Sustainable land management practices as providers of several ecosystem services under rainfed Mediterranean agroecosystems

Beneficial effects of reduced tillage and green manure on soil aggregation and stabilization of organic carbon in a Mediterranean agroecosystem

“…The consistently higher annual above ground biomass values reported previously for RTG relative to RT (on average 182 and 114 g m À2 , respectively; Almagro et al, 2013), which parallel belowground biomass inputs, together with the higher C concentration of the free-LF fraction (an indicator of the input of plant material) and higher microbial C in the surface layer for RTG (Table 1), were key factors promoting soil aggregation processes and OC protection (Denef et al, 2001;Abiven et al, 2007). The effect of common oat (A. sativa) and leguminous biomass (labile and nitrogen-rich) incorporation, speeding up soil aggregation and enhancing the OC concentration, has been demonstrated previously (Blanco-Canqui and Lal, 2004;Palm et al, 2014) and several authors have pointed out the crucial role of labile organic C fractions as aggregatestabilizing agents, which ultimately improve macroaggregate formation (Degens, 1997).…”

“…Most of the experimental studies focused on the impacts of agriculture management practices on SOC dynamics have been performed under extensive cereal and irrigated crops in temperate (Virto et al, 2011;Dimassi et al, 2014) or Mediterranean areas (Álvaro-Fuentes et al, 2009;Macinelli et al, 2010;López-Garrido et al, 2014). However, very few studies have been carried out under rainfed tree crops in semiarid areas -where these crops represent a significant proportion of the total agricultural production (Nieto et al, 2012;Almagro et al, 2013). Moreover, only a few studies were orientated to determine the effects of the conservation agriculture practices on SOC pools and to elucidate how OC interacts physically and chemically with aggregates as well as with mineral particles.…”

Impacts of Global Change on Mediterranean Forests and Their Services

“…Some promising and successful results have already been attained that preserve and protect the most important ecosystem services, such as biodiversity, water storage or soil quality, which can be effectively defended against global change with appropriate methods based on scientific knowledge and technical applications [257]. These initiatives are consistent with the need to base management strategies on both the knowledge generated by previous scientific studies and on modern and appropriate technologies [258][259][260], with as much social support as possible [261]). …”

An assessment of soil erosion prevention by vegetation in Mediterranean Europe: Current trends of ecosystem service provision

“…Soil erosion is one of the main environmental problems in European Mediterranean agro-forestry systems (García-Ruiz, 2010) and for the sustainability of important ecosystems (Almagro et al, 2013;Arnaez et al, 2011). Several legislative and scientific initiatives have focussed on this issue since the late 1950s and recently the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection (TSSP) defined a coherent framework for the assessment of European soils (CEC, 2006).…”