Spatially correlated mixed-effects models for the analysis of soil water retention.

The knowledge of hydraulic properties of soil is necessary in many environmental applications and land planning. These properties, however, are difficult to determine and often they demand high labour costs, for which the tendency is to estimate them on the base of other more easily measurable or already available soil data. The level of detail reached using this method is not always satisfactory for some applications to basin scale, where variables to measure the morphologic property of the landscape are required. This study is proposed to characterize the spatial distribution of the water retention of a soil on wide scale using data relative to the physical, topographical and chemical characteristics of the soil within a model based approach.Linear Mixed Models, Spatial Continuous Autoregressive Correlation Structure, Soil Water Retention.

The influence of the net rainfall mixed Curve Number – Green Ampt procedure in flood hazard mapping: a case study in Central Italy

A net rainfall estimation procedure, referred to as Curve-Number For Green-Ampt (CN4GA), combining the Soil Conservation Service - Curve Number (SCS-CN) method and the Green and Ampt (GA) infiltration equation was recently developed, aiming to distribute at subdaily time resolution the information provided by the SCS-CN method. The initial abstraction and the total volume of rainfall provided by the SCS-CN method are used to identify the ponding time and to quantify the hydraulic conductivity parameter of the GA equation, whereas the GA infiltration model distributes the total volume of the rainfall excess provided by the SCS-CN method. In this study we evaluate the proposed procedure with reference to a real case comparing the flood mapping obtained applying the event-based approach for two different net rainfall scenarios: the proposed CN4GA and the common SCS-CN. Results underline that the net rainfall estimation step can affect the final flood mapping result

Revisiting the definition of field capacity as a functional parameter in a layered agronomic soil profile beneath irrigated maize

The soil water content at the condition of field capacity (θFC) is a key parameter in irrigation scheduling and has been suggested to be determined by running a synthetic drainage experiment until the flux rate (q) at the bottom of the soil profile achieves a predefined negligible value (qFC). We question the impact of qFC on the assessment of field capacity. Moreover, calculating θFC as the integral mean of the water content profile when q is equal to qFC is strictly valid only for uniform soil profiles. By contrast, this practice is ambiguous and biased for stratified soil profiles due to the soil water content discontinuity at the layer interfaces. In this study, the concept of field capacity was revisited and adapted to practical agronomic heuristics. By resorting to the assessment of root-zone water storage capacity (W), we envision field capacity as a functional hydraulic parameter derived from synthetic irrigation scheduling scenarios to minimize drought stress, drainage, and nitrate leachate below the root zone. A functional analysis was carried out on a 135-cm-thick layered soil profile beneath maize in eastern Nebraska. Onfarm irrigation scheduling applications and agricultural practices were recorded for 20 years (2001–2020) at a daily time step. Hydrus-1D was calibrated and validated with direct measurements of the soil water retention curve and soil water content data, respectively, in each soil layer. A set of functional field capacity values was derived from 24 irrigation scheduling scenarios, and the optimal water storage capacity at field capacity (WFC) was approximately 50 cm (corresponding to about 80% saturation in the soil profile). An average irrigation amount of 217.5 mm distributed over 21 events was obtained by using optimal irrigation scheduling, which was initiated when the matric pressure head took on a value of - 700 cm and the irrigation rate was set at 1.0 cm d-1. This irrigation practice ensured water storage at approximately the same level (ideally at WFC) by sustaining only evapotranspiration fluxes in the uppermost portion of the root zone and by limiting excessive drainage. This protocol can be transferred to other agricultural fields

Chapter Precision agriculture and conservation of coastal landscapes

The application of Precision Agriculture strategies represents an opportunity for farmers to obtain economic benefits. In the area of Metapontino, as demonstrated by the experimentation conducted, the challenge of producing food and at the same time protecting nature and safeguarding biodiversity, it is possible to face it through the introduction of global positioning systems (GPS), a technology capable of integrating the information on soil type, climate, cultivar, crop and farm management, topography and economy

New technologies sustainability: monitoring and evaluation of results of interventions for the promotion of cultural heritage and the human landscape

The relationship between the development of technologies and the history of the cultural and agricultural landscape is linked to the concepts of "cultural landscape", understood as a space in continuous construction that changes with the change of individual, collective, social and cultural relationships of the inhabitants of the territory, or of the "cultural inhabitants", citizens who are producers of culture, rather than users. A vision of the "future as an open place" emerges, understood as a place of usability and sharing of all human, material and immaterial productions.Technologies, within a similar perspective, are presented as the historical evolution of téchne, whose degree of development today allows an extension of the level of human action.This study, in agreement with the scientific literature based on the use of recently developed digital models, demonstrates that the mainly agricultural territory of Basilicata, historically the site of complex social relations, has created a traditional rural society in which the concept of neighborhood and the spatial connotation also had the symbolic value of sharing knowledge and practices, relationships based on inclusiveness and sustainability. The diffusion of 5G technology is generating important cultural transformations. What used to be the neighborhood community in Matera (IT) - also following the activities launched with the CTEMT project and the social consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic - is now becoming a virtual community for sharing knowledge and practices , beliefs and values, including the use and management of cultural heritage, which takes place through the network, and therefore using applications that promote a transformative intervention of the landscape, such as to make it functional to human needs, and, at the same time, sustainable with respect to the perpetuation of ecosystem relationships.The diffusion of 5G technology, is generating important cultural transformations. What in the past was, in Matera (IT), the neighbourhood community - also as a result of the activities launched with the CTEMT project and the social consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic - now becomes a virtual community, sharing knowledge and practices, beliefs and values, including the use and management of cultural heritage, occurs through the network with the use of applications that promote accessibility and sustainability in both the urban and agricultural landscape. As argued by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the attention to the dynamic conservation of the landscape should not be placed so much to the "culture itself" or to the "nature itself" but rather to the relationship between these two dynamic components has been established, but also from the holistic mentioned many times, attentive to the values of identity and comforted by the knowledge and decoding of the intangible heritage, from which we deduce the active role, shared social behaviours, the mechanisms of transmission of knowledge and transgenerational awareness also thanks to the complex and fascinating universe of uses, traditions, rituals and rites that are an important tool of conscious management of the landscape and its culture. The conscious use of artificial intelligence is the concretion of the virtuous relationship between Humanism and technologies. For the biodiversity it is a support to the recognition of the species, in particular of the native ones, and it allows people to recognize themselves culturally and find into the biodiversity a collective and cultural belonging to the community and to the landscape. Therefore, thanks to the use of new technologies biodiversity becomes an historical-anthropological archive of knowledge and practices of a territory, and new technologies a powerful tool for the conservation of the cultural heritage

Sexual size differences and colour polymorphism of Rhynchophorus phoenicis in the Southwest region of Cameroon

A total of 174 specimens of the African palm weevil Rhynchophorus phoenicis (F.) were sampled during 2010, in eight different localities of the Southwest region of Cameroon. Male and female weevils were measured (body length, abdomen length, abdomen width, pronotum length, pronotum width, head size, and length from tip of rostrum to antennal insertion), and the different pronotum patterns are described. Statistical analysis shows that all morphometric parameters correlate with body length in both males and females, and seven pronotum pattern types are identified, three of which are new. African palm weevil adults show sexual dimorphism: abdomen and head size are significantly greater in females, while pronotum length is significantly greater in males. No statistical differences in the frequencies of pronotum pattern types were seen between males and females, or among localities. A significant difference was seen for the abdomen width between two localities

The occurrence of OCPs, PCBs, and PAHs in the soil, air, and bulk deposition of the Naples metropolitan area, southern Italy: Implications for sources and environmental processes

I am often reminded of the famous saying of Goethe: "Vedi Napoli e poi muori! - See Naples and die!". Sadly, Naples is now confronted with a number of serious, ongoing problems with a need to alleviate pressure on the worsening environment. One serious problem facing the environment is the presence of the potentially hazardous persistent organic pollutants (POPs), although few systematic studies at regional scale have been conducted. In this study, samples of soil, air, and bulk deposition were collected in Naples metropolitan area (NMA) to characterize the status of POPs, including organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The results obtained showed that most of these compounds are pervasive in all the studied environmental matrices, especially in some hotspot areas, such as the Bagnoli Brownfield Site and the infamous "Triangle of the Death", where unwanted ecological risk conditions for PAHs and Endosulfan were determined, respectively. The interactional complexity between urban and the surrounding rural areas was also confirmed, as is the role that urban areas play in the migration and transformation process of POPs. High urban-rural gradients for atmospheric PAHs and PCBs were observed in the NMA, and the urban areas were identified as the emission source of these contaminants. Similarly, the OCP residues, historically originated from the nearby agricultural regions, experience long-term soil re-emission and continuously influence the connected urban environment via atmospheric transport processes. Keywords: Persistent organic pollutants, Emission sources, Geochemical baseline, Atmospheric transport, Naple

An Integrative Information Aqueduct to Close the Gaps between Satellite Observation of Water Cycle and Local Sustainable Management of Water Resources

[EN] The past decades have seen rapid advancements in space-based monitoring of essential water cycle variables, providing products related to precipitation, evapotranspiration, and soil moisture, often at tens of kilometer scales. Whilst these data effectively characterize water cycle variability at regional to global scales, they are less suitable for sustainable management of local water resources, which needs detailed information to represent the spatial heterogeneity of soil and vegetation. The following questions are critical to effectively exploit information from remotely sensed and in situ Earth observations (EOs): How to downscale the global water cycle products to the local scale using multiple sources and scales of EO data? How to explore and apply the downscaled information at the management level for a better understanding of soil-water-vegetation-energy processes? How can such fine-scale information be used to improve the management of soil and water resources? An integrative information flow (i.e., iAqueduct theoretical framework) is developed to close the gaps between satellite water cycle products and local information necessary for sustainable management of water resources. The integrated iAqueduct framework aims to address the abovementioned scientific questions by combining medium-resolution (10 m-1 km) Copernicus satellite data with high-resolution (cm) unmanned aerial system (UAS) data, in situ observations, analytical- and physical-based models, as well as big-data analytics with machine learning algorithms. This paper provides a general overview of the iAqueduct theoretical framework and introduces some preliminary results.The authors would like to thank the European Commission and Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) for funding, in the frame of the collaborative international consortium (iAqueduct) financed under the 2018 Joint call of the Water Works 2017 ERA-NET Cofund. This ERA-NET is an integral part of the activities developed by the Water JPI (Project number: ENWWW.2018.5); the EC and the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (FORMAS, under grant 2018-02787); Contributions of B. Szabo was supported by the Janos Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (grant no. BO/00088/18/4).Su, Z.; Zeng, Y.; Romano, N.; Manfreda, S.; Francés, F.; Ben Dor, E.; Szabó, B.... (2020). An Integrative Information Aqueduct to Close the Gaps between Satellite Observation of Water Cycle and Local Sustainable Management of Water Resources. Water. 12(5):1-36. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12051495S13612

European HYdropedological Data Inventory (EU-HYDI)

There is a common need for reliable hydropedological information in Europe. In the last decades research institutes, universities and government agencies have developed local, regional and national datasets containing soil physical, chemical, hydrological and taxonomic information often combined with land use and landform data. A hydrological database for western European soils was also created in the mid-1990s. However, a comprehensive European hydropedological database, with possible additional information on chemical parameters and land use is still missing. A comprehensive joint European hydropedological inventory can serve multiple purposes, including scientific research, modelling and application of models on different geographical scales. The objective of the joint effort of the participants is to establish the European Hydropedological Data Inventory (EU-HYDI). This database holds data from European soils focusing on soil physical, chemical and hydrological properties. It also contains information on geographical location, soil classification and land use/cover at the time of sampling. It was assembled with the aim of encompassing the soil variability in Europe. It contains data from 18 countries with contributions from 29 institutions. This report presents an overview of the database, details the individual contributed datasets and explains the quality assurance and harmonization process that lead to the final database