Determining Land Management Zones Using Pedo-Geomorphological Factors in Potential Degraded Regions to Achieve Land Degradation Neutrality

Abstract

The proper delineation of site-specific management zones is very important in the agricultural land management of potentially degraded areas. There is a necessity for the development of prospective tools in management plans to correctly understand the land degradation processes. In order to accomplish this, we present a pedo-geomorphological approach using soil texture, land elevation and flow vector aspects to distinguish different management zones and to discretize soil micronutrients. To achieve this goal, we conducted the study in the Neyshabur plain, Northeast Iran. For data collection, grid sampling (500 × 500 m) was used with 70 specific points. Soil samples were collected in triplicates from various sites as composite samples (0-30 cm) to analyse clay, Zn, Mn, Cu and Fe. Using the altitude information (obtained with GPS at each sampling point), flow vectors were also modelled for all selected points. Based on the values of altitude, flow vectors and clay, management zones were delimited using geographic information systems. The best data organization was obtained from the combination of clay + elevation + flow vector attributes, generating two different management zones. In this circumstance, the lowest fuzzy performance index (FPI) and modified partition entropy (MPE) values were generated. It can be observed that the management zone 1 (MZ1) is located in the areas with a lower elevation and higher content of clay. On the other hand, the MZ2 was characterized by areas with a higher elevation and lower clay content. This study concluded that the design of management zones, using pedo-geomorphological information could reduce the time and cost of sampling necessary to assess potentially degraded areas of land. reforestation or geotextiles are also successfully applied. However [10,11], the drastic decline in yield or wood production and the increase in soil degradation processes can also be attributed to the intensification of its cultivation or exploitation, as well as the imbalance in soil nutrient management and physical properties [12,13].It is unusual to assess soil degradation or delimitate land management zones via clay, Zn, Mn, Cu and Fe. However, recent research conducted by [14] in India demonstrated that micronutrient deficiency in intensively cultivated regions may be associated with a low organic availability and excessive reliance on chemical fertilizers. In Northern Greece, [15] assessed Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu bioavailability their correlation with foliar micronutrient concentrations in mature organic olive orchards, highlighting the key role of organic matter to sustain metal uptake by olive trees. However, it is not common to see clear examples showing how these data on micronutrients can be a basis for a land management planning tool to achieve land degradation neutrality. Usually, other robust indicators such as cation exchange capacity, base saturation, the content of soil organic matter, but in several cases, only a few data about soil chemical properties such as micronutrients are analysed...

The Pedospheric Variation of DTPA-Extractable Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu and Other Physicochemical Characteristics in Major Soil Orders in Existing Land Use Systems of Punjab, India

“…The pattern of DTPA-Mn distribution among soil orders was Entisol > Inceptisol > Aridisol. Variation in micronutrients availability in the soil order varies with changes in pH, organic matter, clay adsorption and immobilization in fractions of organic matter in soils [57,58]. Overall, the highest Mn content (4.10 mg kg −1 ) was under Entisols, while the least (3.82 mg kg −1 ) was under Aridisol.…”

Landscape-Based Visions as Powerful Boundary Objects in Spatial Planning: Lessons from Three Dutch Projects

“…From the examples, we learned that "working with nature" needs to be done at the proper scale level, the scale level of the natural processes that deliver the desired landscape services [49][50][51]. In the example of the regional adaptation strategy, solutions for local floods and droughts are sought in the regional natural system, on which hydrological processes take place, connecting rural and urban areas, which is similar to other cases in different parts of the world [52][53][54].…”

Integration of PCA and Fuzzy Clustering for Delineation of Soil Management Zones and Cost-Efficiency Analysis in a Citrus Plantation

“…Different types of environmental and soil data could be used for delineating the MZs [10]. For instance, pedo-geomorphological factors [18], soil nutrients [19,20], intrinsic soil properties (e.g., electrical conductivity (EC), pH, particle size distribution, soil organic matter, cation exchange capacity, nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium) [9,10,12,15,21] can be used for this purpose. Different types of information can be integrated to define MZs by using a clustering algorithm.…”