Assessing the impact of land use change on aridification in semiarid land

Emadodin, Iraj; Reinsch, Thorsten

doi:10.1002/ldr.3108

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…This rate is in line with a maximum predicted sequestration rate of 560 kg C ha −1 in IFG. Even though for permanent systems the duration of highly positive sequestration rates is limited, even after 20 years no equilibrium is reached on sandy loamy soils (Reinsch et al, 2018. The soil Csequestration on external farms due to the exported slurry was ignored in this study, thereby likely underestimating the GHG savings from manure exports, which was only accounted for by crediting the substitution of mineral fertilizer using the nutrient contents in the slurry as a reference.…”

Section: N 2 O-emissions and N-leachingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, water availability during summer plays a crucial role as yield losses due to drought would make undesired feed purchases necessary, and thereby reduce the efficiency of the proposed grazing systems. Irrigation as an alternative solution would require investment and processing cost as well as questionable resource efficiency in areas where access to groundwater supplies is limited (Emadodin and Reinsch, 2018). Moreover, irrigation in grazing systems can increase undesired GHG emissions from pasture land considerably (Smit et al, 2020).…”

Section: Pros and Cons Of The Examined Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Toward Specialized or Integrated Systems in Northwest Europe: On-Farm Eco-Efficiency of Dairy Farming in Germany

Reinsch¹,

Loza²,

Malisch³

et al. 2021

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Intensive confinement (IC) systems for dairying have become widespread during the last decades. However, potential advantages of alternative systems such as full-grazing (FG) or integrated dairy/cash-crop (IFG) systems with regards to better provision of ecosystem services are widely discussed. To investigate performance and environmental impacts, we compared four prevailing dairy systems using an on-farm research study. The farm types differed in their share of pasture access and quantity of resource inputs: (i) an IC with a high import of supplements and mineral fertilizers; (ii) a semi-confinement (SC) with daytime pasture access during summer and moderate import of supplementary feeds representing the base-line scenario; (iii) a FG based on grazed seeded grass-clover swards with no purchased N-fertilizers and low quantities of supplementary feeds; and (iv) an IFG comparable to FG but based on grass-clover leys integrated in a cash-crop rotation. Results revealed highest milk productivity (16 t energy-corrected-milk (ECM) ha−1) and farm-N-balance (230 kg N ha−1) in IC; however, the highest product carbon footprint (PCF; 1.2 CO2eq kg ECM−1) and highest N-footprint (13 g N kg ECM−1) were found in the baseline system SC. The FG and IFG revealed on average similar forage dry matter yields (10 – 11 t DM ha−1) at similar crude protein and net-energy-lactation ratios per kg DM-intake compared to the IC and SC. The PCF in FG were comparable to IC (0.9 vs. 1.1 kg CO2eq kg ECM−1) but at a lower N-footprint (9 vs. 12 g N kg ECM−1). However, despite low measured N-losses in the FG system, the farm-N-surplus was exceeded by 90 kg N ha−1. A further reduction was only possible in the IFG (50 kg N ha−1) by accounting for a potential N-carry-over from N-rich plant residues to the cash-crop unit, leading to the lowest PCF (0.6 kg CO2eq kg ECM−1) for the IFG, with still moderate milk yield levels (~10,500 kg ECM ha−1). According to this bottom-up approach based on field data, improved integrated grazing systems could provide an important opportunity to increase the ecosystem services from dairy farming, operating with land use efficiencies similar to IC.

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Section: N 2 O-emissions and N-leachingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Pros and Cons Of The Examined Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward Specialized or Integrated Systems in Northwest Europe: On-Farm Eco-Efficiency of Dairy Farming in Germany

Reinsch¹,

Loza²,

Malisch³

et al. 2021

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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“…Urbanization and urban-sprawl directly or indirectly cause the main changes in environmental qualities and functions with great pressure on natural resources [5]. Moreover, both impact climate dynamics and accelerate desertification and aridification e.g., [44][45][46]. Therefore, anthropogenic climate change and environmental change could also be considered as the major driving force of migration [47,48] (Figure 4).…”

Section: Economic and Socio-political Implications Of Desertificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drought and Desertification in Iran

Emadodin¹,

Reinsch²,

Taube³

2019

Hydrology

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Iran has different climatic and geographical zones (mountainous and desert areas), mostly arid and semi-arid, which are suffering from land degradation. Desertification as a land degradation process in Iran is created by natural and anthropogenic driving forces. Meteorological drought is a major natural driving force of desertification and occurs due to the extended periods of low precipitation. Scarcity of water, as well as the excessive use of water resources, mainly for agriculture, creates negative water balances and changes in plant cover, and accelerates desertification. Despite various political measures having been taken in the past, desertification is still a serious environmental problem in many regions in Iran. In this study, drought and aridity indices derived from long-term temperature and precipitation data were used in order to show long-term drought occurrence in different climatic zones in Iran. The results indicated the occurrence of severe and extremely severe meteorological droughts in recent decades in the areas studied. Moreover, the De Martonne Aridity Index (IDM) and precipitation variability index (PVI) showed an ongoing negative trend on the basis of long-term data and the conducted regression analysis. Rapid population growth, soil salinization, and poor water resource management are also considered as the main anthropogenic drivers. The percentage of the rural population in Iran is decreasing and the urban area is growing fast. Since the 1970s, the usage of groundwater in Iran has increased around fourfold and the average annual decrease in the groundwater table has been around 0.51 m. The results of the study provide a better ex-post and ex-ante understanding of the occurrence of droughts as key driving forces of the desertification in Iran. Additionally, they can enable policymakers to prepare proper regional-based strategic planning in the future. Desertification cannot be stopped or managed completely, but could be mitigated by the adoption of some proposed sustainable land management strategies.

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“…Anthropogenic climate change, attributed to the greatly increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions since the 19th century, has been identified as a cause of increased frequency and severity of droughts [4,5]. Drought is a major contributing factor to land degradation [6], a process that is further accelerated by unsustainable land-use practices such as overgrazing and urbanization [7][8][9][10][11][12], and it has serious potential consequences for global food security. A drought event is considered to occur when there is a significant decrease in water availability over a critical period compared with normal levels [13][14][15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate Change Effects on Temperate Grassland and Its Implication for Forage Production: A Case Study from Northern Germany

et al. 2021

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The effects of climate change on agricultural ecosystems are increasing, and droughts affect many regions. Drought has substantial ecological, social, and economic consequences for the sustainability of agricultural land. Many regions of the northern hemisphere have not experienced a high frequency of meteorological droughts in the past. For understanding the implications of climate change on grassland, analysis of the long-term climate data provides key information relevant for improved grassland management strategies. Using weather data and grassland production data from a long-term permanent grassland site, our aims were (i) to detect the most important drought periods that affected the region and (ii) to assess whether climate changes and variability significantly affected forage production in the last decade. For this purpose, long-term daily weather data (1961–2019) and the standardized precipitation index (SPI), De Martonne index (IDM), water deficit (WD), dryness index (DI), yield anomaly index (YAI), and annual yield loss index (YL) were used to provide a scientific estimation. The results show that, despite a positive trend in DI and a negative trend in WD and precipitation, the time-series trends of precipitation, WD, and DI indices for 1961–2019 were not significant. Extreme dry conditions were also identified with SPI values less than −2. The measured annual forage yield (2007–2018) harvested in a four-cut silage system (with and without organic N-fertilization) showed a strong correlation with WD (R = 0.64; p ˂ 0. 05). The main yield losses were indicated for the years 2008 and 2018. The results of this study could provide a perspective for drought monitoring, as well as drought warning, in grassland in northwest Europe.

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Assessing the impact of land use change on aridification in semiarid land

Cited by 4 publications

References 36 publications

Toward Specialized or Integrated Systems in Northwest Europe: On-Farm Eco-Efficiency of Dairy Farming in Germany

Toward Specialized or Integrated Systems in Northwest Europe: On-Farm Eco-Efficiency of Dairy Farming in Germany

Drought and Desertification in Iran

Climate Change Effects on Temperate Grassland and Its Implication for Forage Production: A Case Study from Northern Germany

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