Soil Quality Characterization of Mediterranean Areas under Desertification Risk for the Implementation of Management Schemes Aimed at Land Degradation Neutrality

Soil is a key component of ecosystems as it provides fundamental ecosystem functions and services, first of all supporting primary productivity, by physical, chemical and biological interaction with plants. However, soil loss and degradation are at present two of the most critical environmental issues. This phenomenon is particularly critical in Mediterranean areas, where inappropriate land management, in combination with the increasingly harshening of climatic conditions due to Climate Change, is leading to significant land degradation and desertification and is expected to worsen in the future, leading to economic and social crisis. In such areas, it is of fundamental importance to apply sustainable management practices, as conservation/restoration measures, to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality. This approach is at the core of the LIFE project Desert-Adapt “Preparing desertification areas for increased climate change” which is testing a new framework of sustainable land management strategies based on the key concept that the maintenance of ecosystems quality is necessarily connected to economic and social security in these fragile areas. The project will test adaptation strategies and measures in 10 sites of three Mediterranean areas under strong desertification risk, Alentejo in Portugal, Extremadura in Spain and Sicily in Italy. We present the baseline data of soil quality analysis from 32 sites in the 10 study areas of the project. Key drivers of soil quality and quantity were identified and used as basis to select sustainable management strategies focused on the maintenance, improvement and/or recovery of soil-based ecosystem services, with particular attention to climate change adaptation and land productivity. The final objective of the project is to demonstrate, according to the LDN approach, the best adaptation strategies to recover degraded areas from low-productive systems into resource-efficient and low-carbon economies to preserve ecosystem quality and booster economy and social securit

Critical range of soil organic carbon in southern Europe lands under desertification risk

Soil quality is fundamental for ecosystem long term functionality, productivity and resilience to current climatic changes. Despite its importance, soil is lost and degraded at dramatic rates worldwide. In Europe, the Mediterranean areas are a hotspot for soil erosion and land degradation due to a combination of climatic conditions, soils, geomorphology and anthropic pressure. Soil organic carbon (SOC) is considered a key indicator of soil quality as it relates to other fundamental soil functions supporting crucial ecosystem services. In the present study, the functional relationships among SOC and other important soil properties were investigated in the topsoil of 38 sites under different land cover and management, distributed over three Mediterranean regions under strong desertification risk, with the final aim to define critical SOC ranges for fast loss of important soil functionalities. The study sites belonged to private and public landowners seeking to adopt sustainable land management practices to support ecosystem sustainability and productivity of their land. Data showed a very clear relationship between SOC concentrations and the other analyzed soil properties: total nitrogen, bulk density, cation exchange capacity, available water capacity, microbial biomass, C fractions associated to particulate organic matter and to the mineral soil component and indirectly with net N mineralization. Below 20 g SOC kg−1, additional changes of SOC concentrations resulted in a steep variation of all the analyzed soil indicators, an order of magnitude higher than the changes occurring between 50 and 100 g SOC kg−1 and 3–4 times the changes observed at 20–50 g SOC kg−1. About half of the study sites showed average SOC concentration of the topsoil centimetres <20 g SOC kg−1. For these areas the level of SOC might hence be considered critical and immediate and effective recovery management plans are needed to avoid complete land degradation in the next future.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Preliminary studies on litter flammability in Mediterranean region

6 p. International audienc

Microbial- and seaweed-based biopolymers: Sources, extractions and implications for soil quality improvement and environmental sustainability - A review

Improving soil quality without creating any environmental problems is an unescapable goal of sustainable agroecosystem management, according to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Therefore, sustainable solutions are in high demand. One of these is the use of biopolymers derived from microbes and seaweed. This paper aims to provide an overview of the sources of extraction and use of microbial (bacteria and cyanobacteria) and seaweed-based biopolymers as soil conditioners, the characteristics of biopolymer-treated soils, and their environmental concerns. A preliminary search was also carried out on the entire Scopus database on biopolymers to find out how much attention has been paid to biopolymers as biofertilizers compared to other applications of these molecules until now. Several soil quality indicators were evaluated, including soil moisture, color, structure, porosity, bulk density, temperature, aggregate stability, nutrient availability, organic matter, and microbial activity. The mechanisms involved in improving soil quality were also discussed

SOIL MICROBIAL COMMUNITY AS AFFECTED BY HEAVY METAL POLLUTION IN A MEDITERRANEAN AREA OF SOUTHERN ITALY

The relationship between pollution by heavy metals and soil microbial community was investigated in an area of Southern Italy mainly used for agriculture but also affected by industrial and extractive activities as well as vehicular traffic. Soil samples were seasonally collected in permanent crop fields (i.e. citrus and peach orchards, olive groves and vineyard) and uncultivated areas (coniferous and mixed forests, shrublands, grazing lands). Soil samples were analysed for chemical (water content, pH, cation exchange capacity, organic C, Cr, Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd contents) and biological properties (microbial biomass, fungal mycelium, soil respiration, potentially mineralizable nitrogen, metabolic quotient and carbon mineralization rate). The results showed that heavy metal contents in the studied soils generally fell within the limit values after Italian law, with the exception of soil from vineyard that generally exceeded the limit value for Cu, probably because of the large use of copper-containing fungicides. The soil Pb content was always above the values reported for typical unpolluted soils and sometimes the same was also observed for Cd and Cu. The data suggest that Cr, Cu and Zn mainly derive from agricultural activity, whereas Pb and Cd were mainly introduced by cement industry associated with extractive activity. The soil microbial community was negatively affected by increased Cr, Cu and Zn contents, but not by Pb and Cd. Among the heavy metals considered, Cr and Zn had the highest negative effect on soil microbial community. © by PSP