The impact of water erosion on global maize and wheat productivity

Carr, Tony W.; Balkovič, Juraj; Dodds, Paul E.; Folberth, Christian; Skalský, Rastislav

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2021.107655

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…In addition to the redistribution of SOM, the erosional effect on plants may also induce large differences in SOC and TN between erosional and depositional sites. Significantly different net primary productivity was typically found in the erosional and depositional sites, which decreased the input of plant residues and further decreased the SOC and TN in the erosional site (Carr et al., 2021). Another explanation for the low N concentration in the erosional phases is the reduction in N bioavailability (Qiu et al., 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil erosion alters the composition of soil nitrogen and induces nitrogen immobilization along a sloping agricultural landscape

Shi,

Zhang,

Wang

et al. 2024

Soil Use and Management

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Soil erosion transports and redistributes sediment across the landscape, altering soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (N) availability and stocks. However, the effect of erosion on soil N remains largely unclear. In this study, SOC, soil total N (TN), mineral N ( and ), dissolved organic N (DON) and total dissolved N (TDN) were evaluated in 100‐cm soil profiles in different sites (including the non‐erosion flat site, erosional site and depositional site) to examine the responses of the concentration and composition of soil N to different erosional intensity. Additionally, N mineralization and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) were determined to evaluate the bioavailability of soil N. Our results showed that erosion depleted TN in the erosional sites while enriching it in the depositional site throughout the soil profile. The erosion, rather than the deposition, altered the composition of dissolved N, with TDN (DON and mineral N) dominating deeper soil profiles (40–100 cm, accounting for 18%–50% of TN). The wide soil C:N ratio in the erosional site altered microbial metabolism to mine N to maintain their growth rather than mineralizing organic matter into soil bioavailable forms. This was supported by the net N mineralization (Nm), which exhibited a significant negative correlation with MBN and soil C:N ratio. The imbalanced loss of SOC and TN caused by the erosion induces soil N limitations. Collectively, our results suggested that erosion decreased TN concentrations and altered the composition of dissolved N, inducing N immobilization and decreasing soil bioavailable N.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil erosion alters the composition of soil nitrogen and induces nitrogen immobilization along a sloping agricultural landscape

Shi,

Zhang,

Wang

et al. 2024

Soil Use and Management

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“…Besides the degree of slope and vegetation cover, the precipitation in KwaZulu-Natal influenced soil erosion with a weight factor of 18%. Excessive water could remove the top soil, degrade the soil structure and initiate excess water stress during growing stages which often results in low maize productivity 29 , 89 . This finding showed that extreme precipitation variability could become a threat to maize production when the water management in crop production is neglected.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of climate extreme events and their causality on maize yield in South Africa

Simanjuntak,

Gaiser,

Ahrends

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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Extreme climate events can have a significant negative impact on maize productivity, resulting in food scarcity and socioeconomic losses. Thus, quantifying their effect is needed for developing future adaptation and mitigation strategies, especially for countries relying on maize as a staple crop, such as South Africa. While several studies have analyzed the impact of climate extremes on maize yields in South Africa, little is known on the quantitative contribution of combined extreme events to maize yield variability and the causality link of extreme events. This study uses existing stress indices to investigate temporal and spatial patterns of heatwaves, drought, and extreme precipitation during maize growing season between 1986/87 and 2015/16 for South Africa provinces and at national level and quantifies their contribution to yield variability. A causal discovery algorithm was applied to investigate the causal relationship among extreme events. At the province and national levels, heatwaves and extreme precipitation showed no significant trend. However, drought severity increased in several provinces. The modified Combined Stress Index (CSIm) model showed that the maize yield nationwide was associated with drought events (explaining 25% of maize yield variability). Heatwaves has significant influence on maize yield variability (35%) in Free State. In North West province, the maize yield variability (46%) was sensitive to the combination of drought and extreme precipitation. The causal analysis suggests that the occurrence of heatwaves intensified drought, while a causal link between heatwaves and extreme precipitation was not detected. The presented findings provide a deeper insight into the sensitivity of yield data to climate extremes and serve as a basis for future studies on maize yield anomalies.

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“…climate, land cover, terrain morphology) using machine learning at a spatial resolution of 250 m. According to its source, 96 soil profiles were observed in Ecuador for predict soil features at six depth intervals (0–2 m). We downloaded the profile for the top soil layer (0–5 cm) as is considered the most affect by erosion by water [ 70 ], and for four features: sand, silt, clay and organic carbon percentage content. We downscaled them to 100 m with the method and covariates described in Section 3.1, as they are also observed to predict soil textures [ 71 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of soil erosion and climate change on the built heritage of the Pambamarca Fortress Complex in northern Ecuador

et al. 2023

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The Pambamarca fortress complex in northern Ecuador is a cultural and built heritage with 18 prehispanic fortresses known as Pucaras. They are mostly located on the ridge of the Pambamarca volcano, which is severely affected by erosion. In this research, we implemented a multiscale methodology to identify sheet, rill and gully erosion in the context of climate change for the prehistoric sites. In a first phase, we coupled the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and four CMIP6 climate models to evaluate and prioritize which Pucaras are prone to sheet and rill erosion, after comparing historical and future climate scenarios. Then, we conducted field visits to collect geophotos and soil samples for validation purposes, as well as drone flight campaigns to derive high resolution digital elevation models and identify gully erosion with the stream power index. Our erosion maps achieved an overall accuracy of 0.75 when compared with geophotos and correlated positively with soil samples sand fraction. The Pucaras evaluated with the historical climate scenario obtained erosion rates ranging between 0 and 20 ton*ha-1*yr-1. These rates also varied from -15.7% to 39.1% for four future climate change models that reported extreme conditions. In addition, after identifying and overflying six Pucaras that showed the highest erosion rates in the future climate models, we mapped their gully-prone areas that represented between 0.9% and 3.2% of their analyzed areas. The proposed methodology allowed us to observe how the design of the Pucaras and their concentric terraces have managed to reduce gully erosion, but also to notice the pressures they suffer due to their susceptibility to erosion, anthropic pressures and climate change. To address this, we suggest management strategies to guide the protection of this cultural and built heritage landscapes.

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The impact of water erosion on global maize and wheat productivity

Cited by 9 publications

References 69 publications

Soil erosion alters the composition of soil nitrogen and induces nitrogen immobilization along a sloping agricultural landscape

Soil erosion alters the composition of soil nitrogen and induces nitrogen immobilization along a sloping agricultural landscape

Impact of climate extreme events and their causality on maize yield in South Africa

Impacts of soil erosion and climate change on the built heritage of the Pambamarca Fortress Complex in northern Ecuador

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