Large scale characterization of artificial drainage networks: new opportinities from high resolution topography .

openTES-81

Land degradation in agricultural landscapes-Soil erosion by water

Land degradation is a well-known problem throughout the world, due to its possible threat to land resources and strict connection with other global environmental issues such as biodiversity and climate. It is widely accepted that the major causes of land degradation include deforestation, soil erosion, overgrazing, inappropriate irrigation, abandonment and/or lack of maintenance of agricultural terraces, land use and cover change, especially because of urban sprawl and commercial development, soil pollution and quarrying. Among land degradation phenomena, soil erosion is one of the most significant issues that negatively influence the agricultural sector. In particular, soil erosion caused by water is one of the most important concern, especially in the Mediterranean area. Among the agricultural landscapes, vineyards deserve attention, because, not only they represent one of the most important crops in terms of income and employment, but they have also demonstrated to constitute, for the Mediterranean areas, the form of agricultural land use that has been causing the highest soil losses. Terraced vineyards deserve a particular mention too. In fact, they represent an important cultural heritage to preserve and if, if not properly maintained, can lead to local instabilities creating hazards for settlements and cultivations, and for the related economy. Although researchers have already dealt with the topic of soil erosion by water in agriculture, there are still some gaps in literature. The processes involved are complex and the analyses can be carried out at different spatial and temporal scales. Indeed, the lack of standardized procedures of collecting data and the variability of temporal and spatial conditions and measurement techniques for the analysis of soil water erosion processes require further research. To overcome these issues, this thesis aims to propose an integrated approach, by means of innovative remote-sensing technologies, field activities, and quantitative analyses to the investigation of soil erosion processes caused by water in agricultural landscapes. Furthermore, this thesis wants also to suggest a possible soil management technique, namely mulching, as an effective solution to mitigate soil and water losses in the before-mentioned environments. Among the remote-sensing technologies, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and structure-from-motion (SfM) have been applied in this thesis. These have proven to be effective to obtain high-resolution Digital Elevation Models (DEMs). Experimental plots under simulated rainfalls have also been used to quantify and analyze the soil and water losses caused by water. Typical agricultural landscapes, especially Mediterranean vineyards, have been selected as study areas for this thesis

Land use change in the Veneto floodplain and consequences on minor network drainage system

Anthropic pressure has been proven to be one of the most evident forces able to alter landscapes. Its impact on the surroundings can be easily detectable especially in a high-density populated country such as Italy. Among the most evident anthropic alterations, the most important are the urbanization processes but also changes in cultural techniques that have been occurring in rural areas. These modifications influence the hydrologic regimes in two ways: by modifying the direct runoff production and by having a strong impact on the drainage system itself. The main objectives of this work are to evaluate the impact of land cover changes in the Veneto region (north-east Italy) on the minor drainage network system, and to analyze changes in the direct runoff in the last 50 years. The study area is a typical agrarian landscape and it has been chosen considering its involvement in the major flood of 2010 and considering also the availability of data, including historical aerial photographs, historical information, and a high resolution LiDAR DTM. The results underline how land cover variations over the last 50 years have strongly increased the propension of the soil to produce direct runoff (increase of the Curve Number value) and they have also reduced the extent of the minor network system to the detriment of urbanized areas and changes of plots of land boundaries. As a consequence, the capacity of the minor network to attenuate and eventually laminate a flood event is decreased as well. These analysis can be considered useful tools for a suitable land use planning in flood prone areas

Soil erosion processes in european vineyards: a qualitative comparison of rainfall simulation measurements in Germany, Spain and France

Small portable rainfall simulators are considered a useful tool to analyze soil erosion processes in cultivated lands. European research groups in Spain (Valencia, Málaga, Lleida, Madrid and La Rioja), France (Reims) and Germany (Trier) have used different rainfall simulators (varying in drop size distribution and fall velocities, kinetic energy, plot forms and sizes, and field of application) to study soil loss, surface flow, runoff and infiltration coefficients in different experimental plots (Valencia, Montes de Málaga, Penedès, Campo Real and La Rioja in Spain, Champagne in France and Mosel-Ruwer valley in Germany). The measurements and experiments developed by these research teams give an overview of the variety of methodologies used in rainfall simulations to study the problem of soil erosion and describe the erosion features in different climatic environments, management practices and soil types. The aims of this study are: (i) to investigate where, how and why researchers from different wine-growing regions applied rainfall simulations with successful results as a tool to measure soil erosion processes; (ii) to make a qualitative comparison about the general soil erosion processes in European terroirs; (iii) to demonstrate the importance of the development of standard method for measurement of soil erosion processes in vineyards, using rainfall simulators; and (iv) and to analyze the key factors that should be taken into account to carry out rainfall simulations. The rainfall simulations in all cases allowed infiltration capacity, susceptibility of the soil to detachment and generation of sediment loads to runoff to be determined. Despite using small plots, the experiments were useful to analyze the influence of soil cover to reduce soil erosion, to make comparisons between different locations, and to evaluate the influence of different soil characteristics. The comparative analysis of the studies performed in different study areas points out the need to define an operational methodology to carry out rainfall simulations, which allows us to obtain representative and comparable results and to avoid errors in the interpretation in order to achieve comparable information about runoff and soil los

Rainfall simulation and Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry for the analysis of soil water erosion in Mediterranean vineyards

Soilwater erosion is a serious problem, especially in agricultural lands. Among these, vineyards deserve attention, because they constitute for the Mediterranean areas a type of land use affected by high soil losses. A significant problem related to the study of soil water erosion in these areas consists in the lack of a standardized procedure of collecting data and reporting results, mainly due to a variability among the measurement methods applied. Given this issue and the seriousness of soilwater erosion inMediterranean vineyards, this works aims to quantify the soil losses caused by simulated rainstorms, and compare them with each other depending on two different methodologies: (i) rainfall simulation and (ii) surface elevation change-based, relying on high-resolution Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) derived from a photogrammetric technique (Structure-from-Motion or SfM). The experiments were carried out in a typical Mediterranean vineyard, located in eastern Spain, at very fine scales. SfMdatawere obtained fromone reflex camera and a smartphone built-in camera. An index of sediment connectivity was also applied to evaluate the potential effect of connectivity within the plots. DEMs derived from the smartphone and the reflex camera were comparable with each other in terms of accuracy and capability of estimating soil loss. Furthermore, soil loss estimatedwith the surface elevation change-basedmethod resulted to be of the same order ofmagnitude of that one obtained with rainfall simulation, as long as the sediment connectivity within the plotwas considered.High-resolution topography derived fromSfMrevealed to be essential in the sediment connectivity analysis and, therefore, in the estimation of eroded materials, when comparing themto those derived from the rainfall simulation methodology. The fact that smartphones built-in cameras could produce as much satisfying results as those derived from reflex cameras is a high value added for using SfM

Rationale and design of PURE, a randomized controlled trial to evaluate Peritoneal Ultrafiltration with PolyCore™ in Refractory Congestive Heart Failure

Introduction: Peritoneal Ultrafiltration (PUF) has been proposed as an additional therapeutic option for Refractory Congestive Heart Failure (RCHF) patients. Despite promising observational studies and/or case report results, limited clinical trials data exist, and so far, PUF solutions remain only indicated for chronic kidney diseases (CKD). In this article, we describe a multicenter, randomized, controlled, unblinded, adaptive design clinical trial, about to start, investigating the effects of PolyCore™, an innovative PUF solution, in the treatment of RCHF patients. Methods: The Peritoneal Ultrafiltration in Cardiorenal Syndrome (PURE) study is a Phase II, multicenter, randomized, controlled, unblinded, adaptive design clinical trial that aims to evaluate the safety and efficacy of PUF, using PolyCore™ as the investigational solution, in the treatment of RCHF patients who present with prominent right ventricular failure due to afterload mismatch, functional tricuspid regurgitation and enlarged cava vein consequent to intravascular fluid overload. Approximately 84 patients will be randomized 1:1 either to continue with their prescribed guidelines-directed medical therapy or to add the PUF treatment on top of it. The primary objective is to evaluate if PUF treatment has an impact on the composite endpoint of the patient’s mortality or worsening of the patient’s condition such as hospitalization for cardiovascular causes, increasing the initial daily dose of loop diuretic or worsening of renal function. Statistical analysis for the primary endpoint will be standard survival analysis to estimate the failure rate at month 7 for each group via Kaplan-Meier curves. Sensitivity analysis and various secondary analyses, including a multiple events analysis, will be conducted to evaluate the robustness of the primary endpoint results. Safety will be evaluated for up to 12 months. Conclusion: The PURE Study was designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of peritoneal ultrafiltration with PolyCore™ on top of guidelines-directed medical therapy in patients with RCHF, assuming a combined clinical endpoint of mortality or worsening patients’ condition. If successful, the treatment should allow for an improvement of the RCHF symptoms, decreasing hospitalization rate of patients. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0399487

Soil physical quality of citrus orchards under tillage, herbicide, and organic managements

Soil capacity to support life and to produce economic goods and services is strongly linked to the maintenance of good soil physical quality (SPQ). In this study, the SPQ of citrus orchards was assessed under three different soil managements, namely no-tillage using herbicides, tillage under chemical farming, and no-tillage under organic farming. Commonly used indicators, such as soil bulk density, organic carbon content, and structural stability index, were considered in conjunction with capacitive indicators estimated by the Beerkan estimation of soil transfer parameter (BEST) method. The measurements taken at the L'Alcoleja Experimental Station in Spain yielded optimal values for soil bulk density and organic carbon content in 100% and 70% of cases for organic farming. The values of structural stability index indicated that the soil was stable in 90% of cases. Differences between the soil management practices were particularly clear in terms of plant-available water capacity and saturated hydraulic conductivity. Under organic farming, the soil had the greatest ability to store and provide water to plant roots, and to quickly drain excess water and facilitate root proliferation. Management practices adopted under organic farming (such as vegetation cover between the trees, chipping after pruning, and spreading the chips on the soil surface) improved the SPQ. Conversely, the conventional management strategies unequivocally led to soil degradation owing to the loss of organic matter, soil compaction, and reduced structural stability. The results in this study show that organic farming has a clear positive impact on the SPQ, suggesting that tillage and herbicide treatments should be avoided

Land degradation in agricultural landscapes-Soil erosion by water

Land degradation is a well-known problem throughout the world, due to its possible threat to land resources and strict connection with other global environmental issues such as biodiversity and climate. It is widely accepted that the major causes of land degradation include deforestation, soil erosion, overgrazing, inappropriate irrigation, abandonment and/or lack of maintenance of agricultural terraces, land use and cover change, especially because of urban sprawl and commercial development, soil pollution and quarrying. Among land degradation phenomena, soil erosion is one of the most significant issues that negatively influence the agricultural sector. In particular, soil erosion caused by water is one of the most important concern, especially in the Mediterranean area. Among the agricultural landscapes, vineyards deserve attention, because, not only they represent one of the most important crops in terms of income and employment, but they have also demonstrated to constitute, for the Mediterranean areas, the form of agricultural land use that has been causing the highest soil losses. Terraced vineyards deserve a particular mention too. In fact, they represent an important cultural heritage to preserve and if, if not properly maintained, can lead to local instabilities creating hazards for settlements and cultivations, and for the related economy. Although researchers have already dealt with the topic of soil erosion by water in agriculture, there are still some gaps in literature. The processes involved are complex and the analyses can be carried out at different spatial and temporal scales. Indeed, the lack of standardized procedures of collecting data and the variability of temporal and spatial conditions and measurement techniques for the analysis of soil water erosion processes require further research. To overcome these issues, this thesis aims to propose an integrated approach, by means of innovative remote-sensing technologies, field activities, and quantitative analyses to the investigation of soil erosion processes caused by water in agricultural landscapes. Furthermore, this thesis wants also to suggest a possible soil management technique, namely mulching, as an effective solution to mitigate soil and water losses in the before-mentioned environments. Among the remote-sensing technologies, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and structure-from-motion (SfM) have been applied in this thesis. These have proven to be effective to obtain high-resolution Digital Elevation Models (DEMs). Experimental plots under simulated rainfalls have also been used to quantify and analyze the soil and water losses caused by water. Typical agricultural landscapes, especially Mediterranean vineyards, have been selected as study areas for this thesis.La degradazione del suolo è un problema conosciuto in tutto il mondo, a causa delle sue ripercussioni negative sulle risorse del territorio e della sua stretta connessione con altre questioni di tipo ambientale diffuse a livello globale quali la biodiversità  ed il clima. E' ampiamente risaputo che le principali cause della degradazione del suolo sono la deforestazione, l'erosione del suolo, il pascolo intensivo, l'inadeguata irrigazione, l'abbandono e/o la scarsa manutenzione delle aree agricole terrazzate, il cambio di uso e copertura del suolo, soprattutto a causa dell'espansione urbana e dello sviluppo commerciale, l'inquinamento del suolo e le attività  minerarie. Tra i fenomeni di degradazione, l'erosione del suolo rappresenta uno degli aspetti che maggiormente influenzano negativamente il settore agricolo, ed in particolare, l'erosione idrica del suolo è uno di quelli che più colpisce il bacino del Mediterraneo. Tra i diversi tipi di colture, i vigneti sono quelli che meritano più attenzione. Infatti, non solo essi rappresentano una delle coltivazioni più redditizie, ma hanno anche dimostrato di essere caratterizzati, all'interno del bacino del Mediterraneo, dai più alti tassi di erosione del suolo. Anche i vigneti terrazzati meritano una menzione particolare. Essi costituiscono un importante patrimonio culturale da preservare e, se non vengono adeguatamente mantenuti, possono causare instabilità  locali mettendo in pericolo la sicurezza dei centri abitati, e la produttività  delle colture stesse, con conseguenze negative sulla relativa economia. Nonostante l'erosione idrica del suolo in agricoltura sia già  stato oggetto di studio da parte di molti ricercatori, permangono tuttavia delle lacune in letteratura. Infatti, i processi coinvolti sono complessi e le analisi che sono effettuate possono riguardare scale sia temporali che spaziali diverse. Per di più, la mancanza di procedure standardizzate per la raccolta dei dati e la variabilità  delle condizioni temporali e spaziali, che influenzano i processi, e delle tecniche di misura utilizzate, fanno sì che ulteriori ricerche debbano essere portate avanti. Per ovviare a queste problematiche, questa tesi ha lo scopo di proporre un approccio integrato basato su tecnologie innovative e a basso costo per il telerilevamento, rilievi di campo, ed analisi quantitative al fine di studiare i processi di erosione idrica che caratterizzano gli ambienti agricoli. Inoltre, questa tesi si propone anche di suggerire una possibile tecnica di gestione del suolo, quale la pacciamatura, come soluzione efficace per attenuare le perdite di suolo ed acqua negli ambienti prima menzionati. Tra le tecnologie per il telerilevamento, il LiDAR (light detection and ranging) e la SfM (structure-from-motion) sono quelle che sono state impiegate in questa tesi. Queste tecnologie hanno dimostrato di essere efficaci al fine di ottenere modelli digitali dell'elevazione (DEM-Digital Elevation Models) ad alta risoluzione. Questa tesi ha visto l'impiego anche di parcelle sperimentali sottoposte a simulazioni di pioggia per quantificare ed analizzare le perdite di suolo ed acqua causate dalle precipitazioni. Le aree di studio per questa tesi sono state selezionate all'interno di tipici ambienti agricoli, specialmente vigneti situati nel bacino del Mediterraneo