Evaluating the desertification vulnerability of a semiarid landscape under different land uses with the environmental sensitivity index

Gül, Ebru; Erşahin, Sabit

doi:10.1002/ldr.3269

Cited by 20 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 41 publications

(60 reference statements)

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“…The restoration of organic matter (OM) in croplands represents a challenge for the sustainable advance of agro‐ecosystems, since soil OM (SOM) loss is the foremost cause of degradation of soil quality and reduction of crop productivity (Ostle, Levy, Evans, & Smith, ). The need for a sustainable SOM management is even more important in Mediterranean soils where 74% of land contains less than 2% of OC in the topsoil and is exposed to intensive cropping practices, low rates of SOM inputs, degradation of soil structural stability, with consequent raising risk of erosion and desertification, and increasing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) (Aguilera et al, ; Gül & Erşahin, ). A progressive effort is hence required in Mediterranean agroecosystems to adopt suitable management practices to regress the decline of SOM and enhance the potential of cropped soils to become active sink of organic carbon (OC).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Amendments with humified compost effectively sequester organic carbon in agricultural soils

Spaccini¹,

Piccolo²

2020

Land Degrad Dev

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Preventing degradation of soil quality and productivity entails development of sustainable practices to enhance soil organic matter. We followed soil organic carbon (OC) accumulation during 3 years long‐field experiments in two different Italian soils under conventional tillage (TRA), reduced tillage (MIN), green manure (GM) and two rates (low, CMPL, and, high, CMPH) of mature compost amendments. Despite soil textures differences, CMP additions enhanced in both field sites OC accumulation in either bulk soils or water‐stable aggregates (WSA), especially for CMPH, that was more pronounced than for MIN and GM. While the sum of OC in WSA showed an average retention of 80–90% of cumulative carbon added with compost, incorporated OC in WSA of MIN and GM reached only 26 and 55% of total carbon amended with fresh biomass for the light and heavy textured soils, respectively. Hence, MIN and GM accumulated SOC only up to the physical saturation limit dictated by soil texture, whereas CMP retained a larger additional SOC than TRA due to hydrophobic affinity among apolar domains progressively added to soil with humified compost. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of humus extracted after the first and third treatment year confirmed this behaviour. While no changes were observed in spectra for MIN and GM, humic extracts from CMP showed significantly larger content of apolar alkyl and aromatic moieties after the third experimental year. Our results suggest that soil amendment with well humified compost is an effective practice to sequester carbon into agricultural soils, besides improving their organic fertility.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Amendments with humified compost effectively sequester organic carbon in agricultural soils

Spaccini¹,

Piccolo²

2020

Land Degrad Dev

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“…A non-parametric analysis of variance assured an additional verification of significant differences in each individual metric across soil sensitivity classes, i.e., comparing potentially affected, fragile, and critical land and identifying peculiar (structural and functional) traits of the related landscape [ 3 , 35 , 81 ]. The results of this approach informed strategies of sustainable land management based on a comprehensive investigation of landscape configuration as far as the different degrees of sensitivity are concerned [ 10 , 82 , 83 ]. The results of these analyses were found to be in line with the predictions of the Italian National Action Plan and the implementation of many Regional Action Plans to combat desertification.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Found in Complexity, Lost in Fragmentation: Putting Soil Degradation in a Landscape Ecology Perspective

Hälbac-Cotoară-Zamfir

Polinesi

Chelli

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) assumes spatial disparities in land resources as a key driver of soil degradation and early desertification processes all over the world. Although regional divides in soil quality have been frequently observed in Mediterranean-type ecosystems, the impact of landscape configuration on the spatial distribution of sensitive soils was poorly investigated in Southern Europe, an affected region sensu UNCCD. Our study proposes a spatially explicit analysis of 16 ecological metrics (namely, patch size and shape, fragmentation, interspersion, and juxtaposition) applied to three classes of a landscape with different levels of exposure to land degradation (‘non-affected’, ‘fragile’, and ‘critical’). Land classification was based on the Environmentally Sensitive Area Index (ESAI) calculated for Italy at 3 time points along a 50-year period (1960, 1990, 2010). Ecological metrics were calculated at both landscape and class scale and summarized for each Italian province—a relevant policy scale for the Italian National Action Plan (NAP) to combat desertification. With the mean level of soil sensitivity rising over time almost everywhere in Italy, ‘non-affected’ land became more fragmented, the number of ‘fragile’ and ‘critical’ patches increased significantly, and the average patch size of both classes followed the same trend. Such dynamics resulted in intrinsically disordered landscapes, with (i) larger (and widely connected) ‘critical’ land patches, (ii) spatially diffused and convoluted ‘fragile’ land patches, and (iii) a more interspersed and heterogeneous matrix of ‘non affected’ land. Based on these results, we discussed the effects of increasing numbers and sizes of ‘critical’ patches in terms of land degradation. A sudden expansion of ‘critical’ land may determine negative environmental consequences since (i) the increasing number of these patches may trigger desertification risk and (ii) the buffering effect of neighboring, non-affected land is supposed to be less efficient, and this contains a downward spiral toward land degradation less effectively. Policy strategies proposed in the NAPs of affected countries are required to account more explicitly on the intrinsic, spatio-temporal evolution of ‘critical’ land patches in affected regions.

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“…vegetation cover change etc.) (Ajai et al, 2009,Šarapatka et al, 2010, Kust et al, 2011, Jiang et al, 2019a, Jiang et al, 2019b, Gul and Ersahin, 2019. Monitoring of drought/aridification is a common way to evaluate the risk of desertification in regions that have been suffering from drought like countries in Western Asia (Erian et al, 2011, Elagib andAbdu, 1997), in S Asia (Shahid and Behrawan, 2008), E Asia (Wang et al, 2017) and E Europe (Lupu et al, 2010, Mateescu et al, 2013.…”

Section: Insert Table 5 Herementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Desertification has turned into a significant land degradation problem in the geographical regions that have been engaged with the BRI program, particularly in the "Belt " terrestrial routes and economic corridors (Dregne, 2002, Dregne andChou, 1992). For example, in Central Asia (Behnke, 2008, Jin et al, 2012, Jiang et al, 2019a, Jiang et al, 2019b, North China (Wang et al, 2008, Xu et al, 2019a, Xu et al, 2019b and Western Asia (Haktanir et al, 2004, EI Shaer, 2015, Darwish et al, 2004, Bayram andÖztürk, 2014, Amin, 2004, Alvi, 1995, Gul et al, 2019.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Desertification and its control along the route of China’s “Belt and Road Initiative”: A critical review

Zang

Chan

et al. 2020

Preprint

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The "Belt and Road Initiative" (BRI) was anticipated in 2013 to promote socioeconomic development and cooperation across countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and worldwide. Rapid land-use changes and infrastructure developments driven by the BRI program are expected in the coming decades. These anthropogenic effects are likely to exaggerate the process of de-vegetation, deforestation, accelerating desertification, which is one of the major threats to the BRI region. This manuscript studied the desertification facts (i.e. spatiotemporal pattern, impacts and impacting factors) and investigated key aspects for desertification control (i.e. mitigation and evaluation methods) in the BRI countries via an extensive review of literature. We found that desertification has been prevalent in the BRI countries, predominantly in C Asia, but quantitative assessment of desertification is yet fully understood. This review illustrated that desertification was driven by climatic dryness and mis-land-use/management activities, but their relative importance has yet been (quantitatively) assessed along the BRI countries. Given the negative impacts of desertification, these BRI countries have ratified the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) to reduce negative impacts. The implementation of desertification mitigation programmes are currently still lacking. We argued that desertification is usually evaluated via four type of approaches, including quantitative approaches, indirect detection, direct observation and biophysical measurement (e.g. vegetation growth). Future research should be applied by considering the research scope and data availability. Overall, we conclude that BRI countries should carry out transboundary control on desertification. Otherwise, this issue is likely to extend further imminent developments under the foremost BRI program.

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Evaluating the desertification vulnerability of a semiarid landscape under different land uses with the environmental sensitivity index

Cited by 20 publications

References 41 publications

Amendments with humified compost effectively sequester organic carbon in agricultural soils

Amendments with humified compost effectively sequester organic carbon in agricultural soils

Found in Complexity, Lost in Fragmentation: Putting Soil Degradation in a Landscape Ecology Perspective

Desertification and its control along the route of China’s “Belt and Road Initiative”: A critical review

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