beside lithology, climate is one of the most significant factors in badlands forming. Since human activities have great impact on the environment and since climate changes present one of the biggest environmental pollution problems nowadays, in this research badland material was exposed to different conditions with the aim of monitoring changes caused by extreme climate conditions and acid ice. Three samples from badlands in China organized in six sets were treated with ice (representing snow) and acid ice (frozen acid rain) during fifteen cycles, dried in the oven for three cycles and afterwards again threated with ice and acid ice for additional five cycles. After each cycle samples were photographed, so that physical changes can be tracked, while leachate was collected and analyzed for monitoring changes in its volume, pH, electrical conductivity (EC) and cation concentration. Beside slight oscillations in parameters through cycles of samples treated with acid ice, extreme changes in observed parameters were not noticed neither between samples, nor between treatments. Leachate EC were a bit higher in samples treated with ice, leachate volume was higher for samples treated with acid ice, while pH was similar in both cases. Cation concentrations are similar in the leachate of all tested samples. In most of cases, the highest concentrations were measured at the beginning of the experiment, during the first two cycles or during the first “ice” cycles after drying. This indicates the high cation concentrations originate from the sediment surface or washing along the crack that appeared after drying. Physical changes that occurred through cycles implied that heat/drought is more aggressive agent of sediment decay. Decay caused by ice is slower, not as aggressive as drought, but not negligible, causing noticeable and significant cracks and fissures of fragments. This experiment confirmed that drought has high impact on sediment weathering, but more importantly, pointed out the impact of ice and its thawing, opening new questions about climate impact on forming, erosion processes and evolution of badlands which need to be further examined