Estimating soil degradation in montane grasslands of North-eastern Italian Alps (Italy)

Torresani, Loris; Wu, Jianshuang; Masin, Roberta; Penasa, M.; Tarolli, Paolo

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01825

Cited by 22 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…The main consequence of under-grazing or complete disappearance of permanent pastures has been a progressive entry of shrubs and trees (Cislaghi et al, 2019), but also the abandonment of centuries-old land setting. As a consequence of rural exodus toward cities and coastal areas, in estimating soil degradation in mountain grasslands of the Autonomous Province of Trento (northeastern Italian Alps), Torresani et al (2019) observed that the increase in the number of livestock, combined with scarce grazing management and climatic and geomorphic processes, may lead to a general degradation of land setting systems in pastureland. In similar context, drastic interventions of sustainable management of grassland have to be planned in case of widespread erosion, so as to rehabilitate degraded lands, preventing soil losses, and introducing sustainable management of grassland.…”

Section: Venetomentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of land set-up systems on soil (physicochemical) conditions

et al. 2020

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Land reclamation and drainage networks represent one of the most ancient human modifications of the Italian soilscape, where tailored land set-up systems were developed in agro- and forestecosystems in three millennia of man’s activity. Most of once manually maintained land settings are currently scarcely working or even disappeared because of the cost needed for their maintenance and the advent of mechanization that have simplified the field organization. The scarce attention to the soil experienced in the last decades, has accelerated soil erosion and flooding events, which entailed high costs in terms of money and human lives, but also caused reduction of soil thickness, water holding capacity, and fertility. In view of a sustainable agriculture, it is mandatory to assess the role of land set-up systems, which for centuries have been key in protecting soil from erosion, but also in increasing soil fertility. Such an effort cannot be made without considering the different pedo-climatic conditions and land uses of the Italian territory, which is different with respect to the past because of the multiple transformations made to favour the mechanization of agriculture. In this review we discuss the main effect of Italian land settings on the soilscape and on soil physicochemical conditions. Since land settings were developed centuries ago, detailed information about their effect on specific soil parameters is scarce in the scientific literature; thus, in some case, we provide information gathered in places where land set-up systems are still present.

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Section: Venetomentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of land set-up systems on soil (physicochemical) conditions

et al. 2020

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“…In steep Alpine grasslands, shallow erosion is an abundant phenomenon, which results in a large number of relatively wellconstrained spots, where the bare earth (soil, unconsolidated sediments or bedrock) is exposed (Wiegand and Geitner, 2013). The development of such eroded areas can be initiated by different processes, such as trampling and grazing by cattle (Torresani et al, 2019), shallow landsliding (Cruden and Varnes, 1996), as well as abrasion and stripping of the vegetation and topsoil by snow gliding (Wiegand and Geitner, 2013;Höller et al, 2014).…”

Section: Erosion Studies Using Laser Scanningmentioning

confidence: 99%

3d Point Errors and Change Detection Accuracy of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Laser Scanning Data

Mayr

Bremer

Rutzinger

2020

ISPRS Ann. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci.

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Abstract. Unmanned aerial vehicle laser scanning (ULS) has recently become available for operational mapping and monitoring (e.g. for forestry applications or erosion studies). It combines advantages of terrestrial and airborne laser scanning, but there is still little proof of ULS accuracy. For the detection and monitoring of small-magnitude surfaces changes with multitemporal point clouds, an estimate of the level of detection (LOD) is required. The LOD is a threshold applied on distance measurements to separate real surface change (e.g. due to erosion or deposition by geomorphic processes) from errors. This paper investigates key components of the error budget for two ULS point clouds acquired for erosion monitoring at a grassland site in the Alps. In addition to the registration error and effects of the local surface roughness, we assess the positional uncertainties of each point that result from laser footprint effects, which are a function of the scanning geometry (including range, incidence angle and beam divergence). By removing erroneous points with an increasingly stricter point error criterion, we illustrate that the positional point errors strongly affect the LOD and discuss how this type of error can be mitigated. Moreover, our experimental results with three different surface classes (bare earth and rock, buildings and grassland) show that the level of detection tends to be slightly better for areas with bare earth and rock than for grass-covered areas (due to their roughness). For all these surface types reliable distance measurements are possible with sub-decimetre levels of detection.

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“…In context to land restoration, degradation of high altitude pastureland leading to soil erosion nowadays have become a matter of great concern. Some of the examples of such lands include, montane grasslands of the north-eastern Italian Alps (Italy) 6 , Asteroussia Mountains (Greece) 7 , and High Himalayas in Nepal and India 8 .Therefore, restoration of alpine pastures is a global need. Some restoration guidelines available for low altitude forest and degraded lands include Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM) 9 , International principles and standards for the practice of ecological restoration, Ecological Restoration Guidelines for British Columbia 10 and Assessing Landscape Restoration Opportunities for Uttarakhand, India, etc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dayara bugyal restoration model in the alpine and subalpine region of the Central Himalaya: a step toward minimizing the impacts

Kuniyal

Maiti

Kumar

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Eco-restoration initiative work in the high altitude Dayara pastureland (3501 m) from the Indian Himalayan Region has been considered to be one of the successful field demonstration against both natural and anthropogenic degradation. The present study therefore attempts to assess the implications of entire eco-restoration model as practiced by Department of Forest, Government of Uttarakhand in 2019. Its assessment was done by calculating restoration success index by way of considering three categories, viz., direct management measure (M), environmental desirability (E) and socio-economic feasibility (SE) considering 22 individual variables. ‘M’ comprised both biotic and abiotic pressures. Grazing and tourism were biotic, while abiotic pressure was considered mainly soil erosion in alpine area due to topographic fragility. Above ground vegetation profile and below ground soil nutrient profile (N, P, K, pH and water holding capacity) were analyzed in ‘E’ component. In the last but not least, ‘SE’ was analyzed to assess the social acceptability of the local communities and stakeholders who are supposed to be ultimate beneficiary of alike interventions. Direct management measure was found with the variable index score of 0.8 indicating the higher score as compared to environmental desirability (0.56). Under direct management measure, grazing and tourists’ carrying capacity of the area was analyzed with high management needs to call the region sustainable in terms of availability of bio-resources. The ecosystem index score was evaluated for the reference (81.94), treated (64.5) and untreated zones (52.03), wherein increasing profile of these values were found. The outcomes like improved vegetation profile in terms of total herb density, soil nutrient profile of the restored area along with soil pH (4.96) and water holding capacity (49.85%) were found to be restored significantly along with controlling 169.64 tonne year-1 soil erosion from draining. The assessment of grazing pattern of 118 migratory Cow Unit (CU) (76 horse/mule and 18 sheep/goat, already controlled), 318 local CU (30 horse/mule and 187 sheep/goat) were calculated and recommended to be controlled. Tourists’ carrying capacity of 274 tourists per day and manual removal of Rumex nepalensis at the shepherd camping site were found to be worth to apply in the area. Use of biodegradable but locally sourced material and engaging local villagers in this endeavor were also found to be in harmony with SDG Goal 1 (no poverty). Therefore, the restoration and its evaluation model could have its future prospects to prove as a successful restoration practice. This restoration practice could not only be worth in high altitude degraded alpine pastures of the Indian Himalayan Region but also to other mountain alpine and sub-alpine ecosystems.

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Estimating soil degradation in montane grasslands of North-eastern Italian Alps (Italy)

Cited by 22 publications

References 50 publications

Role of land set-up systems on soil (physicochemical) conditions

Role of land set-up systems on soil (physicochemical) conditions

3d Point Errors and Change Detection Accuracy of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Laser Scanning Data

Dayara bugyal restoration model in the alpine and subalpine region of the Central Himalaya: a step toward minimizing the impacts

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