Soil Resilience and Conservation

Blanco‐Canqui, Humberto; Lal, Rattan

doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-8709-7_16

Cited by 11 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Natural restorative processes give most soils an inherent capacity to recover at least somewhat from negative effects of agricultural practices, with the rate and magnitude of soil recovery dependent on the speed of these processes (Blanco‐Canqui & Lal ). Physical processes such as shrink‐swell in soils with expanding 2:1 clays (Barzegar et al ) and freeze–thaw in northern latitudes (Henry ) can help loosen compacted soils.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recovery of soil productivity with forest succession on abandoned agricultural land

Piché

Kelting

2015

Restoration Ecology

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Much of the primary forest in the eastern United States that was converted to farmland between 1600 and 1900 has reverted back to second growth forest as a result of agriculture abandonment. This reversion back to forest gives soil productivity a chance to recover, though the rates of recovery are not well understood. Understanding the legacy effects of past disturbances like agriculture can provide important insights to support ecological restoration efforts on disturbed soils. Our goal with this study was to further understand the effects of forest development on soil productivity after agriculture abandonment. We used a chronosequence approach to examine soil properties over a 60‐year temporal scale of forest development on abandoned agricultural lands in Saratoga and Rensselaer Counties in New York, U.S.A. We measured soil properties within this chronosequence to test the hypothesis that there would be measurable recoveries of soil physical properties and fertility over time. We observed rapid recovery of physical properties (lower bulk density and higher macroporosity) of surface soils within 5–10 years after agricultural abandonment. However, we found a legacy effect of agricultural compaction still evident in subsoils, with soil strength measurements indicating that past agricultural practices still limited root growth 55–60 years after abandonment. Soil percent organic matter and mineralizable nitrogen (N) both increased with forest development, but biomass accumulation may be slowed by limited root growth in the subsoil due to high strength. We recommend assessing subsoil physical properties when developing ecological restoration plans for agricultural lands.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recovery of soil productivity with forest succession on abandoned agricultural land

Piché

Kelting

2015

Restoration Ecology

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“…Land abandonment is also frequent in southern European landscapes owing to either lack of productivity or to obtain eligibility for environmental aid, particularly in the process of restructuring and converting vineyards . The study of the consequences of soil abandonment is worthy, as time can play for or against the trend of soil recovery (Blanco‐Canqui & Lal, ) because the gains, losses and interactions between living organisms, soil, organic carbon, water and nutrients depend on the prevalence of degradation processes or recovery processes, which can be ultimately the result of random climatic processes related to the amount, duration and intensity of rainfalls or droughts. Despite a number of studies focusing on the soil cover by re‐establishment of vegetation, information is generally lacking on the corresponding changes to soil physical properties (Deuchars et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of land‐use intensity on soil organic carbon content, soil structure and water‐holding capacity

Acín-Carrera

Marques

Carral

et al. 2013

Soil Use and Management

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The impact of land‐use intensity is evaluated through changes in the soil properties in different areas of the traditional central Spanish landscape. Soil organic carbon (SOC) content, bulk density, aggregate stability and water‐holding capacity (WHC) in the topsoil of active and abandoned vineyards, livestock routes (LR) and young Quercus afforested areas were analysed. These different types of land use can be interpreted as having a gradient of progressively less impact on soil functions or conservation. As soil use intensity declines, there is an increase in SOC content (from 0.2 to 0.6%), WHC (from 0.2 to 0.3 g H2O per g soil) and aggregate stability (from 4 to 33 drop impacts). Soils beneath vines have lost their upper horizon (15 cm depth) because of centuries‐old tillage management of vineyards. Except for an increase in bulk density (from 1.2 to 1.4 g/cm3), there were no differences in soil characteristics 4 yr after the abandonment of vine management. LR can be considered sustainable uses of land, which preserve or improve soil characteristics, as there were no significant differences between topsoil from LR and that from a 40‐yr‐old Quercus afforested area. SOC content, one of the main indicators for soil conservation, is considered very low in every case analysed, even in the more conservative uses of land. These data can be useful in understanding the slow rate of recovery of soils, even after long‐term cessation of agricultural land use.

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“…Cropland under forest canopies often exposes soil to erosion, especially in the extremely steep terrains [ 63 , 64 ]. In addition, land degradation is likely to happen as more fertile soil is washed away.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unveiling Undercover Cropland Inside Forests Using Landscape Variables: A Supplement to Remote Sensing Image Classification

et al. 2015

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The worldwide demand for food has been increasing due to the rapidly growing global population, and agricultural lands have increased in extent to produce more food crops. The pattern of cropland varies among different regions depending on the traditional knowledge of farmers and availability of uncultivated land. Satellite images can be used to map cropland in open areas but have limitations for detecting undergrowth inside forests. Classification results are often biased and need to be supplemented with field observations. Undercover cropland inside forests in the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia was assessed using field observed percentage cover of land use/land cover classes, and topographic and location parameters. The most influential factors were identified using Boosted Regression Trees and used to map undercover cropland area. Elevation, slope, easterly aspect, distance to settlements, and distance to national park were found to be the most influential factors determining undercover cropland area. When there is very high demand for growing food crops, constrained under restricted rights for clearing forest, cultivation could take place within forests as an undercover. Further research on the impact of undercover cropland on ecosystem services and challenges in sustainable management is thus essential.

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Soil Resilience and Conservation

Cited by 11 publications

References 29 publications

Recovery of soil productivity with forest succession on abandoned agricultural land

Recovery of soil productivity with forest succession on abandoned agricultural land

Impacts of land‐use intensity on soil organic carbon content, soil structure and water‐holding capacity

Unveiling Undercover Cropland Inside Forests Using Landscape Variables: A Supplement to Remote Sensing Image Classification

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