Sample records for agricultural land loss

  1. Urbanization and agricultural land loss in India: comparing satellite estimates with census data.

    PubMed

    Pandey, Bhartendu; Seto, Karen C

    2015-01-15

    We examine the impacts of urbanization on agricultural land loss in India from 2001 to 2010. We combined a hierarchical classification approach with econometric time series analysis to reconstruct land-cover change histories using time series MODIS 250 m VI images composited at 16-day intervals and night time lights (NTL) data. We compared estimates of agricultural land loss using satellite data with agricultural census data. Our analysis highlights six key results. First, agricultural land loss is occurring around smaller cities more than around bigger cities. Second, from 2001 to 2010, each state lost less than 1% of its total geographical area due to agriculture to urban expansion. Third, the northeastern states experienced the least amount of agricultural land loss. Fourth, agricultural land loss is largely in states and districts which have a larger number of operational or approved SEZs. Fifth, urban conversion of agricultural land is concentrated in a few districts and states with high rates of economic growth. Sixth, agricultural land loss is predominantly in states with higher agricultural land suitability compared to other states. Although the total area of agricultural land lost to urban expansion has been relatively low, our results show that since 2006, the amount of agricultural land converted has been increasing steadily. Given that the preponderance of India's urban population growth has yet to occur, the results suggest an increase in the conversion of agricultural land going into the future. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Urban Expansion: a Geo-Spatial Approach for Temporal Monitoring of Loss of Agricultural Land

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sumari, N. S.; Shao, Z.; Huang, M.; Sanga, C. A.; Van Genderen, J. L.

    2017-09-01

    This paper presents some preliminary results from research on monitoring the urban growth of Shenzhen in China. Agriculture is still the pillar of national economies in many countries including China. Thus, agriculture contributes to population growth. Population growth follows either exponential or logistic growth models. These models can be examined using a time-series of geospatial data, mainly historical earth observation imagery from satellites such as LANDSAT. Such multitemporal data may provide insights into settlement analysis as well as on population dynamics and hence, quantify the loss of agricultural land. In this study, LANDSAT data of ten dates, at approximately five yearly intervals from 1977 to 2017 were used. The remote sensing techniques used for analysis of data for 40 years were image selection, then followed by geometric and radiometric corrections and mosaicking. Also, classification, remote sensing image fusion, and change detection methods were used. This research extracted the information on the amount, direction, and speed of urbanization, and hence, the number of hectares of agricultural land lost due to urban expansion. Several specific elements were used in the descriptive model of landscape changes and population dynamics of the city of Shenzhen in China. These elements are: i) quantify the urban changes, from a small town (37.000 people in the early 1970's) to the megalopolis of around 20 million habitants today. ii) Examining the rate of urban extension on the loss of agricultural landscape and population growth. iii) The loss of food production was analysed against the economic growth in the region. iv) The aspects of loss of agricultural land, area of built-up urban land, and increase in population are studied quantitatively, by the temporal analysis of earth observation geospatial data. The experimental results from this study show that the proposed method is effective in determining loss of agricultural land in any city due to

  3. Soil respiration and carbon loss relationship with temperature and land use conversion in freeze-thaw agricultural area.

    PubMed

    Ouyang, Wei; Lai, Xuehui; Li, Xia; Liu, Heying; Lin, Chunye; Hao, Fanghua

    2015-11-15

    Soil respiration (Rs) was hypothesized to have a special response pattern to soil temperature and land use conversion in the freeze-thaw area. The Rs differences of eight types of land use conversions during agricultural development were observed and the impacts of Rs on soil organic carbon (SOC) loss were assessed. The land use conversions during last three decades were categorized into eight types, and the 141 SOC sampling sites were grouped by conversion type. The typical soil sampling sites were subsequently selected for monitoring of soil temperature and Rs of each land use conversion types. The Rs correlations with temperature at difference depths and different conversion types were identified with statistical analysis. The empirical mean error model and the biophysical theoretical model with Arrhenius equation about the Rs sensitivity to temperature were both analyzed and shared the similar patterns. The temperature dependence of soil respiration (Q10) analysis further demonstrated that the averaged value of eight types of land use in this freeze-thaw agricultural area ranged from 1.15 to 1.73, which was lower than the other cold areas. The temperature dependence analysis demonstrated that the Rs in the top layer of natural land covers was more sensitive to temperature and experienced a large vertical difference. The natural land covers exhibited smaller Rs and the farmlands had the bigger value due to tillage practices. The positive relationships between SOC loss and Rs were identified, which demonstrated that Rs was the key chain for SOC loss during land use conversion. The spatial-vertical distributions of SOC concentration with the 1.5-km grid sampling showed that the more SOC loss in the farmland, which was coincided with the higher Rs in farmlands. The analysis of Rs dynamics provided an innovative explanation for SOC loss in the freeze-thaw agricultural area. The analysis of Rs dynamics provided an innovative explanation for SOC loss in the freeze

  4. Reduction of suspended solid and nutrient loss from agricultural lands by tailwater recovery systems

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Best management practices are being implemented throughout the Lower Mississippi River Alluvial Valley with the aim of alleviating pressures placed on downstream aquatic systems by sediment and nutrient losses from agricultural land; however, research evaluating the performance of one practice, tail...

  5. Agricultural Land Conversion: Background and Issues.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Furuseth, Owen J.

    1982-01-01

    Analyzes forces contributing to the conversion of agricultural land for other uses, causes for the depletion of the land, major issues surrounding the loss of farmland, and current policies designed to control haphazard land conversion. Concludes that the United States lacks a national farmland protection policy. (KC)

  6. Mapping environmental land use conflict potentials and ecosystem services in agricultural watersheds.

    PubMed

    Kim, Ilkwon; Arnhold, Sebastian

    2018-07-15

    In mountainous watersheds, agricultural land use cause changes in ecosystem services, with trade-offs between crop production and erosion regulation. Management of these watersheds can generate environmental land use conflicts among regional stakeholders with different interests. Although several researches have made a start in mapping land use conflicts between human activities and conservation, spatial assessment of land use conflicts on environmental issues and ecosystem service trade-offs within agricultural areas has not been fully considered. In this study, we went further to map land use conflicts between agricultural preferences for crop production and environmental emphasis on erosion regulation. We applied an agricultural land suitability index, based on multi-criteria analysis, to estimate the spatial preference of agricultural activities, while applying the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) to reflect the environmental importance of soil erosion. Then, we classified the agricultural catchment into four levels of land use conflicts (lowest, low, high and highest) according to preference and importance of farmland areas, and we compared the classes by crop type. Soil loss in agricultural areas was estimated as 45.1thayr, and agricultural suitability as 0.873; this indicated that land use conflicts in the catchment could arise between severe soil erosion (environmental importance) and agricultural suitability (land preferences). Dry-field farms are mainly located in areas of low land use conflict level, where land preference outweighs environmental importance. When we applied farmland management scenarios with consideration of services, conversion to highest-conflict areas (Scenario 1) as 7.5% of the total area could reduce soil loss by 24.6%, while fallow land management (Scenario 2) could decrease soil loss 19.4% more than the current scenario (Business as usual). The result could maximize land management plans by extracting issues of spatial

  7. Estimation of phosphorous loss from agricultural land in the Heartland region of the U.S.A. using the APEX model

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Accurate phosphorus (P) loss estimation from agricultural land is important for development of best management practices and protection of water quality. The Agricultural Policy/Environmental Extender (APEX) model is a powerful simulation model designed to simulate edge-of-field water, sediment, an...

  8. Risk evaluation of available phosphorus loss in agricultural land based on remote sensing and GIS

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ding, Xiaodong; Zhou, Bin; Xu, Junfeng; Liu, Ting; Xie, Bin

    2010-09-01

    The surplus of phosphorus leads to water eutrophication. Huge input of fertilizers in agricultural activities enriches nutrition in soil. The superfluous nutrient moves easily to riparian water by rainfall and surface runoff; leads to water eutrophication of riparian wetlands and downstream water; and consequently affects ecological balance. Thus it is significant to investigate the risk of phosphorus loss in agricultural land, to identify high concentration areas and guide the management of nutrition loss. This study was implemented mainly in the area of agricultural use in southern Western Australia, where a three-year period preliminary monitoring of water quality showed that the concentration of different forms of phosphorus in water had far exceeded the standard. Due to the large scale surface runoff caused by occasional storms in Western Australia, soil erosion was selected as the main driving factor for the loss of phosphorus. Remote sensing and ground truth data were used to reflect the seasonal changes of plants. The spatial distribution of available phosphorus was then predicted and combined with the evaluation matrix to evaluate the loss risk of phosphorus. This evaluation was based on quantitative rather than qualitative data to make better precision. It could help making decision support for monitoring water quality of rivers and riparian wetlands.

  9. Assessment of the intrinsic vulnerability of agricultural land to water and nitrogen losses: case studies in Italy and Greece

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aschonitis, V. G.; Mastrocicco, M.; Colombani, N.; Salemi, E.; Castaldelli, G.

    2014-09-01

    LOS indices (abbr. of Losses) can be used for the assessment of the intrinsic vulnerability of agricultural land to water and nitrogen losses through percolation and runoff. The indices were applied on the lowland region of Ferrara Province (FP) in Italy and the upland region of Sarigkiol Basin (SB) in Greece. The most vulnerable zones in FP were the coastal areas consisting of high permeability sandy dunes and the areas close to riverbanks and palaeochannels, and in SB were the areas characterized by high slopes and high permeability soils at high altitude and areas belonging to the upper part of the alluvial plain close to the boundaries between agricultural land and mountainous regions. The application of LOS indices highlighted the specific features of both lowland and upland regions that contribute to water and nitrogen losses and showed their ability for use as tools in designing environmental management plans.

  10. Nitrogen losses to the environment following food-based digestate and compost applications to agricultural land.

    PubMed

    Nicholson, Fiona; Bhogal, Anne; Cardenas, Laura; Chadwick, Dave; Misselbrook, Tom; Rollett, Alison; Taylor, Matt; Thorman, Rachel; Williams, John

    2017-09-01

    The anaerobic digestion of food waste for energy recovery produces a nutrient-rich digestate which is a valuable source of crop available nitrogen (N). As with any 'new' material being recycled to agricultural land it is important to develop best management practices that maximise crop available N supply, whilst minimising emissions to the environment. In this study, ammonia (NH 3 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions to air and nitrate (NO 3 - ) leaching losses to water following digestate, compost and livestock manure applications to agricultural land were measured at 3 sites in England and Wales. Ammonia emissions were greater from applications of food-based digestate (c.40% of total N applied) than from livestock slurry (c.30% of total N applied) due to its higher ammonium-N content (mean 5.6 kg/t compared with 1-2 kg/t for slurry) and elevated pH (mean 8.3 compared with 7.7 for slurry). Whilst bandspreading was effective at reducing NH 3 emissions from slurry compared with surface broadcasting it was not found to be an effective mitigation option for food-based digestate in this study. The majority of the NH 3 losses occurred within 6 h of spreading highlighting the importance of rapid soil incorporation as a method for reducing NH 3 emissions. Nitrous oxide losses from food-based digestates were low, with emission factors all less than the IPCC default value of 1% (mean 0.45 ± 0.15%). Overwinter NO 3 - leaching losses from food-based digestate were similar to those from pig slurry, but much greater than from pig farmyard manure or compost. Both gaseous N losses and NO 3 - leaching from green and green/food composts were low, indicating that, in these terms, compost can be considered as an 'environmentally benign' material. These findings have been used in the development of best practice guidelines which provide a framework for the responsible use of digestates and composts in agriculture. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Spatially complex land change: The Indirect effect of Brazil's agricultural sector on land use in Amazonia

    PubMed Central

    Richards, Peter D.; Walker, Robert T.; Arima, Eugenio Y.

    2014-01-01

    Soybean farming has brought economic development to parts of South America, as well as environmental hopes and concerns. A substantial hope resides in the decoupling of Brazil's agricultural sector from deforestation in the Amazon region, in which case expansive agriculture need not imply forest degradation. However, concerns have also been voiced about the potential indirect effects of agriculture. This article addresses these indirect effects forthe case of the Brazilian Amazon since 2002. Our work finds that as much as thirty-two percent of deforestation, or the loss of more than 30,000 km2 of Amazon forest, is attributable, indirectly, to Brazil's soybean sector. However, we also observe that the magnitude of the indirect impact of the agriculture sector on forest loss in the Amazon has declined markedly since 2006. We also find a shift in the underlying causes of indirect land use change in the Amazon, and suggest that land appreciation in agricultural regions has supplanted farm expansions as a source of indirect land use change. Our results are broadly congruent with recent work recognizing the success of policy changes in mitigating the impact of soybean expansion on forest loss in the Amazon. However, they also caution that the soybean sector may continue to incentivize land clearings through its impact on regional land markets. PMID:25492993

  12. The importance of agricultural lands for Himalayan birds in winter.

    PubMed

    Elsen, Paul R; Kalyanaraman, Ramnarayan; Ramesh, Krishnamurthy; Wilcove, David S

    2017-04-01

    The impacts of land-use change on biodiversity in the Himalayas are poorly known, notwithstanding widespread deforestation and agricultural intensification in this highly biodiverse region. Although intact primary forests harbor many Himalayan birds during breeding, a large number of bird species use agricultural lands during winter. We assessed how Himalayan bird species richness, abundance, and composition during winter are affected by forest loss stemming from agriculture and grazing. Bird surveys along 12 elevational transects within primary forest, low-intensity agriculture, mixed subsistence agriculture, and intensively grazed pastures in winter revealed that bird species richness and abundance were greatest in low-intensity and mixed agriculture, intermediate in grazed pastures, and lowest in primary forest at both local and landscape scales; over twice as many species and individuals were recorded in low-intensity agriculture than in primary forest. Bird communities in primary forests were distinct from those in all other land-use classes, but only 4 species were unique to primary forests. Low-, medium-, and high-intensity agriculture harbored 32 unique species. Of the species observed in primary forest, 80% had equal or greater abundance in low-intensity agricultural lands, underscoring the value of these lands in retaining diverse community assemblages at high densities in winter. Among disturbed landscapes, bird species richness and abundance declined as land-use intensity increased, especially in high-intensity pastures. Our results suggest that agricultural landscapes are important for most Himalayan bird species in winter. But agricultural intensification-especially increased grazing-will likely result in biodiversity losses. Given that forest reserves alone may inadequately conserve Himalayan birds in winter, comprehensive conservation strategies in the region must go beyond protecting intact primary forests and ensure that low-intensity agricultural

  13. The Land Use Change From Agricultural to Non-Agricultural in Bungo Regency, Jambi Province, Indonesia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dolly, Fajar Ifan; Kismartini, Kismartini; Purnaweni, Hartuti

    2018-02-01

    This study aimed at observing the development of agricultural land use in Bungo Regency, Jambi Province, for other purposes, such as plantation, mining, and other commercial buildings. According to the sustainable agriculture supposed by the government, a change in land use has become an important issue to be taken into account as such that the change does not tend to damage the environment. The research findings from Bungo Regency demonstrated the change in agricultural land into copra and rubber plantation areas. Local people had changed their mindset towards reluctance to become farmers, which caused the loss of farmer regeneration and weakened the farmer exchange rate towards the agricultural commodities.

  14. Long-term impacts of land cover changes on stream channel loss.

    PubMed

    Julian, Jason P; Wilgruber, Nicholas A; de Beurs, Kirsten M; Mayer, Paul M; Jawarneh, Rana N

    2015-12-15

    Land cover change and stream channel loss are two related global environmental changes that are expanding and intensifying. Here, we examine how different types and transitions of land cover change impact stream channel loss across a large urbanizing watershed. We present historical land cover in the 666-km(2) Lake Thunderbird watershed in central Oklahoma (USA) over a 137 year period and coinciding stream channel length changes for the most recent 70 years of this period. Combining these two datasets allowed us to assess the interaction of land cover changes with stream channel loss. Over this period, the upper third of the watershed shifted from predominantly native grassland to an agricultural landscape, followed by widespread urbanization. The lower two-thirds of the watershed changed from a forested landscape to a mosaic of agriculture, urban, forest, and open water. Most channel length lost in the watershed over time was replaced by agriculture. Urban development gradually increased channel loss and disconnection from 1942 to 2011, particularly in the headwaters. Intensities of channel loss for both agriculture and urban increased over time. The two longest connected segments of channel loss came from the creation of two large impoundments, resulting in 46 km and 25 km of lost stream channel, respectively. Overall, the results from this study demonstrate that multiple and various land-use changes over long time periods can lead to rapid losses of large channel lengths as well as gradual (but increasing) losses of small channel lengths across all stream sizes. When these stream channel losses are taken into account, the environmental impacts of anthropogenic land-use change are compounded. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Reduction of solids and nutrient loss from agricultural land by tailwater recovery systems

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Omer, A.R.; Miranda, Leandro E.; Moore, M. T.; Krutz, L. J.; Prince Czarnecki, J. M.; Kröger, R.; Baker, B. H.; Hogue, J.; Allen, P. J.

    2018-01-01

    Best management practices are being implemented throughout the Lower Mississippi River Alluvial Valley with the aim of alleviating pressures placed on downstream aquatic systems by sediment and nutrient losses from agricultural land; however, research evaluating the performance of tailwater recovery (TWR) systems, an increasingly important practice, is limited. This study evaluated the ability of TWR systems to retain sediment and nutrients draining from agricultural landscapes. Composite flow-based samples were collected during flow events (precipitation or irrigation) over a two-year period in six TWR systems. Performance was evaluated by comparing concentrations and loads in water entering TWR systems (i.e., runoff or influent) from agricultural fields to water overflow exiting TWR systems (effluent). Tailwater recovery systems did not reduce concentrations of solids and nutrients, but did reduce loads of solids, phosphorus (P), and nitrogen (N) by 43%, 32%, and 44%, respectively. Annual mean load reductions were 1,142 kg solids, 0.7 kg of P, and 3.8 kg of N. Performance of TWR systems was influenced by effluent volume, system fullness, time since the previous event, and capacity of the TWR system. Mechanistically, TWR systems retain runoff on the agricultural landscape, thereby reducing the amount of sediment and nutrients entering downstream waterbodies. System performance can be improved through manipulation of influential parameters.

  16. Agriculture: Land Use

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Land Use and agriculture. Information about land use restrictions and incentive programs.Agricultural operations sometimes involve activities regulated by laws designed to protect water supplies, threatened or endangered plants and animals, or wetlands.

  17. Urban Expansion and the Loss of Prime Agricultural Lands in Puerto Rico

    Treesearch

    T. Mitchell Aide Tania del Mar López

    2001-01-01

    In many countries where the economy has shifted from mainly agricultural to industrial, abandoned agricultural lands are lost to urbanization. For more than 4 centuries the Puerto Rican economy depended almost entirely on agriculture, but sociopolitical changes early in the 20th century resulted in a shift to industry. This shift in the economy, and an increase in...

  18. Application of the WEPS and SWEEP models to non-agricultural disturbed lands.

    PubMed

    Tatarko, J; van Donk, S J; Ascough, J C; Walker, D G

    2016-12-01

    Wind erosion not only affects agricultural productivity but also soil, air, and water quality. Dust and specifically particulate matter ≤10 μm (PM-10) has adverse effects on respiratory health and also reduces visibility along roadways, resulting in auto accidents. The Wind Erosion Prediction System (WEPS) was developed by the USDA-Agricultural Research Service to simulate wind erosion and provide for conservation planning on cultivated agricultural lands. A companion product, known as the Single-Event Wind Erosion Evaluation Program (SWEEP), has also been developed which consists of the stand-alone WEPS erosion submodel combined with a graphical interface to simulate soil loss from single (i.e., daily) wind storm events. In addition to agricultural lands, wind driven dust emissions also occur from other anthropogenic sources such as construction sites, mined and reclaimed areas, landfills, and other disturbed lands. Although developed for agricultural fields, WEPS and SWEEP are useful tools for simulating erosion by wind for non-agricultural lands where typical agricultural practices are not employed. On disturbed lands, WEPS can be applied for simulating long-term (i.e., multi-year) erosion control strategies. SWEEP on the other hand was developed specifically for disturbed lands and can simulate potential soil loss for site- and date-specific planned surface conditions and control practices. This paper presents novel applications of WEPS and SWEEP for developing erosion control strategies on non-agricultural disturbed lands. Erosion control planning with WEPS and SWEEP using water and other dust suppressants, wind barriers, straw mulch, re-vegetation, and other management practices is demonstrated herein through the use of comparative simulation scenarios. The scenarios confirm the efficacy of the WEPS and SWEEP models as valuable tools for supporting the design of erosion control plans for disturbed lands that are not only cost-effective but also incorporate

  19. The Land Cover Dynamics and Conversion of Agricultural Land in Northwestern Bangladesh, 1973-2003.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pervez, M.; Seelan, S. K.; Rundquist, B. C.

    2006-05-01

    The importance of land cover information describing the nature and extent of land resources and changes over time is increasing; this is especially true in Bangladesh, where land cover is changing rapidly. This paper presents research into the land cover dynamics of northwestern Bangladesh for the period 1973-2003 using Landsat satellite images in combination with field survey data collected in January and February 2005. Land cover maps were produced for eight different years during the study period with an average 73 percent overall classification accuracy. The classification results and post-classification change analysis showed that agriculture is the dominant land cover (occupying 74.5 percent of the study area) and is being reduced at a rate of about 3,000 ha per year. In addition, 6.7 percent of the agricultural land is vulnerable to temporary water logging annually. Despite this loss of agricultural land, irrigated agriculture increased substantially until 2000, but has since declined because of diminishing water availability and uncontrolled extraction of groundwater driven by population pressures and the extended need for food. A good agreement (r = 0.73) was found between increases in irrigated land and the depletion of the shallow groundwater table, a factor affecting widely practiced small-scale irrigation in northwestern Bangladesh. Results quantified the land cover change patterns and the stresses placed on natural resources; additionally, they demonstrated an accurate and economical means to map and analyze changes in land cover over time at a regional scale, which can assist decision makers in land and natural resources management decisions.

  20. Watershed Sediment Losses to Lakes Accelerating Despite Agricultural Soil Conservation Efforts

    PubMed Central

    Heathcote, Adam J.; Filstrup, Christopher T.; Downing, John A.

    2013-01-01

    Agricultural soil loss and deposition in aquatic ecosystems is a problem that impairs water quality worldwide and is costly to agriculture and food supplies. In the US, for example, billions of dollars have subsidized soil and water conservation practices in agricultural landscapes over the past decades. We used paleolimnological methods to reconstruct trends in sedimentation related to human-induced landscape change in 32 lakes in the intensively agricultural region of the Midwestern United States. Despite erosion control efforts, we found accelerating increases in sediment deposition from erosion; median erosion loss since 1800 has been 15.4 tons ha−1. Sediment deposition from erosion increased >6-fold, from 149 g m−2 yr−1 in 1850 to 986 g m−2 yr−1 by 2010. Average time to accumulate one mm of sediment decreased from 631 days before European settlement (ca. 1850) to 59 days mm−1 at present. Most of this sediment was deposited in the last 50 years and is related to agricultural intensification rather than land clearance or predominance of agricultural lands. In the face of these intensive agricultural practices, traditional soil conservation programs have not decelerated downstream losses. Despite large erosion control subsidies, erosion and declining water quality continue, thus new approaches are needed to mitigate erosion and water degradation. PMID:23326454

  1. Watershed sediment losses to lakes accelerating despite agricultural soil conservation efforts.

    PubMed

    Heathcote, Adam J; Filstrup, Christopher T; Downing, John A

    2013-01-01

    Agricultural soil loss and deposition in aquatic ecosystems is a problem that impairs water quality worldwide and is costly to agriculture and food supplies. In the US, for example, billions of dollars have subsidized soil and water conservation practices in agricultural landscapes over the past decades. We used paleolimnological methods to reconstruct trends in sedimentation related to human-induced landscape change in 32 lakes in the intensively agricultural region of the Midwestern United States. Despite erosion control efforts, we found accelerating increases in sediment deposition from erosion; median erosion loss since 1800 has been 15.4 tons ha(-1). Sediment deposition from erosion increased >6-fold, from 149 g m(-2) yr(-1) in 1850 to 986 g m(-2) yr(-1) by 2010. Average time to accumulate one mm of sediment decreased from 631 days before European settlement (ca. 1850) to 59 days mm(-1) at present. Most of this sediment was deposited in the last 50 years and is related to agricultural intensification rather than land clearance or predominance of agricultural lands. In the face of these intensive agricultural practices, traditional soil conservation programs have not decelerated downstream losses. Despite large erosion control subsidies, erosion and declining water quality continue, thus new approaches are needed to mitigate erosion and water degradation.

  2. Phosphorus runoff from agricultural land and direct fertilizer effects: a review.

    PubMed

    Hart, Murray R; Quin, Bert F; Nguyen, M Long

    2004-01-01

    Phosphorus (P) is one of the most important mineral nutrients in agricultural systems, and along with nitrogen (N), is generally the most limiting nutrient for plant production. Farming systems have intensified greatly over time, and in recent years it has become apparent that the concomitant increase in losses of N and P from agricultural land is having a serious detrimental effect on water quality and the environment. The last two decades have seen a marked increase in research into the issues surrounding diffuse losses of P to surface and ground water. This paper reviews this research, examining the issue of P forms in runoff, and highlighting the exceptions to some generally held assumptions about land use and P transport. In particular the review focuses on P losses associated with recent P fertilizer application, as opposed to organic manures, both on the amounts and the forms of P in runoff water. The effects of the physicochemical characteristics of different forms of P fertilizer are explored, particularly in relation to water solubility. Various means of mitigating the risk of loss of P are discussed. It is argued that the influence of recent fertilizer applications is an under-researched area, yet may offer the most readily applicable opportunity to mitigate P losses by land users. This review highlights and discusses some options that have recently become available that may make a significant contribution to the task of sustainable management of nutrient losses from agriculture.

  3. Land Conservation in an Evolving Agricultural Industry: Trade-offs to Consider

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Baker, J. S.; Murray, B. C.; McCarl, B. A.; Jackson, R. B.

    2008-12-01

    This study analyzes the interactions of land conservation policy with biofuel expansion using an economic model of the U.S. forest and agricultural sectors. The world agricultural industry is changing rapidly under emerging market and policy-based pressures. An important driver in the U.S. is the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), which mandates significant expansion in biofuels production (up to 36 billion gallons/year by 2022). Traditional land conservation practices such as the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) are at risk in this changing agricultural climate, as the opportunity costs of reverting to cropland continue to rise. Large- scale reversion of CRP acreage is likely to lead to substantial losses in soil carbon, biodiversity, soil erosion protection, and water quality. However, given the increased competition for land resources, continued efforts to maintain the CRP could induce land use change (LUC) and agricultural development from even more sensitive ecosystems, including native grasslands and forests. This study uses economic modeling to study CRP reversion and LUC under multiple scenarios, including: 1) Baseline assumptions of growth in world agricultural demand and energy prices, with and without CRP reversion; 2) Implementation of the RFS while maintaining the CRP; and 3) RFS with CRP reversion allowed. The study is done using the FASOMGHG model (Lee, McCarl et al, 2008), which is well suited for this analysis as it: 1) Depicts land use competition between crops, pasture, CRP, and forestry over a 100 year period 2) Contains comprehensive GHG accounting across the sectors, 3) Allows land in the CRP to revert to cultivation at an economically optimal rate as land values increase, and 4) Extensively models biofuel and conventional agricultural production possibilities. Results generated to date show significant reversion to cultivation, even under the baseline (36% of the total CRP stock by 2020). Implementing the RFS further pressures conservation

  4. An inexact risk management model for agricultural land-use planning under water shortage

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Wei; Feng, Changchun; Dai, Chao; Li, Yongping; Li, Chunhui; Liu, Ming

    2016-09-01

    Water resources availability has a significant impact on agricultural land-use planning, especially in a water shortage area such as North China. The random nature of available water resources and other uncertainties in an agricultural system present risk for land-use planning and may lead to undesirable decisions or potential economic loss. In this study, an inexact risk management model (IRM) was developed for supporting agricultural land-use planning and risk analysis under water shortage. The IRM model was formulated through incorporating a conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) constraint into an inexact two-stage stochastic programming (ITSP) framework, and could be used to control uncertainties expressed as not only probability distributions but also as discrete intervals. The measure of risk about the second-stage penalty cost was incorporated into the model so that the trade-off between system benefit and extreme expected loss could be analyzed. The developed model was applied to a case study in the Zhangweinan River Basin, a typical agricultural region facing serious water shortage in North China. Solutions of the IRM model showed that the obtained first-stage land-use target values could be used to reflect decision-makers' opinions on the long-term development plan. The confidence level α and maximum acceptable risk loss β could be used to reflect decisionmakers' preference towards system benefit and risk control. The results indicated that the IRM model was useful for reflecting the decision-makers' attitudes toward risk aversion and could help seek cost-effective agricultural land-use planning strategies under complex uncertainties.

  5. Climate change impacts on global rainfed agricultural land availability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, X.; Cai, X.

    2010-12-01

    Global rainfed agricultural land availability can be subject to significant changes in both magnitude and spatial distribution due to climate change. We assess the possible changes using current and projected climate data from thirteen general circulation models (GCMs) under two emission scenarios, A1B & B1, together with global databases on land, including soil properties and slope. Two ensemble methods with the set of GCMs, Simple Average Method (SAM) and Root Mean Square Error Ensemble Method (RMSEMM), are employed to abate uncertainty involved in global GCM projections for assembling regional climate. Fuzzy logic, which handles land classification in an approximate yet efficient way, is adopted to estimate the land suitability through empirically determined membership functions and fuzzy rules chosen through a learning process based on remote sensed crop land products. Land suitability under five scenarios, which include the present-climate baseline scenario and four projected scenarios, A1B-SAM, A1B-RMSEMM, B1-SAM, and B1-RMSEMM, are assessed for both global and seven important agricultural regions in the world, Africa, China, India, Europe (excluding Russia), Russia, South America, and U.S. It is found that countries at the high latitudes of north hemisphere are more likely to benefit from climate change with respect to agricultural land availability; while countries at mid- and low latitudes may suffer different levels of loss of potential arable land. Expansions of the gross potential arable land are likely to occur in regions at the north high latitudes, including Russia, North China and U.S., while land shrinking can be expected in South America, Africa, India and Europe. Although the greatest potential for agricultural expansion lies in Africa and South America, with current cultivated land accounting for 20% and 13% respectively of the net potential arable land, negative effects from climate change may decline the potential. In summary, climate change

  6. Land Grabbing and the Commodification of Agricultural Land in Africa

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    D'Odorico, P.; Rulli, M. C.

    2014-12-01

    The increasing global demand for farmland products is placing unprecedented pressure on the global agricultural system. The increasing demand can be met through either the intensification or the expansion of agricultural production at the expenses of other ecosystems. The ongoing escalation of large scale land acquisitions in the developing world may contribute to both of these two processes. Investments in agriculture have become a priority for a number of governments and corporations that are trying to expand their agricultural production while securing good profits. It is unclear however to what extent these investments are driving the intensification or the expansion of agriculture. In the last decade large scale land acquisitions by external investors have increased at unprecedented rates. This global land rush was likely enhanced by recent food crises, when prices skyrocketed in response to crop failure, new bioenergy policies, and the increasing demand for agricultural products by a growing and increasingly affluent human population. Corporations recognized the potential for high return investments in agricultural land, while governments started to enhance their food security by purchasing large tracts of land in foreign countries. It has been estimated that, to date, about 35.6 million ha of cropland - more than twice the agricultural land of Germany - have been acquired by foreign investors worldwide. As an effect of these land deals the local communities lose legal access to the land and its products. Here we investigate the effect of large scale land acquisition on agricultural intensification or expansion in African countries. We discuss the extent to which these investments in agriculture may increase crop production and stress how this phenomenon can greatly affect the local communities, their food security, economic stability and the long term resilience of their livelihoods, regardless of whether the transfer of property rights is the result of an

  7. Spatially Explicit Analysis of Biodiversity Loss Due to Global Agriculture, Pasture and Forest Land Use from a Producer and Consumer Perspective.

    PubMed

    Chaudhary, Abhishek; Pfister, Stephan; Hellweg, Stefanie

    2016-04-05

    Anthropogenic land use to produce commodities for human consumption is the major driver of global biodiversity loss. Synergistic collaboration between producers and consumers in needed to halt this trend. In this study, we calculate species loss on 5 min × 5 min grid level and per country due to global agriculture, pasture and forestry by combining high-resolution land use data with countryside species area relationship for mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. Results show that pasture was the primary driver of biodiversity loss in Madagascar, China and Brazil, while forest land use contributed the most to species loss in DR Congo and Indonesia. Combined with the yield data, we quantified the biodiversity impacts of 1 m(3) of roundwood produced in 139 countries, concluding that tropical countries with low timber yield and a large presence of vulnerable species suffer the highest impact. We also calculated impacts per kg for 160 crops grown in different countries and linked it with FAO food trade data to assess the biodiversity impacts embodied in Swiss food imports. We found that more than 95% of Swiss consumption impacts rest abroad with cocoa, coffee and palm oil imports being responsible for majority of damage.

  8. Environmental characteristics, agricultural land use, and vulnerability to degradation in Malopolska Province (Poland).

    PubMed

    Nowak, Agnieszka; Schneider, Christian

    2017-07-15

    Environmental degradation encompasses multiple processes that are rarely combined in analyses. This study refers to three types of environmental degradation resulting from agricultural activity: soil erosion, nutrient loss, and groundwater pollution. The research was conducted in seven distinct study areas in the Malopolska Province, Poland, each characterized by different environmental properties. Calculations were made on the basis of common models, i.e., USLE (soil erosion), InVEST (nutrient loss), and DRASTIC (groundwater pollution). Two scenarios were calculated to identify the areas contributing to potential and actual degradation. For the potential degradation scenario all study areas were treated as arable land. To identify the areas actually contributing to all three types of degradation, the de facto land use pattern was used for a second scenario. The results show that the areas most endangered by agricultural activity are located in the mountainous region, whereas most of the degraded zones were located in valley bottoms and areas with intensive agriculture. The different hazards rarely overlap spatially in the given study areas - meaning that different areas require different management approaches. The distribution of arable land was negatively correlated with soil erosion hazard, whereas no linkage was found between nutrient loss or groundwater pollution hazards and the proportion of arable land. This indicates that the soil erosion hazard is the most influential factor in the distribution of arable land, whereas nutrient loss and groundwater pollution is widely ignored during land use decision-making. Slope largely and most frequently influences all hazard types, whereas land use also played an important role in the case of soil and nutrient losses. In this study we presented a consistent methodology to capture complex degradation processes and provide robust indicators which can be included in existing impact assessment approaches like Life Cycle

  9. Nitrate-nitrogen losses through subsurface drainage under various agricultural land covers.

    PubMed

    Qi, Zhiming; Helmers, Matthew J; Christianson, Reid D; Pederson, Carl H

    2011-01-01

    Nitrate-nitrogen (NO₃-N) loading to surface water bodies from subsurface drainage is an environmental concern in the midwestern United States. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of various land covers on NO₃-N loss through subsurface drainage. Land-cover treatments included (i) conventional corn ( L.) (C) and soybean [ (L.) Merr.] (S); (ii) winter rye ( L.) cover crop before corn (rC) and before soybean (rS); (iii) kura clover ( M. Bieb.) as a living mulch for corn (kC); and (iv) perennial forage of orchardgrass ( L.) mixed with clovers (PF). In spring, total N uptake by aboveground biomass of rye in rC, rye in rS, kura clover in kC, and grasses in PF were 14.2, 31.8, 87.0, and 46.3 kg N ha, respectively. Effect of land covers on subsurface drainage was not significant. The NO₃-N loss was significantly lower for kC and PF than C and S treatments (p < 0.05); rye cover crop did not reduce NO₃-N loss, but NO₃-N concentration was significantly reduced in rC during March to June and in rS during July to November (p < 0.05). Moreover, the increase of soil NO₃-N from early to late spring in rS was significantly lower than the S treatment (p < 0.05). This study suggests that kC and PF are effective in reducing NO₃-N loss, but these systems could lead to concerns relative to grain yield loss and change in farming practices. Management strategies for kC need further study to achieve reasonable corn yield. The effectiveness of rye cover crop on NO-N loss reduction needs further investigation under conditions of different N rates, wider weather patterns, and fall tillage. by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  10. GIS Applications in Land Management: The Loss of High Quality Land to Development in Central Mississippi from 1987–2002

    PubMed Central

    Twumasi, Yaw A.; Merem, Edmund C.

    2005-01-01

    The socio-economic trends and history of Central Mississippi reveal a major rural influence based upon a dependence on agricultural activities as part of the economic engine driving the state’s economy. Yet, in the last several years, the amount of agricultural land in the counties continues to decline. Similar changes in other variables associated with agricultural land use and the continuity of farming in the state have also been changing. Indeed, under the pressure of urban growth, some farmers are forced to use less productive soils or have abandoned the agricultural business. Considering the gravity of the problem and the implications for sustainable development, public concern has increased in the state of Mississippi that urbanization and other factors may be eroding potential farmland. Given the effects of the current trends on the future capacity to produce food items, there are concerns that the growing incidence of farmland loss may also erode the basis for sustainable use of agricultural land, biodiversity and protection of the state’s ecological treasures. Notwithstanding the gravity of these trends, no major effort in the literature has aimed at documenting the incidence of agricultural land loss and the linkages to urbanization in the region of Central Mississippi. What changes have taken place in the size of agricultural land within the counties and what factors are responsible for it? This paper examines the issue of farmland loss in Central Mississippi with a focus at the county level between 1987 and 2002 from a temporal-spatial perspective. In terms of methodology, the paper uses a mixed scale approach based upon the existing literature. Data were drawn from the United States Census databases of Population and Agriculture. This information is analyzed with basic descriptive statistics and GIS with particular attention to the spatial trends at the county level. Results indicate that the counties under consideration have experienced

  11. Soil losses in rural watersheds with environmental land use conflicts.

    PubMed

    Pacheco, F A L; Varandas, S G P; Sanches Fernandes, L F; Valle Junior, R F

    2014-07-01

    Soil losses were calculated in a rural watershed where environmental land use conflicts developed in the course of a progressive invasion of forest and pasture/forest lands by agriculture, especially vineyards. The hydrographic basin is located in the Douro region where the famous Port wine is produced (northern Portugal) and the soil losses were estimated by the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) in combination with a Geographic Information System (GIS). Environmental land use conflicts were set up on the basis of land use and land capability maps, coded as follows: 1-agriculture, 2-pasture, 3-pasture/forest, and 4-forest. The difference between the codes of capability and use defines a conflict class, where a negative or nil value means no conflict and a positive i value means class i conflict. The reliability of soil loss estimates was tested by a check of these values against the frequency of stone wall instabilities in vineyard terraces, with good results. Using the USLE, the average soil loss (A) was estimated in A=12.2 t·ha(-1)·yr(-1) and potential erosion risk areas were found to occupy 28.3% of the basin, defined where soil losses are larger than soil loss tolerances. Soil losses in no conflict regions (11.2 t·ha(-1)·yr(-1)) were significantly different from those in class 2 (6.8 t·ha(-1)·yr(-1)) and class 3 regions (21.3 t·ha(-1)·yr(-1)) that in total occupy 2.62 km(2) (14.3% of the basin). When simulating a scenario of no conflict across the entire basin, whereby land use in class 2 conflict regions is set up to permanent pastures and in class 3 conflict regions to pine forests, it was concluded that A=0.95 t·ha(-1)·yr(-1) (class 2) or A=9.8 t·ha(-1)·yr(-1) (class 3), which correspond to drops of 86% and 54% in soil loss relative to the actual values. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Conversion of prime agricultural land to urban land uses in Kansas City

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shaklee, R. V.

    1976-01-01

    In an expanding urban environment, agriculture and urban land uses are the two primary competitors for regional land resources. As a result of an increasing awareness of the effects which urban expansion has upon the regional environment, the conversion of prime agricultural land to urban land uses has become a point of concern to urban planners. A study was undertaken for the Kansas City Metropolitan Region, to determine the rate at which prime agricultural land has been converted to urban land uses over a five year period from 1969 to 1974. Using NASA high altitude color infrared imagery acquired over the city in October, 1969 and in May, 1974 to monitor the extent and location of urban expansion in the interim period, it was revealed that 42% of that expansion had occurred upon land classified as having prime agricultural potential. This involved a total of 10,727 acres of prime agricultural land and indicated a 7% increase over the 1969 which showed that 35% of the urban area had been developed on prime agricultural land.

  13. Effects of conservation practices on phosphorus loss reduction from an Indiana agricultural watershed

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Phosphorus losses from agricultural lands have caused serious eutrophication problems, particularly in Lake Erie. However, techniques that can effectively reduce total and soluble phosphorus losses from croplands and drainage channels can be difficult to implement and gauge. This modeling study was ...

  14. 12 CFR 619.9025 - Agricultural land.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Agricultural land. 619.9025 Section 619.9025 Banks and Banking FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION FARM CREDIT SYSTEM DEFINITIONS § 619.9025 Agricultural land. Land improved or unimproved which is devoted to or available for the production of crops and other...

  15. Aligning land use with land potential: The role of integrated agriculture

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Contemporary agricultural land use is dominated by an emphasis on provisioning services by applying energy-intensive inputs through relatively uniform production systems across variable landscapes. This approach to agricultural land use is not sustainable. Achieving sustainable use of agricultural...

  16. Influence of agricultural land-use and pesticides on benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages in an agricultural river basin in southeast Brazil.

    PubMed

    Egler, M; Buss, D F; Moreira, J C; Baptista, D F

    2012-08-01

    Land-use alterations and pesticide run-offs are among the main causes for impairment in agricultural areas. We evaluated the influence of different land-uses (forest, pasture and intensive agriculture) on the water quality and on benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages on three occasions: in the dry season, wet season and at the end of the wet season. Macroinvertebrates responded to this gradient of impairment: agricultural sites had significantly lower richness numbers than forested and pasture sites, and all major invertebrate groups were significantly affected. Most taxa found in forested sites were found in pasture sites, but often with lower densities. In this case, the loss of habitats due to sedimentation and the lower complexity of substrates seem to be the disruptive force for the macroinvertebrate fauna.

  17. Estimation of Arable Land Loss in Shandong Province, China based on BFAST Model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Y.

    2016-12-01

    With the rapid development of national economy and rise of industrialization, China has been one of the countries which has the fastest urbanization process. From 2001 to 2005, China lost over 2000 km2 fertile arable land every year because of urban expansion. Arable land area declining continuously poses a threat to China's food security. Land survey is the direct way to statistic the arable land status, which lasts long time and needs mounts of financial support. Remote sensing is a perfect way to survey land use and its dynamics at large scale. This paper aims to evaluate the detailed status of agricultural land loss of Shandong Province, China by using BFAST (Breaks for Additive Seasonal and Trend) model. First, the 30m spatial resolution global land cover products GlobeLand30 in 2000 and 2010 are used to locate pixels transforming from agricultural land to artificial cover during this period. Within a MODIS pixel (250m) area, if over half of GlobeLand30 pixels have changed from arable land to artificial cover, then the responding MODIS pixel is classified as changed area, whose phenology reflected by NDVI time series curve will also change. Then, BFAST is used to detect the break point which represents the time of change occurred using MODIS NDVI time series data. From 2002 to 2010, Shandong Province lost its 1063.03 km2 arable land in total. Arable land loss has a declining trend in each year and most loss occurred in 2002 and 2003. Spatially, cities which has higher level of economic development in central and eastern regions lost more arable land. Finally, compare this result with statistical data from China's national Bureau of Statistics, there is a strong positive relationship.

  18. Spatially differentiated trends in urbanization, agricultural land abandonment and reclamation, and woodland recovery in Northern China.

    PubMed

    Wang, Chao; Gao, Qiong; Wang, Xian; Yu, Mei

    2016-11-22

    Uncovering magnitude, trend, and spatial pattern of land cover/land use changes (LCLUC) is crucial for understanding mechanisms of LCLUC and assisting land use planning and conservation. China has been undergoing unprecedented economic growth, massive rural-to-urban migration, and large-scale policy-driven ecological restoration, and therefore encountering enormous LCLUC in recent decades. However, comprehensive understandings of spatiotemporal LCLUC dynamics and underlying mechanisms are still lacking. Based on classification of annual LCLU maps from MODIS satellite imagery, we proposed a land change detection method to capture significant land change hotspots over Northern China during 2001-2013, and further analyzed temporal trends and spatial patterns of LCLUC. We found rapid decline of agricultural land near urban was predominantly caused by urban expansion. The process was especially strong in North China Plain with 14,057 km 2 of urban gain and -21,017 km 2 of agricultural land loss. To offset the loss of agricultural land, Northeast China Plain and Xinjiang were reclaimed. Substantial recovery of forests (49,908 km 2 ) and closed shrubland (60,854 km 2 ) occurred in mountainous regions due to abandoned infertile farmland, secondary succession, and governmental conservation policies. The spatial patterns and trends of LCLUC in Northern China provide information to support effective environmental policies towards sustainable development.

  19. Spatially differentiated trends in urbanization, agricultural land abandonment and reclamation, and woodland recovery in Northern China

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Chao; Gao, Qiong; Wang, Xian; Yu, Mei

    2016-01-01

    Uncovering magnitude, trend, and spatial pattern of land cover/land use changes (LCLUC) is crucial for understanding mechanisms of LCLUC and assisting land use planning and conservation. China has been undergoing unprecedented economic growth, massive rural-to-urban migration, and large-scale policy-driven ecological restoration, and therefore encountering enormous LCLUC in recent decades. However, comprehensive understandings of spatiotemporal LCLUC dynamics and underlying mechanisms are still lacking. Based on classification of annual LCLU maps from MODIS satellite imagery, we proposed a land change detection method to capture significant land change hotspots over Northern China during 2001–2013, and further analyzed temporal trends and spatial patterns of LCLUC. We found rapid decline of agricultural land near urban was predominantly caused by urban expansion. The process was especially strong in North China Plain with 14,057 km2 of urban gain and −21,017 km2 of agricultural land loss. To offset the loss of agricultural land, Northeast China Plain and Xinjiang were reclaimed. Substantial recovery of forests (49,908 km2) and closed shrubland (60,854 km2) occurred in mountainous regions due to abandoned infertile farmland, secondary succession, and governmental conservation policies. The spatial patterns and trends of LCLUC in Northern China provide information to support effective environmental policies towards sustainable development. PMID:27874092

  20. Spatially differentiated trends in urbanization, agricultural land abandonment and reclamation, and woodland recovery in Northern China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Chao; Gao, Qiong; Wang, Xian; Yu, Mei

    2016-11-01

    Uncovering magnitude, trend, and spatial pattern of land cover/land use changes (LCLUC) is crucial for understanding mechanisms of LCLUC and assisting land use planning and conservation. China has been undergoing unprecedented economic growth, massive rural-to-urban migration, and large-scale policy-driven ecological restoration, and therefore encountering enormous LCLUC in recent decades. However, comprehensive understandings of spatiotemporal LCLUC dynamics and underlying mechanisms are still lacking. Based on classification of annual LCLU maps from MODIS satellite imagery, we proposed a land change detection method to capture significant land change hotspots over Northern China during 2001-2013, and further analyzed temporal trends and spatial patterns of LCLUC. We found rapid decline of agricultural land near urban was predominantly caused by urban expansion. The process was especially strong in North China Plain with 14,057 km2 of urban gain and -21,017 km2 of agricultural land loss. To offset the loss of agricultural land, Northeast China Plain and Xinjiang were reclaimed. Substantial recovery of forests (49,908 km2) and closed shrubland (60,854 km2) occurred in mountainous regions due to abandoned infertile farmland, secondary succession, and governmental conservation policies. The spatial patterns and trends of LCLUC in Northern China provide information to support effective environmental policies towards sustainable development.

  1. The global potential of bioenergy on abandoned agriculture lands.

    PubMed

    Campbell, J Elliott; Lobell, David B; Genova, Robert C; Field, Christopher B

    2008-08-01

    Converting forest lands into bioenergy agriculture could accelerate climate change by emitting carbon stored in forests, while converting food agriculture lands into bioenergy agriculture could threaten food security. Both problems are potentially avoided by using abandoned agriculture lands for bioenergy agriculture. Here we show the global potential for bioenergy on abandoned agriculture lands to be less than 8% of current primary energy demand, based on historical land use data, satellite-derived land cover data, and global ecosystem modeling. The estimated global area of abandoned agriculture is 385-472 million hectares, or 66-110% of the areas reported in previous preliminary assessments. The area-weighted mean production of above-ground biomass is 4.3 tons ha(-1) y(-1), in contrast to estimates of up to 10 tons ha(-1) y(-1) in previous assessments. The energy content of potential biomass grown on 100% of abandoned agriculture lands is less than 10% of primary energy demand for most nations in North America, Europe, and Asia, but it represents many times the energy demand in some African nations where grasslands are relatively productive and current energy demand is low.

  2. Quantitative analysis of agricultural land use change in China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chou, Jieming; Dong, Wenjie; Wang, Shuyu; Fu, Yuqing

    This article reviews the potential impacts of climate change on land use change in China. Crop sown area is used as index to quantitatively analyze the temporal-spatial changes and the utilization of the agricultural land. A new concept is defined as potential multiple cropping index to reflect the potential sowing ability. The impacting mechanism, land use status and its surplus capacity are investigated as well. The main conclusions are as following; During 1949-2010, the agricultural land was the greatest in amount in the middle of China, followed by that in the country's eastern and western regions. The most rapid increase and decrease of agricultural land were observed in Xinjiang and North China respectively, Northwest China and South China is also changed rapid. The variation trend before 1980 differed significantly from that after 1980. Agricultural land was affected by both natural and social factors, such as regional climate and environmental changes, population growth, economic development, and implementation of policies. In this paper, the effects of temperature and urbanization on the coverage of agriculture land are evaluated, and the results show that the urbanization can greatly affects the amount of agriculture land in South China, Northeast China, Xinjiang and Southwest China. From 1980 to 2009, the extent of agricultural land use had increased as the surplus capacity had decreased. Still, large remaining potential space is available, but the future utilization of agricultural land should be carried out with scientific planning and management for the sustainable development.

  3. Change in agricultural land use constrains adaptation of national wildlife refuges to climate change

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hamilton, Christopher M.; Thogmartin, Wayne E.; Radeloff, Volker C.; Plantinga, Andrew J.; Heglund, Patricia J.; Martinuzzi, Sebastian; Pidgeon, Anna M.

    2015-01-01

    Land-use change around protected areas limits their ability to conserve biodiversity by altering ecological processes such as natural hydrologic and disturbance regimes, facilitating species invasions, and interfering with dispersal of organisms. This paper informs USA National Wildlife Refuge System conservation planning by predicting future land-use change on lands within 25 km distance of 461 refuges in the USA using an econometric model. The model contained two differing policy scenarios, namely a ‘business-as-usual’ scenario and a ‘pro-agriculture’ scenario. Regardless of scenario, by 2051, forest cover and urban land use were predicted to increase around refuges, while the extent of range and pasture was predicted to decrease; cropland use decreased under the business-as-usual scenario, but increased under the pro-agriculture scenario. Increasing agricultural land value under the pro-agriculture scenario slowed an expected increase in forest around refuges, and doubled the rate of range and pasture loss. Intensity of land-use change on lands surrounding refuges differed by regions. Regional differences among scenarios revealed that an understanding of regional and local land-use dynamics and management options was an essential requirement to effectively manage these conserved lands. Such knowledge is particularly important given the predicted need to adapt to a changing global climate.

  4. Effects of agricultural intensification in the tropics on soil carbon losses and soil fertility

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Guillaume, Thomas; Buttler, Alexandre; Kuzyakov, Yakov

    2016-04-01

    Tropical forest conversion to agricultural land leads to strong decrease of soil organic carbon (SOC). Nonetheless, the impacts of SOC losses on soil fertility remain unclear. We quantified SOC losses in forest, oil palm plantations, extensive rubber plantations and rubber monocultures on Sumatra Island (Indonesia). Furthermore, we assessed the response of biological (basal respiration, microbial biomass, acid phosphatase) and chemical fertility indicators (light fraction of OM, DOC, total N, available P) to SOC losses. We used a new approach based on (non-)linear regressions between SOC losses and the indicators, normalized to natural ecosystem values, to assess the sensitivity or resistance of fertility indicators to SOC losses. Carbon contents in the Ah horizon under oil palm and intensive rubber plantations were strongly reduced: up to 70% and 62%, respectively. The decrease was lower under extensive rubber (41%). The negative impact of land-use changes on all measured indicators increased in the following sequence: extensive rubber < rubber < oil palm. Basal respiration, microbial biomass and nutrients were comparatively resistant to SOC losses, whereas the light fraction of OM was lost faster than the SOC. The resistance of the microbial activity to SOC losses is an indication that microbial-mediated soil functions sustain SOC losses. However, responses of basal respiration and microbial biomass to SOC losses were non-linear. Below 2.7% C content, the relationship was reversed. The basal respiration decreased faster than the SOC, resulting in a stronger drop of microbial activity under oil palm compared to rubber, despite small difference in C content. We conclude that the new approach allows a quantitative assessment of the sensitivity and threshold of various soil functions to land-use changes and consequently, can be used to assess their resistance to agricultural intensification. Therefore, this method is appropriate to evaluate the environmental impacts

  5. Patterns and Drivers of Scattered Tree Loss in Agricultural Landscapes: Orchard Meadows in Germany (1968-2009)

    PubMed Central

    Plieninger, Tobias; Levers, Christian; Mantel, Martin; Costa, Augusta; Schaich, Harald; Kuemmerle, Tobias

    2015-01-01

    Scattered trees support high levels of farmland biodiversity and ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes, but they are threatened by agricultural intensification, urbanization, and land abandonment. This study aimed to map and quantify the decline of orchard meadows (scattered fruit trees of high nature conservation value) for a region in Southwestern Germany for the 1968 2009 period and to identify the driving forces of this decline. We derived orchard meadow loss from 1968 and 2009 aerial images and used a boosted regression trees modelling framework to assess the relative importance of 18 environmental, demographic, and socio-economic variables to test five alternative hypothesis explaining orchard meadow loss. We found that orchard meadow loss occurred in flatter areas, in areas where smaller plot sizes and fragmented orchard meadows prevailed, and in areas near settlements and infrastructure. The analysis did not confirm that orchard meadow loss was higher in areas where agricultural intensification was stronger and in areas of lower implementation levels of conservation policies. Our results demonstrated that the influential drivers of orchard meadow loss were those that reduce economic profitability and increase opportunity costs for orchards, providing incentives for converting orchard meadows to other, more profitable land uses. These insights could be taken up by local- and regional-level conservation policies to identify the sites of persistent orchard meadows in agricultural landscapes that would be prioritized in conservation efforts. PMID:25932914

  6. 43 CFR 3400.3-3 - Department of Agriculture lands.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 43 Public Lands: Interior 2 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Department of Agriculture lands. 3400.3-3 Section 3400.3-3 Public Lands: Interior Regulations Relating to Public Lands (Continued) BUREAU OF LAND...: General § 3400.3-3 Department of Agriculture lands. Subject to the provisions of § 3400.3-1, the Secretary...

  7. 43 CFR 3400.3-3 - Department of Agriculture lands.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 43 Public Lands: Interior 2 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Department of Agriculture lands. 3400.3-3 Section 3400.3-3 Public Lands: Interior Regulations Relating to Public Lands (Continued) BUREAU OF LAND...: General § 3400.3-3 Department of Agriculture lands. Subject to the provisions of § 3400.3-1, the Secretary...

  8. 43 CFR 3400.3-3 - Department of Agriculture lands.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 43 Public Lands: Interior 2 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Department of Agriculture lands. 3400.3-3 Section 3400.3-3 Public Lands: Interior Regulations Relating to Public Lands (Continued) BUREAU OF LAND...: General § 3400.3-3 Department of Agriculture lands. Subject to the provisions of § 3400.3-1, the Secretary...

  9. 43 CFR 3400.3-3 - Department of Agriculture lands.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 43 Public Lands: Interior 2 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Department of Agriculture lands. 3400.3-3 Section 3400.3-3 Public Lands: Interior Regulations Relating to Public Lands (Continued) BUREAU OF LAND...: General § 3400.3-3 Department of Agriculture lands. Subject to the provisions of § 3400.3-1, the Secretary...

  10. Tracking Agricultural Land Degradation with Landsat

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lam, K.; Jimenez, U.; Mclean, A.

    2013-12-01

    Land preservation and in particular, soil preservation, is key to maintaining the stability of wildlife on earth. The necessity to maintain land quality isn't unique to any specific area, it is a global issue. Land degradation can be witnessed across the globe, from the Heihe River Basin, China to the San Joaquin River in Central Valley, California. Large-scale 'traditional' agricultural practices such as widespread monoculture, overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and over-farming, have been found to cause significant land degradation in many regions. Once the causes of land degradation have been established, it is important to research preventative and rehabilitative measures. This is where the popularization of agricultural sustainability has proven wildly important, manifesting in a world-wide phenomenon. This research used Landsat and ENVI to: (1) identify changes in vegetation, over time, along the Heihe River, in an effort to measure the effectiveness of a new mandate focused on rehabilitating this desertification-prone area; and (2) show changes in the San Joaquin River through three droughts (1986 to present). The sudden spur of interest in agricultural sustainability and land preservation has led to changes in legislation, such as the Heihe River Basin Mandate, increased concern over the use of land degrading techniques, tools, chemicals, and more research on extreme weather events.

  11. Agricultural land use change in the Northeast

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The USDA Census of Agriculture (http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/) provides county-level estimates of farm numbers, land use area and livestock and crop production every five years. In 2007, only eight of the 299 counties that make up the twelve Northeastern states had no agricultural land use. About 20...

  12. Targeting land-use change for nitratenitrogen load reductions in an agricultural watershed

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Jha, M.K.; Schilling, K.E.; Gassman, Philip W.; Wolter, C.F.

    2010-01-01

    The research was conducted as part of the USDA's Conservation Effects Assessment Project. The objective of the project was to evaluate the environmental effects of land-use changes, with a focus on understanding how the spatial distribution throughout a watershed influences their effectiveness.The Soil and Water AssessmentTool (SWAT) water quality model was applied to the Squaw Creek watershed, which covers 4,730 ha (11,683 ac) of prime agriculture land in southern Iowa. The model was calibrated (2000 to 2004) and validated (1996 to 1999) for overall watershed hydrology and for streamflow and nitrate loadings at the watershed outlet on an annual and monthly basis. Four scenarios for land-use change were evaluated including one scenario consistent with recent land-use changes and three scenarios focused on land-use change on highly erodible land areas, upper basin areas, and floodplain areas. Results for the Squaw Creek watershed suggested that nitrate losses were sensitive to land-use change. If land-use patterns were restored to 1990 conditions, nitrate loads may be reduced 7% to 47% in the watershed and subbasins, whereas converting row crops to grass in highly erodible land, upper basin, and floodplain areas would reduce nitrate loads by 47%, 16%, and 8%, respectively. These SWAT model simulations can provide guidance on how to begin targeting land-use change for nitrate load reductions in agricultural watersheds.

  13. Land-Sparing Agriculture Best Protects Avian Phylogenetic Diversity.

    PubMed

    Edwards, David P; Gilroy, James J; Thomas, Gavin H; Uribe, Claudia A Medina; Haugaasen, Torbjørn

    2015-09-21

    The conversion of natural habitats to farmland is a major driver of the global extinction crisis. Two strategies are promoted to mitigate the impacts of agricultural expansion on biodiversity: land sharing integrates wildlife-friendly habitats within farmland landscapes, and land sparing intensifies farming to allow the offset of natural reserves. A key question is which strategy would protect the most phylogenetic diversity--the total evolutionary history shared across all species within a community. Conserving phylogenetic diversity decreases the chance of losing unique phenotypic and ecological traits and provides benefits for ecosystem function and stability. Focusing on birds in the threatened Chocó-Andes hotspot of endemism, we tested the relative benefits of each strategy for retaining phylogenetic diversity in tropical cloud forest landscapes threatened by cattle pastures. Using landscape simulations, we find that land sharing would protect lower community-level phylogenetic diversity than land sparing and that with increasing distance from forest (from 500 to >1,500 m), land sharing is increasingly inferior to land sparing. Isolation from forest also leads to the loss of more evolutionarily distinct species from communities within land-sharing landscapes, which can be avoided with effective land sparing. Land-sharing policies that promote the integration of small-scale wildlife-friendly habitats might be of limited benefit without the simultaneous protection of larger blocks of natural habitat, which is most likely to be achieved via land-sparing measures. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Impacts of agricultural land use on biological integrity: A causal analysis

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Riseng, C.M.; Wiley, M.J.; Black, R.W.; Munn, M.D.

    2011-01-01

    Agricultural land use has often been linked to nutrient enrichment, habitat degradation, hydrologic alteration, and loss of biotic integrity in streams. The U.S. Geological Survey's National Water Quality Assessment Program sampled 226 stream sites located in eight agriculture-dominated study units across the United States to investigate the geographic variability and causes of agricultural impacts on stream biotic integrity. In this analysis we used structural equation modeling (SEM) to develop a national and set of regional causal models linking agricultural land use to measured instream conditions. We then examined the direct, indirect, and total effects of agriculture on biotic integrity as it acted through multiple water quality and habitat pathways. In our nation-wide model, cropland affected benthic communities by both altering structural habitats and by imposing water quality-related stresses. Regionspecific modeling demonstrated that geographic context altered the relative importance of causal pathways through which agricultural activities affected stream biotic integrity. Cropland had strong negative total effects on the invertebrate community in the national, Midwest, and Western models, but a very weak effect in the Eastern Coastal Plain model. In theWestern Arid and Eastern Coastal Plain study regions, cropland impacts were transmitted primarily through dissolved water quality contaminants, but in the Midwestern region, they were transmitted primarily through particulate components of water quality. Habitat effects were important in the Western Arid model, but negligible in the Midwest and Eastern Coastal Plain models. The relative effects of riparian forested wetlands also varied regionally, having positive effects on biotic integrity in the Eastern Coastal Plain andWestern Arid region models, but no statistically significant effect in the Midwest. These differences in response to cropland and riparian cover suggest that best management practices and

  15. Livelihood profiling and sensitivity of livelihood strategies to land cover dynamics and agricultural variability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Berchoux, Tristan; Hutton, Craig; Watmough, Gary; Amoako Johnson, Fiifi; Atkinson, Peter

    2017-04-01

    With population increase and the urbanisation of rural areas, land scarcity is one of the biggest challenges now faced by communities in agrarian societies. At the household level, loss of land can be due to physical processes such as erosion, to social constraints such as inheritance, or to financial constraints such as loan reimbursement or the need of cash. For rural households, whose livelihoods are mainly based on agriculture, a decrease in the area of land cultivated can have significant consequences on their livelihood strategies, thus on their livelihood outcomes. However, it is still unclear how changes in cultivated area and agricultural productivity influence households' livelihood systems, including community capitals and households' livelihood strategies. This study aims to answer this gap by combining together earth observation from space, national census and participatory qualitative data into a community-wise analysis of the relationships between land cover dynamics, variability in agricultural production and livelihood activities. Its overarching aim is to investigate how land cover dynamics relates to changes in livelihood strategies and livelihood capitals. The study demonstrates that a change in land cover influences livelihood activities differently depending on the community capitals that households have access to. One significant aspect of integrating land dynamics with livelihood activities is its capacity to provide insights on the relationships between climate, agriculture, livelihood dynamics and rural development. More broadly, it gives policymakers new methods to characterise livelihood dynamics, thus to monitor some of the key Sustainable Development Goals: food security (SDG2), employment dynamics (SDG8), inequalities (SDG10) and sustainability of communities (SDG11).

  16. The need for an improved risk index for phosphorus losses to water from tile-drained agricultural land

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ulén, Barbro; Djodjic, Faruk; Etana, Araso; Johansson, Göran; Lindström, Jan

    2011-03-01

    SummaryA refined version of a conditional phosphorus risk index (PRI) for P losses to waters was developed based on monitoring and analyses of PRI factors from an agricultural catchment in Sweden. The catchment has a hummocky landscape of heavy glacial till overlying moraine and an overall balanced soil P level. Single P source factors and combinations of factors were tested and discussed together with water movement and water management factors important for catchments dominated by drained clay soils. An empirical relationship was established (Pearson correlation coefficient 0.861, p < 0.001) between phosphorus sorption index (PSI-CaCl 2), measured in a weak calcium chloride solution, and iron (Fe-AL) aluminium (Al-AL) and phosphorus (P-AL) in soil extract with acid ammonium lactate. Differing relationships were found for a field that had not received any manure in the last 15 years and a field that had received chicken litter very recently. In addition, a general relationship (Pearson correlation coefficient 0.839, p < 0.001) was found between the ratio of phosphorus extracted from fresh soil in water (Pw) to PSI-CaCl 2 and the degree of phosphorus saturation in lactate extract (DPS-AL). One exception was a single field, representing 7% of agricultural land in the catchment, that had been treated with glyphosate shortly before soil sampling. Saturated hydraulic conductivity (SHC) in heavy clay in contact with the moraine base (at 1 m depth) was on average 0.06 m day -1. In clay not in contact with moraine, SHC was significantly lower (mean 0.007 m day -1). A reduction in the present tile drain spacing (from 14-16 m to 11 m) is theoretically required to maintain satisfactory water discharge and groundwater level. Up to 10% of the arable land was estimated to be a potential source area for P, based on different indices. Parts of a few fields close to farm buildings (1% of total arable land) were identified as essential P source areas, with high DPS-AL values and

  17. Aspects of agricultural land use in Ireland

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, J.

    1986-02-01

    Ireland's soil regions consist largely of Luvisols, Cambisols, and Gleysols. Approximately 60% of Ireland's land area is subject to varying degrees of soil limitations. Twenty-five percent of the land area comprises wet lowland mineral soils. Ninety percent of Ireland's agricultural area comprises pasture, hay, and silage. Approximately 30% of the agricultural area is devoted to dairying, and 55% to cattle production. is devoted to dairying, and 55% to cattle production. Trends in agricultural land use indicate that tillage declined substantially while livestock showed a substantial increase particularly in the decade 1965 1975. Research concludes that over 2.8 million ha has a capacity to carry at least 100 LU/40 ha (100 acres). Levels of fertilizer use in Ireland are below EEC levels. The highest fertilizer use levels are associated with the eastern and southern areas of Ireland. Tillage crops occupy only 10% of the agricultural area, while they account for 26% of tertilizer and lime use.

  18. Use of USLE/GIS methodology for predicting soil loss in a semiarid agricultural watershed.

    PubMed

    Erdogan, Emrah H; Erpul, Günay; Bayramin, Ilhami

    2007-08-01

    The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) is an erosion model to estimate average soil loss that would generally result from splash, sheet, and rill erosion from agricultural plots. Recently, use of USLE has been extended as a useful tool predicting soil losses and planning control practices in agricultural watersheds by the effective integration of the GIS-based procedures to estimate the factor values in a grid cell basis. This study was performed in the Kazan Watershed located in the central Anatolia, Turkey, to predict soil erosion risk by the USLE/GIS methodology for planning conservation measures in the site. Rain erosivity (R), soil erodibility (K), and cover management factor (C) values of the model were calculated from erosivity map, soil map, and land use map of Turkey, respectively. R values were site-specifically corrected using DEM and climatic data. The topographical and hydrological effects on the soil loss were characterized by LS factor evaluated by the flow accumulation tool using DEM and watershed delineation techniques. From resulting soil loss map of the watershed, the magnitude of the soil erosion was estimated in terms of the different soil units and land uses and the most erosion-prone areas where irreversible soil losses occurred were reasonably located in the Kazan watershed. This could be very useful for deciding restoration practices to control the soil erosion of the sites to be severely influenced.

  19. Climate, Agriculture, Energy and the Optimal Allocation of Global Land Use

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Steinbuks, J.; Hertel, T. W.

    2011-12-01

    Purdue University parallel processing computing cluster. The model is solved over the period 2000 - 2100. Our 100 year baseline accurately reflects developments in global land use over the 10 years that have already transpired, while also incorporating projections of population, income and demand growth from a variety of international agencies. We also consider three counterfactual scenarios (higher growth in energy prices, lower growth in agricultural productivity, and global GHG emissions regulations). Our model baseline predicts that, in absence of market imperfections, growth in cropland/deforestation that account for a large share of land-use GHG emission, declines significantly in the medium run. However, energy prices and policies have a significant effect on agricultural land use. Sensitivity to energy prices is compounded by vulnerability of agriculture to adverse productivity shocks from climate. In a 'perfect storm' of high growth in energy prices and declining agricultural productivity growth, additional demand for cropland leads to significant deforestation and higher GHG emissions. As a result, large welfare losses occur. When we also expect the sector to deliver increased ecosystem services as well as land-based GHG abatement, the pressure on land and water resources can be very significant.

  20. National land-cover data and national agricultural census estimates of agricultural land use in the northeastern United States

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The landscape of the northeastern United States is diverse and patchy, a complex mixture of forest, agriculture, and developed lands. Many urgent social and environmental issues require spatially-referenced information on land use, a need filled by the National Land-Cover Data (NLCD). The accuracy o...

  1. Modelling analysis of water and land effects on agricultural development in the Heihe Agricultural Production Area, China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, G.

    2017-12-01

    Water and land resources play vital roles in agricultural growth. They not only remarkably support overall economic growth, but may also restrict agricultural development. To document the influence of water and land on agriculture, we examined the "drag effects" of these two resources in limiting agricultural production. In this study, data from eight counties collected during 2000-2012 from the Heihe Agricultural Production Area in Gansu Province were used to analyze the drag effects of water and land resources on agricultural growth. These effects varied largely among the eight counties, which was consistent with the availability of these resources. This study will give scientific support to coordinating development with the availability of water and land resources in agricultural areas of China

  2. Agroforestry: working trees for sequestering carbon on agricultural lands

    Treesearch

    M.M. Schoeneberger

    2008-01-01

    Agroforestry is an appealing option for sequestering carbon on agricultural lands because it can sequester significant amounts of carbon while leaving the bulk of the land in agricultural production. Simultaneously, it can help landowners and society address many other issues facing these lands, such as economic diversification, biodiversity, and water quality....

  3. 25 CFR 166.300 - How is Indian agricultural land managed?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false How is Indian agricultural land managed? 166.300 Section 166.300 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER GRAZING PERMITS Land and Operations Management § 166.300 How is Indian agricultural land managed? Tribes, individual...

  4. 25 CFR 166.300 - How is Indian agricultural land managed?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false How is Indian agricultural land managed? 166.300 Section 166.300 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER GRAZING PERMITS Land and Operations Management § 166.300 How is Indian agricultural land managed? Tribes, individual...

  5. Land use intensification alters ecosystem multifunctionality via loss of biodiversity and changes to functional composition.

    PubMed

    Allan, Eric; Manning, Pete; Alt, Fabian; Binkenstein, Julia; Blaser, Stefan; Blüthgen, Nico; Böhm, Stefan; Grassein, Fabrice; Hölzel, Norbert; Klaus, Valentin H; Kleinebecker, Till; Morris, E Kathryn; Oelmann, Yvonne; Prati, Daniel; Renner, Swen C; Rillig, Matthias C; Schaefer, Martin; Schloter, Michael; Schmitt, Barbara; Schöning, Ingo; Schrumpf, Marion; Solly, Emily; Sorkau, Elisabeth; Steckel, Juliane; Steffen-Dewenter, Ingolf; Stempfhuber, Barbara; Tschapka, Marco; Weiner, Christiane N; Weisser, Wolfgang W; Werner, Michael; Westphal, Catrin; Wilcke, Wolfgang; Fischer, Markus

    2015-08-01

    Global change, especially land-use intensification, affects human well-being by impacting the delivery of multiple ecosystem services (multifunctionality). However, whether biodiversity loss is a major component of global change effects on multifunctionality in real-world ecosystems, as in experimental ones, remains unclear. Therefore, we assessed biodiversity, functional composition and 14 ecosystem services on 150 agricultural grasslands differing in land-use intensity. We also introduce five multifunctionality measures in which ecosystem services were weighted according to realistic land-use objectives. We found that indirect land-use effects, i.e. those mediated by biodiversity loss and by changes to functional composition, were as strong as direct effects on average. Their strength varied with land-use objectives and regional context. Biodiversity loss explained indirect effects in a region of intermediate productivity and was most damaging when land-use objectives favoured supporting and cultural services. In contrast, functional composition shifts, towards fast-growing plant species, strongly increased provisioning services in more inherently unproductive grasslands. © 2015 The Authors Ecology Letters published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd and CNRS.

  6. Agriculture land suitability analysis evaluation based multi criteria and GIS approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bedawi Ahmed, Goma; Shariff, Abdul Rashid M.; Balasundram, Siva Kumar; Abdullah, Ahmad Fikri bin

    2016-06-01

    Land suitability evaluation (LSE) is a valuable tool for land use planning in major countries of the world as well as in Malaysia. However, previous LSE studies have been conducted with the use of biophysical and ecological datasets for the design of equally important socio-economic variables. Therefore, this research has been conducted at the sub national level to estimate suitable agricultural land for rubber crops in Seremban, Malaysia by application of physical variables in combination with widely employed biophysical and ecological variables. The objective of this study has been to provide an up-to date GIS-based agricultural land suitability evaluation (ALSE) for determining suitable agricultural land for Rubber crops in Malaysia. Biophysical and ecological factors were assumed to influence agricultural land use were assembled and the weights of their respective contributions to land suitability for agricultural uses were assessed using an analytic hierarchical process. The result of this study found Senawang, Mambau, Sandakan and Rantau as the most suitable areas for cultivating Rubber; whereas, Nilai and Labu are moderately suitable for growing rubber. Lenggeng, Mantin and Pantai are not suitable for growing rubber as the study foresaw potential environmental degradation of these locations from agricultural intensification. While this study could be useful in assessing the potential agricultural yields and potential environmental degradation in the study area, it could also help to estimate the potential conversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural uses.

  7. Coupled social and ecological outcomes of land use change and agricultural intensification in Costa Rica and the future of biodiversity conservation in tropical agricultural regions.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sanfiorenzo, A. R.; Shaver, I.; Chain Guadarrama, A.; Cleary, K.; Santiago-Garcia, R.; Finegan, B.; Hormel, L.; Sibelet, N.; Vierling, L. A.; Bosque-Perez, N.; DeClerck, F.; Fagan, M. E.; Waits, L.

    2017-12-01

    Tropical ecosystem conversion to agriculture has caused widespread habitat loss and created fragmented landscapes composed of remnant forest patches embedded in a matrix of agricultural land uses. Non- traditional agricultural export (NTAE) crops such as pineapple are rapidly replacing multiuse landscapes characterized by a diverse matrix of pasture and smallholder crops with intensive, large-scale, monoculture plantations. Using an interdisciplinary approach, we conduct a case study to examine the coupled social and ecological implications of LUCC and agricultural intensification in this region, with larger application to regions experiencing similar patterns. Guided by frameworks from both political and landscape ecology, we: (1) describe the social and economic implications of pineapple expansion, specifically the concentration of land, labor and financial resources, (2) quantify pineapple cultivation's spatial characteristics, and (3) assess the effects of pineapple expansion on surrounding forest ecosystems, on the agricultural matrix and on biodiversity conservation. Our results indicate that pineapple production concentrates land, labor, and financial resources, which has a homogenizing effect on the agricultural economy in the study region. This constrains farm-based livelihoods, with larger implications for food security and agricultural diversity. Landscape ecology analyses further reveal how pineapple production simplifies and homogenizes the agricultural matrix between forest patches, which is likely to have a negative effect on biodiversity. To offset the effects of pineapple expansion on social and environmental systems, we recommend developing landscape level land use planning capacity. Furthermore, agricultural and conservation policy reform is needed to promote landscape heterogeneity and economic diversity within the agricultural sector. Our interdisciplinary research provides a detailed examination of the social and ecological impacts of

  8. Coupled social and ecological outcomes of land use change and agricultural intensification in Costa Rica and the future of biodiversity conservation in tropical agricultural regions.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sanfiorenzo, A. R.; Shaver, I.; Chain Guadarrama, A.; Cleary, K.; Santiago-Garcia, R.; Finegan, B.; Hormel, L.; Sibelet, N.; Vierling, L. A.; Bosque-Perez, N.; DeClerck, F.; Fagan, M. E.; Waits, L.

    2016-12-01

    Tropical ecosystem conversion to agriculture has caused widespread habitat loss and created fragmented landscapes composed of remnant forest patches embedded in a matrix of agricultural land uses. Non- traditional agricultural export (NTAE) crops such as pineapple are rapidly replacing multiuse landscapes characterized by a diverse matrix of pasture and smallholder crops with intensive, large-scale, monoculture plantations. Using an interdisciplinary approach, we conduct a case study to examine the coupled social and ecological implications of LUCC and agricultural intensification in this region, with larger application to regions experiencing similar patterns. Guided by frameworks from both political and landscape ecology, we: (1) describe the social and economic implications of pineapple expansion, specifically the concentration of land, labor and financial resources, (2) quantify pineapple cultivation's spatial characteristics, and (3) assess the effects of pineapple expansion on surrounding forest ecosystems, on the agricultural matrix and on biodiversity conservation. Our results indicate that pineapple production concentrates land, labor, and financial resources, which has a homogenizing effect on the agricultural economy in the study region. This constrains farm-based livelihoods, with larger implications for food security and agricultural diversity. Landscape ecology analyses further reveal how pineapple production simplifies and homogenizes the agricultural matrix between forest patches, which is likely to have a negative effect on biodiversity. To offset the effects of pineapple expansion on social and environmental systems, we recommend developing landscape level land use planning capacity. Furthermore, agricultural and conservation policy reform is needed to promote landscape heterogeneity and economic diversity within the agricultural sector. Our interdisciplinary research provides a detailed examination of the social and ecological impacts of

  9. Denitrification potential of different land-use types in an agricultural watershed, lower Mississippi valley

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Ullah, S.; Faulkner, S.P.

    2006-01-01

    Expansion of agricultural land and excessive nitrogen (N) fertilizer use in the Mississippi River watershed has resulted in a three-fold increase in the nitrate load of the river since the early 1950s. One way to reduce this nitrate load is to restore wetlands at suitable locations between croplands and receiving waters to remove run-off nitrate through denitrification. This research investigated denitrification potential (DP) of different land uses and its controlling factors in an agricultural watershed in the lower Mississippi valley (LMV) to help identify sites with high DP for reducing run-off nitrate. Soil samples collected from seven land-use types of an agricultural watershed during spring, summer, fall and winter were incubated in the laboratory for DP determination. Low-elevation clay soils in wetlands exhibited 6.3 and 2.5 times greater DP compared to high-elevation silt loam and low-elevation clay soils in croplands, respectively. DP of vegetated-ditches was 1.3 and 4.2 times that of un-vegetated ditches and cultivated soils, respectively. Soil carbon and nitrogen availability, bulk density, and soil moisture significantly affected DP. These factors were significantly influenced in turn by landscape position and land-use type of the watershed. It is evident from these results that low-elevation, fine-textured soils under natural wetlands are the best locations for mediating nitrate loss from agricultural watersheds in the LMV. Landscape position and land-use types can be used as indices for the assessment/modeling of denitrification potential and identification of sites for restoration for nitrate removal in agricultural watersheds. ?? 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Determinants of Urban Expansion and Agricultural Land Conversion in 25 EU Countries.

    PubMed

    Ustaoglu, Eda; Williams, Brendan

    2017-10-01

    Agricultural land conversion is resulting from ongoing complex interaction between the physical environment, policy settings and socio-economic factors. Case studies of the determinants of agricultural land conversion potentially contribute to the analysis of the main causes of land-use change. This can assist authorities and policy makers in understanding the relative importance of a wide range of factors on urban expansion and associated agricultural land-use change. This paper explores the determinants of agricultural land conversion to urban uses in the studied 25 European Union countries between 2000 and 2006. European-level as well as region-specific land-use changes are studied. The research is using the spatial data adapted from European Corine Land Cover maps of 2000 and 2006 and utilised other European sources regarding socio-economic, natural, geological, climate, and policy-related data. The differences in urbanisation processes observed in different regions in Europe emphasise the regional variations of urban conversion process of agricultural land use. This study identifies a combination of socio-economic drivers, policy-related factors, nature and location-based factors as key influences on agricultural land conversion processes in Europe. Specifically we found that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidies were influential in curbing urbanisation and reducing agricultural land consumption.

  11. Determinants of Urban Expansion and Agricultural Land Conversion in 25 EU Countries

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ustaoglu, Eda; Williams, Brendan

    2017-10-01

    Agricultural land conversion is resulting from ongoing complex interaction between the physical environment, policy settings and socio-economic factors. Case studies of the determinants of agricultural land conversion potentially contribute to the analysis of the main causes of land-use change. This can assist authorities and policy makers in understanding the relative importance of a wide range of factors on urban expansion and associated agricultural land-use change. This paper explores the determinants of agricultural land conversion to urban uses in the studied 25 European Union countries between 2000 and 2006. European-level as well as region-specific land-use changes are studied. The research is using the spatial data adapted from European Corine Land Cover maps of 2000 and 2006 and utilised other European sources regarding socio-economic, natural, geological, climate, and policy-related data. The differences in urbanisation processes observed in different regions in Europe emphasise the regional variations of urban conversion process of agricultural land use. This study identifies a combination of socio-economic drivers, policy-related factors, nature and location-based factors as key influences on agricultural land conversion processes in Europe. Specifically we found that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidies were influential in curbing urbanisation and reducing agricultural land consumption.

  12. Global land-water nexus: Agricultural land and freshwater use embodied in worldwide supply chains.

    PubMed

    Chen, B; Han, M Y; Peng, K; Zhou, S L; Shao, L; Wu, X F; Wei, W D; Liu, S Y; Li, Z; Li, J S; Chen, G Q

    2018-02-01

    As agricultural land and freshwater inextricably interrelate and interact with each other, the conventional water and land policy in "silos" should give way to nexus thinking when formulating the land and water management strategies. This study constructs a systems multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model to expound global land-water nexus by simultaneously tracking agricultural land and freshwater use flows along the global supply chains. Furthermore, land productivity and irrigation water requirements of 160 crops in different regions are investigated to reflect the land-water linkage. Results show that developed economies (e.g., USA and Japan) and major large developing economies (e.g., mainland China and India) are the overriding drivers of agricultural land and freshwater use globally. In general, significant net transfers of these two resources are identified from resource-rich and less-developed economies to resource-poor and more-developed economies. For some crops, blue water productivity is inversely related to land productivity, indicating that irrigation water consumption is sometimes at odds with land use. The results could stimulus international cooperation for sustainable land and freshwater management targeting on original suppliers and final consumers along the global supply chains. Moreover, crop-specific land-water linkage could provide insights for trade-off decisions on minimizing the environmental impacts on local land and water resources. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Impacts of incorporating land exchanges between forestry and agriculture in sector models.

    Treesearch

    Ralph J. Alig; Darius M. Adams; Bruce A. McCarl

    1998-01-01

    The forest and agriculture sectors are linked by having a portion of their land bases suitable for use in either sector. A substantial part of the southern land base is suitable for either forestry or agriculture use, with most of forestation on U.S. agriculture land in the South. We examine how land exchanges between forestry and agriculture are influenced by specific...

  14. Implication of Agricultural Land Use Change on Regional Climate Projection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, G.; Ahmed, K. F.; You, L.

    2015-12-01

    Agricultural land use plays an important role in land-atmosphere interaction. Agricultural activity is one of the most important processes driving human-induced land use land cover change (LULCC) in a region. In addition to future socioeconomic changes, climate-induced changes in crop yield represent another important factor shaping agricultural land use. In feedback, the resulting LULCC influences the direction and magnitude of global, regional and local climate change by altering Earth's radiative equilibrium. Therefore, assessment of climate change impact on future agricultural land use and its feedback is of great importance in climate change study. In this study, to evaluate the feedback of projected land use changes to the regional climate in West Africa, we employed an asynchronous coupling between a regional climate model (RegCM) and a prototype land use projection model (LandPro). The LandPro model, which was developed to project the future change in agricultural land use and the resulting shift in natural vegetation in West Africa, is a spatially explicit model that can account for both climate and socioeconomic changes in projecting future land use changes. In the asynchronously coupled modeling framework, LandPro was run for every five years during the period of 2005-2050 accounting for climate-induced change in crop yield and socioeconomic changes to project the land use pattern by the mid-21st century. Climate data at 0.5˚ was derived from RegCM to drive the crop model DSSAT for each of the five-year periods to simulate crop yields, which was then provided as input data to LandPro. Subsequently, the land use land cover map required to run RegCM was updated every five years using the outputs from the LandPro simulations. Results from the coupled model simulations improve the understanding of climate change impact on future land use and the resulting feedback to regional climate.

  15. Agricultural lands preservation: a sociology of survival

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    White, T.S.

    1983-01-01

    This is a rural sociological study investigating the viability of agricultural lands use-values and rural communities in the context of the structure of US agriculture. It outlines the theoretical foundation, ideology, and praxis of a sociology of survival. It is undertaken within the framework of environmental sociology, which focuses on the dynamic interpenetration of social and biotic systems. The concepts of carrying capacity, sustained multiple-use yield, and land-use compatibility and their significance are discussed. The phenomenon of phantom carrying capacity is explored, and its ominous portent noted; but the astonishing potential of agricultural lands to produce huge net gains inmore » use values and in real carrying capacity is affirmed. The theory of unlimited resources, substitution, and market-allocation is falsified. Absolute shortages of renewable and nonrenewable resources are documented, and the necessity for population control, conservation, expanded sustained-yield production, and social allocation is established.« less

  16. Antibiotic losses in leaching and surface runoff from manure-amended agricultural land.

    PubMed

    Dolliver, Holly; Gupta, Satish

    2008-01-01

    A 3-yr field study quantified leaching and runoff losses of antibiotics from land application of liquid hog (chlortetracycline and tylosin) and solid beef (chlortetracycline, monensin, and tylosin) manures under chisel plowing and no-tillage systems. The study was conducted in southwestern Wisconsin, a karst area with steep, shallow, macroporous soils. Relative mass losses of chlortetracycline, monensin, and tylosin were <5% of the total amount applied with manure. Chlortetracycline was only detected in runoff, whereas monensin and tylosin were detected in leachate and runoff. Highest concentrations of monensin and tylosin in the leachate were 40.9 and 1.2 microg L(-1), respectively. Highest chlortetracycline, monensin, and tylosin concentrations in runoff were 0.5, 57.5, and 6.0 microg L(-1), respectively. For all three antibiotics, >90% of detections and 99% of losses occurred during the non-growing season due to fall manure application and slow degradation of antibiotics at cold temperatures. During years of high snowmelt, runoff accounted for nearly 100% of antibiotic losses, whereas during years of minimal snowmelt, runoff accounted for approximately 40% of antibiotic losses. Antibiotic losses were generally higher from the no-tillage compared with chisel plow treatment due to greater water percolation as a result of macroporosity and greater runoff due to lack of surface roughness in the no-tillage plots during the non-growing season. The results from this study suggest that small quantities of dissolved antibiotics could potentially reach surface and ground waters in the Upper Midwestern USA from manure-amended shallow macroporous soils underlain with fractured bedrock.

  17. The American Land. Its History, Soil, Water, Wildlife, Agricultural Land Planning, and Land Problems of Today and Tomorrow.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Soil Conservation Service (USDA), Washington, DC.

    Presented in this booklet is the commentary for "The American Land," a television series prepared by the Soil Conservation Service and the Graduate School, United States Department of Agriculture, in cooperation with WETA - TV, Washington, D.C. It explores the resource of land in America, its history, soil, water, wildlife, agricultural land…

  18. Integration of strategic inventory and monitoring programs for the forest lands, wood lands, range lands and agricultural lands of the United States

    Treesearch

    Raymond L. Czaplewski

    1999-01-01

    The United States Department of Agriculture uses the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program to monitor the nation's forests and wood lands, and the National Resources Inventory (NRI) program to monitor the nation's agricultural and range lands. Although their measurement methods and sampling frames are very different, both programs are developing annual...

  19. Regional Climate Change Impact on Agricultural Land Use in West Africa

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ahmed, K. F.; Wang, G.; You, L.

    2014-12-01

    Agriculture is a key element of the human-induced land use land cover change (LULCC) that is influenced by climate and can potentially influence regional climate. Temperature and precipitation directly impact the crop yield (by controlling photosynthesis, respiration and other physiological processes) that then affects agricultural land use pattern. In feedback, the resulting changes in land use and land cover play an important role to determine the direction and magnitude of global, regional and local climate change by altering Earth's radiative equilibrium. The assessment of future agricultural land use is, therefore, of great importance in climate change study. In this study, we develop a prototype land use projection model and, using this model, project the changes to land use pattern and future land cover map accounting for climate-induced yield changes for major crops in West Africa. Among the inputs to the land use projection model are crop yield changes simulated by the crop model DSSAT, driven with the climate forcing data from the regional climate model RegCM4.3.4-CLM4.5, which features a projected decrease of future mean crop yield and increase of inter-annual variability. Another input to the land use projection model is the projected changes of food demand in the future. In a so-called "dumb-farmer scenario" without any adaptation, the combined effect of decrease in crop yield and increase in food demand will lead to a significant increase in agricultural land use in future years accompanied by a decrease in forest and grass area. Human adaptation through land use optimization in an effort to minimize agricultural expansion is found to have little impact on the overall areas of agricultural land use. While the choice of the General Circulation Model (GCM) to derive initial and boundary conditions for the regional climate model can be a source of uncertainty in projecting the future LULCC, results from sensitivity experiments indicate that the changes

  20. Climate change - Agricultural land use - Food security

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nagy, János; Széles, Adrienn

    2015-04-01

    In Hungary, plougland decreased to 52% of its area by the time of political restructuring (1989) in comparison with the 1950s. Forested areas increased significantly (18%) and lands withdrawn from agricultural production doubled (11%). For today, these proportions further changed. Ploughlands reduced to 46% and forested areas further increased (21%) in 2013. The most significat changes were observed in the proportion of lands withdrawn from agricultural production which increased to 21%. Temperature in Hungary increased by 1°C during the last century and predictions show a further 2.6 °C increase by 2050. The yearly amount of precipitation significantly decreased from 640 mm to 560 mm with a more uneven temporal distribution. The following aspects can be considered in the correlation between climate change and agriculture: a) impact of agriculture on climate, b) future impact of climate change on agriculture and food supply, c) impact of climate change on food security. The reason for the significant change of climate is the accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHG) which results from anthropological activities. Between 2008 and 2012, Hungary had to reduce its GHG emission by 6% compared to the base period between 1985-1987. At the end of 2011, Hungarian GHG emission was 43.1% lower than that of the base period. The total gross emission was 66.2 million CO2 equivalent, while the net emission which also includes land use, land use change and forestry was 62.8 million tons. The emission of agriculture was 8.8 million tons (OMSZ, 2013). The greatest opportunity to reduce agricultural GHG emission is dinitrogen oxides which can be significantly mitigated by the smaller extent and more efficient use of nitrogen-based fertilisers (precision farming) and by using biomanures produced from utilised waste materials. Plant and animal species which better adapt to extreme weather circumstances should be bred and maintained, thereby making an investment in food security. Climate

  1. Patterns of land use, extensification, and intensification of Brazilian agriculture.

    PubMed

    Dias, Lívia C P; Pimenta, Fernando M; Santos, Ana B; Costa, Marcos H; Ladle, Richard J

    2016-08-01

    Sustainable intensification of agriculture is one of the main strategies to provide global food security. However, its implementation raises enormous political, technological, and social challenges. Meeting these challenges will require, among other things, accurate information on the spatial and temporal patterns of agricultural land use and yield. Here, we investigate historical patterns of agricultural land use (1940-2012) and productivity (1990-2012) in Brazil using a new high-resolution (approximately 1 km(2) ) spatially explicit reconstruction. Although Brazilian agriculture has been historically known for its extensification over natural vegetation (Amazon and Cerrado), data from recent years indicate that extensification has slowed down and was replaced by a strong trend of intensification. Our results provide the first comprehensive historical overview of agricultural land use and productivity in Brazil, providing clear insights to guide future territorial planning, sustainable agriculture, policy, and decision-making. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  2. Agricultural land use mapping. [Pennsylvania, Montana, and Texas

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mcmurtry, G. J.; Petersen, G. W. (Principal Investigator); Wilson, A. D.

    1973-01-01

    The author has identified the following significant results. Agricultural areas were selected or analysis in southeastern Pennsylvania, north central Montana, and southern Texas. These three sites represent a broad range of soils, soil parent materials, climate, modes of agricultural operation, crops, and field sizes. In each of these three sites, ERTS-1 digital data were processed to determine the feasibility of automatically mapping agricultural land use. In Pennsylvania, forest land, cultivated land, and water were separable within a 25,000 acre area. Four classes of water were also classified and identified, using ground truth. A less complex land use pattern was analyzed in Hill County, Montana. A land use map was prepared shown alternating patterns of summer fallow and stubble fields. The location of farmsteads could be inferred, along with that of a railroad line. A river and a creek flowing into the river were discernible. Six categories of water, related to sediment content and depth, were defined in the reservoir held by the Fresno dam. These classifications were completed on a 150 square mile area. Analysis of the data from Texas is in its formative stages. A test site has been selected and a brightness map has been produced.

  3. Classification and Mapping of Agricultural Land for National Water-Quality Assessment

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Gilliom, Robert J.; Thelin, Gail P.

    1997-01-01

    Agricultural land use is one of the most important influences on water quality at national and regional scales. Although there is great diversity in the character of agricultural land, variations follow regional patterns that are influenced by environmental setting and economics. These regional patterns can be characterized by the distribution of crops. A new approach to classifying and mapping agricultural land use for national water-quality assessment was developed by combining information on general land-use distribution with information on crop patterns from agricultural census data. Separate classification systems were developed for row crops and for orchards, vineyards, and nurseries. These two general categories of agricultural land are distinguished from each other in the land-use classification system used in the U.S. Geological Survey national Land Use and Land Cover database. Classification of cropland was based on the areal extent of crops harvested. The acreage of each crop in each county was divided by total row-crop area or total orchard, vineyard, and nursery area, as appropriate, thus normalizing the crop data and making the classification independent of total cropland area. The classification system was developed using simple percentage criteria to define combinations of 1 to 3 crops that account for 50 percent or more or harvested acreage in a county. The classification system consists of 21 level I categories and 46 level II subcategories for row crops, and 26 level I categories and 19 level II subcategories for orchards, vineyards, and nurseries. All counties in the United States with reported harvested acreage are classified in these categories. The distribution of agricultural land within each county, however, must be evaluated on the basis of general land-use data. This can be done at the national scale using 'Major Land Uses of the United States,' at the regional scale using data from the national Land Use and Land Cover database, or at

  4. Carbon dynamics on agricultural land reverting to woody land in Ontario, Canada.

    PubMed

    Voicu, Mihai F; Shaw, Cindy; Kurz, Werner A; Huffman, Ted; Liu, Jiangui; Fellows, Max

    2017-05-15

    The 2015 Paris Agreement reinforces the importance of the land sector and its contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions. Thus, there is growing interest in improving estimates of the GHG balance in response to land-use changes (LUCs) involving agriculture and forestry, for national-scale reporting, and for carbon (C) offsets. Large agricultural areas in Europe, Russia and North America are reverting to forest, either naturally or through planting, after abandonment of agricultural land, and this trend may have a substantial impact on carbon budgets. We report results of a pilot project in the Mixedwood Plains ecozone of eastern Canada to analyze the change in the C budget on a landscape over 15 years on abandoned cropland where woody vegetation is regenerating. Thirty-six plots (2 km × 2 km) with paired aerial photographs taken circa 1994 and circa 2008 at a scale of 1:10,000 or larger were randomly selected from the 20 km × 20 km National Forest Inventory (NFI) grid. A spatially-explicit version of the Carbon Budget Model of the Canadian Forest Sector (CBM-CFS3) was used to estimate impacts of LUC on C stocks and fluxes. Polygons identifying areas of LUC within each photo plot were delineated, classified, and evaluated to provide input data for the model. The rate of C accumulation in our study area was found to be relatively constant over the entire simulation period, at 1.07 Mg C/ha/yr. Abandoned agricultural land reverting to woody lands could play an important role in regional and national C sequestration in Canada, but more research is required to quantify the areal extent of this LUC. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. A small-scale land-sparing approach to conserving biological diversity in tropical agricultural landscapes

    Treesearch

    Richard B. Chandler; David I. King; Raul Raudales; Richard Trubey; Carlin Chandler; Víctor Julio Arce Chávez

    2013-01-01

    Two contrasting strategies have been proposed for conserving biological diversity while meeting the increasing demand for agricultural products: land sparing and land sharing production systems. Land sparing involves increasing yield to reduce the amount of land needed for agriculture, whereas land-sharing agricultural practices incorporate elements of native...

  6. Factors Influencing Farmers' Expectations to Sell Agricultural Land for Non-Agricultural Uses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zollinger, Brett; Krannich, Richard S.

    2002-01-01

    In this study we identify factors that influence farmers' expectations to sell some or all of their farming operation in areas where the increase in the conversion of agricultural land has been relatively rapid. Findings indicate that the following factors increase farmers' propensity to sell some or all of the agricultural operation for…

  7. Combining global land cover datasets to quantify agricultural expansion into forests in Latin America: Limitations and challenges

    PubMed Central

    Persson, U. Martin

    2017-01-01

    While we know that deforestation in the tropics is increasingly driven by commercial agriculture, most tropical countries still lack recent and spatially-explicit assessments of the relative importance of pasture and cropland expansion in causing forest loss. Here we present a spatially explicit quantification of the extent to which cultivated land and grassland expanded at the expense of forests across Latin America in 2001–2011, by combining two “state-of-the-art” global datasets (Global Forest Change forest loss and GlobeLand30-2010 land cover). We further evaluate some of the limitations and challenges in doing this. We find that this approach does capture some of the major patterns of land cover following deforestation, with GlobeLand30-2010’s Grassland class (which we interpret as pasture) being the most common land cover replacing forests across Latin America. However, our analysis also reveals some major limitations to combining these land cover datasets for quantifying pasture and cropland expansion into forest. First, a simple one-to-one translation between GlobeLand30-2010’s Cultivated land and Grassland classes into cropland and pasture respectively, should not be made without caution, as GlobeLand30-2010 defines its Cultivated land to include some pastures. Comparisons with the TerraClass dataset over the Brazilian Amazon and with previous literature indicates that Cultivated land in GlobeLand30-2010 includes notable amounts of pasture and other vegetation (e.g. in Paraguay and the Brazilian Amazon). This further suggests that the approach taken here generally leads to an underestimation (of up to ~60%) of the role of pasture in replacing forest. Second, a large share (~33%) of the Global Forest Change forest loss is found to still be forest according to GlobeLand30-2010 and our analysis suggests that the accuracy of the combined datasets, especially for areas with heterogeneous land cover and/or small-scale forest loss, is still too poor for

  8. Combining global land cover datasets to quantify agricultural expansion into forests in Latin America: Limitations and challenges.

    PubMed

    Pendrill, Florence; Persson, U Martin

    2017-01-01

    While we know that deforestation in the tropics is increasingly driven by commercial agriculture, most tropical countries still lack recent and spatially-explicit assessments of the relative importance of pasture and cropland expansion in causing forest loss. Here we present a spatially explicit quantification of the extent to which cultivated land and grassland expanded at the expense of forests across Latin America in 2001-2011, by combining two "state-of-the-art" global datasets (Global Forest Change forest loss and GlobeLand30-2010 land cover). We further evaluate some of the limitations and challenges in doing this. We find that this approach does capture some of the major patterns of land cover following deforestation, with GlobeLand30-2010's Grassland class (which we interpret as pasture) being the most common land cover replacing forests across Latin America. However, our analysis also reveals some major limitations to combining these land cover datasets for quantifying pasture and cropland expansion into forest. First, a simple one-to-one translation between GlobeLand30-2010's Cultivated land and Grassland classes into cropland and pasture respectively, should not be made without caution, as GlobeLand30-2010 defines its Cultivated land to include some pastures. Comparisons with the TerraClass dataset over the Brazilian Amazon and with previous literature indicates that Cultivated land in GlobeLand30-2010 includes notable amounts of pasture and other vegetation (e.g. in Paraguay and the Brazilian Amazon). This further suggests that the approach taken here generally leads to an underestimation (of up to ~60%) of the role of pasture in replacing forest. Second, a large share (~33%) of the Global Forest Change forest loss is found to still be forest according to GlobeLand30-2010 and our analysis suggests that the accuracy of the combined datasets, especially for areas with heterogeneous land cover and/or small-scale forest loss, is still too poor for deriving

  9. Computer-aided boundary delineation of agricultural lands

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cheng, Thomas D.; Angelici, Gary L.; Slye, Robert E.; Ma, Matt

    1989-01-01

    The National Agricultural Statistics Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) presently uses labor-intensive aerial photographic interpretation techniques to divide large geographical areas into manageable-sized units for estimating domestic crop and livestock production. Prototype software, the computer-aided stratification (CAS) system, was developed to automate the procedure, and currently runs on a Sun-based image processing system. With a background display of LANDSAT Thematic Mapper and United States Geological Survey Digital Line Graph data, the operator uses a cursor to delineate agricultural areas, called sampling units, which are assigned to strata of land-use and land-cover types. The resultant stratified sampling units are used as input into subsequent USDA sampling procedures. As a test, three counties in Missouri were chosen for application of the CAS procedures. Subsequent analysis indicates that CAS was five times faster in creating sampling units than the manual techniques were.

  10. The potential for land sparing to offset greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lamb, Anthony; Green, Rhys; Bateman, Ian; Broadmeadow, Mark; Bruce, Toby; Burney, Jennifer; Carey, Pete; Chadwick, David; Crane, Ellie; Field, Rob; Goulding, Keith; Griffiths, Howard; Hastings, Astley; Kasoar, Tim; Kindred, Daniel; Phalan, Ben; Pickett, John; Smith, Pete; Wall, Eileen; Zu Ermgassen, Erasmus K. H. J.; Balmford, Andrew

    2016-05-01

    Greenhouse gas emissions from global agriculture are increasing at around 1% per annum, yet substantial cuts in emissions are needed across all sectors. The challenge of reducing agricultural emissions is particularly acute, because the reductions achievable by changing farming practices are limited and are hampered by rapidly rising food demand. Here we assess the technical mitigation potential offered by land sparing--increasing agricultural yields, reducing farmland area and actively restoring natural habitats on the land spared. Restored habitats can sequester carbon and can offset emissions from agriculture. Using the UK as an example, we estimate net emissions in 2050 under a range of future agricultural scenarios. We find that a land-sparing strategy has the technical potential to achieve significant reductions in net emissions from agriculture and land-use change. Coupling land sparing with demand-side strategies to reduce meat consumption and food waste can further increase the technical mitigation potential--however, economic and implementation considerations might limit the degree to which this technical potential could be realized in practice.

  11. Rates and potentials of soil organic carbon sequestration in agricultural lands in Japan: an assessment using a process-based model and spatially-explicit land-use change inventories

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yagasaki, Y.; Shirato, Y.

    2013-11-01

    In order to develop a system to estimate a country-scale soil organic carbon stock change (SCSC) in agricultural lands in Japan that enables to take account effect of land-use changes, climate, different agricultural activity and nature of soils, a spatially-explicit model simulation system using Rothamsted Carbon Model (RothC) integrated with spatial and temporal inventories was developed. Future scenarios on agricultural activity and land-use change were prepared, in addition to future climate projections by global climate models, with purposely selecting rather exaggerated and contrasting set of scenarios to assess system's sensitivity as well as to better factor out direct human influence in the SCSC accounting. Simulation was run from year 1970 to 2008, and to year 2020, with historical inventories and future scenarios involving target set in agricultural policy, respectively, and subsequently until year 2100 with no temporal changes in land-use and agricultural activity but with varying climate to investigate course of SCSC. Results of the country-scale SCSC simulation have indicated that conversion of paddy fields to croplands occurred during past decades, as well as a large conversion of agricultural fields to settlements or other lands that have occurred in historical period and would continue in future, could act as main factors causing greater loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) at country-scale, with reduction organic carbon input to soils and enhancement of SOC decomposition by transition of soil environment to aerobic conditions, respectively. Scenario analysis indicated that an option to increase organic carbon input to soils with intensified rotation with suppressing conversion of agricultural lands to other land-use types could achieve reduction of CO2 emission due to SCSC in the same level as that of another option to let agricultural fields be abandoned. These results emphasize that land-use changes, especially conversion of the agricultural lands

  12. Governance, agricultural intensification, and land sparing in tropical South America.

    PubMed

    Ceddia, Michele Graziano; Bardsley, Nicholas Oliver; Gomez-y-Paloma, Sergio; Sedlacek, Sabine

    2014-05-20

    In this paper we address two topical questions: How do the quality of governance and agricultural intensification impact on spatial expansion of agriculture? Which aspects of governance are more likely to ensure that agricultural intensification allows sparing land for nature? Using data from the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Bank, the World Database on Protected Areas, and the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, we estimate a panel data model for six South American countries and quantify the effects of major determinants of agricultural land expansion, including various dimensions of governance, over the period 1970-2006. The results indicate that the effect of agricultural intensification on agricultural expansion is conditional on the quality and type of governance. When considering conventional aspects of governance, agricultural intensification leads to an expansion of agricultural area when governance scores are high. When looking specifically at environmental aspects of governance, intensification leads to a spatial contraction of agriculture when governance scores are high, signaling a sustainable intensification process.

  13. Thermal Band Analysis of Agricultural Land Use and its Effects on Bioclimatic Comfort: The Case of Pasinler

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Avdan, Uǧur; Demircioglu Yildiz, Nalan; Dagliyar, Ayse; Yigit Avdan, Zehra; Yilmaz, Sevgi

    2014-05-01

    Resolving the problems that arise due to the land use are not suitable for the purpose in the rural and urban areas most suitable for land use of parameters to be determined. Unintended and unplanned developments in the use of agricultural land in our country caused increases the losses by soil erosion. In this study, Thermal Band analysis is made in Pasinler city center with the aim of identifying bioclimatic comfort values of the different agricultural area. Satellite images can be applied for assessing the thermal urban environment as well as for defining heat islands in agricultural areas. In this context, temperature map is tried to be produced with land surface temperature (LST) analysis made on Landsat TM5 satellite image. The Landsat 5 images was obtained from USGS for the study area. Using Landsat bands of the study area was mapped by supervised classification with the maximum likelihood classification algorithm of ERDAS imagine 2011 software. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) image was produced by using Landsat images. The digital number of the Landsat thermal infrared band (10.40 - 12.50 µm) is converted to the spectral radiance. The surface emissivity was calculated by using NDVI. The spatial pattern of land surface temperature in the study area is taken to characterize their local effects on agricultural land. Areas having bioclimatic comfort and ecologically urbanized, are interpreted with different graphical presentation technics. The obtained results are important because they create data bases for sustainable urban planning and provide a direction for planners and governors. As a result of rapid changes in land use, rural ecosystems and quality of life are deteriorated and decreased. In the presence of increased building density, for the comfortable living of people natural and cultural resources should be analyzed in detail. For that reason, optimal land use planning should be made in rural area.

  14. Spatial and temporal patterns of pesticide losses in a small Swedish agricultural catchment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sandin, Maria; Piikki, Kristin; Jarvis, Nicholas; Larsbo, Mats; Bishop, Kevin; Kreuger, Jenny

    2017-04-01

    Research at catchment and regional scales shows that losses of pesticides to surface water often originate from a relatively small fraction of the agricultural landscape. These 'hydrologic source areas' represent areas of land that are highly susceptible to fast transport processes, primarily surface runoff or rapid subsurface flows through soil macropores, either to subsurface field drainage systems or as shallow interflow on more strongly sloping land. A good understanding of the nature of transport pathways for pesticides to surface water in agricultural landscapes is essential for cost-effective identification and implementation of mitigation measures. However, the relative importance of surface and subsurface flows for transport of pesticides to surface waters in Sweden remains largely unknown, since very few studies have been performed under Swedish agro-environmental conditions. We conducted a monitoring study in a small sub-surface drained agricultural catchment in one of the main crop production regions in Sweden. Three small sub-catchments were selected for water sampling based on a high-resolution soil map developed from proximal sensing data; one sub-catchment was dominated by clay soils, another by coarse sandy soils while the third comprised a mix of soil types. Samples were collected from the stream, from field drains discharging into the stream and from within-field surface runoff during spring and early summer in three consecutive years. LC-MS/MS analyses of more than 100 compounds, covering the majority of the polar and semi-polar pesticides most frequently used in Swedish agriculture, were performed on all samples using accredited methods. Information on pesticide applications (products, doses and timing) was obtained from annual interviews with the farmers. There were clear and consistent differences in pesticide losses between the three sub-catchments, with the largest losses occurring in the area with clay soils, and negligible losses from the

  15. Bridging the gaps between agricultural policy, land-use and biodiversity.

    PubMed

    Mattison, Elizabeth H A; Norris, Ken

    2005-11-01

    The fate of biodiversity is intimately linked to agricultural development. Policy reform is an important driver of changes in agricultural land-use, but there is considerable spatial variation in response to policy and its potential impact on biodiversity. We review the links between policy, land-use and biodiversity and advocate a more integrated approach. Ecologists need to recognize that wildlife-friendly farming is not the only land-use strategy that can be used to conserve biodiversity and to research alternative options such as land sparing. There is also a need for social scientists and ecologists to bring their approaches together, so that land-use change and its consequences can be investigated in a more holistic way.

  16. Correlations between land covers and honey bee colony losses in a country with industrialized and rural regions.

    PubMed

    Clermont, Antoine; Eickermann, Michael; Kraus, François; Hoffmann, Lucien; Beyer, Marco

    2015-11-01

    High levels of honey bee colony losses were recently reported from Canada, China, Europe, Israel, Turkey and the United States, raising concerns of a global pollinator decline and questioning current land use practices, in particular intense agricultural cropping systems. Sixty-seven crops (data from the years 2010-2012) and 66 mid-term stable land cover classes (data from 2007) were analysed for statistical relationships with the honey bee colony losses experienced over the winters 2010/11-2012/13 in Luxembourg (Western Europe). The area covered by each land cover class, the shortest distance between each land cover class and the respective apiary, the number of plots covered by each land use class and the size of the biggest plot of each land cover class within radii of 2 km and 5 km around 166 apiaries (2010), 184 apiaries (2011) and 188 apiaries (2012) were tested for correlations with honey bee colony losses (% per apiary) experienced in the winter following the season when the crops were grown. Artificial water bodies, open urban areas, large industrial facilities including heavy industry, railways and associated installations, buildings and installations with socio-cultural purpose, camping-, sports-, playgrounds, golf courts, oilseed crops other than oilseed rape like sunflower or linseed, some spring cereals and former forest clearcuts or windthrows were the land cover classes most frequently associated with high honey bee colony losses. Grain maize, mixed forest and mixed coniferous forest were the land cover classes most frequently associated with low honey bee colony losses. The present data suggest that land covers related to transport, industry and leisure may have made a more substantial contribution to winter honey bee colony losses in developed countries than anticipated so far. Recommendations for the positioning of apiaries are discussed. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  17. Having it both ways? Land use change in a U.S. midwestern agricultural ecoregion

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Auch, Roger F.; Laingen, Chris R.

    2015-01-01

    Urbanization has been directly linked to decreases in area of agricultural lands and, as such, has been considered a threat to food security. Although the area of land used to produce food has diminished, often overlooked have been changes in agricultural output. The Eastern Corn Belt Plains (ECBP) is an important agricultural region in the U.S. Midwest. It has both gained a significant amount of urban land, primarily from the conversion of agricultural land between 1973 and 2000, and at the same time continued to produce ever-increasing quantities of agricultural products. By 2002, more corn, soybeans, and hogs were produced on a smaller agricultural land base than in 1974. In the last quarter of the twentieth century, ECBP ecoregion society appeared to have “had it both ways”: more urbanization along with increased agricultural output.

  18. Governance, agricultural intensification, and land sparing in tropical South America

    PubMed Central

    Ceddia, Michele Graziano; Bardsley, Nicholas Oliver; Gomez-y-Paloma, Sergio; Sedlacek, Sabine

    2014-01-01

    In this paper we address two topical questions: How do the quality of governance and agricultural intensification impact on spatial expansion of agriculture? Which aspects of governance are more likely to ensure that agricultural intensification allows sparing land for nature? Using data from the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Bank, the World Database on Protected Areas, and the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, we estimate a panel data model for six South American countries and quantify the effects of major determinants of agricultural land expansion, including various dimensions of governance, over the period 1970–2006. The results indicate that the effect of agricultural intensification on agricultural expansion is conditional on the quality and type of governance. When considering conventional aspects of governance, agricultural intensification leads to an expansion of agricultural area when governance scores are high. When looking specifically at environmental aspects of governance, intensification leads to a spatial contraction of agriculture when governance scores are high, signaling a sustainable intensification process. PMID:24799696

  19. GCAM 3.0 Agriculture and Land Use: Data Sources and Methods

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kyle, G. Page; Luckow, Patrick; Calvin, Katherine V.

    This report presents the data processing methods used in the GCAM 3.0 agriculture and land use component, starting from all source data used, and detailing all calculations and assumptions made in generating the model inputs. The report starts with a brief introduction to modeling of agriculture and land use in GCAM 3.0, and then provides documentation of the data and methods used for generating the base-year dataset and future scenario parameters assumed in the model input files. Specifically, the report addresses primary commodity production, secondary (animal) commodity production, disposition of commodities, land allocation, land carbon contents, and land values.

  20. Agricultural Development, Land Change, and Livelihoods in Tanzania's Kilombero Valley

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Connors, John Patrick

    The Kilombero Valley lies at the intersection of a network of protected areas that cross Tanzania. The wetlands and woodlands of the Valley, as well as the forest of surrounding mountains are abundant in biodiversity and are considered to be critical areas for conservation. This area, however, is also the home to more than a half million people, primarily poor smallholder farmers. In an effort to support the livelihoods and food security of these farmers and the larger Tanzanian population, the country has recently targeted a series of programs to increase agricultural production in the Kilombero Valley and elsewhere in the country. Bridging concepts and methods from land change science, political ecology, and sustainable livelihoods, I present an integrated assessment of the linkages between development and conservation efforts in the Kilombero Valley and the implications for food security. This dissertation uses three empirical studies to understand the process of development in the Kilombero Valley and to link the priorities and perceptions of conservation and development efforts to the material outcomes in food security and land change. The first paper of this dissertation examines the changes in land use in the Kilombero Valley between 1997 and 2014 following the privatization of agriculture and the expansion of Tanzania's Kilimo Kwanza program. Remote sensing analysis reveals a two-fold increase in agricultural area during this short time, largely at the expense of forest. Protected areas in some parts of the Valley appear to be deterring deforestation, but rapid agricultural growth, particularly surrounding a commercial rice plantation, has led to loss of extant forest and sustained habitat fragmentation. The second paper focuses examines livelihood strategies in the Valley and claims regarding the role of agrobiodiversity in food security. The results of household survey reveal no difference or lower food security among households that diversify their

  1. Challenges for Sustainable Land Management through Climate-Smart Agriculture

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dougill, Andrew; Stringer, Lindsay

    2017-04-01

    There are increasing pushes for agricultural land management to be both sustainable and climate-smart (in terms of increasing productivity, building resilience to climate change and enhancing carbon storage). Climate-smart agriculture initiatives include conservation agriculture, based on minimum soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and crop rotation, and agroforestry. Such efforts address key international goals of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), but as yet have not seen widespread uptake. Based on analyses of different project interventions from across a range of southern African countries, we outline the inter-related challenges that are preventing adoption of climate-smart agriculture initiatives. We then identify routes to building multi-stakeholder partnerships and empowering communities through participatory monitoring with the aim of increasing uptake of such sustainable land management practices. Good practice examples remain largely restricted to local-level project interventions with significant donor (or private-sector) support, aligned to short-term community priorities relating to access to inputs or reduced labour requirements. Scaling-up to district- and national-level initiatives is yet to be widely successful due to problems of: limited policy coherence; a lack of communication between stakeholders at different levels; and limited understanding of long-term benefits associated with changes in agricultural practices. We outline opportunities associated with improved communication of climate information, empowerment of district-level adaptation planning and diversification of agricultural livelihood strategies as key routes to guide farmers towards more sustainable, and climate-smart, land management practices. Recent experiences in Malawi, which has experienced significant floods and an El Niño drought year in the last two years, are used to

  2. Understanding the drivers of agricultural land use change in south-central Senegal

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Wood, E. C.; Tappan, G. Gray; Hadj, Amadou

    2004-01-01

    Described is (1) the land use and land cover changes that have taken place in the Department of Velingara, an area of tropical dry woodland in south-central Senegal, (2) the biophysical and socio-economic drivers of those changes with an emphasis on transition to agricultural use, and (3) an assessment of the likelihood of intensification of agriculture in the Department. Results indicate that land devoted to agriculture, either in active cultivation or short-term fallow, is increasing. There is little evidence of agricultural intensification in most of Velingara, with extensification coming largely at the cost of reduction in both upland woodlands and riparian forest.

  3. Reducing runoff and nutrient loss from agricultural land in the Lower Mississippi River Basin

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Reba, M. L.; Bouldin, J.; Teague, T.; Choate, J.

    2011-12-01

    The Lower Mississippi River Basin (LMRB) yields suspended sediment, total phosphorus, total nitrogen and silicate that are disproportionately high for the area. In addition, groundwater pumping of the alluvial aquifer has been deemed unsustainable under current practices. Much of the LMRB is used for large-scale agricultural production of primarily cotton, soybeans and rice. The incorporation of conservation practices may improve nutrient use efficiency and reduce runoff from agricultural fields. Three paired fields have been instrumented at the edge-of-field to quantify nutrients and runoff. The fields are located in northeastern Arkansas in the Little River Ditches and St. Francis watersheds. Nutrient use efficiency will be gained by utilizing variable rate fertilizer application technology. Reduced runoff will be gained through improved irrigation management. This study quantifies the runoff and nutrient loss from the first year of a 5-year study and will serve as a baseline for a comparative study of conservation practices employed on the paired fields.

  4. Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Land Loss in Mississippi River Delta

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Roy, S.; Edmonds, D. A.; Robeson, S. M.; Ortiz, A. C.; Nienhuis, J.

    2017-12-01

    Land loss across the Louisiana coast is predicted to exceed 10,000 km2 by 2100. An estimated 18-24 billion tons of sediment is needed to offset land loss, but available sediment supply from the Mississippi River falls short. As a result, coastal restoration plans must target certain areas, which highlight the importance of understanding the processes and patterns of land loss. In this study, we use remote sensing to investigate and quantify land loss patterns, as well as the corresponding morphology of the land segments that are lost. Using Google Earth Engine, we combined over 10,000 time-series Landsat imagery in the Mississippi River Delta to create twelve, three-year composites from 1983 to 2016. We then spectrally unmixed each pixel into land and water percentages, and create land-water binaries. Stratifying by hydrologic unit code boundaries and local subsidence rates, we analyze the land loss pixels using landscape metrics. Our results show that the total loss from 1983-2016 for our area of interest was 908.02 km2 (loss of 5.84%) and total land area was 6855.63 km2 (49.97 % of total area) in 2016 compared to 7763.65 km2 (44.13%) in 1983 consistent with previous estimates for our study area. Land loss pixels have a low patch density (mean of 4.80 patches/ha) and high aggregation indices (mean of 47.15), which indicates that land-loss pixels tend to clump together. The shape index of these clumped pixels are also low (mean of 2.32), which points towards long, narrow patches and edges. Local indicator of spatial autocorrelation (LISA) areas was applied to determine areas of high positive autocorrelation within the loss pixels which reinforced loss across edges. Based on spatial metrics and subsidence grid based analysis on the temporal pattern of land loss pixels we find that i) land change (both growth and loss pixels) occurs along the marsh, lake and coastal edges rather than inland; ii) subsidence, though positively correlated with landloss, is no longer the

  5. Implications of agricultural land use change to ecosystem services in the Ganges delta.

    PubMed

    Islam, G M Tarekul; Islam, A K M Saiful; Shopan, Ahsan Azhar; Rahman, Md Munsur; Lázár, Attila N; Mukhopadhyay, Anirban

    2015-09-15

    Ecosystems provide the basis for human civilization and natural capital for green economy and sustainable development. Ecosystem services may range from crops, fish, freshwater to those that are harder to see such as erosion regulation, carbon sequestration, and pest control. Land use changes have been identified as the main sources of coastal and marine pollution in Bangladesh. This paper explores the temporal variation of agricultural land use change and its implications with ecosystem services in the Ganges delta. With time agricultural lands have been decreased and wetlands have been increased at a very high rate mainly due to the growing popularity of saltwater shrimp farming. In a span of 28 years, the agricultural lands have been reduced by approximately 50%, while the wetlands have been increased by over 500%. A large portion (nearly 40%) of the study area is covered by the Sundarbans which remained almost constant which can be attributed to the strict regulatory intervention to preserve the Sundarbans. The settlement & others land use type has also been increased to nearly 5%. There is a gradual uptrend of shrimp and fish production in the study area. The findings suggest that there are significant linkages between agricultural land use change and ecosystem services in the Ganges delta in Bangladesh. The continuous decline of agricultural land (due to salinization) and an increase of wetland have been attributed to the conversion of agricultural land into shrimp farming in the study area. Such land use change requires significant capital, therefore, only investors and wealthier land owners can get the higher profit from the land conversion while the poor people is left with the environmental consequences that affect their long-term lives and livelihood. An environmental management plan is proposed for sustainable land use in the Ganges delta in Bangladesh. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Relations between retired agricultural land, water quality, and aquatic-community health, Minnesota River Basin

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Christensen, Victoria G.; Lee, Kathy E.; McLees, James M.; Niemela, Scott L.

    2012-01-01

    The relative importance of agricultural land retirement on water quality and aquatic-community health was investigated in the Minnesota River Basin. Eighty-two sites, with drainage areas ranging from 4.3 to 2200 km2, were examined for nutrient concentrations, measures of aquatic-community health (e.g., fish index of biotic integrity [IBI] scores), and environmental factors (e.g., drainage area and amount of agricultural land retirement). The relation of proximity of agricultural land retirement to the stream was determined by calculating the land retirement percent in various riparian zones. Spearman's rho results indicated that IBI score was not correlated to the percentage of agricultural land retirement at the basin scale (p = 0.070); however, IBI score was correlated to retired land percentage in the 50- to 400-m riparian zones surrounding the streams (p < 0.05), indicating that riparian agricultural land retirement may have more influence on aquatic-community health than does agricultural land retirement in upland areas. Multivariate analysis of covariance and analysis of covariance models indicated that other environmental factors (such as drainage area and lacustrine and palustrine features) commonly were correlated to aquatic-community health measures, as were in-stream factors (standard deviation of water depth and substrate type). These results indicate that although agricultural land retirement is significantly related to fish communities as measured by the IBI scores, a combination of basin, riparian, and in-stream factors act together to influence IBI scores.

  7. Spatial and temporal predictions of agricultural land prices using DSM techniques.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Carré, F.; Grandgirard, D.; Diafas, I.; Reuter, H. I.; Julien, V.; Lemercier, B.

    2009-04-01

    Agricultural land prices highly impacts land accessibility to farmers and by consequence the evolution of agricultural landscapes (crop changes, land conversion to urban infrastructures…) which can turn to irreversible soil degradation. The economic value of agricultural land has been studied spatially, in every one of the 374 French Agricultural Counties, and temporally- from 1995 to 2007, by using data of the SAFER Institute. To this aim, agricultural land price was considered as a digital soil property. The spatial and temporal predictions were done using Digital Soil Mapping techniques combined with tools mainly used for studying temporal financial behaviors. For making both predictions, a first classification of the Agricultural Counties was done for the 1995-2006 periods (2007 was excluded and served as the date of prediction) using a fuzzy k-means clustering. The Agricultural Counties were then aggregated according to land price at the different times. The clustering allows for characterizing the counties by their memberships to each class centroid. The memberships were used for the spatial prediction, whereas the centroids were used for the temporal prediction. For the spatial prediction, from the 374 Agricultural counties, three fourths were used for modeling and one fourth for validating. Random sampling was done by class to ensure that all classes are represented by at least one county in the modeling and validation datasets. The prediction was done for each class by testing the relationships between the memberships and the following factors: (i) soil variable (organic matter from the French BDAT database), (ii) soil covariates (land use classes from CORINE LANDCOVER, bioclimatic zones from the WorldClim Database, landform attributes and landform classes from the SRTM, major roads and hydrographic densities from EUROSTAT, average field sizes estimated by automatic classification of remote sensed images) and (iii) socio-economic factors (population

  8. Redistributive land and tenancy reform in Bangladesh agriculture.

    PubMed

    Taslim, M A

    1993-04-01

    Land is scarce and population dense in Bangladesh. Accordingly, there is great need to maximize agricultural production with intensive cultivation and the diffusion of modern technology. The realization of this goal, however, is impeded by the prevailing inequitable and inefficient structure of agricultural land tenure in which a few rural households hold the bulk of cultivatable land. Cropsharing and the system of land tenancy perpetuates low productivity and stagnation throughout the country. Development professionals, ruling politicians, and general populations in many countries under similar circumstances often suggest that share tenancy be abolished and tenants given ownership of tenanted plots, with large farms broken into smaller ones with an ultimate ceiling on farm size. The political and undertaken by new governments coming to power after violent social upheavals. Careful review reveals that such reform has hardly ever led to the establishment of prosperous and independent peasantries. Small family farms have instead become more dependent on the state and on off-farm employment. The rural elite is destroyed and a small peasant proprietorship dependent on the state is established which is ultimately controlled by the urban elite of the country; control over rural populations is reinforced. The dubious historical motivation for and results of land reform suggest that Bangladesh abandon its consideration in favor of promoting vocational training and education; providing research and extension services to agriculture for more rapid diffusion of high-yield innovations; mobilizing domestic resources to build up the infrastructure; fostering the development of private initiatives; and informing and advising about sustainable development practices to encourage their adoption so that an ecological balance may be maintained.

  9. Determination of the Impact of Urbanization on Agricultural Lands using Multi-temporal Satellite Sensor Images

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kaya, S.; Alganci, U.; Sertel, E.; Ustundag, B.

    2015-12-01

    Throughout the history, agricultural activities have been performed close to urban areas. Main reason behind this phenomenon is the need of fast marketing of the agricultural production to urban residents and financial provision. Thus, using the areas nearby cities for agricultural activities brings out advantage of easy transportation of productions and fast marketing. For decades, heavy migration to cities has directly and negatively affected natural grasslands, forests and agricultural lands. This pressure has caused agricultural lands to be changed into urban areas. Dense urbanization causes increase in impervious surfaces, heat islands and many other problems in addition to destruction of agricultural lands. Considering the negative impacts of urbanization on agricultural lands and natural resources, a periodic monitoring of these changes becomes indisputably important. At this point, satellite images are known to be good data sources for land cover / use change monitoring with their fast data acquisition, large area coverages and temporal resolution properties. Classification of the satellite images provides thematic the land cover / use maps of the earth surface and changes can be determined with GIS based analysis multi-temporal maps. In this study, effects of heavy urbanization over agricultural lands in Istanbul, metropolitan city of Turkey, were investigated with use of multi-temporal Landsat TM satellite images acquired between 1984 and 2011. Images were geometrically registered to each other and classified using supervised maximum likelihood classification algorithm. Resulting thematic maps were exported to GIS environment and destructed agricultural lands by urbanization were determined using spatial analysis.

  10. Climate change impacts on global agricultural land availability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Xiao; Cai, Ximing

    2011-01-01

    Climate change can affect both crop yield and the land area suitable for agriculture. This study provides a spatially explicit estimate of the impact of climate change on worldwide agricultural land availability, considering uncertainty in climate change projections and ambiguity with regard to land classification. Uncertainty in general circulation model (GCM) projections is addressed using data assembled from thirteen GCMs and two representative emission scenarios (A1B and B1 employ CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas concentrations of 850 and 600 ppmv, respectively; B1 represents a greener economy). Erroneous data and the uncertain nature of land classifications based on multiple indices (i.e. soil properties, land slope, temperature, and humidity) are handled with fuzzy logic modeling. It is found that the total global arable land area is likely to decrease by 0.8-1.7% under scenario A1B and increase by 2.0-4.4% under scenario B1. Regions characterized by relatively high latitudes such as Russia, China and the US may expect an increase of total arable land by 37-67%, 22-36% and 4-17%, respectively, while tropical and sub-tropical regions may suffer different levels of lost arable land. For example, South America may lose 1-21% of its arable land area, Africa 1-18%, Europe 11-17%, and India 2-4%. When considering, in addition, land used for human settlements and natural conservation, the net potential arable land may decrease even further worldwide by the end of the 21st century under both scenarios due to population growth. Regionally, it is likely that both climate change and population growth will cause reductions in arable land in Africa, South America, India and Europe. However, in Russia, China and the US, significant arable land increases may still be possible. Although the magnitudes of the projected changes vary by scenario, the increasing or decreasing trends in arable land area are regionally consistent.

  11. 25 CFR 162.201 - Must agricultural land be managed in accordance with a tribe's agricultural resource management...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... identify holistic management objectives; and (5) Identify actions to be taken to reach established... tribe's agricultural resource management plan? 162.201 Section 162.201 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS... Must agricultural land be managed in accordance with a tribe's agricultural resource management plan...

  12. Effects of Governance on Availability of Land for Agriculture and Conservation in Brazil.

    PubMed

    Sparovek, Gerd; Barretto, Alberto Giaroli de Oliveira Pereira; Matsumoto, Marcelo; Berndes, Göran

    2015-09-01

    The 2012 revision of the Brazilian Forest Act changed the relative importance of private and public governance for nature conservation and agricultural production. We present a spatially explicit land-use model for Brazilian agricultural production and nature conservation that considers the spatial distribution of agricultural land suitability, technological and management options, legal command, and control frameworks including the Atlantic Forest Law, the revised Forest Act, and the Amazonian land-titling, "Terra Legal," and also market-driven land use regulations. The model is used to analyze land use allocation under three scenarios with varying priorities among agricultural production and environmental protection objectives. In all scenarios, the legal command and control frameworks were the most important determinants of conservation outcomes, protecting at least 80% of the existing natural vegetation. Situations where such frameworks are not expected to be effective can be identified and targeted for additional conservation (beyond legal requirements) through voluntary actions or self-regulation in response to markets. All scenarios allow for a substantial increase in crop production, using an area 1.5-2.7 times the current cropland area, with much of new cropland occurring on current pastureland. Current public arrangements that promote conservation can, in conjunction with voluntary schemes on private lands where conversion to agriculture is favored, provide important additional nature conservation without conflicting with national agricultural production objectives.

  13. Use of agricultural land evaluation and site assessment in Linn County, Oregon, USA

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huddleston, J. Herbert; Pease, James R.; Forrest, William G.; Hickerson, Hugh J.; Langridge, Russell W.

    1987-07-01

    Oregon state law requires each county in the state to identify agricultural land and enact policies and regulations to protect agricultural land use. State guidelines encourage the preservation of large parcels of agricultural land and discourage partitioning of agricultural land and construction of nonfarm dwellings in agricultural areas. A land evaluation and site assessment (LESA) system was developed in Linn County to aid in the identification of agricultural land and provide assistance to decision makers concerning the relative merits of requests to partition existing parcels of ricultural land and introduce nonagricultural uses. Land evaluation was determined by calculating soil potential ratings for each agricultural soil in the county based on the soil potentials for winter wheat, annual ryegrass, permanent pasture, and irrigated sweet corn. Soil potential ratings were expressed on a scale of 0 to 150 points. The land evaluation score for a parcel consists of the weighted average soil potential rating for all of the soils in the parcel, weighted by the percentage of each soil present in the parcel. Site assessment was based on the size of a parcel and on the amount of existing conflict between agricultural and nonagricultural uses, particularly rural residential uses, both adjacent to and in the vicinity of a parcel. Parcel size refers to both size in relation to a typical field and size in relation to a typical farm unit. Conflict takes into account the number of nonfarm dwellings within 1/4 mile (0.4 km) of a parcel, the amount of the perimeter that adjoins conflicting land uses, and the residential density adjacent to the parcel. Empirical scales were derived for assigning points to each of the site assessment factors. Both parcel size and conflict were worth 75 points in the model. For parcel size, 45 points were allocated to field size and 30 points to farm-unit size. For conflict, 30 points were allocated to nonfarm dwellings within 1/4 mile and 45

  14. Ecosystem Services Provided by Agricultural Land as Modeled by Broad Scale Geospatial Analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kokkinidis, Ioannis

    Agricultural ecosystems provide multiple services including food and fiber provision, nutrient cycling, soil retention and water regulation. Objectives of the study were to identify and quantify a selection of ecosystem services provided by agricultural land, using existing geospatial tools and preferably free and open source data, such as the Virginia Land Use Evaluation System (VALUES), the North Carolina Realistic Yield Expectations (RYE) database, and the land cover datasets NLCD and CDL. Furthermore I sought to model tradeoffs between provisioning and other services. First I assessed the accuracy of agricultural land in NLCD and CDL over a four county area in eastern Virginia using cadastral parcels. I uncovered issues concerning the definition of agricultural land. The area and location of agriculture saw little change in the 19 years studied. Furthermore all datasets have significant errors of omission (11.3 to 95.1%) and commission (0 to 71.3%). Location of agriculture was used with spatial crop yield databases I created and combined with models I adapted to calculate baseline values for plant biomass, nutrient composition and requirements, land suitability for and potential production of biofuels and the economic impact of agriculture for the four counties. The study area was then broadened to cover 97 counties in eastern Virginia and North Carolina, investigating the potential for increased regional grain production through intensification and extensification of agriculture. Predicted yield from geospatial crop models was compared with produced yield from the NASS Survey of Agriculture. Area of most crops in CDL was similar to that in the Survey of Agriculture, but a yield gap is present for most years, partially due to weather, thus indicating potential for yield increase through intensification. Using simple criteria I quantified the potential to extend agriculture in high yield land in other uses and modeled the changes in erosion and runoff should

  15. Does land ownership make a difference? Women's roles in agriculture in Kerala, India.

    PubMed

    Arun, S

    1999-11-01

    Drawing on a 12-month study, this paper explores the role of women in agriculture in Kerala, India. Despite claims that women enjoy high status in Kerala, economic, social, and cultural factors interplay to reinforce gender differences in ownership, control over, and access to critical agricultural resources, including land. Although women may gain access to land through inheritance, marriage, or informal networks, none of this guarantee effective control over it. The traditional rights of women to land have not been adequately recognized: the gender gap in the ownership and control of property is the only most significant contributor to the gender gap in the economic well-being, social status, and empowerment of women. The existing socioeconomic changes and crisis which render agricultural land as a main source of livelihood, is leading nair women's share of land being sold, with gains going to men, thus decreasing women¿s ownership of land to the status of male-controlled dowry. The case of the Christian succession laws in Kerala illustrate that legal provisions alone can have a limited impact on changing gendered power structures. The role of women in agriculture needs to be recognized, and institutional support must be increased in order for women to gain access to agricultural inputs and technology, which in turn, leads to better agricultural practices and a higher income from farming in the country. Most importantly, there should be a concerted effort to enable women to function as independent farmers who control their own land.

  16. Scenarios of land use change for agriculture: the role of Land Evaluation in improving model simulation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mereu, V.; Santini, M.; Dettori, G.; Muresu, P.; Spano, D.; Duce, P.

    2009-12-01

    Integrated scenarios of future climate and land use represent a useful input for impact studies about global changes. In particular, improving future land use simulations is essential for the agricultural sector, which is influenced by both biogeophysical constraints and human needs. Often land use change models are mainly based on statistical relationships between known land use distribution and biophysical or socio-economic factors, neglecting the necessary consideration of physical constraints that interact in making lands more or less capable for agriculture and suitable for supporting specific crops. In this study, a well developed land use change model (CLUE@CMCC) was suited for the Mediterranean basin case study, focusing on croplands. Several climate scenarios and future demands for croplands were combined to drive the model, while the same climate scenarios were used to more reliably allocate crops in the most suitable areas on the basis of Land Evaluation techniques. The probability for each map unit to sustain a specific crop, usually related to location characteristics, elasticity to conversion and competition among land use types, now includes specific crop-favoring location characteristics. Results, besides improving the consistency of the land use change model to allocate land for the future, can have the main feedback to suggest feasibility or reasonable thresholds to adjust land use demands during dynamic simulations.

  17. Heavy metal loss from agricultural watershed to aquatic system: A scientometrics review.

    PubMed

    Ouyang, Wei; Wang, Yidi; Lin, Chunye; He, Mengchang; Hao, Fanghua; Liu, Hongbin; Zhu, Weihong

    2018-05-08

    Heavy metal pollution in soil and aquatic environments has attracted widespread attention due to its persistence, accumulation in the food chain and negative effects on ecological and human health. However, analyses of the watershed-scale migration mechanisms of heavy metal loss from agricultural systems to aquatic systems have seldom been studied systematically. Therefore, this review summarizes the available data in the literature (2003-2017) using CiteSpace software to provide insights into the specific characteristics of heavy metal loss from agricultural watersheds to aquatic systems and consequently shows global development trends that scientists can use for establishing future research directions. As opposed to traditional review articles by experts, this study provides a new method for quantitatively visualizing information about the development of this field over the past decade. The results indicate that among all countries, China was the most active contributor with the most publications and cooperated the most with other countries. In addition, most articles were classified as environmental sciences and ecology, environmental sciences or agricultural studies. Furthermore, based on a keyword co-word analysis by CiteSpace, it was concluded that erosion-linked transport of heavy metals was the most influencing factor of mitigation mechanism. Additionally, the migration characteristics of heavy metals in farmland soils and water under the complex environment impacts of various factors such as climate change and land-use changes were of great significance that future studies should focus on. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Agriculture and Energy: Implications for Food Security, Water, and Land Use

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tokgoz, S.; Zhang, W.; Msangi, S.; Bhandary, P.

    2011-12-01

    Sustainable production of agricultural commodities and growth of international trade in these goods are challenged as never before by supply-side constraints (such as climate change, water and land scarcity, and environmental degradation) and by demand-side dynamics (volatility in food and energy markets, the strengthening food-energy linkage, population growth, and income growth). On the one hand, the rapidly expanding demand can potentially create new market opportunities for agriculture. On the other hand, there are many threats to a sufficient response by the supply side to meet this growing and changing demand. Agricultural production systems in many countries are neither resource-efficient, nor producing according to their full potential. The stock of natural resources such as land, water, nutrients, energy, and genetic diversity is shrinking relative to demand, and their use must become increasingly efficient in order to reduce environmental impacts and preserve the planet's productive capacity. World energy prices have increased rapidly in recent years. At the same time, agriculture has become more energy-intensive. Higher energy costs have pushed up the cost of producing, transporting and processing agricultural commodities, driving up commodity prices. Higher energy costs have also affected water use and availability through increased costs of water extraction, conveyance and desalinization, higher demand for hydroelectric power, and increased cost of subsidizing water services. In the meantime, the development of biofuels has diverted increasing amounts of agricultural land and water resources to the production of biomass-based renewable energy. This more "intensified" linkage between agriculture and energy comes at a time when there are other pressures on the world's limited resources. The related high food prices, especially those in the developing countries, have led to setbacks in the poverty alleviation effort among the global community with more

  19. Effects of urban sprawl on agricultural land: a case study of Kahramanmaraş, Turkey.

    PubMed

    Doygun, Hakan

    2009-11-01

    The main objective of this study is to quantify areal loss of olive groves due to urban sprawl of the city of Kahramanmaraş, Turkey. Spatial changes were analysed by interpreting the digitized data derived from a black-white monoscopic aerial photograph taken in 1985, panchromatic IKONOS image of 2000 and two pan-sharpened Quickbird images of 2004 and 2006. Data obtained revealed that the area of olive groves decreased by 25% from 460.55 ha in 1985 to 344.46 in 2006, while the number of parcels increased from 170 to 445. Of the total areal loss, 60% was due to building constructions, with the rest being due to clear-cut for new residential gardens composed of exotic plants, new buildings, or new roads. Rapid population growth, increased land prices due to urban expansion, and abandonment of agricultural practices to construction of multi-storey buildings were the main causes of the process that transformed the olive groves into urbanized areas. Results pointed to an urgent need to (1) revise the national and municipal land management practices, (2) balance the gap between the short- and long-term economic benefits that urban and community development plans ignore, and (3) monitor land-use changes periodically by using high resolution satellite images.

  20. Soil carbon debt of 12,000 years of human land use.

    PubMed

    Sanderman, Jonathan; Hengl, Tomislav; Fiske, Gregory J

    2017-09-05

    Human appropriation of land for agriculture has greatly altered the terrestrial carbon balance, creating a large but uncertain carbon debt in soils. Estimating the size and spatial distribution of soil organic carbon (SOC) loss due to land use and land cover change has been difficult but is a critical step in understanding whether SOC sequestration can be an effective climate mitigation strategy. In this study, a machine learning-based model was fitted using a global compilation of SOC data and the History Database of the Global Environment (HYDE) land use data in combination with climatic, landform and lithology covariates. Model results compared favorably with a global compilation of paired plot studies. Projection of this model onto a world without agriculture indicated a global carbon debt due to agriculture of 133 Pg C for the top 2 m of soil, with the rate of loss increasing dramatically in the past 200 years. The HYDE classes "grazing" and "cropland" contributed nearly equally to the loss of SOC. There were higher percent SOC losses on cropland but since more than twice as much land is grazed, slightly higher total losses were found from grazing land. Important spatial patterns of SOC loss were found: Hotspots of SOC loss coincided with some major cropping regions as well as semiarid grazing regions, while other major agricultural zones showed small losses and even net gains in SOC. This analysis has demonstrated that there are identifiable regions which can be targeted for SOC restoration efforts.

  1. Agricultural drainage and wetland management in Ontario.

    PubMed

    Walters, Dan; Shrubsole, Dan

    2003-12-01

    Land drainage is recognized as an integral part of agricultural activity throughout the world. However, the increase in agricultural production has resulted in the loss of wetland functions and values. Therefore, wetland management and agricultural drainage illustrate the conflict between economic development and natural values. This research assesses the approval process for agricultural land drainage in Ontario, Canada, to determine how the benefits of increased agricultural production are balanced against the loss of wetland values. A permit review of drainage applications was conducted from 1978 to 1997 in Zorra Township, Ontario, Canada. Data collection also included the document reviews, interviews with government agencies and wetland evaluation files. The selected criteria include efficiency, equity, consistency and adequacy. The results indicate that while the process is efficient, fundamental problems remain with the bargaining process.

  2. Dynamic Agricultural Land Unit Profile Database Generation using Landsat Time Series Images

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Torres-Rua, A. F.; McKee, M.

    2012-12-01

    Agriculture requires continuous supply of inputs to production, while providing final or intermediate outputs or products (food, forage, industrial uses, etc.). Government and other economic agents are interested in the continuity of this process and make decisions based on the available information about current conditions within the agriculture area. From a government point of view, it is important that the input-output chain in agriculture for a given area be enhanced in time, while any possible abrupt disruption be minimized or be constrained within the variation tolerance of the input-output chain. The stability of the exchange of inputs and outputs becomes of even more important in disaster-affected zones, where government programs will look for restoring the area to equal or enhanced social and economical conditions before the occurrence of the disaster. From an economical perspective, potential and existing input providers require up-to-date, precise information of the agriculture area to determine present and future inputs and stock amounts. From another side, agriculture output acquirers might want to apply their own criteria to sort out present and future providers (farmers or irrigators) based on the management done during the irrigation season. In the last 20 years geospatial information has become available for large areas in the globe, providing accurate, unbiased historical records of actual agriculture conditions at individual land units for small and large agricultural areas. This data, adequately processed and stored in any database format, can provide invaluable information for government and economic interests. Despite the availability of the geospatial imagery records, limited or no geospatial-based information about past and current farming conditions at the level of individual land units exists for many agricultural areas in the world. The absence of this information challenges the work of policy makers to evaluate previous or current

  3. The impact of land use on biological activity of agriculture soils. An State-of-the-Art

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Morugán-Coronado, Alicia; Cerdà, Artemi; García-Orenes, Fuensanta

    2014-05-01

    Biological activity is a crucial soil property affecting soil sustainability and crop production. The unsuitable land management can lead to a loss in soil fertility and a reduction in the abundance and diversity of soil microorganisms. This can be as a consequence of high erosion rates due to the mismanagement of farmers (Cerdà et al., 2009a). However ecological practices and some organic amendments can promote the activities of soil microbial communities, and increase its biodiversity (García-Orenes et al., 2010; 2013). The impact of land use in microbiological properties of agriculture soil are presented and discussed in this review. Biological activity is quantified by microbial soil communities and soil enzyme activities to interpret the effects of soil management practices (Morugán-Coronado et al., 2013). The aim of biological activity tests is to give a reliable description of the state of agricultural soils under the effect of different land uses. Numerous methods have been used to determine the impact of land uses on microbiological properties. The current used methods for detecting microbial diversity are based on molecular techniques centered on the 16S and 18S rRNA encoding sequences such as CLPP: community-level physiological profiles; T-RFLP: terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism; DGGE: denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis; OFRG: oligonucleotide fingerprinting of rRNA genes, ARISA: Automated Ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis, SSCP: single-strand conformation polymorphism. And techniques based on the cellular composition of the microbes such as PLFA: phospholipid fatty acid analysis. Other methods are based on the activity of microbes, for example, Cmic: microbial biomass carbon; SIR: substrate induced respiration; BSR: Basal soil respiration; qCO2 metabolic quotient; enzymatic activities (Urease, ß-glucosidase and phosphatase) (Deng, 2012). Agricultural land management can contribute to increased rates of erosion due to

  4. The trajectories and determinants of agricultural land-use change over the last two decades in post-Soviet European Russia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Prishchepov, A. V.; Müller, D.; Sieber, A.; Kuemmerle, T.; Radeloff, V. C.; Hostert, P.

    2012-04-01

    The transition from state-command to market-driven economies in Russia in 1991 triggered fundamental political, economic and institutional changes, which in turn drastically affected agricultural land use. Large tracks of agricultural lands became abandoned, particularly during the first decade of the transition. However, it is not clear how the changing socio-economic and political conditions in post-Soviet Russia changed abandonment trajectories over the last two decades. We analyzed agricultural land-use change, both agricultural land abandonment and recultivation of once abandoned agricultural lands, with multitemporal Landsat TM/ETM+ images for 1990-2000-2009 to study Ryazan province in the forest-steppe transition zone and Rostov province in the steppe zone of European Russia. We classified agricultural land use change over 1990-2000-2009 with Support Vector Machines and assessed classification accuracies with independently of training datasets collected validation data. Overall accuracies were over 80%. We summarized the rates of agricultural land use change, and quantified the spatial determinants of these land use change processes using logistic regressions. Results indicated that 28% of agricultural land managed in 1990 were abandoned by the year 2000 in Ryazan province. From 2000 to 2009, agricultural land abandonment increased by another half what was abandoned from 1990 to 2000 and comprised 42% of abandoned agricultural that was managed in 1990 while only 1.4% of previously abandoned agricultural land was recultivated. In other words, agricultural abandonment was a continuous and permanent land use change in Ryazan province. In Rostov province, abandonment rates were substantially lower at nearly 10% of the agricultural land managed in 1990 and only minor additional abandonment from 2000 to 2009. The pattern of agricultural land abandonment in Ryazan province was largely determined by a mix of socio-economic and environmental factors (e.g. increased

  5. 12 CFR 614.4070 - Loans and chartered territory-Farm Credit Banks, agricultural credit banks, Federal land bank...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ..., agricultural credit banks, Federal land bank associations, Federal land credit associations, production credit associations, and agricultural credit associations. 614.4070 Section 614.4070 Banks and Banking FARM CREDIT... land credit associations, production credit associations, and agricultural credit associations. (a) A...

  6. Soil carbon debt of 12,000 years of human land use

    PubMed Central

    Sanderman, Jonathan; Hengl, Tomislav; Fiske, Gregory J.

    2017-01-01

    Human appropriation of land for agriculture has greatly altered the terrestrial carbon balance, creating a large but uncertain carbon debt in soils. Estimating the size and spatial distribution of soil organic carbon (SOC) loss due to land use and land cover change has been difficult but is a critical step in understanding whether SOC sequestration can be an effective climate mitigation strategy. In this study, a machine learning-based model was fitted using a global compilation of SOC data and the History Database of the Global Environment (HYDE) land use data in combination with climatic, landform and lithology covariates. Model results compared favorably with a global compilation of paired plot studies. Projection of this model onto a world without agriculture indicated a global carbon debt due to agriculture of 133 Pg C for the top 2 m of soil, with the rate of loss increasing dramatically in the past 200 years. The HYDE classes “grazing” and “cropland” contributed nearly equally to the loss of SOC. There were higher percent SOC losses on cropland but since more than twice as much land is grazed, slightly higher total losses were found from grazing land. Important spatial patterns of SOC loss were found: Hotspots of SOC loss coincided with some major cropping regions as well as semiarid grazing regions, while other major agricultural zones showed small losses and even net gains in SOC. This analysis has demonstrated that there are identifiable regions which can be targeted for SOC restoration efforts. PMID:28827323

  7. Integrated Assessment of Climate Change, Agricultural Land Use, and Regional Carbon Changes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    MU, J.

    2014-12-01

    Changes in land use have caused a net release of carbon to the atmosphere over the last centuries and decades1. On one hand, agriculture accounts for 52% and 84% of global anthropogenic methane and nitrous oxide emissions, respectively. On the other hand, many agricultural practices can potentially mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the most prominent of which are improved cropland and grazing land management2. From this perspective, land use change that reduces emissions and/or increases carbon sequestration can play an important role in climate change mitigation. As shown in Figure 1, this paper is an integrated study of climate impacts, land uses, and regional carbon changes to examine, link and assess climate impacts on regional carbon changes via impacts on land uses. This study will contribute to previous research in two aspects: impacts of climate change on future land uses under an uncertain future world and projections of regional carbon dynamics due to changes in future land use. Specifically, we will examine how land use change under historical climate change using observed data and then project changes in land use under future climate projections from 14 Global Climate Models (GCMs) for two emission scenarios (i.e., RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). More importantly, we will investigate future land use under uncertainties with changes in agricultural development and social-economic conditions along with a changing climate. By doing this, we then could integrate with existing efforts by USGS land-change scientists developing and parameterizing models capable of projecting changes across a full spectrum of land use and land cover changes and track the consequences on ecosystem carbon to provide better information for land managers and policy makers when informing climate change adaptation and mitigation policies.

  8. Exclusion of agricultural lands in spatial conservation prioritization strategies: consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem service representation

    PubMed Central

    Durán, América P.; Duffy, James P.; Gaston, Kevin J.

    2014-01-01

    Agroecosystems have traditionally been considered incompatible with biological conservation goals, and often been excluded from spatial conservation prioritization strategies. The consequences for the representativeness of identified priority areas have been little explored. Here, we evaluate these for biodiversity and carbon storage representation when agricultural land areas are excluded from a spatial prioritization strategy for South America. Comparing different prioritization approaches, we also assess how the spatial overlap of priority areas changes. The exclusion of agricultural lands was detrimental to biodiversity representation, indicating that priority areas for agricultural production overlap with areas of relatively high occurrence of species. By contrast, exclusion of agricultural lands benefits representation of carbon storage within priority areas, as lands of high value for agriculture and carbon storage overlap little. When agricultural lands were included and equally weighted with biodiversity and carbon storage, a balanced representation resulted. Our findings suggest that with appropriate management, South American agroecosystems can significantly contribute to biodiversity conservation. PMID:25143040

  9. Groundwater Ecosystems Vary with Land Use across a Mixed Agricultural Landscape.

    PubMed

    Korbel, K L; Hancock, P J; Serov, P; Lim, R P; Hose, G C

    2013-01-01

    Changes in surface land use may threaten groundwater quality and ecosystem integrity, particularly in shallow aquifers where links between groundwater and surface activities are most intimate. In this study we examine the response of groundwater ecosystem to agricultural land uses in the shallow alluvial aquifer of the Gwydir River valley, New South Wales, Australia. We compared groundwater quality and microbial and stygofauna assemblages among sites under irrigated cropping, non-irrigated cropping and grazing land uses. Stygofauna abundance and richness was greatest at irrigated sites, with the composition of the assemblage suggestive of disturbance. Microbial assemblages and water quality also varied with land use. Our study demonstrates significant differences in the composition of groundwater ecosystems in areas with different surface land use, and highlights the utility of groundwater biota for biomonitoring, particularly in agricultural landscapes. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  10. Estimation of phosphorus loss from agricultural land in the Heartland region using the APEX model: a first step to evaluating phosphorus indices

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Purpose. Phosphorus (P) indices are a key tool to minimize P loss from agricultural fields but there is insufficient water quality data to fully test them. Our goal is to use the Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender Model (APEX), calibrated with existing edge-of-field runoff data, to refine P...

  11. Interactive boundary delineation of agricultural lands using graphics workstations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cheng, Thomas D.; Angelici, Gary L.; Slye, Robert E.; Ma, Matt

    1992-01-01

    A review is presented of the computer-assisted stratification and sampling (CASS) system developed to delineate the boundaries of sample units for survey procedures. CASS stratifies the sampling units by land-cover and land-use type, employing image-processing software and hardware. This procedure generates coverage areas and the boundaries of stratified sampling units that are utilized for subsequent sampling procedures from which agricultural statistics are developed.

  12. Analysis of road development and associated agricultural land use change.

    PubMed

    Alphan, Hakan

    2017-12-05

    Development of road network is one of the strongest drivers of habitat fragmentation. It interferes with ecological processes that are based on material and energy flows between landscape patches. Therefore, changes in temporal patterns of roads may be regarded as important landscape-level environmental indicators. The aim of this study is to analyze road development and associated agricultural land use change near the town of Erdemli located in the eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey. The study area has witnessed an unprecedented development of agriculture since the 2000s. This process has resulted with the expansion of the road network. Associations between agricultural expansion and road development were investigated. High-resolution satellite images of 2004 and 2015 were used to analyze spatial and temporal dimensions of change. Satellite images were classified using a binary approach, in which land areas were labeled as either "agriculture" or "non-agriculture." Road networks were digitized manually. The study area was divided into 23 sublandscapes using a regular grid with 1-km cell spacing. Percentage of landscape (PL) for agriculture and road density (RD) metrics were calculated for the earlier (2004) and later (2015) years. Metric calculations were performed separately for each of the 23 sublandscapes in order to understand spatial diversity of agriculture and road density. Study results showed that both RD and PL exhibited similar increasing trends between 2004 and 2015.

  13. Suspended sediment export in five intensive agricultural river catchments with contrasting land use and soil drainage characteristics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sherriff, Sophie; Rowan, John; Melland, Alice; Jordan, Phil; Fenton, Owen; hUallacháin, Daire Ó.

    2015-04-01

    Soil erosion and sediment loss from land can have a negative impact on the chemical and ecological quality of freshwater resources. In catchments dominated by agriculture, prediction of soil erosion risk is complex due to the interaction of physical characteristics such as topography, soil erodibility, hydrological connectivity and climate. Robust measurement approaches facilitate the assessment of sediment loss magnitudes in relation to a range of agricultural settings. These approaches improve our understanding of critical sediment transfer periods and inform development of evidence-based and cost-effective management strategies. The aim of this study was to i) assess the efficacy of out-of-channel (ex-situ) suspended sediment measurement approaches, ii) to quantify the variability of sediment exported from five river catchments with varying hydrology and agricultural land uses over multiple years and iii) to investigate trends in relation to physical and land use characteristics when sediment data were compared between catchments. Sediment data were collected in five intensive agricultural river catchments in Ireland (3-11 km2) which featured contrasting land uses (predominantly intensive grassland or arable) and soil drainage classes (well, moderate and poor). High-resolution suspended sediment concentration data (SSC - using a calibrated turbidity proxy) were collected ex-situ and combined with in-stream discharge data measured at each catchment outlet to estimate suspended sediment yield (SSY - t km-2 yr-1). In two catchments additional in-stream turbidity monitoring equipment replicated ex-situ measurements including site specific calibration of individual in-stream and ex-situ turbidity probes. Depth-integrated samples were collected to assess the accuracy of both approaches. Method comparison results showed that true SSC values (from depth-integrated sampling) were predominantly within the 95% confidence interval of ex-situ predicted SSC consequently

  14. Nickel, Cobalt, Chromium and Copper in agricultural and grazing land soils of Europe

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Albanese, Stefano; Sadeghi, Martiya; De Vivo, Benedetto; Lima, Annamaria; Cicchella, Domenico; Dinelli, Enrico

    2014-05-01

    In the framework of the GEMAS (Geochemical Mapping of Agricultural and Grazing Land Soils) project, concentrations of Ni, Co, Cu and Cr were determined for the whole available dataset (2218 samples of agricultural soil and 2127 samples of grazing land soil) covering a total area of 5.6 million sq km all over Europe. The distribution pattern of Ni in the European soils (both agricultural and grazing land soils) shows the highest concentrations in correspondence with the Mediterranean area (especially in Greece, the Balcan Peninsula and NW Italy) with average values generally ranging between 40 mg/kg and 140 mg/kg and anomalous areas characterized by peaks higher than 2400 mg/kg. Concentrations between 10 mg/kg and 40 mg/kg characterize Continental Europe north of Alps and, partly, the Scandinavian countries. Lower concentrations (< 10 mg/kg) occurs near the Trans-European Suture Zone, one of the main tectonic borders in Europe, and they are limited on the south by the maximum extent limit of the last glaciation. Cobalt and Cr show distribution patterns similar to Ni in both agricultural and grazing land soils. The maximum concentration peaks of Cobalt and Cr rise up to respectively 126 mg/kg and 696 mg/kg in agricultural soils and up to 255 mg/kg and 577 mg/kg in grazing land soils. Copper distribution in the soils collected across Europe, although has a general correspondence with the patterns of Ni, Co, Cr, shows some peculiarities. Specifically, Cu is characterized by high concentration values (up to 395 mg/kg in agricultural soils and 373 mg/kg in Grazing land soils) also in correspondence with the Roman Comagmatic Province and the south western coast of France characterized by a wide spread of vineyards.

  15. Land use patterns and related carbon losses following deforestation in South America

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    De Sy, V.; Herold, M.; Achard, F.; Beuchle, R.; Clevers, J. G. P. W.; Lindquist, E.; Verchot, L.

    2015-12-01

    Land use change in South America, mainly deforestation, is a large source of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Identifying and addressing the causes or drivers of anthropogenic forest change is considered crucial for global climate change mitigation. Few countries however, monitor deforestation drivers in a systematic manner. National-level quantitative spatially explicit information on drivers is often lacking. This study quantifies proximate drivers of deforestation and related carbon losses in South America based on remote sensing time series in a systematic, spatially explicit manner. Deforestation areas were derived from the 2010 global remote sensing survey of the Food and Agricultural Organisation Forest Resource Assessment. To assess proximate drivers, land use following deforestation was assigned by visual interpretation of high-resolution satellite imagery. To estimate gross carbon losses from deforestation, default Tier 1 biomass levels per country and eco-zone were used. Pasture was the dominant driver of forest area (71.2%) and related carbon loss (71.6%) in South America, followed by commercial cropland (14% and 12.1% respectively). Hotspots of deforestation due to pasture occurred in Northern Argentina, Western Paraguay, and along the arc of deforestation in Brazil where they gradually moved into higher biomass forests causing additional carbon losses. Deforestation driven by commercial cropland increased in time, with hotspots occurring in Brazil (Mato Grosso State), Northern Argentina, Eastern Paraguay and Central Bolivia. Infrastructure, such as urban expansion and roads, contributed little as proximate drivers of forest area loss (1.7%). Our findings contribute to the understanding of drivers of deforestation and related carbon losses in South America, and are comparable at the national, regional and continental level. In addition, they support the development of national REDD+ interventions and forest monitoring systems, and provide valuable input

  16. Detection and assessment of land use dynamics on Tenerife (Canary Islands): the agricultural development between 1986 and 2010

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Günthert, Sebastian; Naumann, Simone; Siegmund, Alexander

    2012-10-01

    Since Spanish colonial times, the Canary Islands and especially Tenerife have always been used for intensive agriculture. Today almost 1/4 of the total area of Tenerife are agriculturally affected, whereas especially mountainous areas with suitable climate conditions are drastically transformed for agricultural use by building of large terraces. In recent years, political and economical developments lead to a further transformation process, especially inducted by an expansive tourism, which caused concentration- and intensification-tendencies of agricultural land use in lower altitudes as well as agricultural set-aside and rural exodus in the hinterland. The overall aim of the research at hand is to address the agricultural land use dynamics of the past decades, to statistically assess the causal reasons for those changes and to model the future agricultural land use dynamics on Tenerife. Therefore, an object-based classification procedure for recent RapidEye data (2010), Spot 4 (1998) as well as SPOT 1 (1986-88) imagery was developed, followed by a post classification comparison (PCC). Older agricultural fallow land or agricultural set-aside with a higher level of natural succession can hardly be acquired in the used medium satellite imagery. Hence, a second detection technique was generated, which allows an exact identification of the total agriculturally affected area on Tenerife, also containing older agricultural fallow land or agricultural set-aside. The method consists of an automatic texture-oriented detection and area-wide extraction of linear agricultural structures (plough furrows and field boundaries of arable land, utilised and non-utilised agricultural terraces) in current orthophotos of Tenerife. Once the change detection analysis is realised, it is necessary to identify the different driving forces which are responsible for the agricultural land use dynamics. The statistical connections between agricultural land use changes and these driving forces

  17. Forest to agriculture conversion in southern Belize: Implications for migrant land birds

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Spruce, J.P.; Dowell, B.A.; Robbins, C.S.; Sader, S.A.; Doyle, Jamie K.; Schelhas, John

    1993-01-01

    Central America offers a suite of neotropical habitats vital to overwintering migrant land birds. The recent decline of many forest dwelling avian migrants is believed to be related in part to neotropical deforestation and land use change. However, spatio-temporal trends in neotropical habitat availability and avian migrant habitat use are largely unknown. Such information is needed to assess the impact of agriculture conversion on migrant land birds. In response, the USDI Fish and Wildlife Service and the University of Maine began a cooperative study in 1988 which applies remote sensing and field surveys to determine current habitat availability and avian migrant habitat use. Study sites include areas in Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala and southern Mexico. Visual assessment of Landsat TM imagery indicates southern Belize forests are fragmented by various agricultural systems. Shifting agriculture is predominant in some areas, while permanent agriculture (citrus and mixed animal crops) is the primary system in others. This poster focuses on efforts to monitor forest to agriculture conversion in southern Belize using remote sensing, field surveys and GIS techniques. Procedures and avian migrant use of habitat are summarized.

  18. A small-scale land-sparing approach to conserving biological diversity in tropical agricultural landscapes.

    PubMed

    Chandler, Richard B; King, David I; Raudales, Raul; Trubey, Richard; Chandler, Carlin; Chávez, Víctor Julio Arce

    2013-08-01

    Two contrasting strategies have been proposed for conserving biological diversity while meeting the increasing demand for agricultural products: land sparing and land sharing production systems. Land sparing involves increasing yield to reduce the amount of land needed for agriculture, whereas land-sharing agricultural practices incorporate elements of native ecosystems into the production system itself. Although the conservation value of these systems has been extensively debated, empirical studies are lacking. We compared bird communities in shade coffee, a widely practiced land-sharing system in which shade trees are maintained within the coffee plantation, with bird communities in a novel, small-scale, land-sparing coffee-production system (integrated open canopy or IOC coffee) in which farmers obtain higher yields under little or no shade while conserving an area of forest equal to the area under cultivation. Species richness and diversity of forest-dependent birds were higher in the IOC coffee farms than in the shade coffee farms, and community composition was more similar between IOC coffee and primary forest than between shade coffee and primary forest. Our study represents the first empirical comparison of well-defined land sparing and land sharing production systems. Because IOC coffee farms can be established by allowing forest to regenerate on degraded land, widespread adoption of this system could lead to substantial increases in forest cover and carbon sequestration without compromising agricultural yield or threatening the livelihoods of traditional small farmers. However, we studied small farms (<5 ha); thus, our results may not generalize to large-scale land-sharing systems. Furthermore, rather than concluding that land sparing is generally superior to land sharing, we suggest that the optimal approach depends on the crop, local climate, and existing land-use patterns. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

  19. Land Use Change and Agricultural Land Fragmentation due to Anthropogenic Activities in an Hot Spot Area: A Case Study for Thrace Region of Turkey

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Altürk, Bahadır; Konukcu, Fatih

    2017-04-01

    Agricultural lands that supply food, energy and ecosystem services for human life have been lost due to anthropogenic activities such as construction of roads, urban and industry areas. The significant reasons for the increase of artificial surfaces were poorly planned economic decisions by the government and internal migration due to this poorly planning. Unplanned urban sprawl also give rise to land fragmentation. Fragmentation of agricultural land affects both the agricultural production capacity and rural sustainable employment. In this study: i) Land use changes between 1990-2014 period were assessed using remotely sensed data and ii) Spatial and temporal agricultural land fragmentation were investigated using landscape pattern indice (effective mesh size), Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA) and Entropy method for 25 years period. The selected"hot spot" study area is located on east Thrace region of Turkey, being the service and industrial development zone where agricultural activities, water resources and natural habitat have been damaged due to rapid urban and industrial development for about 25 years. The results showed that agricultural lands decreased 6.44%, urban areas increased 111.68% and industry areas increased 251.19% during this 25 years period. Additionally, fragmentation analyses demonstrated that core agricultural areas sharply decreased and relative fragmentation (effective mesh size) increased from 50.68% to 56.77% during 1990 and 2014.

  20. Agricultural land-use change in a Mexican oligotrophic desert depletes ecosystem stability

    PubMed Central

    Hernández-Becerra, Natali; Tapia-Torres, Yunuen; Beltrán-Paz, Ofelia; Blaz, Jazmín; Souza, Valeria

    2016-01-01

    Background Global demand for food has led to increased land-use change, particularly in dry land ecosystems, which has caused several environmental problems due to the soil degradation. In the Cuatro Cienegas Basin (CCB), alfalfa production irrigated by flooding impacts strongly on the soil. Methods In order to analyze the effect of such agricultural land-use change on soil nutrient dynamics and soil bacterial community composition, this work examined an agricultural gradient within the CCB which was comprised of a native desert grassland, a plot currently cultivated with alfalfa and a former agricultural field that had been abandoned for over 30 years. For each site, we analyzed C, N and P dynamic fractions, the activity of the enzyme phosphatase and the bacterial composition obtained using 16S rRNA clone libraries. Results The results showed that the cultivated site presented a greater availability of water and dissolved organic carbon, these conditions promoted mineralization processes mediated by heterotrophic microorganisms, while the abandoned land was limited by water and dissolved organic nitrogen. The low amount of dissolved organic matter promoted nitrification, which is mediated by autotrophic microorganisms. The microbial N immobilization process and specific phosphatase activity were both favored in the native grassland. As expected, differences in bacterial taxonomical composition were observed among sites. The abandoned site exhibited similar compositions than native grassland, while the cultivated site differed. Discussion The results suggest that the transformation of native grassland into agricultural land induces drastic changes in soil nutrient dynamics as well as in the bacterial community. However, with the absence of agricultural practices, some of the soil characteristics analyzed slowly recovers their natural state. PMID:27602304

  1. Agricultural land-use change in a Mexican oligotrophic desert depletes ecosystem stability.

    PubMed

    Hernández-Becerra, Natali; Tapia-Torres, Yunuen; Beltrán-Paz, Ofelia; Blaz, Jazmín; Souza, Valeria; García-Oliva, Felipe

    2016-01-01

    Global demand for food has led to increased land-use change, particularly in dry land ecosystems, which has caused several environmental problems due to the soil degradation. In the Cuatro Cienegas Basin (CCB), alfalfa production irrigated by flooding impacts strongly on the soil. In order to analyze the effect of such agricultural land-use change on soil nutrient dynamics and soil bacterial community composition, this work examined an agricultural gradient within the CCB which was comprised of a native desert grassland, a plot currently cultivated with alfalfa and a former agricultural field that had been abandoned for over 30 years. For each site, we analyzed C, N and P dynamic fractions, the activity of the enzyme phosphatase and the bacterial composition obtained using 16S rRNA clone libraries. The results showed that the cultivated site presented a greater availability of water and dissolved organic carbon, these conditions promoted mineralization processes mediated by heterotrophic microorganisms, while the abandoned land was limited by water and dissolved organic nitrogen. The low amount of dissolved organic matter promoted nitrification, which is mediated by autotrophic microorganisms. The microbial N immobilization process and specific phosphatase activity were both favored in the native grassland. As expected, differences in bacterial taxonomical composition were observed among sites. The abandoned site exhibited similar compositions than native grassland, while the cultivated site differed. The results suggest that the transformation of native grassland into agricultural land induces drastic changes in soil nutrient dynamics as well as in the bacterial community. However, with the absence of agricultural practices, some of the soil characteristics analyzed slowly recovers their natural state.

  2. Quantifying the climate-change consequences of shifting land use between forest and agriculture.

    PubMed

    Kirschbaum, Miko U F; Saggar, Surinder; Tate, Kevin R; Thakur, Kailash P; Giltrap, Donna L

    2013-11-01

    Land-use change between forestry and agriculture can cause large net emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), and the respective land uses associated with forest and pasture lead to different on-going emission rates of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) and different surface albedo. Here, we quantify the overall net radiative forcing and consequent temperature change from specified land-use changes. These different radiative agents cause radiative forcing of different magnitudes and with different time profiles. Carbon emission can be very high when forests are cleared. Upon reforestation, the former carbon stocks can be regained, but the rate of carbon sequestration is much slower than the rate of carbon loss from deforestation. A production forest may undergo repeated harvest and regrowth cycles, each involving periods of C emission and release. Agricultural land, especially grazed pastures, have much higher N2O emissions than forests because of their generally higher nitrogen status that can be further enhanced through intensification of the nitrogen cycle by animal excreta. Because of its longevity in the atmosphere, N2O concentrations build up nearly linearly over many decades. CH4 emissions can be very high from ruminant animals grazing on pastures. Because of its short atmospheric longevity, the CH4 concentration from a converted pasture accumulates for only a few decades before reaching a new equilibrium when emission of newly produced CH4 is balanced by the oxidation of previously emitted CH4. Albedo changes generally have the opposite radiative forcing from those of the GHGs and partly negate their radiative forcing. Overall and averaged over 100 years, CO2 is typically responsible for 50% of radiative forcing and CH4 and N2O for 25% each. Albedo changes can negate the radiative forcing by the three greenhouse gases by 20-25%. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Exclusion of agricultural lands in spatial conservation prioritization strategies: consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem service representation.

    PubMed

    Durán, América P; Duffy, James P; Gaston, Kevin J

    2014-10-07

    Agroecosystems have traditionally been considered incompatible with biological conservation goals, and often been excluded from spatial conservation prioritization strategies. The consequences for the representativeness of identified priority areas have been little explored. Here, we evaluate these for biodiversity and carbon storage representation when agricultural land areas are excluded from a spatial prioritization strategy for South America. Comparing different prioritization approaches, we also assess how the spatial overlap of priority areas changes. The exclusion of agricultural lands was detrimental to biodiversity representation, indicating that priority areas for agricultural production overlap with areas of relatively high occurrence of species. By contrast, exclusion of agricultural lands benefits representation of carbon storage within priority areas, as lands of high value for agriculture and carbon storage overlap little. When agricultural lands were included and equally weighted with biodiversity and carbon storage, a balanced representation resulted. Our findings suggest that with appropriate management, South American agroecosystems can significantly contribute to biodiversity conservation. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  4. Agricultural drought risk monitoring and yield loss forecast with remote sensing data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nagy, Attila; Tamás, János; Fehér, János

    2015-04-01

    economic relations, increasing the time factors effectiveness of decision support system. This methodology will be extendable for other Central European countries when country specific data are available and entered into the system. This new drought risk monitoring and forecasting method is an improvement for hydrologists, meteorologists and farmers, allowing to set up a complex drought monitoring system, where for a given period and respective catchment area the expected yield loss can be predicted, and the role of vegetation in the hydrological cycle could be more precisely quantified. Based on the results more water-saving agricultural land use alternatives could be planned on drought areas.

  5. Combined impacts of land use and soil property changes on soil erosion in a mollisol area under long-term agricultural development.

    PubMed

    Ouyang, Wei; Wu, Yuyang; Hao, Zengchao; Zhang, Qi; Bu, Qingwei; Gao, Xiang

    2018-02-01

    Soil erosion exhibits special characteristics in the process of agricultural development. Understanding the combined impacts of land use and soil property changes on soil erosion, especially in the area under long-term agricultural cultivations, is vital to watershed agricultural and soil management. This study investigated the temporal-spatial patterns of the soil erosion based on a modified version of Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and conducted a soil erosion contribution analysis. The land use data were interpreted from Landsat series images, and soil properties were obtained from field sampling, laboratory tests and SPAW (Soil-Plant-Atmosphere-Water) model calculations. Over a long period of agricultural development, the average erosion modulus decreased from 187.7tkm -2 a -1 in 1979 to 158.4tkm -2 a -1 in 2014. The land use types were transformed mainly in the reclamation of paddy fields and the shrinking of wetlands on a large scale. Most of the soils were converted to loam from silty or clay loam and the saturated hydraulic conductivity (K s ) of most soil types decreased by 1.11% to 43.6%. The rapidly increasing area of 49.8km 2 of paddy fields together with the moderate decrease of 14.0km 2 of forests, as well as K s values explained 87.4% of the total variance in soil erosion. Although changes in soil physical and water characteristics indicated that soil erosion loads should have become higher, the upsurge in paddy fields played an important role in mitigating soil erosion in this study area. These results demonstrated that land use changes had more significant impacts than soil property changes on soil erosion. This study suggested that rational measures should be taken to extend paddy fields and control the dry land farming. These findings will benefit watershed agricultural targeting and management. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Substantial dust loss of bioavailable phosphorus from agricultural soils

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Katra, Itzhak; Gross, Avner; Swet, Nitzan; Tanner, Smadar; Krasnov, Helena; Angert, Alon

    2016-04-01

    Phosphorus (P) is an essential element in terrestrial ecosystems. Knowledge on the role of dust in the biogeochemical cycling of phosphorus is very limited with no quantitative information on aeolian (by wind) P fluxes from soils. The aim of this study is to focus on P cycling via dust emissions under common land-use practices in an arid environment by integration of sample analyses and aeolian experiments. The experiments indicate significant P fluxes by PM10 dust due to agricultural land use. Even in a single wind-dust event at moderate velocity (7.0 m s-1), P flux in conventional agricultural fields can reach 1.83 kg km-2, that accumulates to a considerable amount per year at a regional scale. The results highlight a negative yearly balance in P content (up to hundreds kg km-2) in all agricultural soils, and thus more P nutrition is required to maintain efficient yield production. In grazing areas where no P nutrition is applied, the soil degradation process can lead to desertification. Emission of P from soil dust sources has significant implications for soil nutrient resources and management strategies in agricultural regions as well as for loading to the atmosphere and global biogeochemical cycles.

  7. The centrifugal and centripetal force influence on spatial competition of agricultural land in Bandung Metropolitan Region

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sadewo, E.

    2017-06-01

    Agricultural activity has suffered a massive land functional shift caused by market mechanism in Bandung metropolitan region (BMR). We argue that the existence of agricultural land in urban spatial structure is the result of interaction between centrifugal and centripetal force on spatial competition. This research aims to explore how several recognized centrifugal and centripetal force influence to the existence of agricultural land in BMR land development. The analysis using multivariate regression indicates that there exists spatial competition between population density and degree of urbanization with agricultural land areas. Its extended spatial regression model suggested that neighboring situation plays an important role to preserve agricultural land areas existences in BMR. Meanwhile, the influence of distance between the location of the city center and employment opportunities is found to be insignificant in the spatial competition. It is opposed to the theory of von Thünen and monocentric model in general. One of the possible explanation of such condition is that the assumption of centrality does not met. In addition, the agricultural land density decay in the southern parts of the area was related to its geographical conditions as protected areas or unfavorable for farming activity. It is suggested that BMR was in the early phase of polycentric development. Hence, better policies that lead redirected development to the southern part of the region is needed as well as population control and regulation of land use.

  8. Perceptions of Agricultural Leadership Academic Programs of 1862 Land-Grant Universities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alexander, Jackson C.; Rucker, K. Jill; Graham, Donna L.; Miller, Jefferson D.; Apple, Jason K.

    2017-01-01

    This study characterized perceptions of agricultural leadership programs in colleges of agriculture, food, life, human, or environmental sciences at 1,862 land-grant institutions. Objectives included describing the need for programs, studying evolution within the discipline, discussing faculty recommendations for future development, and examining…

  9. Changes in climate variability with reference to land quality and agriculture in Scotland.

    PubMed

    Brown, Iain; Castellazzi, Marie

    2015-06-01

    Classification and mapping of land capability represents an established format for summarising spatial information on land quality and land-use potential. By convention, this information incorporates bioclimatic constraints through the use of a long-term average. However, climate change means that land capability classification should also have a dynamic temporal component. Using an analysis based upon Land Capability for Agriculture in Scotland, it is shown that this dynamism not only involves the long-term average but also shorter term spatiotemporal patterns, particularly through changes in interannual variability. Interannual and interdecadal variations occur both in the likelihood of land being in prime condition (top three capability class divisions) and in class volatility from year to year. These changing patterns are most apparent in relation to the west-east climatic gradient which is mainly a function of precipitation regime and soil moisture. Analysis is also extended into the future using climate results for the 2050s from a weather generator which show a complex interaction between climate interannual variability and different soil types for land quality. In some locations, variability of land capability is more likely to decrease because the variable climatic constraints are relaxed and the dominant constraint becomes intrinsic soil properties. Elsewhere, climatic constraints will continue to be influential. Changing climate variability has important implications for land-use planning and agricultural management because it modifies local risk profiles in combination with the current trend towards agricultural intensification and specialisation.

  10. Measuring land-use and land-cover change using the U.S. department of agriculture's cropland data layer: Cautions and recommendations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lark, Tyler J.; Mueller, Richard M.; Johnson, David M.; Gibbs, Holly K.

    2017-10-01

    Monitoring agricultural land is important for understanding and managing food production, environmental conservation efforts, and climate change. The United States Department of Agriculture's Cropland Data Layer (CDL), an annual satellite imagery-derived land cover map, has been increasingly used for this application since complete coverage of the conterminous United States became available in 2008. However, the CDL is designed and produced with the intent of mapping annual land cover rather than tracking changes over time, and as a result certain precautions are needed in multi-year change analyses to minimize error and misapplication. We highlight scenarios that require special considerations, suggest solutions to key challenges, and propose a set of recommended good practices and general guidelines for CDL-based land change estimation. We also characterize a problematic issue of crop area underestimation bias within the CDL that needs to be accounted for and corrected when calculating changes to crop and cropland areas. When used appropriately and in conjunction with related information, the CDL is a valuable and effective tool for detecting diverse trends in agriculture. By explicitly discussing the methods and techniques for post-classification measurement of land-cover and land-use change using the CDL, we aim to further stimulate the discourse and continued development of suitable methodologies. Recommendations generated here are intended specifically for the CDL but may be broadly applicable to additional remotely-sensed land cover datasets including the National Land Cover Database (NLCD), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-based land cover products, and other regional, national, and global land cover classification maps.

  11. Agricultural land abandonment in Mediterranean environment provides ecosystem services via soil carbon sequestration.

    PubMed

    Novara, Agata; Gristina, Luciano; Sala, Giovanna; Galati, Antonino; Crescimanno, Maria; Cerdà, Artemi; Badalamenti, Emilio; La Mantia, Tommaso

    2017-01-15

    Abandonment of agricultural land leads to several consequences for ecosystem functions. Agricultural abandonment may be a significant and low cost strategy for carbon sequestration and mitigation of anthropogenic CO 2 emissions due to the vegetation recovery and increase in soil organic matter. The aim of this study was to: (i) estimate the influence of different Soil Regions (areas characterized by a typical climate and parent material association) and Bioclimates (zones with homogeneous climatic regions and thermotype indices) on soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics after agricultural land abandonment; and (ii) to analyse the efficiency of the agri-environment policy (agri-environment measures) suggested by the European Commission in relation to potential SOC stock ability in the Sicilian Region (Italy). In order to quantify the effects of agricultural abandonment on SOC, a dataset with original data that was sampled in Sicily and existing data from the literature were analysed according to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) methodology. Results showed that abandonment of cropland soils increased SOC stock by 9.03MgCha -1 on average, ranging from 5.4MgCha -1 to 26.7MgCha -1 in relation to the Soil Region and Bioclimate. The estimation of SOC change after agricultural use permitted calculation of the payments for ecosystem service (PES) of C sequestration after agricultural land abandonment in relation to environmental benefits, increasing in this way the efficiency of PES. Considering the 14,337ha of abandoned lands in Sicily, the CO 2 emission as a whole was reduced by 887,745Mg CO 2 . Therefore, it could be concluded that abandoned agricultural fields represents a valid opportunity to mitigate agriculture sector emissions in Sicily. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Land use and land management effects on soil organic carbon stock in Mediterranean agricultural areas (Southern Spain)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Parras-Alcántara, Luis; Lozano-García, Beatriz

    2014-05-01

    Anderson-Darling test at each horizon or a combination of horizons for each soil type. RESULTS The LUC had a negative impact in the soil, reducing the SOC and TN stocks. The conversion from AC to V and OG involved the loss of the SOC stock (52.7% and 64.9% to V and OG respectively) and the loss of the TN stock (42.6% and 38.1% to V and OG respectively). The reduction of SOC by LUC, can be explained by a degraded process (due to vegetation losses and unsustainable soil management, which result in progressive impoverishment in the soil organic matter (OM) content, causing low productivity, which derived in unsuitable chemical properties) and by the reduced input of OM in cultivated soils, which reduced physical protection of soil and increased water erosion. However, 46 years of LUC had a positive effect in the soil, increasing the SR (in V and OG) of SOC, TN and C:N ratio (Parras-Alcántara et al., 2013). REFERENCES Parras-Alcántara, L., Martín-Carrillo, M., Lozano-García, B. 2013. Impacts of land use change in soil carbon and nitrogen in a Mediterranean agricultural area (Southern Spain). Solid Earth, 4: 167-177.

  13. Global bioenergy potentials from agricultural land in 2050: Sensitivity to climate change, diets and yields

    PubMed Central

    Haberl, Helmut; Erb, Karl-Heinz; Krausmann, Fridolin; Bondeau, Alberte; Lauk, Christian; Müller, Christoph; Plutzar, Christoph; Steinberger, Julia K.

    2011-01-01

    There is a growing recognition that the interrelations between agriculture, food, bioenergy, and climate change have to be better understood in order to derive more realistic estimates of future bioenergy potentials. This article estimates global bioenergy potentials in the year 2050, following a “food first” approach. It presents integrated food, livestock, agriculture, and bioenergy scenarios for the year 2050 based on a consistent representation of FAO projections of future agricultural development in a global biomass balance model. The model discerns 11 regions, 10 crop aggregates, 2 livestock aggregates, and 10 food aggregates. It incorporates detailed accounts of land use, global net primary production (NPP) and its human appropriation as well as socioeconomic biomass flow balances for the year 2000 that are modified according to a set of scenario assumptions to derive the biomass potential for 2050. We calculate the amount of biomass required to feed humans and livestock, considering losses between biomass supply and provision of final products. Based on this biomass balance as well as on global land-use data, we evaluate the potential to grow bioenergy crops and estimate the residue potentials from cropland (forestry is outside the scope of this study). We assess the sensitivity of the biomass potential to assumptions on diets, agricultural yields, cropland expansion and climate change. We use the dynamic global vegetation model LPJmL to evaluate possible impacts of changes in temperature, precipitation, and elevated CO2 on agricultural yields. We find that the gross (primary) bioenergy potential ranges from 64 to 161 EJ y−1, depending on climate impact, yields and diet, while the dependency on cropland expansion is weak. We conclude that food requirements for a growing world population, in particular feed required for livestock, strongly influence bioenergy potentials, and that integrated approaches are needed to optimize food and bioenergy supply

  14. [Theories and methodologies of engineering designs on sustainable agricultural land consolidation project--a case study of Xuemeiyang land consolidation project in Changtai County, Fujian Province].

    PubMed

    Ye, Yanmei; Wu, Cifang; Cheng, Chengbiao; Qiu, Lingzhang; Huang, Shengyu; Zheng, Ruihui

    2002-09-01

    The concept and characteristics of engineering designs on sustainable agricultural land consolidation project were discussed in this paper. Principles, basic methods and procedures of engineering designs on agricultural land consolidation project were put forward, which were successfully adopted for designing agricultural land consolidation in Xuemeiyang region of Changtai County, including diversity designs of sustainable land use, engineering designs of soil improvement, roads, ditches, and drains for protecting existent animal environments, and design of ecological shelter-forests in farmland. Moreover, from sustainable economic, ecological and social points, the results of these engineering designs were evaluated based on fouteen important indexes. After carrying out these engineeringdesigns, the eco-environments and agricultural production conditions were significantly improved, and the farm income was increased in planned regions.

  15. As Land-Grant Law Turns 150, Students Crowd into Agriculture Colleges

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Biemiller, Lawrence

    2012-01-01

    On July 2, 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed Justin Morrill's second agriculture-school bill into law. Along with another measure he championed, in 1890, it created a system of land-grant colleges that rooted agriculture firmly in university research and helped democratize American higher education, creating institutions not for the sons and daughters…

  16. Phosphorus Losses from Agricultural Watersheds in the Mississippi Delta

    EPA Science Inventory

    High phosphorus (P) loss from agricultural fields has been an environmental concern because of potential water quality problems in streams and lakes. To better understand the process of P loss, rainfall, surface runoff, sediment, ortho-P and total P (TP) were measured (1996 to 2...

  17. Interpretation of Pennsylvania agricultural land use from ERTS-1 data

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mcmurtry, G. J.; Petersen, G. W. (Principal Investigator); Wilson, A. D.

    1974-01-01

    The author has identified the following significant results. To study the complex agricultural patterns in Pennsylvania, a portion of an ERTS scene was selected for detailed analysis. Various photographic products were made and were found to be only of limited value. This necessitated the digital processing of the ERTS data. Using an unsupervised classification procedure, it was possible to delineate the following categories: (1) forest land with a northern aspect, (2) forest land with a southern aspect, (3) valley trees, (4) wheat, (5) corn, (6) alfalfa, grass, pasture, (7) disturbed land, (8) builtup land, (9) strip mines, and (10) water. These land use categories were delineated at a scale of approximately 1:20,000 on the line printer output. Land use delineations were also made using the General Electric IMAGE 100 interactive analysis system.

  18. Land use efficiency: anticipating future demand for land-sector greenhouse gas emissions abatement and managing trade-offs with agriculture, water, and biodiversity.

    PubMed

    Bryan, Brett A; Crossman, Neville D; Nolan, Martin; Li, Jing; Navarro, Javier; Connor, Jeffery D

    2015-11-01

    Competition for land is increasing, and policy needs to ensure the efficient supply of multiple ecosystem services from land systems. We modelled the spatially explicit potential future supply of ecosystem services in Australia's intensive agricultural land in response to carbon markets under four global outlooks from 2013 to 2050. We assessed the productive efficiency of greenhouse gas emissions abatement, agricultural production, water resources, and biodiversity services and compared these to production possibility frontiers (PPFs). While interacting commodity markets and carbon markets produced efficient outcomes for agricultural production and emissions abatement, more efficient outcomes were possible for water resources and biodiversity services due to weak price signals. However, when only two objectives were considered as per typical efficiency assessments, efficiency improvements involved significant unintended trade-offs for the other objectives and incurred substantial opportunity costs. Considering multiple objectives simultaneously enabled the identification of land use arrangements that were efficient over multiple ecosystem services. Efficient land use arrangements could be selected that meet society's preferences for ecosystem service provision from land by adjusting the metric used to combine multiple services. To effectively manage competition for land via land use efficiency, market incentives are needed that effectively price multiple ecosystem services. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  19. A Coupled Natural-Human Modeling of the Land Loss Probability in the Mississippi River Delta

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cai, H.; Lam, N.; Zou, L.

    2017-12-01

    The Mississippi River Delta (MRD) is one of the most environmentally threatened areas in the United States. The area has been suffering substantial land loss during the past decades. Land loss in the MRD has been a subject of intense research by many researchers from multiple disciplines, aiming at mitigating the land loss process and its potential damage. A majority of land loss projections were derived solely from the natural processes, such as sea level rise, regional subsidence, and reduced sediment flows. However, sufficient evidence has shown that land loss in the MRD also relates to human-induced factors such as land fragmentation, neighborhood effects, urbanization, energy industrialization, and marine transportation. How to incorporate both natural and human factors into the land loss modeling stays a huge challenge. Using a coupled-natural and human (CNH) approach can help uncover the complex mechanism of land loss in the MRD, and provide more accurate spatiotemporal projection of land loss patterns and probability. This study uses quantitative approaches to investigate the relationships between land loss and a wide range of socio-ecological variables in the MRD. A model of land loss probability based on selected socio-ecological variables and its neighborhood effects will be derived through variogram and regression analyses. Then, we will simulate the land loss probability and patterns under different scenarios such as sea-level rise, changes in storm frequency and strength, and changes in population to evaluate the sustainability of the MRD. The outcome of this study will be a layer of pixels with information on the probability of land-water conversion. Knowledge gained from this study will provide valuable insights into the optimal mitigation strategies of land loss prevention and restoration and help build long-term sustainability in the Mississippi River Delta.

  20. Agricultural Intensification in the Brazilian Agricultural-Forest Frontier: Land Use Responses to Development and Conservation Policy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Garrett, R.; Koh, I.; le Polain de Waroux, Y.; Lambin, E.; Kastens, J.; Brown, J. C.

    2017-12-01

    Agricultural expansion, extensive cattle ranching, and deforestation remain pressing challenges for sustainable development and climate mitigation throughout South America. In response to these challenges, national and local governments, as well as private and non-governmental actors have developed new forest conservation governance mechanisms. The objective of this study is to better understand how conservation policies interact with supply chain development to influence land use. In particular, we endeavor to understand the timing and spatial patterns of crop and cattle intensification, an understudied phenomenon that is critical to understanding the future of agricultural-forest frontiers and the impacts of conservation policies. We focus on Mato Grosso, the largest soy and cattle producing state in Brazil, which spans the Cerrado and Amazon biomes and has experienced higher levels of deforestation for agricultural expansion than any other state globally over the last decade. Using a newly created spatially explicit data set of land use intensity, supply chain development, and forest policy, we find that agricultural intensification is occurring rapidly in the region, but is only partially driven by changes in conservation policies. The intensification of cattle production is the result of improvements in deforestation monitoring, penalties, and enforcement, and increased land scarcity. Crop intensification, in contrast, preceded increases in conservation restrictions, and is associated with the positive spillovers resulting from agribusiness agglomeration and development. These results suggest that intensification is not a foregone conclusion of increasing forest conservation restrictions, but is highly dependent on wider development processes. A combined effort to direct agribusiness development away from forest regions via tax credits and subsidized credit, when applied in concert with stringent conservation requirements, could help promote intensification

  1. North-south differences in Chinese agricultural losses due to climate-change-influenced droughts

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Qiang, Zhang; Lanying, Han; Jingjing, Lin; Qingyan, Cheng

    2018-01-01

    One of the effects of global climate change is increase in the frequency and severity of drought, which strongly affects the Chinese agricultural production. In order to cope these changes more effectively, it is important to document and analyze the agricultural losses caused by drought. We collected and analyzed conventional meteorological data and agricultural statistics data, in order to outline trends in drought occurrence and decline in agricultural yield. Data were assembled for the period 1960-2010. The study pays particular attention to regional differences between northern and southern China. Our results show the drought-caused agricultural loss rates (DCALR) in China have increased by approximately 0.5% per decade in the past 50 years. The study area in this paper is for the whole of the People's Republic of China, minus the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau; when we analyzed regional differences, we found that losses increased by approximately 0.6% per decade in northern China, close to twice the increase in southern China. Moreover, drought risks and agricultural losses are rising faster in northern China. Our results also indicate that the agriculture in northern China is more sensitive to changes in precipitation, whereas the agriculture in southern China is more sensitive to temperature changes.

  2. Long-term impacts of land cover changes on stream channel loss

    EPA Science Inventory

    Land cover change and stream channel loss are two related global environmental changes that are expanding and intensifying. Here, we examine how different types and transitions of land cover change impact stream channel loss across a large urbanizing watershed with large areas of...

  3. Digital spatial soil and land information for agriculture development

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sharma, R. K.; Laghathe, Pankaj; Meena, Ranglal; Barman, Alok Kumar; Das, Satyendra Nath

    2006-12-01

    Natural resource management calls for study of natural system prevailing in the country. In India floods and droughts visit regularly, causing extensive damages of natural wealth including agriculture that are crucial for sustenance of economic growth. The Indian Sub-continent drained by many major rivers and their tributaries where watershed, the hydrological unit forms a natural system that allows management and development of land resources following natural harmony. Acquisition of various kinds and levels of soil and land characteristics using both conventional and remote sensing techniques and subsequent development of digital spatial data base are essential to evolve strategy for planning watershed development programmes, their monitoring and impact evaluation. The multi-temporal capability of remote sensing sensors helps to update the existing data base which are of dynamic in nature. The paper outlines the concept of spatial data base development, generation using remote sensing techniques, designing of data structure, standardization and integration with watershed layers and various non spatial attribute data for various applications covering watershed development planning, alternate land use planning, soil and water conservation, diversified agriculture practices, generation of soil health card, soil and land reclamation, etc. The soil and land characteristics are vital to derive various interpretative groupings or master table that helps to generate the desired level of information of various clients using the GIS platform. The digital spatial data base on soils and watersheds generated by All India Soil and Land Use Survey will act as a sub-server of the main GIS based Web Server being hoisted by the planning commission for application of spatial data for planning purposes under G2G domain. It will facilitate e-governance for natural resource management using modern technology.

  4. Tropical forests were the primary sources of new agricultural land in the 1980s and 1990s.

    PubMed

    Gibbs, H K; Ruesch, A S; Achard, F; Clayton, M K; Holmgren, P; Ramankutty, N; Foley, J A

    2010-09-21

    Global demand for agricultural products such as food, feed, and fuel is now a major driver of cropland and pasture expansion across much of the developing world. Whether these new agricultural lands replace forests, degraded forests, or grasslands greatly influences the environmental consequences of expansion. Although the general pattern is known, there still is no definitive quantification of these land-cover changes. Here we analyze the rich, pan-tropical database of classified Landsat scenes created by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations to examine pathways of agricultural expansion across the major tropical forest regions in the 1980s and 1990s and use this information to highlight the future land conversions that probably will be needed to meet mounting demand for agricultural products. Across the tropics, we find that between 1980 and 2000 more than 55% of new agricultural land came at the expense of intact forests, and another 28% came from disturbed forests. This study underscores the potential consequences of unabated agricultural expansion for forest conservation and carbon emissions.

  5. Diffuse nitrogen loss simulation and impact assessment of stereoscopic agriculture pattern by integrated water system model and consideration of multiple existence forms

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Yongyong; Gao, Yang; Yu, Qiang

    2017-09-01

    Agricultural nitrogen loss becomes an increasingly important source of water quality deterioration and eutrophication, even threatens water safety for humanity. Nitrogen dynamic mechanism is still too complicated to be well captured at watershed scale due to its multiple existence forms and instability, disturbance of agricultural management practices. Stereoscopic agriculture is a novel agricultural planting pattern to efficiently use local natural resources (e.g., water, land, sunshine, heat and fertilizer). It is widely promoted as a high yield system and can obtain considerable economic benefits, particularly in China. However, its environmental quality implication is not clear. In our study, Qianyanzhou station is famous for its stereoscopic agriculture pattern of Southern China, and an experimental watershed was selected as our study area. Regional characteristics of runoff and nitrogen losses were simulated by an integrated water system model (HEQM) with multi-objective calibration, and multiple agriculture practices were assessed to find the effective approach for the reduction of diffuse nitrogen losses. Results showed that daily variations of runoff and nitrogen forms were well reproduced throughout watershed, i.e., satisfactory performances for ammonium and nitrate nitrogen (NH4-N and NO3-N) loads, good performances for runoff and organic nitrogen (ON) load, and very good performance for total nitrogen (TN) load. The average loss coefficient was 62.74 kg/ha for NH4-N, 0.98 kg/ha for NO3-N, 0.0004 kg/ha for ON and 63.80 kg/ha for TN. The dominating form of nitrogen losses was NH4-N due to the applied fertilizers, and the most dramatic zones aggregated in the middle and downstream regions covered by paddy and orange orchard. In order to control diffuse nitrogen losses, the most effective practices for Qianyanzhou stereoscopic agriculture pattern were to reduce farmland planting scale in the valley by afforestation, particularly for orchard in the

  6. A Spatial Data Model Desing For The Management Of Agricultural Data (Farmer, Agricultural Land And Agricultural Production)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Taşkanat, Talha; İbrahim İnan, Halil

    2016-04-01

    Since the beginning of the 2000s, it has been conducted many projects such as Agricultural Sector Integrated Management Information System, Agriculture Information System, Agricultural Production Registry System and Farmer Registry System by the Turkish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock and the Turkish Statistical Institute in order to establish and manage better agricultural policy and produce better agricultural statistics in Turkey. Yet, it has not been carried out any study for the structuring of a system which can meet the requirements of different institutions and organizations that need similar agricultural data. It has been tried to meet required data only within the frame of the legal regulations from present systems. Whereas the developments in GIS (Geographical Information Systems) and standardization, and Turkey National GIS enterprise in this context necessitate to meet the demands of organizations that use the similar data commonly and to act in terms of a data model logic. In this study, 38 institutions or organization which produce and use agricultural data were detected, that and thanks to survey and interviews undertaken, their needs were tried to be determined. In this study which is financially supported by TUBITAK, it was worked out relationship between farmer, agricultural land and agricultural production data and all of the institutions and organizations in Turkey and in this context, it was worked upon the best detailed and effective possible data model. In the model design, UML which provides object-oriented design was used. In the data model, for the management of spatial data, sub-parcel data model was used. Thanks to this data model, declared and undeclared areas can be detected spatially, and thus declarations can be associated to sub-parcels. Within this framework, it will be able to developed agricultural policies as a result of acquiring more extensive, accurate, spatially manageable and easily updatable farmer and

  7. Impacts of land-use history on the recovery of ecosystems after agricultural abandonment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Krause, Andreas; Pugh, Thomas A. M.; Bayer, Anita D.; Lindeskog, Mats; Arneth, Almut

    2016-09-01

    Land-use changes have been shown to have large effects on climate and biogeochemical cycles, but so far most studies have focused on the effects of conversion of natural vegetation to croplands and pastures. By contrast, relatively little is known about the long-term influence of past agriculture on vegetation regrowth and carbon sequestration following land abandonment. We used the LPJ-GUESS dynamic vegetation model to study the legacy effects of different land-use histories (in terms of type and duration) across a range of ecosystems. To this end, we performed six idealized simulations for Europe and Africa in which we made a transition from natural vegetation to either pasture or cropland, followed by a transition back to natural vegetation after 20, 60 or 100 years. The simulations identified substantial differences in recovery trajectories of four key variables (vegetation composition, vegetation carbon, soil carbon, net biome productivity) after agricultural cessation. Vegetation carbon and composition typically recovered faster than soil carbon in subtropical, temperate and boreal regions, and vice versa in the tropics. While the effects of different land-use histories on recovery periods of soil carbon stocks often differed by centuries across our simulations, differences in recovery times across simulations were typically small for net biome productivity (a few decades) and modest for vegetation carbon and composition (several decades). Spatially, we found the greatest sensitivity of recovery times to prior land use in boreal forests and subtropical grasslands, where post-agricultural productivity was strongly affected by prior land management. Our results suggest that land-use history is a relevant factor affecting ecosystems long after agricultural cessation, and it should be considered not only when assessing historical or future changes in simulations of the terrestrial carbon cycle but also when establishing long-term monitoring networks and

  8. Alterations in soil microbial community composition and biomass following agricultural land use change.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Qian; Wu, Junjun; Yang, Fan; Lei, Yao; Zhang, Quanfa; Cheng, Xiaoli

    2016-11-04

    The effect of agricultural land use change on soil microbial community composition and biomass remains a widely debated topic. Here, we investigated soil microbial community composition and biomass [e.g., bacteria (B), fungi (F), Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and Actinomycete (ACT)] using phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) analysis, and basal microbial respiration in afforested, cropland and adjacent uncultivated soils in central China. We also investigated soil organic carbon and nitrogen (SOC and SON), labile carbon and nitrogen (LC and LN), recalcitrant carbon and nitrogen (RC and RN), pH, moisture, and temperature. Afforestation averaged higher microbial PLFA biomass compared with cropland and uncultivated soils with higher values in top soils than deep soils. The microbial PLFA biomass was strongly correlated with SON and LC. Higher SOC, SON, LC, LN, moisture and lower pH in afforested soils could be explained approximately 87.3% of total variation of higher total PLFAs. Afforestation also enhanced the F: B ratios compared with cropland. The basal microbial respiration was higher while the basal microbial respiration on a per-unit-PLFA basis was lower in afforested land than adjacent cropland and uncultivated land, suggesting afforestation may increase soil C utilization efficiency and decrease respiration loss in afforested soils.

  9. Alterations in soil microbial community composition and biomass following agricultural land use change

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Qian; Wu, Junjun; Yang, Fan; Lei, Yao; Zhang, Quanfa; Cheng, Xiaoli

    2016-11-01

    The effect of agricultural land use change on soil microbial community composition and biomass remains a widely debated topic. Here, we investigated soil microbial community composition and biomass [e.g., bacteria (B), fungi (F), Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and Actinomycete (ACT)] using phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) analysis, and basal microbial respiration in afforested, cropland and adjacent uncultivated soils in central China. We also investigated soil organic carbon and nitrogen (SOC and SON), labile carbon and nitrogen (LC and LN), recalcitrant carbon and nitrogen (RC and RN), pH, moisture, and temperature. Afforestation averaged higher microbial PLFA biomass compared with cropland and uncultivated soils with higher values in top soils than deep soils. The microbial PLFA biomass was strongly correlated with SON and LC. Higher SOC, SON, LC, LN, moisture and lower pH in afforested soils could be explained approximately 87.3% of total variation of higher total PLFAs. Afforestation also enhanced the F: B ratios compared with cropland. The basal microbial respiration was higher while the basal microbial respiration on a per-unit-PLFA basis was lower in afforested land than adjacent cropland and uncultivated land, suggesting afforestation may increase soil C utilization efficiency and decrease respiration loss in afforested soils.

  10. Applications of WEPS and SWEEP to non-agricultural lands

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Soil erosion by wind is a serious problem on agricultural lands throughout the United States and the world. Dust from wind erosion obscures visibility and pollutes the air. It fills road ditches where it can impact water quality, causes automobile accidents, fouls machinery, and imperils animal an...

  11. Land-use change affects water recycling in Brazil's last agricultural frontier.

    PubMed

    Spera, Stephanie A; Galford, Gillian L; Coe, Michael T; Macedo, Marcia N; Mustard, John F

    2016-10-01

    Historically, conservation-oriented research and policy in Brazil have focused on Amazon deforestation, but a majority of Brazil's deforestation and agricultural expansion has occurred in the neighboring Cerrado biome, a biodiversity hotspot comprised of dry forests, woodland savannas, and grasslands. Resilience of rainfed agriculture in both biomes likely depends on water recycling in undisturbed Cerrado vegetation; yet little is known about how changes in land-use and land-cover affect regional climate feedbacks in the Cerrado. We used remote sensing techniques to map land-use change across the Cerrado from 2003 to 2013. During this period, cropland agriculture more than doubled in area from 1.2 to 2.5 million ha, with 74% of new croplands sourced from previously intact Cerrado vegetation. We find that these changes have decreased the amount of water recycled to the atmosphere via evapotranspiration (ET) each year. In 2013 alone, cropland areas recycled 14 km(3) less (-3%) water than if the land cover had been native Cerrado vegetation. ET from single-cropping systems (e.g., soybeans) is less than from natural vegetation in all years, except in the months of January and February, the height of the growing season. In double-cropping systems (e.g., soybeans followed by corn), ET is similar to or greater than natural vegetation throughout a majority of the wet season (December-May). As intensification and extensification of agricultural production continue in the region, the impacts on the water cycle and opportunities for mitigation warrant consideration. For example, if an environmental goal is to minimize impacts on the water cycle, double cropping (intensification) might be emphasized over extensification to maintain a landscape that behaves more akin to the natural system. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  12. US agricultural policy, land use change, and biofuels: are we driving our way to the next dust bowl?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wright, Christopher K.

    2015-05-01

    Lark et al (2015 Environ. Res. Lett. 10 044003), analyze recent shifts in US agricultural land use (2008-2012) using newly-available, high-resolution geospatial information, the Cropland Data Layer. Cropland expansion documented by Lark et al suggests the need to reform national agricultural policies in the wake of an emerging, new era of US agriculture characterized by rapid land cover/land use change.

  13. Sycamore and sweetgum plantation productivity on former agricultural land in South Carolina

    Treesearch

    A.A. Davis; C.C. Trettin

    2006-01-01

    Former agricultural lands in the southern US comprise a significant land base to support short rotation woody crop (SRWC) plantations. This study presents the seven-year response of productivity and biomass allocation in operational-scale, first rotation sycamore (Plantanus occidentalis L.) and sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua L...

  14. 'Underutilised' agricultural land: its definitions, potential use for future biomass production and its environmental implications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Miyake, Saori; Bargiel, Damian

    2017-04-01

    A growing bioeconomy and increased demand for biomass products on food, health, fibre, industrial products and energy require land resources for feedstock production. It has resulted in significant environmental and socio-economic challenges on a global scale. As a result, consideration of such effects of land use change (LUC) from biomass production (particularly for biofuel feedstock) has emerged as an important area of policy and research, and several potential solutions have been proposed to minimise such adverse LUC effects. One of these solutions is the use of lands that are not in production or not suitable for food crop production, such as 'marginal', 'degraded', 'abandoned' and 'surplus' agricultural lands for future biomass production. The terms referring to these lands are usually associated with the potential production of 'marginal crops', which can grow in marginal conditions (e.g. poor soil fertility, low rainfall, drought) without much water and agrochemical inputs. In our research, we referred to these lands as 'underutilised' agricultural land and attempted to define them for our case study areas located in Australia and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Our goal is to identify lands that can be used for future biomass production and to evaluate their environmental implications, particularly impacts related to biodiversity, water and soil at a landscape scale. The identification of these lands incorporates remote sensing and spatially explicit approaches. Our findings confirmed that there was no universal or single definition of the term 'underutilised' agricultural land as the definitions significantly vary by country and region depending not only on the biophysical environment but also political, institutional and socio-economic conditions. Moreover, our results highlighted that the environmental implications of production of biomass on 'underutilised' agricultural land for biomass production are highly controversial. Thus land use change

  15. Namibia specific climate smart agricultural land use practices: Challenges and opportunities for enhancing ecosystem services

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kuhn, Nikolaus J.; Talamondjila Naanda, Martha; Bloemertz, Lena

    2015-04-01

    Agriculture is a backbone for many African economies, with an estimated 70% of Africans active in agricultural production. The sector often does not only directly contribute to, but sustains food security and poverty reduction efforts. Sustaining this productivity poses many challenges, particularly to small scale subsistence farmers (SSF) in dry land areas and semi-arid countries like Namibia. SSF in northern central Namibia mix crop and livestock production on degraded semi-arid lands and nutrient-poor sandy soils. They are fully dependent on agricultural production with limited alternative sources of income. Mostly, their agricultural harvests and outputs are low, not meeting their livelihood needs. At the same time, the land use is often not sustainable, leading to degradation. The Namibia case reveals that addressing underlying economic, social and environmental challenges requires a combination of farm level-soil management practices with a shift towards integrated landscape management. This forms the basis for SSF to adopt sustainable land management practices while building institutional foundations, like establishing SSF cooperatives. One way in which this has been tested is through the concept of incentive-based motivation, i.e. payment for ecosystem services (PES), in which some of the beneficiaries pay, for instance for farmers or land users, who provide the services. The farmers provide these services by substituting their unsustainable land and soil management and adopting new (climate smart agricultural) land use practices. Climate Smart Agricultural land use practices (CSA-LUP) are one way of providing ecosystem services, which could be fundamental to long-term sustainable soil and land management solutions in Africa. There are few PES cases which have been systematically studied from an institutional development structure perspective. This study presents lessons evolving from the notion that direct participation and involvement of local people

  16. Breeding biology of Mottled Ducks on agricultural lands in southwestern Louisiana

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Durham, R.S.; Afton, A.D.

    2006-01-01

    Breeding biology of Anas fulvigula maculosa (Mottled Ducks) has been described in coastal marsh and associated habitats, but little information is available for agricultural habitats in Louisiana. We located nests to determine nest-initiation dates and clutch sizes during the primary breeding season (February-May) in 1999 (n = 29) and 2000 (n = 37) on agricultural lands in southwestern Louisiana. In 1999, 60% of located nests were initiated between 22 March and 10 April, whereas in 2000, only 22% of nests were initiated during the same time period. Average clutch size was 0.9 eggs smaller in 2000 than in 1999. Annual differences in reproductive parameters corresponded with extremely dry conditions caused by low rainfall before the laying period in 2000. Flooded rice fields appear to be important loafing and feeding habitat of Mottled Ducks nesting in agricultural lands, especially during drought periods when other wetland types are not available or where natural wetlands have been eliminated.

  17. Development of a regionally consistent geospatial dataset of agricultural lands in the Upper Colorado River Basin, 2007-10

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Buto, Susan G.; Gold, Brittany L.; Jones, Kimberly A.

    2014-01-01

    Irrigation in arid environments can alter the natural rate at which salts are dissolved and transported to streams. Irrigated agricultural lands are the major anthropogenic source of dissolved solids in the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB). Understanding the location, spatial distribution, and irrigation status of agricultural lands and the method used to deliver water to agricultural lands are important to help improve the understanding of agriculturally derived dissolved-solids loading to surface water in the UCRB. Irrigation status is the presence or absence of irrigation on an agricultural field during the selected growing season or seasons. Irrigation method is the system used to irrigate a field. Irrigation method can broadly be grouped into sprinkler or flood methods, although other techniques such as drip irrigation are used in the UCRB. Flood irrigation generally causes greater dissolved-solids loading to streams than sprinkler irrigation. Agricultural lands in the UCRB mapped by state agencies at varying spatial and temporal resolutions were assembled and edited to represent conditions in the UCRB between 2007 and 2010. Edits were based on examination of 1-meter resolution aerial imagery collected between 2009 and 2011. Remote sensing classification techniques were used to classify irrigation status for the June to September growing seasons between 2007 and 2010. The final dataset contains polygons representing approximately 1,759,900 acres of agricultural lands in the UCRB. Approximately 66 percent of the mapped agricultural lands were likely irrigated during the study period.

  18. Agricultural land use and water quality in the upper St. Joseph River basin, Michigan

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Cummings, T. Ray

    1978-01-01

    Land use in the upper St. Joseph River basin of south-central Michigan is primarily agricultural. In the 144-square-mile area, the chemical and physical characteristics of water are determined by the climate and soils, as well as by land conservation practices. Municipal waste discharges affect water quality at some locations, as do the larger lakes and ponds. Data indicate that mean discharge from the basin is 135 cubic feet per second. About half this flow is contributed to the St. Joseph River by three major tributaries: Beebe Creek (36 cubic feet per second); Sand Creek (24 cubic feet per second); and Soap Creek (13 cubic feet per second). Runoff from 21 drainage areas delineated for the investigation ranged from 0.22 to 4.07 cubic feet per second per square mile; both the higher and lower values are largely the result of naturally occurring inter- and intrabasin transfers of water.Suspended-sediment concentrations are low throughout the basin, rarely exceeding 100 milligrams per liter. Mean concentrations at four daily sampling stations on the major tributaries and on the St. Joseph River ranged from 9.7 milligrams per liter to 38 milligrams per liter. The maximum sediment yield was 182 pounds per acre per year. Deposition of sediment in five of the 21 areas resulted in a net loss of sediment transported, and thus “negative” yields.Nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations do not vary greatly from site to site. Mean concentrations of total nitrogen at downstream sites on Beebe, Sand, and Soap Creeks, and on the St. Joseph River ranged from 1.5 to 1.8 milligrams per liter. About 90 percent of all nitrogen, and 66 percent of all phosphorus, is transported in solution. Land used principally for agriculture has a mean total nitrogen yield of 4.9 pounds per acre per year and a mean total phosphorus yield of 0.13 pounds per year. A comparison of total nitrogen and total phosphorus yields with type of agricultural use showed few relationships; nitrogen yield

  19. Reanalysis of Water, Land Use, and Production Data for Assessing China's Agricultural Resources

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Smith, T.; Pan, J.; McLaughlin, D.

    2016-12-01

    Quantitative data about water availability, crop evapotranspiration (ET), agricultural land use, and production are needed at high temporal and spatial resolutions to develop sustainable water and agricultural plan and policies. However, large-scale high-resolution measured data can be susceptible to errors, physically inconsistent, or incomplete. Reanalysis provides a way to develop improved physically consistent estimates of both measured and hidden variables. The reanalysis approach described here uses a least-squares technique constrained by water balances and crop water requirements to assimilate many possibly redundant data sources to yield estimates of water, land use, and food production variables that are physically consistent while minimizing differences from measured data. As an example, this methodology is applied in China, where food demand is expected to increase but land and water resources could constrain further increases in food production. Hydrologic fluxes, crop ET, agricultural land use, yields, and food production are characterized at 0.5o by 0.5o resolution for a nominal year around the year 2000 for 22 different crop groups. The reanalysis approach provides useful information for resource management and policy, both in China and around the world.

  20. Prospects for land-use sustainability on the agricultural frontier of the Brazilian Amazon.

    PubMed

    Galford, Gillian L; Soares-Filho, Britaldo; Cerri, Carlos E P

    2013-06-05

    The Brazilian Amazon frontier shows how remarkable leadership can work towards increased agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability without new greenhouse gas emissions. This is due to initiatives among various stakeholders, including national and state government and agents, farmers, consumers, funding agencies and non-governmental organizations. Change has come both from bottom-up and top-down actions of these stakeholders, providing leadership, financing and monitoring to foster environmental sustainability and agricultural growth. Goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from land-cover and land-use change in Brazil are being achieved through a multi-tiered approach that includes policies to reduce deforestation and initiatives for forest restoration, as well as increased and diversified agricultural production, intensified ranching and innovations in agricultural management. Here, we address opportunities for the Brazilian Amazon in working towards low-carbon rural development and environmentally sustainable landscapes.

  1. Prospects for land-use sustainability on the agricultural frontier of the Brazilian Amazon

    PubMed Central

    Galford, Gillian L.; Soares-Filho, Britaldo; Cerri, Carlos E. P.

    2013-01-01

    The Brazilian Amazon frontier shows how remarkable leadership can work towards increased agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability without new greenhouse gas emissions. This is due to initiatives among various stakeholders, including national and state government and agents, farmers, consumers, funding agencies and non-governmental organizations. Change has come both from bottom-up and top-down actions of these stakeholders, providing leadership, financing and monitoring to foster environmental sustainability and agricultural growth. Goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from land-cover and land-use change in Brazil are being achieved through a multi-tiered approach that includes policies to reduce deforestation and initiatives for forest restoration, as well as increased and diversified agricultural production, intensified ranching and innovations in agricultural management. Here, we address opportunities for the Brazilian Amazon in working towards low-carbon rural development and environmentally sustainable landscapes. PMID:23610175

  2. Modelling nitrate from land-surface to wells-perforations under Mediterranean agricultural land: success, failure, and future scenarios

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Levy, Yehuda; Chefetz, Benny; Shapira, Roi; Kurtzman, Daniel

    2017-04-01

    Contamination of groundwater resources by nitrate due to leaching under agricultural land is probably the most troublesome agriculture-related water contamination, worldwide. Deep soil sampling (10 m) were used for calibrating vertical flow and nitrogen-transport numerical models of the unsaturated zone, under different agricultural land uses. Vegetables fields (potato and strawberries) and deciduous (persimmon) orchards in the Sharon area overlaying the coastal aquifer of Israel, were examined. Average nitrate-nitrogen fluxes below vegetables fields were 210-290 kg ha-1 a-1 and under deciduous orchards were 110-140 kg ha-1 a-1. The output water and nitrate-nitrogen fluxes of the unsaturated zone models were used as input for a three dimensional flow and nitrate-transport model in the aquifer under an area of 13.3 square kilometers of agricultural land. The area was subdivided to 4 agricultural land-uses: vegetables, deciduous, citrus orchards and non-cultivated. Fluxes of water and nitrate-nitrogen below citrus orchards were taken from a previous study in this area (Kurtzman et al., 2013, j. Contam. Hydrol.). The groundwater flow model was calibrated to well heads only by changing the hydraulic conductivity while transient recharge fluxes were constraint to the bottom-fluxes of the unsaturated zone flow models. The nitrate-transport model in the aquifer, which was fed at the top by the nitrate fluxes of the unsaturated zone models, succeeded in reconstructing the average nitrate concentration in the wells. On the other hand, this transport model failed in calculating the high concentrations in the most contaminated wells and the large spatial variability of nitrate-concentrations in the aquifer. In order to reconstruct the spatial variability and enable predictions nitrate-fluxes from the unsaturated zone were multiplied by local multipliers. This action was rationalized by the fact that the high concentrations in some wells cannot be explained by regular

  3. High carbon losses due to recent cropland expansion in the United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Spawn, S.; Lark, T.; Gibbs, H.

    2017-12-01

    Land conversion for agriculture in the United States has reached record highs in recent years. From 2008 to 2012 nearly 30,000 square kilometers of previously un-cultivated land were converted to agricultural land use with much of this expansion occurring on grasslands (77%) and shrublands (8%). To understand the effects of this conversion on global C cycling, we created novel, spatially explicit biomass maps for these biomes by combining existing satellite data products with models derived from field measurements. We then estimated changes in existing C stocks by combining our derived data with existing Landsat-scale data on land cover, land conversion, forest biomass and soil organic carbon (C) stocks. We find that conversion results in annual C losses of approximately 25 Tg C from US terrestrial ecosystems. Nationwide, roughly 80% of total emissions result from committed soil organic C losses. While biomass losses from expansion into forests and wetlands are disproportionately high per unit area, the vast majority of C losses occurred in grassland ecosystems, with grassland roots representing close to 70% of total biomass losses across all biomes. C losses are partially offset each year by agricultural abandonment which we estimate could sequester as much as 15 Tg C, annually. Taken together, we find that US agricultural expansion results in net annual emissions of 10 Tg C which is nearly 30% of emissions from existing US croplands. Our estimate is comparable to a recent analogous estimate for conversion of the Brazilian Cerrado and is equivalent to 10% of annual C losses from pantropical deforestation, suggesting that the effects of US cropland expansion could be globally significant.

  4. Land improvement as part of environmental planning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zupanc, Vesna; Grcman, Helena; Pintar, Marina; Kammerer, Gerhard

    2017-04-01

    Agricultural land degradation and fertile soil loss occur at an alarming rate: in a year, an area of roughly twelve million hectares is lost for agricultural production worldwide. The process of land degradation is a real-world driver and amplifier of instability. Given the scope and severity of the problem, calls for large scale land and soil rehabilitation are likely to be expected. In a case study of hydropower plant construction in Slovenia, the process of land rehabilitation is described from agricultural and environmental aspect considering changing environmental policy in the past five decades. Soil protection relies on national policy, stemming from policy which originated from soil protection initiative after severe increase in sealing of most fertile areas after second World War. Environmental protection policy evolved and adapted after the accession to European Union. Under certain circumstances, agricultural land is used for environmental rehabilitation measures, and of secondary status in the remediation measures decision process.

  5. Land Allocation in the Southeastern U.S. in Response to Climate Change Impacts on Forestry and Agriculture

    Treesearch

    Brian C. Murray; Robert C. Abt; David N. Wear; Peter J. Parks; Ian W. Hardie

    2001-01-01

    Forest and agriculture are the two dominant land uses in the Southeastern U.S., collectively accounting for almost 90 percent of the land base. Differences in climate change impacts on forest and agricultural productivity can lead to reallocations of land between the two sectors as landowners adjust to the changes in economic conditions. In this paper, we apply the...

  6. The loss of ecosystem services due to land degradation. Integration of mechanistic and probabilistic models in an Ethiopian case study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cerretelli, Stefania; Poggio, Laura; Gimona, Alessandro; Peressotti, Alessandro; Black, Helaina

    2017-04-01

    Land and soil degradation are widespread especially in dry and developing countries such as Ethiopia. Land degradation leads to ecosystems services (ESS) degradation, because it causes the depletion and loss of several soil functions. Ethiopia's farmland faces intense degradation due to deforestation, agricultural land expansion, land overexploitation and overgrazing. In this study we modelled the impact of physical factors on ESS degradation, in particular soil erodibility, carbon storage and nutrient retention, in the Ethiopian Great Rift Valley, northwestern of Hawassa. We used models of the Sediment retention/loss, the Nutrient Retention/loss (from the software suite InVEST) and Carbon Storage. To run the models we coupled soil local data (such as soil organic carbon, soil texture) with remote sensing data as input in the parametrization phase, e.g. to derive a land use map, to calculate the aboveground and belowground carbon, the evapotraspiration coefficient and the capacity of vegetation to retain nutrient. We then used spatialised Bayesian Belief Networks (sBBNs) predicting ecosystem services degradation on the basis of the results of the three mechanistic models. The results show i) the importance of mapping of ESS degradation taking into consideration the spatial heterogeneity and the cross-correlations between impacts ii) the fundamental role of remote sensing data in monitoring and modelling in remote, data-poor areas and iii) the important role of spatial BBNs in providing spatially explicit measures of risk and uncertainty. This approach could help decision makers to identify priority areas for intervention in order to reduce land and ecosystem services degradation.

  7. A GIS-based hedonic price model for agricultural land

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Demetriou, Demetris

    2015-06-01

    Land consolidation is a very effective land management planning approach that aims towards rural/agricultural sustainable development. Land reallocation which involves land tenure restructuring is the most important, complex and time consuming component of land consolidation. Land reallocation relies on land valuation since its fundamental principle provides that after consolidation, each landowner shall be granted a property of an aggregate value that is approximately the same as the value of the property owned prior to consolidation. Therefore, land value is the crucial factor for the land reallocation process and hence for the success and acceptance of the final land consolidation plan. Land valuation is a process of assigning values to all parcels (and its contents) and it is usually carried out by an ad-hoc committee. However, the process faces some problems such as it is time consuming hence costly, outcomes may present inconsistency since it is carried out manually and empirically without employing systematic analytical tools and in particular spatial analysis tools and techniques such as statistical/mathematical. A solution to these problems can be the employment of mass appraisal land valuation methods using automated valuation models (AVM) based on international standards. In this context, this paper presents a spatial based linear hedonic price model which has been developed and tested in a case study land consolidation area in Cyprus. Results showed that the AVM is capable to produce acceptable in terms of accuracy and reliability land values and to reduce time hence cost required by around 80%.

  8. Future land-use scenarios and the loss of wildlife habitats in the southeastern United States.

    PubMed

    Martinuzzi, Sebastián; Withey, John C; Pidgeon, Anna M; Plantinga, Andrew J; McKerrow, Alexa J; Williams, Steven G; Helmers, David P; Radeloff, Volker C

    2015-01-01

    Land-use change is a major cause of wildlife habitat loss. Understanding how changes in land-use policies and economic factors can impact future trends in land use and wildlife habitat loss is therefore critical for conservation efforts. Our goal here was to evaluate the consequences of future land-use changes under different conservation policies and crop market conditions on habitat loss for wildlife species in the southeastern United States. We predicted the rates of habitat loss for 336 terrestrial vertebrate species by 2051. We focused on habitat loss due to the expansion of urban, crop, and pasture. Future land-use changes following business-as-usual conditions resulted in relatively low rates of wildlife habitat loss across the entire Southeast, but some ecoregions and species groups experienced much higher habitat loss than others. Increased crop commodity prices exacerbated wildlife habitat loss in most ecoregions, while the implementation of conservation policies (reduced urban sprawl, and payments for land conservation) reduced the projected habitat loss in some regions, to a certain degree. Overall, urban and crop expansion were the main drivers of habitat loss. Reptiles and wildlife species associated with open vegetation (grasslands, open woodlands) were the species groups most vulnerable to future land-use change. Effective conservation of wildlife habitat in the Southeast should give special consideration to future land-use changes, regional variations, and the forces that could shape land-use decisions.

  9. Future land-use scenarios and the loss of wildlife habitats in the southeastern United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Martinuzzi, Sebastián; Withey, John C.; Pidgeon, Anna M.; Plantinga, Andrew; McKerrow, Alexa; Williams, Steven G.; Helmers, David P.; Radeloff, Volker C.

    2015-01-01

    Land-use change is a major cause of wildlife habitat loss. Understanding how changes in land-use policies and economic factors can impact future trends in land use and wildlife habitat loss is therefore critical for conservation efforts. Our goal here was to evaluate the consequences of future land-use changes under different conservation policies and crop market conditions on habitat loss for wildlife species in the southeastern United States. We predicted the rates of habitat loss for 336 terrestrial vertebrate species by 2051. We focused on habitat loss due to the expansion of urban, crop, and pasture. Future land-use changes following business-as-usual conditions resulted in relatively low rates of wildlife habitat loss across the entire Southeast, but some ecoregions and species groups experienced much higher habitat loss than others. Increased crop commodity prices exacerbated wildlife habitat loss in most ecoregions, while the implementation of conservation policies (reduced urban sprawl, and payments for land conservation) reduced the projected habitat loss in some regions, to a certain degree. Overall, urban and crop expansion were the main drivers of habitat loss. Reptiles and wildlife species associated with open vegetation (grasslands, open woodlands) were the species groups most vulnerable to future land-use change. Effective conservation of wildlife habitat in the Southeast should give special consideration to future land-use changes, regional variations, and the forces that could shape land-use decisions.

  10. Effect of land use land cover change on soil erosion potential in an agricultural watershed.

    PubMed

    Sharma, Arabinda; Tiwari, Kamlesh N; Bhadoria, P B S

    2011-02-01

    Universal soil loss equation (USLE) was used in conjunction with a geographic information system to determine the influence of land use and land cover change (LUCC) on soil erosion potential of a reservoir catchment during the period 1989 to 2004. Results showed that the mean soil erosion potential of the watershed was increased slightly from 12.11 t ha(-1) year(-1) in the year 1989 to 13.21 t ha(-1) year(-1) in the year 2004. Spatial analysis revealed that the disappearance of forest patches from relatively flat areas, increased in wasteland in steep slope, and intensification of cultivation practice in relatively more erosion-prone soil were the main factors contributing toward the increased soil erosion potential of the watershed during the study period. Results indicated that transition of other land use land cover (LUC) categories to cropland was the most detrimental to watershed in terms of soil loss while forest acted as the most effective barrier to soil loss. A p value of 0.5503 obtained for two-tailed paired t test between the mean erosion potential of microwatersheds in 1989 and 2004 also indicated towards a moderate change in soil erosion potential of the watershed over the studied period. This study revealed that the spatial location of LUC parcels with respect to terrain and associated soil properties should be an important consideration in soil erosion assessment process.

  11. Remote sensing is a viable tool for mapping soil salinity in agricultural lands

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Soil salinity negatively impacts the productivity and profitability of western San Joaquin Valley (WSJV) farmland. Drought, climate change, reduced water allocations, and land use changes are among many current phenomena that could potentially worsen salinity conditions in agricultural lands. Monito...

  12. Inventory of wetlands and agricultural land cover in the upper Sevier River Basin, Utah

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jaynes, R. A.; Clark, L. D., Jr.; Landgraf, K. F. (Principal Investigator)

    1981-01-01

    The use of color infrared aerial photography in the mapping of agricultural land use and wetlands in the Sevier River Basin of south central utah is described. The efficiency and cost effectiveness of utilizing LANDSAT multispectral scanner digital data to augment photographic interpretations are discussed. Transparent overlays for 27 quadrangles showing delineations of wetlands and agricultural land cover were produced. A table summarizing the acreage represented by each class on each quadrangle overlay is provided.

  13. Climate impacts on agricultural land use in the USA: the role of socio-economic scenarios

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Mu, Jianhong E.; Sleeter, Benjamin M.; Abatzoglou, John T.; Antle, John M.

    2017-01-01

    We examine the impacts of climate on net returns from crop and livestock production and the resulting impact on land-use change across the contiguous USA. We first estimate an econometric model to project effects of weather fluctuations on crop and livestock net returns and then use a semi-reduced form land-use share model to study agricultural land-use changes under future climate and socio-economic scenarios. Estimation results show that crop net returns are more sensitive to thermal and less sensitive to moisture variability than livestock net returns; other agricultural land uses substitute cropland use when 30-year averaged degree-days or precipitation are not beneficial for crop production. Under future climate and socio-economic scenarios, we project that crop and livestock net returns are both increasing, but with crop net returns increasing at a higher rate; cropland increases with declines of marginal and pastureland by the end of the twenty-first century. Projections also show that impacts of future climate on agricultural land uses are substantially different and a larger variation of land-use change is evident when socio-economic scenarios are incorporated into the climate impact analysis.

  14. Mitigating greenhouse gases: the importance of land base interactions between forests, agriculture, and residential development in the face of changes in bioenergy and carbon prices

    Treesearch

    Ralph Alig; Greg Latta; Darius Adams; Bruce McCarl

    2009-01-01

    The forest sector can contribute to atmospheric greenhouse gas reduction, while also providing other environmental, economic, and social benefits. Policy tools for climate change mitigation include carbon-related payment programs as well as laws and programs to impede the loss of agricultural and forest lands to development. Policy makers will base their expectations...

  15. [Ecological design of ditches in agricultural land consolidation: a review].

    PubMed

    Ye, Yan-mei; Wu, Ci-fang; Yu, Jing

    2011-07-01

    Agricultural land consolidation is a strong disturbance to farmland ecosystem. In traditional agricultural land consolidation, the main technical and economic indices for the design of ditches include the convenience for production and transportation, the allocation of water resources, and the improvement of water utilization, but short of ecological consideration, which has already affected the spread of agricultural species, caused the degradation of bio-habitat, and given obvious negative effects on the bio-competition mechanism, buffering and compensation capacity, and insect pests-resistance of farmland ecosystem. This paper summarized the functions of ecological ditches, and introduced the recent progress on the formations and construction designs of ecological ditches, tests of ecological engineering methods, and technologies and methods of choosing correct ecological materials. It was suggested that the future research should focus on the different functional requirements and specifications for different roads and ditches, and the characteristics and habitats of all the organisms and animals should be considered by the designers and constructors. Moreover, a comprehensive design which meets the ecological demands for the ditches' formations, structures, and regulatory sizes should be taken into account to solve the most of the problems listed above.

  16. Agricultural land change in the Carpathian ecoregion after the breakdown of socialism and expansion of the European Union

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Griffiths, Patrick; Müller, Daniel; Kuemmerle, Tobias; Hostert, Patrick

    2013-12-01

    Widespread changes of agricultural land use occurred in Eastern Europe since the collapse of socialism and the European Union’s eastward expansion, but the rates and patterns of recent land changes remain unclear. Here we assess agricultural land change for the entire Carpathian ecoregion in Eastern Europe at 30 m spatial resolution with Landsat data and for two change periods, between 1985-2000 and 2000-2010. The early period is characterized by post-socialist transition processes, the late period by an increasing influence of EU politics in the region. For mapping and change detection, we use a machine learning approach (random forests) on image composites and variance metrics which were derived from the full decadal archive of Landsat imagery. Our results suggest that cropland abandonment was the most prevalent change process, but we also detected considerable areas of grassland conversion and forest expansion on non-forest land. Cropland abandonment was most extensive during the transition period and predominantly occurred in marginal areas with low suitability for agriculture. Conversely, we observed substantial recultivation of formerly abandoned cropland in high-value agricultural areas since 2000. Hence, market forces increasingly adjust socialist legacies of land expansive production and agricultural land use clusters in favorable areas while marginal lands revert to forest.

  17. Adaptation Options for Land Drainage Systems Towards Sustainable Agriculture and Environment: A Czech Perspective

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kulhavý, Zbyněk; Fučík, Petr

    2015-04-01

    In this paper, issues of agricultural drainage systems are introduced and discussed from the views of their former, current and future roles and functioning in the Czech Republic (CR). A methodologically disparate survey was done on thirty-nine model localities in CR with different intensity and state of land drainage systems, aimed at description of commonly occurred problems and possible adaptations of agricultural drainage as perceived by farmers, land owners, landscape managers or by protective water management. The survey was focused on technical state of drainage, fragmentation of land ownership within drained areas as well as on possible conflicts between agricultural and environmental interests in a landscape. Achieved results confirmed that there is obviously an increasing need to reassess some functions of prevailingly single-purpose agricultural drainage systems. Drainage intensity and detected unfavourable technical state of drainage systems as well as the risks connected with the anticipated climate change from the view of possible water scarcity claims for a complex solution. An array of adaptation options for agricultural drainage systems is presented, aiming at enhancement of water retention time and improvement of water quality. It encompasses additional flow-controlling measures on tiles or ditches, or facilities for making selected parts of a drainage system inoperable in order to retain or slow down the drainage runoff, to establish water accumulation zones and to enhance water self-cleaning processes. However, it was revealed that the question of landowner parcels fragmentation on drained land in CR would dramatically complicate design and realization of these measures. Presented solutions and findings are propounded with a respect to contemporary and future state policies and international strategies for sustainable agriculture, water management and environment.

  18. Agricultural chemicals in groundwater of the midwestern United States: Relations to land use

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Kolpin, D.W.

    1997-01-01

    To determine the relations between land use and concentrations of selected agricultural chemicals (nitrate, atrazine residue [atrazine (2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6-isopropylamino-s-triazine) + deethylatrazinc (2-amino-4-chloro-6-isopropylamino-s-triazine) + deisopropylatrazine (2-amino-4-chloro-6-ethylamino-s-triazine)], and alachlor residue [alachlor, [2-chloro-2′,6′-diethyl-N-(methoxymethyl) acetanilide] + alachlor ethanesulfonic acid (alachlor-ESA; 2-[(2,6-diethylphenyl)(methoxymethyl)amino]-2-oxoethanesulfonic acid)] in groundwater, detailed land use information based on accurate measurements from aerial photographs for the 1991 growing season was obtained within a 2-km radius surrounding 100 wells completed in near-surface unconsolidated aquifers in the midwestern USA. The most significant land use factors to the agricultural chemicals examined were: nitrate (amount of irrigated crop production, positive relation), atrazine residue (amount of irrigated crop production, positive relation), and alachlor residue (amount of highly erodible land, inverse relation). The investigation of smaller buffer sizes (size of circular area around sampled wells) proved insightful for this study. Additional land use factors having significant relations to all three agricultural chemicals were identified using these smaller buffer radii. The most significant correlations (correlation maxima) generally occurred at ≤500-m for nitrate and ≥1000-m for atrazine residue and alachlor residue. An attempt to improve the statistical relations to land use by taking hydrologic considerations into account (removing land outside the estimated most probable recharge area from the statistical analysis) was not as successful as anticipated. Only 45% of the nitrate, 32% of the atrazine residue, and 20% of the alachlor residue correlations were improved by a consideration of the estimated most probable recharge area.

  19. Agricultural land use doubled sediment yield of western China's rivers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schmidt, A. H.; Bierman, P. R.; Sosa-Gonzalez, V.; Neilson, T. B.; Rood, D. H.; Martin, J.; Hill, M.

    2017-12-01

    Land use changes, such as deforestation and agriculture, increase soil erosion rates on the scale of hillslopes and small drainage basins; however, the effects of these changes on the sediment load in larger rivers is poorly quantified, with a few studies scattered globally, and only 10 data points in the world's most populous nation, China. At 20 different sites in western China, we compare contemporary (1945-1987) fluvial sediment yield data collected daily over 4 to 26 years (median = 19 years) to long-term measures of erosion (sediment generation) based on new isotopic measurements of in situ 10Be in river sediments. We find that median sediment transport at these sites exceeds background sediment generation rates by a factor of two (from 0.13 to 5.79 times, median 1.85 times) and that contemporary sediment yield is statistically significantly different from long-term sediment yield (p < 0.05). Agricultural land use is directly and significantly proportional to the ratio of contemporary sediment yield to long term sediment generation rates (Spearman correlation coefficient rho = 0.52, p < 0.05). We support these findings by calculating erosion indices (following Brown et al., 1988), which compare the delivery of meteoric 10Be to each watershed with the export of meteoric 10Be bound to riverine sediment. Erosion indices are also directly and significantly proportional to agricultural land use (rho = 0.58, p < 0.05). We measured unsupported 210Pb and 137Cs in 130 detrital samples from throughout the region. We find that only 4 samples (those from high elevation, low relief watersheds) have detectable 137Cs and 31 samples have detectable unsupported 210Pb. The lack of 137Cs in most samples suggests high rates of erosion in the 1950s-1960s when 137Cs would have been delivered to the landscape. Detectable 210Pb in 25% of the watersheds suggests that in some areas erosion rates have slowed since that time allowing 210Pb to accumulate to measurable levels. Together

  20. Simulating Changes in Land-Atmosphere Interactions From Expanding Agriculture and Irrigation in India and the Potential Impacts on the Indian Monsoon.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Douglas, E. M.; Beltran-Przekurat, A.; Niyogi, D.; Pielke, R. A.

    2006-05-01

    With over 57 million hectares under irrigation in 2002, India has the largest irrigated agricultural area on the planet. Between 80 and 90% of India's water use goes to support irrigated agriculture. The Indian monsoon belt is a home to a large part of the world's population and agriculture is the major land-use activity in the region. Previous results showed that annual vapor fluxes in India have increased by 17% (340 km3) over that which would be expected from a natural (non-agricultural) land cover. Two-thirds of this increase was attributed to irrigated agriculture. The largest increases in vapor and latent heat fluxes occurred where both cropland and irrigated lands were the predominant contemporary land cover classes (particularly northwest and north-central India). Our current study builds upon this work by evaluating possible changes in near-surface energy fluxes and regional atmospheric circulation patterns resulting from the expansion of irrigated agriculture on the Indian sub-continent using a regional atmospheric model RAMS. We investigate three separate land- use scenarios: Scenario 1, with a potential (pre-agricultural) land cover, Scenario 2: the potential land-cover overlain by cropland and Scenario 3: potential land-cover overlain by cropland and irrigated area. We will assess the impact of agricultural land-cover conversion and intensive irrigation on water and energy fluxes between the land and the atmosphere and how these flux changes may affect regional weather patterns. The simulation period covers July 16-20, 2002 which allow us to assess potential impacts of land-cover changes on the onset of the Indian Monsoon.

  1. Land-use policies and corporate investments in agriculture in the Gran Chaco and Chiquitano

    PubMed Central

    le Polain de Waroux, Yann; Garrett, Rachael D.; Heilmayr, Robert; Lambin, Eric F.

    2016-01-01

    Growing demand for agricultural commodities is causing the expansion of agricultural frontiers onto native vegetation worldwide. Agribusiness companies linking these frontiers to distant spaces of consumption through global commodity chains increasingly make zero-deforestation pledges. However, production and land conversion are often carried out by less-visible local and regional actors that are mobile and responsive to new agricultural expansion opportunities and legal constraints on land use. With more stringent deforestation regulations in some countries, we ask whether their movements are determined partly by differences in land-use policies, resulting in “deforestation havens.” We analyze the determinants of investment decisions by agricultural companies in the Gran Chaco and Chiquitano, a region that has become the new deforestation “hot spot” in South America. We test whether companies seek out less-regulated forest areas for new agricultural investments. Based on interviews with 82 companies totaling 2.5 Mha of properties, we show that, in addition to proximity to current investments and the availability of cheap forestland, lower deforestation regulations attract investments by companies that tend to clear more forest, mostly cattle ranching operations, and that lower enforcement attracts all companies. Avoiding deforestation leakage requires harmonizing deforestation regulations across regions and commodities and promoting sustainable intensification in cattle ranching. PMID:27035995

  2. Land-use policies and corporate investments in agriculture in the Gran Chaco and Chiquitano.

    PubMed

    le Polain de Waroux, Yann; Garrett, Rachael D; Heilmayr, Robert; Lambin, Eric F

    2016-04-12

    Growing demand for agricultural commodities is causing the expansion of agricultural frontiers onto native vegetation worldwide. Agribusiness companies linking these frontiers to distant spaces of consumption through global commodity chains increasingly make zero-deforestation pledges. However, production and land conversion are often carried out by less-visible local and regional actors that are mobile and responsive to new agricultural expansion opportunities and legal constraints on land use. With more stringent deforestation regulations in some countries, we ask whether their movements are determined partly by differences in land-use policies, resulting in "deforestation havens." We analyze the determinants of investment decisions by agricultural companies in the Gran Chaco and Chiquitano, a region that has become the new deforestation "hot spot" in South America. We test whether companies seek out less-regulated forest areas for new agricultural investments. Based on interviews with 82 companies totaling 2.5 Mha of properties, we show that, in addition to proximity to current investments and the availability of cheap forestland, lower deforestation regulations attract investments by companies that tend to clear more forest, mostly cattle ranching operations, and that lower enforcement attracts all companies. Avoiding deforestation leakage requires harmonizing deforestation regulations across regions and commodities and promoting sustainable intensification in cattle ranching.

  3. The Monitoring Erosion of Agricultural Land and spatial database of erosion events

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kapicka, Jiri; Zizala, Daniel

    2013-04-01

    In 2011 originated in The Czech Republic The Monitoring Erosion of Agricultural Land as joint project of State Land Office (SLO) and Research Institute for Soil and Water Conservation (RISWC). The aim of the project is collecting and record keeping information about erosion events on agricultural land and their evaluation. The main idea is a creation of a spatial database that will be source of data and information for evaluation and modeling erosion process, for proposal of preventive measures and measures to reduce negative impacts of erosion events. A subject of monitoring is the manifestations of water erosion, wind erosion and slope deformation in which cause damaged agriculture land. A website, available on http://me.vumop.cz, is used as a tool for keeping and browsing information about monitored events. SLO employees carry out record keeping. RISWC is specialist institute in the Monitoring Erosion of Agricultural Land that performs keeping the spatial database, running the website, managing the record keeping of events, analysis the cause of origins events and statistical evaluations of keeping events and proposed measures. Records are inserted into the database using the user interface of the website which has map server as a component. Website is based on database technology PostgreSQL with superstructure PostGIS and MapServer UMN. Each record is in the database spatial localized by a drawing and it contains description information about character of event (data, situation description etc.) then there are recorded information about land cover and about grown crops. A part of database is photodocumentation which is taken in field reconnaissance which is performed within two days after notify of event. Another part of database are information about precipitations from accessible precipitation gauges. Website allows to do simple spatial analysis as are area calculation, slope calculation, percentage representation of GAEC etc.. Database structure was designed

  4. Land-mobile satellite excess path loss measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hess, G. C.

    1980-05-01

    An experiment conducted with the ATS-6 satellite to determine the additional path loss over free-space loss experienced by land-mobile communication links is described. This excess path loss is measured as a function of 1) local environment, 2) vehicle heading, 3) link frequency, 4) satellite elevation angle, and 5) street side. A statistical description of excess loss developed from the data shows that the first two parameters dominate. Excess path loss on the order of 25 dB is typical in urban situations, but decreases to under 10 dB in suburban/rural areas. Spaced antenna selection diversity is found to provide only a slight decrease (4 dB, typically) in the urban excess path loss observed. Level crossing rates are depressed in satellite links relative to those of Rayleigh-faded terrestrial links, but increases in average fade durations tend to offset that advantage. The measurements show that the excess path loss difference between 860-MHz links and 1550-MHz links is generally negligible.

  5. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture without compromising food security?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Frank, Stefan; Havlík, Petr; Soussana, Jean-Francois; Levesque, Antoine; Valin, Hugo; Wollenberg, Eva; Kleinwechter, Ulrich; Fricko, Oliver; Gusti, Mykola; Herrero, Mario; Smith, Pete; Hasegawa, Tomoko; Kraxner, Florian; Obersteiner, Michael

    2017-04-01

    To keep global warming possibly below 1.5 C and mitigate adverse effects of climate change, agriculture, like all other sectors, will have to contribute to efforts in achieving net negative emissions by the end of the century. Cost-efficient distribution of mitigation across regions and sectors is typically calculated using a global uniform carbon price in climate stabilization scenarios. However, in reality such a carbon price could substantially affect other Sustainable Development Goals. Here, we assess the implications of climate change mitigation in agriculture for agricultural production and food security using an integrated modelling framework and explore ways of relaxing the competition between climate change mitigation and food availability. Using a scenario that limits global warming to 1.5 C, results indicate a food calorie loss in 2050 of up to 330 kcal per capita in food insecure countries. If only developed countries participated in the mitigation effort, the calorie loss would be 40 kcal per capita, however the climate target would not be achieved. Land-rich countries with a high proportion of emissions from land use change, such as Brazil, could reduce emissions with only a marginal effect on food availability. In contrast, agricultural mitigation in high population (density) countries, such as China and India, would lead to substantial food calorie loss without a major contribution to global GHG mitigation. Increasing soil carbon sequestration on agricultural land using a comprehensive set of management options, would allow achieving a 1.5 C target while reducing the implied calorie loss by up to 70% and storing up to 3.5 GtCO2 in soils. Hence, the promotion of so called "win-win" mitigation options i.e. soil carbon sequestration, and ensuring successful mitigation of land use change emissions are crucial to stabilize the climate without deteriorating food security.

  6. Mediterranean California’s water use future under multiple scenarios of developed and agricultural land use change

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Wilson, Tamara; Sleeter, Benjamin M.; Cameron, D. Richard

    2017-01-01

    With growing demand and highly variable inter-annual water supplies, California’s water use future is fraught with uncertainty. Climate change projections, anticipated population growth, and continued agricultural intensification, will likely stress existing water supplies in coming decades. Using a state-and-transition simulation modeling approach, we examine a broad suite of spatially explicit future land use scenarios and their associated county-level water use demand out to 2062. We examined a range of potential water demand futures sampled from a 20-year record of historical (1992–2012) data to develop a suite of potential future land change scenarios, including low/high change scenarios for urbanization and agriculture as well as “lowest of the low” and “highest of the high” anthropogenic use. Future water demand decreased 8.3 billion cubic meters (Bm3) in the lowest of the low scenario and decreased 0.8 Bm3 in the low agriculture scenario. The greatest increased water demand was projected for the highest of the high land use scenario (+9.4 Bm3), high agricultural expansion (+4.6 Bm3), and high urbanization (+2.1 Bm3) scenarios. Overall, these scenarios show agricultural land use decisions will likely drive future demand more than increasing municipal and industrial uses, yet improved efficiencies across all sectors could lead to potential water use savings. Results provide water managers with information on diverging land use and water use futures, based on historical, observed land change trends and water use histories.

  7. Mediterranean California’s water use future under multiple scenarios of developed and agricultural land use change

    PubMed Central

    Sleeter, Benjamin M.; Cameron, D. Richard

    2017-01-01

    With growing demand and highly variable inter-annual water supplies, California’s water use future is fraught with uncertainty. Climate change projections, anticipated population growth, and continued agricultural intensification, will likely stress existing water supplies in coming decades. Using a state-and-transition simulation modeling approach, we examine a broad suite of spatially explicit future land use scenarios and their associated county-level water use demand out to 2062. We examined a range of potential water demand futures sampled from a 20-year record of historical (1992–2012) data to develop a suite of potential future land change scenarios, including low/high change scenarios for urbanization and agriculture as well as “lowest of the low” and “highest of the high” anthropogenic use. Future water demand decreased 8.3 billion cubic meters (Bm3) in the lowest of the low scenario and decreased 0.8 Bm3 in the low agriculture scenario. The greatest increased water demand was projected for the highest of the high land use scenario (+9.4 Bm3), high agricultural expansion (+4.6 Bm3), and high urbanization (+2.1 Bm3) scenarios. Overall, these scenarios show agricultural land use decisions will likely drive future demand more than increasing municipal and industrial uses, yet improved efficiencies across all sectors could lead to potential water use savings. Results provide water managers with information on diverging land use and water use futures, based on historical, observed land change trends and water use histories. PMID:29088254

  8. Nitrogen and phosphorus losses from agricultural systems in China: a meta-analysis.

    PubMed

    Cao, Di; Cao, Wenzhi; Fang, Jing; Cai, Longyan

    2014-08-30

    Studies worldwide have indicated that agricultural pollution is the main source of nitrogen and phosphorus (N and P) in surface waters. A systematic understanding of N and P sources and sinks in agricultural systems is important for selecting the appropriate remedial strategies to control nutrient losses and water pollution. Based on nationwide data and a long-term monitoring program in Southeast China, the nationwide spatial and temporal patterns of N and P losses and the relationships between such losses and N and P inputs and rainfall were analyzed. The results showed that the annual nutrient losses from agricultural systems in China strongly varied, and the N/P values ranged from 0.01 to 51.0, with a majority at approximately 0-20, and an arithmetic mean of 9.73; these values mostly overlap the suitable range of N/P (6-15) for red bloom algae. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Agriculture, Food Production, and Rural Land Use in Advanced Placement® Human Geography

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moseley, William G.; Watson, Nancy H.

    2016-01-01

    ''Agriculture, Food, and Rural Land Use" constitutes a major part of the AP Human Geography course outline. This article explores challenging topics to teach, emerging research trends in agricultural geography, and sample teaching approaches for concretizing abstract topics. It addresses content identified as "essential knowledge"…

  10. Soil microbial community response to land use change in an agricultural landscape of western Kenya.

    PubMed

    Bossio, D A; Girvan, M S; Verchot, L; Bullimore, J; Borelli, T; Albrecht, A; Scow, K M; Ball, A S; Pretty, J N; Osborn, A M

    2005-01-01

    Tropical agroecosystems are subject to degradation processes such as losses in soil carbon, nutrient depletion, and reduced water holding capacity that occur rapidly resulting in a reduction in soil fertility that can be difficult to reverse. In this research, a polyphasic methodology has been used to investigate changes in microbial community structure and function in a series of tropical soils in western Kenya. These soils have different land usage with both wooded and agricultural soils at Kakamega and Ochinga, whereas at Ochinga, Leuro, Teso, and Ugunja a replicated field experiment compared traditional continuous maize cropping against an improved N-fixing fallow system. For all sites, principal component analysis of 16S rRNA gene denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) profiles revealed that soil type was the key determinant of total bacterial community structure, with secondary variation found between wooded and agricultural soils. Similarly, phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis also separated wooded from agricultural soils, primarily on the basis of higher abundance of monounsaturated fatty acids, anteiso- and iso-branched fatty acids, and methyl-branched fatty acids in the wooded soils. At Kakamega and Ochinga wooded soils had between five 5 and 10-fold higher levels of soil carbon and microbial biomass carbon than agricultural soils from the same location, whereas total enzyme activities were also lower in the agricultural sites. Soils with woody vegetation had a lower percentage of phosphatase activity and higher cellulase and chitinase activities than the agricultural soils. BIOLOG analysis showed woodland soils to have the greatest substrate diversity. Throughout the study the two functional indicators (enzyme activity and BIOLOG), however, showed lower specificity with respect to soil type and land usage than did the compositional indicators (DGGE and PLFA). In the field experiment comparing two types of maize cropping, both the maize yields

  11. Landscape patterns of bioenergy in a changing climate: implications for crop allocation and land-use competition

    Treesearch

    Rose A. Graves; Scott M. Pearson; Monica G. Turner

    2016-01-01

    Rural landscapes face changing climate, shifting development pressure, and loss of agricultural land. Perennial bioenergy crops grown on existing agricultural land may provide an opportunity to conserve rural landscapes while addressing increased demand for biofuels. However, increased bioenergy production and changing land use raise concerns for tradeoffs...

  12. Conservation Management of Agriculture Land using Geospatial Approach (A Case Study in the Bone Watershed, Gorontalo Province, Indonesia)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maryati, Sri; Eraku, Sunarty; Kasim, Muh

    2018-02-01

    Bone Watershed is one of the major watersheds in Gorontalo Province. Bone watershed has a very important role for the people of Gorontalo Province. The role of Bone Watershed is mainly related to the providing clean water, producing oxygen, controlling flood, providing habitat for endemic flora fauna and other environmental functions. The role of Bone Watershed for the community's economic sector is also very important, the Bone watershed provides livelihood for surrounding communities includes fertile land resources for agriculture and plantations, forest products, and livestock feed. This research is important considering the Bone watershed has limited availability of land for agriculture and the high risk of natural disasters such as floods and landslides. Geospatial data includes topography map, landform map, soil map, integrated with field survey results and soil properties were analized to determine conservation management of agriculture land in the Bone Watershed, Gorontalo Province, Indonesia. The result of this study shows that based on soil properties and physical land characteristics, land use for agriculture should consider appropriate conservation techniques, land capability and respect to local wisdom.

  13. Mapping irrigated lands at 250-m scale by merging MODIS data and National Agricultural Statistics

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Pervez, Md Shahriar; Brown, Jesslyn F.

    2010-01-01

    Accurate geospatial information on the extent of irrigated land improves our understanding of agricultural water use, local land surface processes, conservation or depletion of water resources, and components of the hydrologic budget. We have developed a method in a geospatial modeling framework that assimilates irrigation statistics with remotely sensed parameters describing vegetation growth conditions in areas with agricultural land cover to spatially identify irrigated lands at 250-m cell size across the conterminous United States for 2002. The geospatial model result, known as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Irrigated Agriculture Dataset (MIrAD-US), identified irrigated lands with reasonable accuracy in California and semiarid Great Plains states with overall accuracies of 92% and 75% and kappa statistics of 0.75 and 0.51, respectively. A quantitative accuracy assessment of MIrAD-US for the eastern region has not yet been conducted, and qualitative assessment shows that model improvements are needed for the humid eastern regions where the distinction in annual peak NDVI between irrigated and non-irrigated crops is minimal and county sizes are relatively small. This modeling approach enables consistent mapping of irrigated lands based upon USDA irrigation statistics and should lead to better understanding of spatial trends in irrigated lands across the conterminous United States. An improved version of the model with revised datasets is planned and will employ 2007 USDA irrigation statistics.

  14. Decree No. 922 on land use and exercise of agricultural activities, 19 May 1989.

    PubMed

    1989-01-01

    The Bulgarian Decree 922, May 19, 1989, regulates land use and the exercise of agricultural activities. It stipulates in general that agricultural activities and land use will be based on the principles of company organization, ensuring the unity and indivisibility of socialist property and the variety of forms of land use and management, using collective farms and companies. Citizens may engage in agricultural activities without having a registered company; users of farmland must protect the environment; observe veterinary, plant protection, and sanitary hygiene regulations; and protect and improve soil fertility. Farms and other companies will carry out their activities under equal conditions, may sell their commodities may set up an association for the protection of their economic and social interests, and may establish agricultural stock exchanges and other cooperatives in accordance with stipulated procedures. Individual farms include an individual farmer or several farmers. Farmers may rent or purchase agricultural equipment without restriction as to model, capacity, or other features. Limitations apply on the number of workers employed on a nonseasonal basis. Farmers may form associations for specified purposes. Taxation is based on the general income tax law. Piece rate is a form of organization and payment of labor in agriculture; written agreements are required regarding wages, quality, quantity, deadlines, and supplies furnished. Lease contracts must be in writing, be registered by the municipal people's council at the location of the project, and contain specified information.

  15. Conserving the Birds of Uganda’s Banana-Coffee Arc: Land Sparing and Land Sharing Compared

    PubMed Central

    Hulme, Mark F.; Vickery, Juliet A.; Green, Rhys E.; Phalan, Ben; Chamberlain, Dan E.; Pomeroy, Derek E.; Nalwanga, Dianah; Mushabe, David; Katebaka, Raymond; Bolwig, Simon; Atkinson, Philip W.

    2013-01-01

    Reconciling the aims of feeding an ever more demanding human population and conserving biodiversity is a difficult challenge. Here, we explore potential solutions by assessing whether land sparing (farming for high yield, potentially enabling the protection of non-farmland habitat), land sharing (lower yielding farming with more biodiversity within farmland) or a mixed strategy would result in better bird conservation outcomes for a specified level of agricultural production. We surveyed forest and farmland study areas in southern Uganda, measuring the population density of 256 bird species and agricultural yield: food energy and gross income. Parametric non-linear functions relating density to yield were fitted. Species were identified as “winners” (total population size always at least as great with agriculture present as without it) or “losers” (total population sometimes or always reduced with agriculture present) for a range of targets for total agricultural production. For each target we determined whether each species would be predicted to have a higher total population with land sparing, land sharing or with any intermediate level of sparing at an intermediate yield. We found that most species were expected to have their highest total populations with land sparing, particularly loser species and species with small global range sizes. Hence, more species would benefit from high-yield farming if used as part of a strategy to reduce forest loss than from low-yield farming and land sharing, as has been found in Ghana and India in a previous study. We caution against advocacy for high-yield farming alone as a means to deliver land sparing if it is done without strong protection for natural habitats, other ecosystem services and social welfare. Instead, we suggest that conservationists explore how conservation and agricultural policies can be better integrated to deliver land sparing by, for example, combining land-use planning and agronomic support for

  16. Stream sediment sources in midwest agricultural basins with land retirement along channel

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Williamson, Tanja N.; Christensen, Victoria G.; Richardson, William B.; Frey, Jeffrey W.; Gellis, Allen C.; Kieta, K. A.; Fitzpatrick, Faith A.

    2014-01-01

    Documenting the effects of agricultural land retirement on stream-sediment sources is critical to identifying management practices that improve water quality and aquatic habitat. Particularly difficult to quantify are the effects from conservation easements that commonly are discontinuous along channelized streams and ditches throughout the agricultural midwestern United States. Our hypotheses were that sediment from cropland, retired land, stream banks, and roads would be discernible using isotopic and elemental concentrations and that source contributions would vary with land retirement distribution along tributaries of West Fork Beaver Creek in Minnesota. Channel-bed and suspended sediment were sampled at nine locations and compared with local source samples by using linear discriminant analysis and a four-source mixing model that evaluated seven tracers: In, P, total C, Be, Tl, Th, and Ti. The proportion of sediment sources differed significantly between suspended and channel-bed sediment. Retired land contributed to channel-bed sediment but was not discernible as a source of suspended sediment, suggesting that retired-land material was not mobilized during high-flow conditions. Stream banks were a large contributor to suspended sediment; however, the percentage of stream-bank sediment in the channel bed was lower in basins with more continuous retired land along the riparian corridor. Cropland sediments had the highest P concentrations; basins with the highest cropland-sediment contributions also had the highest P concentrations. Along stream reaches with retired land, there was a lower proportion of cropland material in suspended sediment relative to sites that had almost no land retirement, indicating less movement of nutrients and sediment from cropland to the channel as a result of land retirement.

  17. Modeling nitrate from land surface to wells' perforations under agricultural land: success, failure, and future scenarios in a Mediterranean case study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Levy, Yehuda; Shapira, Roi H.; Chefetz, Benny; Kurtzman, Daniel

    2017-07-01

    Contamination of groundwater resources by nitrate leaching under agricultural land is probably the most troublesome agriculture-related water contamination worldwide. Contaminated areas often show large spatial variability of nitrate concentration in wells. In this study, we tried to assess whether this spatial variability can be characterized on the basis of land use and standard agricultural practices. Deep soil sampling (10 m) was used to calibrate vertical flow and nitrogen-transport numerical models of the unsaturated zone under different agricultural land uses. Vegetable fields (potato and strawberry) and deciduous orchards (persimmon) in the Sharon area overlying the coastal aquifer of Israel were examined. Average nitrate-nitrogen fluxes below vegetable fields were 210-290 kg ha-1 yr-1 and under deciduous orchards were 110-140 kg ha-1 yr-1. The output water and nitrate-nitrogen fluxes of the unsaturated-zone models were used as input data for a three-dimensional flow and nitrate-transport model in the aquifer under an area of 13.3 km2 of agricultural land. The area was subdivided into four agricultural land uses: vegetables, deciduous orchards, citrus orchards, and non-cultivated. Fluxes of water and nitrate-nitrogen below citrus orchards were taken from a previous study in the area. The groundwater flow model was calibrated to well heads by changing the hydraulic conductivity. The nitrate-transport model, which was fed by the above-mentioned models of the unsaturated zone, succeeded in reconstructing the average nitrate concentration in the wells. However, this transport model failed in calculating the high concentrations in the most contaminated wells and the large spatial variability of nitrate concentrations in the aquifer. To reconstruct the spatial variability and enable predictions, nitrate fluxes from the unsaturated zone were multiplied by local multipliers. This action was rationalized by the fact that the high concentrations in some wells cannot

  18. Water limited agriculture in Africa: Climate change sensitivity of large scale land investments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rulli, M. C.; D'Odorico, P.; Chiarelli, D. D.; Davis, K. F.

    2015-12-01

    The past few decades have seen unprecedented changes in the global agricultural system with a dramatic increase in the rates of food production fueled by an escalating demand for food calories, as a result of demographic growth, dietary changes, and - more recently - new bioenergy policies. Food prices have become consistently higher and increasingly volatile with dramatic spikes in 2007-08 and 2010-11. The confluence of these factors has heightened demand for land and brought a wave of land investment to the developing world: some of the more affluent countries are trying to secure land rights in areas suitable for agriculture. According to some estimates, to date, roughly 38 million hectares have been acquired worldwide by large scale investors, 16 million of which in Africa. More than 85% of large scale land acquisitions in Africa are by foreign investors. Many land deals are motivated not only by the need for fertile land but for the water resources required for crop production. Despite some recent assessments of the water appropriation associated with large scale land investments, their impact on the water resources of the target countries under present conditions and climate change scenarios remains poorly understood. Here we investigate irrigation water requirements by various crops planted in the acquired land as an indicator of the pressure likely placed by land investors on ("blue") water resources of target regions in Africa and evaluate the sensitivity to climate changes scenarios.

  19. 12 CFR 208.23 - Agricultural loan loss amortization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... principal shareholders, a participating bank may amortize in its Reports of Condition and Income: (i) Any loss on a qualified agricultural loan that the bank would be required to reflect in its financial... required to reflect in its financial statements for any period between and including 1983 and 1991...

  20. Land Sales - Division of Mining, Land, and Water

    Science.gov Websites

    to Alaska Land Sales Public Notices Residential Land Auction #484 Agricultural Land Auction #485 Over for sale Agricultural Land Auction (#485)Open until June 7th This program allows anyone (resident or non-resident) to bid on a parcel of agricultural land. Agricultural land has covenants and conditions

  1. Climate change reduces water availability for agriculture by decreasing non-evaporative irrigation losses

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Malek, Keyvan; Adam, Jennifer C.; Stöckle, Claudio O.; Peters, R. Troy

    2018-06-01

    Irrigation efficiency plays an important role in agricultural productivity; it affects farm-scale water demand, and the partitioning of irrigation losses into evaporative and non-evaporative components. This partitioning determines return flow generation and thus affects water availability. Over the last two decades, hydrologic and agricultural research communities have significantly improved our understanding of the impacts of climate change on water availability and food productivity. However, the impacts of climate change on the efficiency of irrigation systems, particularly on the partitioning between evaporative and non-evaporative losses, have received little attention. In this study, we incorporated a process-based irrigation module into a coupled hydrologic/agricultural modeling framework (VIC-CropSyst). To understand how climate change may impact irrigation losses, we applied VIC-CropSyst over the Yakima River basin, an important agricultural region in Washington State, U.S. We compared the historical period of 1980-2010 to an ensemble of ten projections of climate for two future periods: 2030-2060 and 2060-2090. Results averaged over the watershed showed that a 9% increase in evaporative losses will be compensated by a reduction of non-evaporative losses. Therefore, overall changes in future efficiency are negligible (-0.4%) while the Evaporative Loss Ratio (ELR) (defined as the ratio of evaporative to non-evaporative irrigation losses) is enhanced by 10%. This higher ELR is associated with a reduction in return flows, thus negatively impacting downstream water availability. Results also indicate that the impact of climate change on irrigation losses depend on irrigation type and climate scenarios.

  2. Estimating Hydrologic Fluxes, Crop Water Use, and Agricultural Land Area in China using Data Assimilation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Smith, Tiziana; McLaughlin, Dennis B.; Hoisungwan, Piyatida

    2016-04-01

    Crop production has significantly altered the terrestrial environment by changing land use and by altering the water cycle through both co-opted rainfall and surface water withdrawals. As the world's population continues to grow and individual diets become more resource-intensive, the demand for food - and the land and water necessary to produce it - will continue to increase. High-resolution quantitative data about water availability, water use, and agricultural land use are needed to develop sustainable water and agricultural planning and policies. However, existing data covering large areas with high resolution are susceptible to errors and can be physically inconsistent. China is an example of a large area where food demand is expected to increase and a lack of data clouds the resource management dialogue. Some assert that China will have insufficient land and water resources to feed itself, posing a threat to global food security if they seek to increase food imports. Others believe resources are plentiful. Without quantitative data, it is difficult to discern if these concerns are realistic or overly dramatized. This research presents a quantitative approach using data assimilation techniques to characterize hydrologic fluxes, crop water use (defined as crop evapotranspiration), and agricultural land use at 0.5 by 0.5 degree resolution and applies the methodology in China using data from around the year 2000. The approach uses the principles of water balance and of crop water requirements to assimilate existing data with a least-squares estimation technique, producing new estimates of water and land use variables that are physically consistent while minimizing differences from measured data. We argue that this technique for estimating water fluxes and agricultural land use can provide a useful basis for resource management modeling and policy, both in China and around the world.

  3. Carbon implications of Virgin Lands Campaign cropland expansion and post-Soviet agricultural land abandonment in Russia and Kazakhstan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Prishchepov, A. V.; Kurganova, I.; Schierhorn, F.; Lopes de Gerenyu, V.; Müller, D.; Kuzyakov, Y.

    2015-12-01

    Political economy and institutional changes regarding land use play crucial role in shaping land cover worldwide. Among such events was the Soviet Virgin Lands Campaign, when 45.2 million ha of virgin steppes were ploughed up from 1954 to 1963 in northern Eurasia. We took opportunity to evaluate carbon (C) costs of this Campaign, particularly with the account of massive cropland abandonment in the former Campaign area after demise of the Soviet Union in 1991. Within cropland mask produced with remotely sensed data, we spatially disaggregated historical annual sown area statistics at the provincial level for Russia and Kazakhstan based on cropland suitability assessment. We also adjusted our cropland allocation model with the use of 1:3,000,000 map depicting cropland expansion in Northern Kazakhstan. We used C bookkeeping approach to assess C dynamics based on soil stratification and C field measurements. The Campaign resulted in huge C losses from soils, which accounted for 611±47 Mt C in Russia and 241±11 Mt C in Kazakhstan for upper 0-50 cm soil layer during the first 20 years of cultivation. Such C losses could be compared with C losses due to plowing up the prairies in the mid-1930s in USA. Despite the huge C losses from soils during the Campaign, the total C budget in soils of both countries at national level was positive after 1991 due to sequestered C on abandoned lands, albeit the patterns of C loss during the Campaign and C sink in post-Soviet period differed. The C sink from 1991 to 2010 on abandoned croplands in Russia (45.5Mha) comprised 976±108Mt C and Kazakhstan (12.9Mha) comprised 240±34Mt C. However, already ongoing recultivation of abandoned cropland in Kazakhstan and already planned such activities in Russia, can release stored C on abandoned lands. Our study highlights the importance of environmental evaluation of such governmental programs and their alternatives, particularly, since such programs are not rare events in modern land

  4. Soil, land use time, and sustainable intensification of agriculture in the Brazilian Cerrado region.

    PubMed

    Trabaquini, Kleber; Galvão, Lênio Soares; Formaggio, Antonio Roberto; de Aragão, Luiz Eduardo Oliveira E Cruz

    2017-02-01

    The Brazilian Cerrado area is in rapid decline because of the expansion of modern agriculture. In this study, we used extensive field data and a 30-year chronosequence of Landsat images (1980-2010) to assess the effects of time since conversion of Cerrado into agriculture upon soil chemical attributes and soybean/corn yield in the Alto do Rio Verde watershed. We determined the rates of vegetation conversion into agriculture, the agricultural land use time since conversion, and the temporal changes in topsoil (0-20 cm soil depth) and subsurface (20-40 cm) chemical attributes of the soils. In addition, we investigated possible associations between fertilization/over-fertilization and land use history detected from the satellites. The results showed that 61.8% of the native vegetation in the Alto do Rio Verde watershed was already converted into agriculture with 31% of soils being used in agriculture for more than 30 years. While other fertilizers in cultivated soils (e.g., Ca +2 , Mg +2 , and P) have been compensated over time by soil management practices to keep crop yield high, large reductions in C org (38%) and N tot (29%) were observed in old cultivated areas. Furthermore, soybean and cornfields having more than 10 years of farming presented higher values of P and Mg +2 than the ideal levels necessary for plant development. Therefore, increased risks of over-fertilization of the soils and environmental contamination with these macronutrients were associated with soybean and cornfields having more than 10 years of farming, especially those with more than 30 years of agricultural land use.

  5. Changes in population and agricultural land in conterminous United States counties, 1790 to 1997

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Waisanen, Pamela J.; Bliss, Norman B.

    2002-01-01

    We have developed a data set of changes in population and agricultural land for the conterminous United States at the county level, resulting in more spatial detail than in previously available compilations. The purpose was to provide data on the timing of land conversion as an input to dynamic models of the carbon cycle, although a wide variety of applications exist for the physical, biological, and social sciences. The spatial data represent the appropriate county boundaries for each census year between 1790 and 1997, and the census attributes are attached to the appropriate spatial region. The resulting time series and maps show the history of population (1790-1990) and the history of agricultural development (1850-1997). The patterns of agricultural development reflect the influences of climate, soil productivity, increases in population size, variations in the general economy, and technological changes in the energy, transportation, and agricultural sectors.

  6. Stream Sediment Sources in Midwest Agricultural Basins with Land Retirement along Channel.

    PubMed

    Williamson, T N; Christensen, V G; Richardson, W B; Frey, J W; Gellis, A C; Kieta, K A; Fitzpatrick, F A

    2014-09-01

    Documenting the effects of agricultural land retirement on stream-sediment sources is critical to identifying management practices that improve water quality and aquatic habitat. Particularly difficult to quantify are the effects from conservation easements that commonly are discontinuous along channelized streams and ditches throughout the agricultural midwestern United States. Our hypotheses were that sediment from cropland, retired land, stream banks, and roads would be discernible using isotopic and elemental concentrations and that source contributions would vary with land retirement distribution along tributaries of West Fork Beaver Creek in Minnesota. Channel-bed and suspended sediment were sampled at nine locations and compared with local source samples by using linear discriminant analysis and a four-source mixing model that evaluated seven tracers: In, P, total C, Be, Tl, Th, and Ti. The proportion of sediment sources differed significantly between suspended and channel-bed sediment. Retired land contributed to channel-bed sediment but was not discernible as a source of suspended sediment, suggesting that retired-land material was not mobilized during high-flow conditions. Stream banks were a large contributor to suspended sediment; however, the percentage of stream-bank sediment in the channel bed was lower in basins with more continuous retired land along the riparian corridor. Cropland sediments had the highest P concentrations; basins with the highest cropland-sediment contributions also had the highest P concentrations. Along stream reaches with retired land, there was a lower proportion of cropland material in suspended sediment relative to sites that had almost no land retirement, indicating less movement of nutrients and sediment from cropland to the channel as a result of land retirement. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  7. Agricultural land use intensity and its determinants: A case study in Taibus Banner, Inner Mongolia, China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hao, Haiguang; Li, Xiubin; Tan, Minghong; Zhang, Jiping; Zhang, Huiyuan

    2015-06-01

    Based on rural household survey data from Taibus Banner, in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China, this study separately categorizes agricultural land use intensity into labor intensity, capital intensity, the intensity of labor-saving inputs, and the intensity of yield-increasing inputs, and then analyzes their determinants at the household level. The findings reveal that within the study area: (1) labor intensity is higher and capital intensity is lower than in the major grain-producing and economically developed areas of eastern and central China; (2) the most widely planted crops are those with the lowest labor intensity (oats) and capital intensity (benne); (3) there are marked differences in agricultural land use intensity among households; a major factor affecting land use decision-making is the reduced need for labor intensity for those households with high opportunity costs, such as those with income earned from non-farming activities which alleviates financial constraints and allows for increased capital intensity. As a result, these households invest more in labor-saving inputs; (4) households with a larger number of workers will allocate adequate time to manage their land and thus they will not necessarily invest more in labor-saving inputs. Those households with more land to manage tend to adopt an extensive cultivation strategy. Total income has a positive impact on capital intensity and a negative impact on labor intensity. Households that derive a higher proportion of their total income through farming are more reliant upon agriculture, which necessitates significant labor and yield-increasing inputs. Finally, the authors contend that policy makers should clearly recognize the impacts of non-farming employment on agricultural land use intensity. In order to ensure long-term food security and sustainable agricultural development in China, income streams from both farming and non-farming employment should be balanced.

  8. Establishing sustainable GHG inventory systems in African countries for Agriculture and Land Use, Land-use Change and Forestry (LULUCF)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wirth, T. C.; Troxler, T.

    2015-12-01

    As signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), developing countries are required to produce greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories every two years. For many developing countries, including many of those in Africa, this is a significant challenge as it requires establishing a robust and sustainable GHG inventory system. In order to help support these efforts, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has worked in collaboration with the UNFCCC to assist African countries in establishing sustainable GHG inventory systems and generating high-quality inventories on a regular basis. The sectors we have focused on for these GHG inventory capacity building efforts in Africa are Agriculture and Land Use, Land-use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) as these tend to represent a significant portion of their GHG emissions profile and the data requirements and methodologies are often more complex than for other sectors. To support these efforts, the U.S. EPA has provided technical assistance in understanding the methods in the IPCC Guidelines, assembling activity data and emission factors, including developing land-use maps for representing a country's land base, and implementing the calculations. EPA has also supported development of various tools such as a Template Workbook that helps the country build the institutional arrangement and strong documentation that are necessary for generating GHG inventories on a regular basis, as well as performing other procedures as identified by IPCC Good Practice Guidance such as quality assurance/quality control, key category analysis and archiving. Another tool used in these projects and helps country's implement the methods from the IPCC Guidelines for the Agriculture and LULUCF sectors is the Agriculture and Land Use (ALU) tool. This tool helps countries assemble the activity data and emission factors, including supporting the import of GIS maps, and applying the equations from the IPPC Guidelines to

  9. How conflict affects land use: agricultural activity in areas seized by the Islamic State

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Eklund, Lina; Degerald, Michael; Brandt, Martin; Prishchepov, Alexander V.; Pilesjö, Petter

    2017-05-01

    Socio-economic shocks, technogenic catastrophes, and armed conflicts often have drastic impacts on local and regional food security through disruption of agricultural production and food trade, reduced investments, and deterioration of land and infrastructure. Recently, more research has focused on the effects of armed conflict on land systems, but still little is known about the processes and outcomes of such events. Here we use the case of Syria and Iraq and the seizure of land by the Islamic State (IS) since 2014 as an example of armed conflict, where we investigate the effects on agricultural land use. We apply a reproducible approach using 250 m satellite-based time-series data to quantify the areas under cultivation from 2000 to 2015. Despite a common belief about widespread land abandonment in areas under conflict, results point to multiple trajectories regarding cropland cultivation in the IS seized area: (1) expansion of cropland to formerly un-cultivated areas, (2) cropland abandonment, and (3) decrease of high-intensity cropland. Our study highlights the need to understand these diverse conflict-related and context-dependent changes to the land system.

  10. Challenges in Global Land Use/Land Cover Change Modeling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Clarke, K. C.

    2011-12-01

    For the purposes of projecting and anticipating human-induced land use change at the global scale, much work remains in the systematic mapping and modeling of world-wide land uses and their related dynamics. In particular, research has focused on tropical deforestation, loss of prime agricultural land, loss of wild land and open space, and the spread of urbanization. Fifteen years of experience in modeling land use and land cover change at the regional and city level with the cellular automata model SLEUTH, including cross city and regional comparisons, has led to an ability to comment on the challenges and constraints that apply to global level land use change modeling. Some issues are common to other modeling domains, such as scaling, earth geometry, and model coupling. Others relate to geographical scaling of human activity, while some are issues of data fusion and international interoperability. Grid computing now offers the prospect of global land use change simulation. This presentation summarizes what barriers face global scale land use modeling, but also highlights the benefits of such modeling activity on global change research. An approach to converting land use maps and forecasts into environmental impact measurements is proposed. Using such an approach means that multitemporal mapping, often using remotely sensed sources, and forecasting can also yield results showing the overall and disaggregated status of the environment.

  11. Land use policy and agricultural water management of the previous half of century in Africa

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Valipour, Mohammad

    2015-12-01

    This paper examines land use policy and agricultural water management in Africa from 1962 to 2011. For this purpose, data were gathered from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Bank Group. Using the FAO database, ten indices were selected: permanent crops to cultivated area (%), rural population to total population (%), total economically active population in agriculture to total economically active population (%), human development index, national rainfall index (mm/year), value added to gross domestic product by agriculture (%), irrigation water requirement (mm/year), percentage of total cultivated area drained (%), difference between national rainfall index and irrigation water requirement (mm/year), area equipped for irrigation to cultivated area or land use policy index (%). These indices were analyzed for all 53 countries in the study area and the land use policy index was estimated by two different formulas. The results show that value of relative error is <20 %. In addition, an average index was calculated using various methods to assess countries' conditions for agricultural water management. Ability of irrigation and drainage systems was studied using other eight indices with more limited information. These indices are surface irrigation (%), sprinkler irrigation (%), localized irrigation (%), spate irrigation (%), agricultural water withdrawal (10 km3/year), conservation agriculture area as percentage of cultivated area (%), percentage of area equipped for irrigation salinized (%), and area waterlogged by irrigation (%). Finally, tendency of farmers to use irrigation systems for cultivated crops has been presented. The results show that Africa needs governments' policy to encourage farmers to use irrigation systems and raise cropping intensity for irrigated area.

  12. The Contribution of Agriculture, Forestry and other Land Use activities to Global Warming, 1990-2012.

    PubMed

    Tubiello, Francesco N; Salvatore, Mirella; Ferrara, Alessandro F; House, Jo; Federici, Sandro; Rossi, Simone; Biancalani, Riccardo; Condor Golec, Rocio D; Jacobs, Heather; Flammini, Alessandro; Prosperi, Paolo; Cardenas-Galindo, Paola; Schmidhuber, Josef; Sanz Sanchez, Maria J; Srivastava, Nalin; Smith, Pete

    2015-01-10

    We refine the information available through the IPCC AR5 with regard to recent trends in global GHG emissions from agriculture, forestry and other land uses (AFOLU), including global emission updates to 2012. Using all three available AFOLU datasets employed for analysis in the IPCC AR5, rather than just one as done in the IPCC AR5 WGIII Summary for Policy Makers, our analyses point to a down-revision of global AFOLU shares of total anthropogenic emissions, while providing important additional information on subsectoral trends. Our findings confirm that the share of AFOLU emissions to the anthropogenic total declined over time. They indicate a decadal average of 28.7 ± 1.5% in the 1990s and 23.6 ± 2.1% in the 2000s and an annual value of 21.2 ± 1.5% in 2010. The IPCC AR5 had indicated a 24% share in 2010. In contrast to previous decades, when emissions from land use (land use, land use change and forestry, including deforestation) were significantly larger than those from agriculture (crop and livestock production), in 2010 agriculture was the larger component, contributing 11.2 ± 0.4% of total GHG emissions, compared to 10.0 ± 1.2% of the land use sector. Deforestation was responsible for only 8% of total anthropogenic emissions in 2010, compared to 12% in the 1990s. Since 2010, the last year assessed by the IPCC AR5, new FAO estimates indicate that land use emissions have remained stable, at about 4.8 Gt CO 2 eq yr -1 in 2012. Emissions minus removals have also remained stable, at 3.2 Gt CO 2 eq yr -1 in 2012. By contrast, agriculture emissions have continued to grow, at roughly 1% annually, and remained larger than the land use sector, reaching 5.4 Gt CO 2 eq yr -1 in 2012. These results are useful to further inform the current climate policy debate on land use, suggesting that more efforts and resources should be directed to further explore options for mitigation in agriculture, much in line with the large efforts devoted to REDD+ in the

  13. Estimation of long-term Ca(2+) loss through outlet flow from an agricultural watershed and the influencing factors.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Wenzhao; Yin, Chunmei; Chen, Chunlan; Chen, Anlei; Xie, Xiaoli; Fu, Xingan; Hou, Haijun; Wei, Wenxue

    2016-06-01

    Soil Ca(2+) loss from agricultural lands through surface runoff can accelerate soil acidification and render soil degradation, but the characteristics of Ca(2+) loss and influencing factors in watershed scale are unclear. This study was carried out in a watershed with various land uses in a subtropical region of China. The outlet flow was automatically monitored every 5 min all year round, and the water samples were collected twice a year from 2001 to 2011. The concentrations of Ca(2+), Mg(2+), K(+), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP) of water samples were measured. The dynamic losses of the nutrients through the outlet flow were estimated, and the relationships between the nutrient losses and rainfall intensity as well as antecedent soil moisture were investigated. The results showed that great variations of nutrient concentrations and losses appeared during the investigation period. The average concentrations of Ca(2+), Mg(2+), K(+), TN, and TP were 0.43, 0.08, 0.10, 0.19, and 0.003 mmol L(-1), respectively. The average Ca(2+) loss reached 1493.79 mol ha(-1) year(-1) and was several times higher than for Mg(2+), K(+), and TN, about 140 times higher than for TP. Rainfall intensity had remarkable effects on Ca(2+) concentration (P < 0.01) and loss (P < 0.05) when it reached rainstorm level (50 mm day(-1)), while a quadratic relationship was observed between antecedent soil moisture and Ca(2+) concentration only when rainfall intensity was less than 50 mm day(-1). In a word, much greater amounts of Ca(2+) were lost from the watershed, and this may be one important contributor to the increasing acidification of acidic soils in subtropical regions.

  14. The potential and sustainability of agricultural land use in a changing ecosystem in southern Greenland

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hunziker, Matthias; Caviezel, Chatrina; Kuhn, Nikolaus J.

    2015-04-01

    Southern Greenland currently experiences an increase in summer temperatures and a prolonged growing season (Masson-Delmotte et al. 2012), resulting in an increased potential regarding agricultural land use. Subsequently, the agricultural sector is expected to grow. Thereby, a higher hay production and grazing capacity is pursued by applying more efficient farming practices (Greenland Agriculture Advisory Board 2009). However, agricultural potential at borderline ecotones is not only influenced by factors like temperature and growing season but also by other ecologic parameters. In addition, the intensification of land use in the fragile boreal - tundra border ecotone has various environmental impacts (Perren et al. 2012; Normand et al. 2013). Already the Norse settlers practiced animal husbandry in southern Greenland between 986-1450 AD. Several authors mention the unadapted land use as main reason for the demise of the Norse in Greenland, as grazing pressure exceeded the resilience of the landscape and pasture economy failed (Fredskild 1988; Perren et al. 2012). During the field work in summer 2014, we compared the pedologic properties of already used hay fields, grazed land, birch woodland and barren, unused land around Igaliku (South Greenland), in order to estimate the potential and the sustainability of the land use in southern Greenland. Beside physical soil properties, nutrient condition of the different land use types, the shrub woodland and barren areas was analyzed. The results of the study show that the most suitable areas for intensive agricultural activity are mostly occupied. Further on, the fields, which were used by the Norse, seem to be the most productive sites nowadays. Less productive hay fields are characterized by a higher coarse fraction, leading to a reduced ability to store water and to an unfavorable nutrient status. An intensification of the agricultural land use by applying fertilizer would lead to an increased environmental impact

  15. Linking Landsat observations with MODIS derived Land Surface Phenology data to map agricultural expansion and contraction in Russia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Caliskan, S.; de Beurs, K.

    2010-12-01

    Direct human impacts on the land surface are especially pronounced in agricultural regions that cover a substantial portion of the global land surface: 12% of the terrestrial surface is under active agricultural management. Crops display phenologies distinct from natural vegetation; the growing seasons are often shifted in time, crop establishment is generally fast and the vegetation is rapidly removed at harvest. Previously we have demonstrated that agricultural land abandonment alters land surface phenology sufficiently to be detectable from a time series of coarse resolution imagery. With land surface phenology models based on accumulated growing degree-days (AGDD) and AVHRR NDVI, we demonstrated that abandoned croplands covered with native grasses and weeds typically greened-up and peaked sooner than active croplands. Here we present an expansion of these analyses for the MODIS time period with the ultimate goal to map agricultural abandonment and expansion in European Russia from 2000 to 2010. We used the 8-day, 1km L3 Land Surface Temperature data (MOD11A2) to generate the accumulated growing degree days and the 16-day L3 Nadir BRDF-Adjusted reflectance data at 500m resolution (MCD43A4) to calculate NDVI. We calculated phenological metrics based on three methods: 1) Double-logistic models such as those applied to produce the standard MODIS phenology product (MOD12Q2); 2) A combination of NDII and NDVI; this method has been shown to provide start/end of season measurement closest to field observations in snowy areas; and 3) A quadratic model linking accumulated growing degree days and vegetation indices which we successfully applied in agricultural areas of Kazakhstan and semi-arid Africa. We selected Landsat imagery for two vastly different regions in Russia and present a Landsat-guided probabilistic detection of abandoned and active croplands for all available years of the MODIS image time series (2000-2010). For each region, we selected at least two images

  16. Spatial modeling of agricultural land use change at global scale

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Meiyappan, P.; Dalton, M.; O'Neill, B. C.; Jain, A. K.

    2014-11-01

    Long-term modeling of agricultural land use is central in global scale assessments of climate change, food security, biodiversity, and climate adaptation and mitigation policies. We present a global-scale dynamic land use allocation model and show that it can reproduce the broad spatial features of the past 100 years of evolution of cropland and pastureland patterns. The modeling approach integrates economic theory, observed land use history, and data on both socioeconomic and biophysical determinants of land use change, and estimates relationships using long-term historical data, thereby making it suitable for long-term projections. The underlying economic motivation is maximization of expected profits by hypothesized landowners within each grid cell. The model predicts fractional land use for cropland and pastureland within each grid cell based on socioeconomic and biophysical driving factors that change with time. The model explicitly incorporates the following key features: (1) land use competition, (2) spatial heterogeneity in the nature of driving factors across geographic regions, (3) spatial heterogeneity in the relative importance of driving factors and previous land use patterns in determining land use allocation, and (4) spatial and temporal autocorrelation in land use patterns. We show that land use allocation approaches based solely on previous land use history (but disregarding the impact of driving factors), or those accounting for both land use history and driving factors by mechanistically fitting models for the spatial processes of land use change do not reproduce well long-term historical land use patterns. With an example application to the terrestrial carbon cycle, we show that such inaccuracies in land use allocation can translate into significant implications for global environmental assessments. The modeling approach and its evaluation provide an example that can be useful to the land use, Integrated Assessment, and the Earth system modeling

  17. Mitigation Strategies for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Agriculture and Land-Use Change: Consequences for Food Prices.

    PubMed

    Stevanović, Miodrag; Popp, Alexander; Bodirsky, Benjamin Leon; Humpenöder, Florian; Müller, Christoph; Weindl, Isabelle; Dietrich, Jan Philipp; Lotze-Campen, Hermann; Kreidenweis, Ulrich; Rolinski, Susanne; Biewald, Anne; Wang, Xiaoxi

    2017-01-03

    The land use sector of agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU) plays a central role in ambitious climate change mitigation efforts. Yet, mitigation policies in agriculture may be in conflict with food security related targets. Using a global agro-economic model, we analyze the impacts on food prices under mitigation policies targeting either incentives for producers (e.g., through taxes) or consumer preferences (e.g., through education programs). Despite having a similar reduction potential of 43-44% in 2100, the two types of policy instruments result in opposite outcomes for food prices. Incentive-based mitigation, such as protecting carbon-rich forests or adopting low-emission production techniques, increase land scarcity and production costs and thereby food prices. Preference-based mitigation, such as reduced household waste or lower consumption of animal-based products, decreases land scarcity, prevents emissions leakage, and concentrates production on the most productive sites and consequently lowers food prices. Whereas agricultural emissions are further abated in the combination of these mitigation measures, the synergy of strategies fails to substantially lower food prices. Additionally, we demonstrate that the efficiency of agricultural emission abatement is stable across a range of greenhouse-gas (GHG) tax levels, while resulting food prices exhibit a disproportionally larger spread.

  18. Modeling the impact of agricultural land use and management on US carbon budgets

    DOE PAGES

    Drewniak, B. A.; Mishra, U.; Song, J.; ...

    2014-09-22

    Cultivation of the terrestrial land surface can create either a source or sink of atmospheric CO 2, depending on land management practices. The Community Land Model (CLM) provides a useful tool to explore how land use and management impact the soil carbon pool at regional to global scales. CLM was recently updated to include representation of managed lands growing maize, soybean, and spring wheat. In this study, CLM-Crop is used to investigate the impacts of various management practices, including fertilizer use and differential rates of crop residue removal, on the soil organic carbon (SOC) storage of croplands in the continentalmore » United States over approximately a 170 year period. Results indicate that total US SOC stocks have already lost over 8 Pg C (10%) due to land cultivation practices (e.g., fertilizer application, cultivar choice, and residue removal), compared to a land surface composed of native vegetation (i.e., grasslands). After long periods of cultivation, individual plots growing maize and soybean lost up to 65% of the carbon stored, compared to a grassland site. Crop residue management showed the greatest effect on soil carbon storage, with low and medium residue returns resulting in additional losses of 5% and 3.5%, respectively, in US carbon storage, while plots with high residue returns stored 2% more carbon. Nitrogenous fertilizer can alter the amount of soil carbon stocks significantly. Under current levels of crop residue return, not applying fertilizer resulted in a 5% loss of soil carbon. Our simulations indicate that disturbance through cultivation will always result in a loss of soil carbon, and management practices will have a large influence on the magnitude of SOC loss.« less

  19. Assessment of potential soil degradation on agricultural land in the czech republic.

    PubMed

    Šarapatka, Bořivoj; Bednář, Marek

    2015-01-01

    Many attempts have been made worldwide to develop methods to identify the areas most threatened by soil degradation. Some soils in afflicted areas may be irreversibly degraded and thus have very little resilience (the ability to restore themselves). For the purpose of assessing the current state of soil degradation in the Czech Republic (CZ) we have developed an overall indicator of land vulnerability to the threat of soil degradation on the basis of individual factors that contribute to soil degradation and are monitored on a long-term basis in various research worksites in the CZ. Individual degradation factors were divided into two groups: chemical and physical degradation. On the basis of principal component analysis, individual degradation factors were assigned a specific weight of influence. With the use of a GIS, the input factors of degradation were combined to create maps of chemical and physical soil degradation, and consequently a map of overall degradation-threatened soils for the CZ, along with a map of areas differentiated according to the prevailing type of degradation. Results showed that, at present, the most important degradation factor in the CZ is water erosion, followed by loss of organic matter. Statistical analysis showed that approximately 51% of agricultural land is moderately threatened in the CZ. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  20. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture without compromising food security?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Frank, Stefan; Havlík, Petr; Soussana, Jean-François; Levesque, Antoine; Valin, Hugo; Wollenberg, Eva; Kleinwechter, Ulrich; Fricko, Oliver; Gusti, Mykola; Herrero, Mario; Smith, Pete; Hasegawa, Tomoko; Kraxner, Florian; Obersteiner, Michael

    2017-10-01

    To keep global warming possibly below 1.5 °C and mitigate adverse effects of climate change, agriculture, like all other sectors, will have to contribute to efforts in achieving net negative emissions by the end of the century. Cost-efficient distribution of mitigation across regions and economic sectors is typically calculated using a global uniform carbon price in climate stabilization scenarios. However, in reality such a carbon price would substantially affect food availability. Here, we assess the implications of climate change mitigation in the land use sector for agricultural production and food security using an integrated partial equilibrium modelling framework and explore ways of relaxing the competition between mitigation in agriculture and food availability. Using a scenario that limits global warming cost-efficiently across sectors to 1.5 °C, results indicate global food calorie losses ranging from 110-285 kcal per capita per day in 2050 depending on the applied demand elasticities. This could translate into a rise in undernourishment of 80-300 million people in 2050. Less ambitious greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation in the land use sector reduces the associated food security impact significantly, however the 1.5 °C target would not be achieved without additional reductions outside the land use sector. Efficiency of GHG mitigation will also depend on the level of participation globally. Our results show that if non-Annex-I countries decide not to contribute to mitigation action while other parties pursue their mitigation efforts to reach the global climate target, food security impacts in these non-Annex-I countries will be higher than if they participate in a global agreement, as inefficient mitigation increases agricultural production costs and therefore food prices. Land-rich countries with a high proportion of emissions from land use change, such as Brazil, could reduce emissions with only a marginal effect on food availability. In contrast

  1. Characterization of agricultural land using singular value decomposition

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Herries, Graham M.; Danaher, Sean; Selige, Thomas

    1995-11-01

    A method is defined and tested for the characterization of agricultural land from multi-spectral imagery, based on singular value decomposition (SVD) and key vector analysis. The SVD technique, which bears a close resemblance to multivariate statistic techniques, has previously been successfully applied to problems of signal extraction for marine data and forestry species classification. In this study the SVD technique is used as a classifier for agricultural regions, using airborne Daedalus ATM data, with 1 m resolution. The specific region chosen is an experimental research farm in Bavaria, Germany. This farm has a large number of crops, within a very small region and hence is not amenable to existing techniques. There are a number of other significant factors which render existing techniques such as the maximum likelihood algorithm less suitable for this area. These include a very dynamic terrain and tessellated pattern soil differences, which together cause large variations in the growth characteristics of the crops. The SVD technique is applied to this data set using a multi-stage classification approach, removing unwanted land-cover classes one step at a time. Typical classification accuracy's for SVD are of the order of 85-100%. Preliminary results indicate that it is a fast and efficient classifier with the ability to differentiate between crop types such as wheat, rye, potatoes and clover. The results of characterizing 3 sub-classes of Winter Wheat are also shown.

  2. Assessment on the rates and potentials of soil organic carbon sequestration in agricultural lands in Japan using a process-based model and spatially explicit land-use change inventories - Part 2: Future potentials

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yagasaki, Y.; Shirato, Y.

    2014-08-01

    Future potentials of the sequestration of soil organic carbon (SOC) in agricultural lands in Japan were estimated using a simulation system we recently developed to simulate SOC stock change at country-scale under varying land-use change, climate, soil, and agricultural practices, in a spatially explicit manner. Simulation was run from 1970 to 2006 with historical inventories, and subsequently to 2020 with future scenarios of agricultural activity comprised of various agricultural policy targets advocated by the Japanese government. Furthermore, the simulation was run subsequently until 2100 while forcing no temporal changes in land-use and agricultural activity to investigate duration and course of SOC stock change at country scale. A scenario with an increased rate of organic carbon input to agricultural fields by intensified crop rotation in combination with the suppression of conversion of agricultural lands to other land-use types was found to have a greater reduction of CO2 emission by enhanced soil carbon sequestration, but only under a circumstance in which the converted agricultural lands will become settlements that were considered to have a relatively lower rate of organic carbon input. The size of relative reduction of CO2 emission in this scenario was comparable to that in another contrasting scenario (business-as-usual scenario of agricultural activity) in which a relatively lower rate of organic matter input to agricultural fields was assumed in combination with an increased rate of conversion of the agricultural fields to unmanaged grasslands through abandonment. Our simulation experiment clearly demonstrated that net-net-based accounting on SOC stock change, defined as the differences between the emissions and removals during the commitment period and the emissions and removals during a previous period (base year or base period of Kyoto Protocol), can be largely influenced by variations in future climate. Whereas baseline-based accounting, defined

  3. Past agricultural land use and present-day fire regimes can interact to determine the nature of seed predation.

    PubMed

    Stuhler, John D; Orrock, John L

    2016-06-01

    Historical agriculture and present-day fire regimes can have significant effects on contemporary ecosystems. Although past agricultural land use can lead to long-term changes in plant communities, it remains unclear whether these persistent land-use legacies alter plant-consumer interactions, such as seed predation, and whether contemporary disturbance (e.g., fire) alters the effects of historical agriculture on these interactions. We conducted a study at 27 sites distributed across 80,300 ha in post-agricultural and non-agricultural longleaf pine woodlands with different degrees of fire frequency to test the hypothesis that past and present-day disturbances that alter plant communities can subsequently alter seed predation. We quantified seed removal by arthropods and rodents for Tephrosia virginiana and Vernonia angustifolia, species of conservation interest. We found that the effects of land-use history and fire frequency on seed removal were contingent on granivore guild and microhabitat characteristics. Tephrosia virginiana removal was greater in low fire frequency sites, due to greater seed removal by rodents. Although overall removal of V. angustifolia did not differ among habitats, rodents removed more seeds than arthropods at post-agricultural sites and non-agricultural sites with low fire frequencies, but not at non-agricultural sites with high fire frequencies. Land-use history and fire frequency also affected the relationship between microhabitat characteristics and removal of V. angustifolia. Our results suggest that historical agriculture and present-day fire regimes may alter seed predation by shifting the impact of rodent and arthropod seed predators among habitats, with potential consequences for the establishment of rare plant species consumed by one or both predators.

  4. Use of FGD gypsum to reduce p loss from agricultural fields

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Controlling P loss from agricultural fields has become a major issue in recent years, especially in areas where manure is used as nutrient sources. It is believed that FGD gypsum can be used as a management practice to reduce soluble P loss. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine FGD gy...

  5. Global Tree Cover and Biomass Carbon on Agricultural Land: The contribution of agroforestry to global and national carbon budgets.

    PubMed

    Zomer, Robert J; Neufeldt, Henry; Xu, Jianchu; Ahrends, Antje; Bossio, Deborah; Trabucco, Antonio; van Noordwijk, Meine; Wang, Mingcheng

    2016-07-20

    Agroforestry systems and tree cover on agricultural land make an important contribution to climate change mitigation, but are not systematically accounted for in either global carbon budgets or national carbon accounting. This paper assesses the role of trees on agricultural land and their significance for carbon sequestration at a global level, along with recent change trends. Remote sensing data show that in 2010, 43% of all agricultural land globally had at least 10% tree cover and that this has increased by 2% over the previous ten years. Combining geographically and bioclimatically stratified Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Tier 1 default estimates of carbon storage with this tree cover analysis, we estimated 45.3 PgC on agricultural land globally, with trees contributing >75%. Between 2000 and 2010 tree cover increased by 3.7%, resulting in an increase of >2 PgC (or 4.6%) of biomass carbon. On average, globally, biomass carbon increased from 20.4 to 21.4 tC ha(-1). Regional and country-level variation in stocks and trends were mapped and tabulated globally, and for all countries. Brazil, Indonesia, China and India had the largest increases in biomass carbon stored on agricultural land, while Argentina, Myanmar, and Sierra Leone had the largest decreases.

  6. Global Tree Cover and Biomass Carbon on Agricultural Land: The contribution of agroforestry to global and national carbon budgets

    PubMed Central

    Zomer, Robert J.; Neufeldt, Henry; Xu, Jianchu; Ahrends, Antje; Bossio, Deborah; Trabucco, Antonio; van Noordwijk, Meine; Wang, Mingcheng

    2016-01-01

    Agroforestry systems and tree cover on agricultural land make an important contribution to climate change mitigation, but are not systematically accounted for in either global carbon budgets or national carbon accounting. This paper assesses the role of trees on agricultural land and their significance for carbon sequestration at a global level, along with recent change trends. Remote sensing data show that in 2010, 43% of all agricultural land globally had at least 10% tree cover and that this has increased by 2% over the previous ten years. Combining geographically and bioclimatically stratified Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Tier 1 default estimates of carbon storage with this tree cover analysis, we estimated 45.3 PgC on agricultural land globally, with trees contributing >75%. Between 2000 and 2010 tree cover increased by 3.7%, resulting in an increase of >2 PgC (or 4.6%) of biomass carbon. On average, globally, biomass carbon increased from 20.4 to 21.4 tC ha−1. Regional and country-level variation in stocks and trends were mapped and tabulated globally, and for all countries. Brazil, Indonesia, China and India had the largest increases in biomass carbon stored on agricultural land, while Argentina, Myanmar, and Sierra Leone had the largest decreases. PMID:27435095

  7. Modeling the impact of agricultural land use and management on US carbon budgets

    DOE PAGES

    Drewniak, B. A.; Mishra, U.; Song, J.; ...

    2015-04-09

    Cultivation of the terrestrial land surface can create either a source or sink of atmospheric CO₂, depending on land management practices. The Community Land Model (CLM) provides a useful tool for exploring how land use and management impact the soil carbon pool at regional to global scales. CLM was recently updated to include representation of managed lands growing maize, soybean, and spring wheat. In this study, CLM-Crop is used to investigate the impacts of various management practices, including fertilizer use and differential rates of crop residue removal, on the soil organic carbon (SOC) storage of croplands in the continental Unitedmore » States over approximately a 170-year period. Results indicate that total US SOC stocks have already lost over 8 Pg C (10%) due to land cultivation practices (e.g., fertilizer application, cultivar choice, and residue removal), compared to a land surface composed of native vegetation (i.e., grasslands). After long periods of cultivation, individual subgrids (the equivalent of a field plot) growing maize and soybean lost up to 65% of the carbon stored compared to a grassland site. Crop residue management showed the greatest effect on soil carbon storage, with low and medium residue returns resulting in additional losses of 5 and 3.5%, respectively, in US carbon storage, while plots with high residue returns stored 2% more carbon. Nitrogenous fertilizer can alter the amount of soil carbon stocks significantly. Under current levels of crop residue return, not applying fertilizer resulted in a 5% loss of soil carbon. Our simulations indicate that disturbance through cultivation will always result in a loss of soil carbon, and management practices will have a large influence on the magnitude of SOC loss.« less

  8. Understanding the Impact of Land Management on Carbon Losses from Peatlands

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Savage, A.; Holden, J.; Wainwright, J.

    2010-05-01

    British peatlands have historically been managed in many different ways to provide an income for rural communities. Such practices involve heather burning on grouse shooting estates, sheep grazing, drainage to increase the area of land available for agriculture and afforestation. Carbon budget calculations for unmanaged peatlands have demonstrated that peatlands are carbon sinks. At present, little is known about how management affects carbon stocks, and whether one strategy might be favoured over another in the future, from a carbon stock preservation perspective. As the need to safeguard carbon stocks rises up the political agenda, questions are being asked about how peatlands should be managed to limit carbon losses. Carbon cycling in peat is governed by four drivers (Laiho, 2006), environmental conditions (e.g. temperature, water table level), substrate quality (e.g. how recalcitrant the peat is), nutrients (e.g. nitrogen required to synthesis the carbon stocks) and microbial community (e.g. are the microbes present able to utilise the available substrate). Changes in one or more of these drivers will influence the carbon budget of a peatland. How land management influences these drivers is unclear at present. Carbon budget calculations carried out by Worrall et al. (2003 and 2009) indicate that carbon dioxide and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) account for the greatest losses of carbon from peatland systems. If climate change predictions are realised, peatlands are expected to become sources of carbon as rising temperatures and falling water tables will result in increased rates of carbon mineralisation and subsequent losses of carbon. By investigating the influence of land management on these key carbon loss pathways, more accurate predictions of the effects of climate change on UK peatlands can be made. A field study was carried out in the British uplands to determine how carbon losses vary between differently managed peatlands, and to identify some of the

  9. Phosphorus loss from an agricultural watershed as a function of storm size.

    PubMed

    Sharpley, Andrew N; Kleinman, Peter J A; Heathwaite, A Louise; Gburek, William J; Folmar, Gordon J; Schmidt, John P

    2008-01-01

    Phosphorus (P) loss from agricultural watersheds is generally greater in storm rather than base flow. Although fundamental to P-based risk assessment tools, few studies have quantified the effect of storm size on P loss. Thus, the loss of P as a function of flow type (base and storm flow) and size was quantified for a mixed-land use watershed (FD-36; 39.5 ha) from 1997 to 2006. Storm size was ranked by return period (<1, 1-3, 3-5, 5-10, and >10 yr), where increasing return period represents storms with greater peak and total flow. From 1997 to 2006, storm flow accounted for 32% of watershed discharge yet contributed 65% of dissolved reactive P (DP) (107 g ha(-1) yr(-1)) and 80% of total P (TP) exported (515 g ha(-1) yr(-1)). Of 248 storm flows during this period, 93% had a return period of <1 yr, contributing most of the 10-yr flow (6507 m(3) ha(-1); 63%) and export of DP (574 g ha(-1); 54%) and TP (2423 g ha(-1); 47%). Two 10-yr storms contributed 23% of P exported between 1997 and 2006. A significant increase in storm flow DP concentration with storm size (0.09-0.16 mg L(-1)) suggests that P release from soil and/or area of the watershed producing runoff increase with storm size. Thus, implementation of P-based Best Management Practice needs to consider what level of risk management is acceptable.

  10. Compounding Effects of Agricultural Land Use and Water Use in Free-Flowing Rivers: Confounding Issues for Environmental Flows

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hardie, Scott A.; Bobbi, Chris J.

    2018-03-01

    Defining the ecological impacts of water extraction from free-flowing river systems in altered landscapes is challenging as multiple stressors (e.g., flow regime alteration, increased sedimentation) may have simultaneous effects and attributing causality is problematic. This multiple-stressor context has been acknowledged in environmental flows science, but is often neglected when it comes to examining flow-ecology relationships, and setting and implementing environmental flows. We examined the impacts of land and water use on rivers in the upper Ringarooma River catchment in Tasmania (south-east Australia), which contains intensively irrigated agriculture, to support implementation of a water management plan. Temporal and spatial and trends in river condition were assessed using benthic macroinvertebrates as bioindicators. Relationships between macroinvertebrate community structure and environmental variables were examined using univariate and multivariate analyses, focusing on the impacts of agricultural land use and water use. Structural changes in macroinvertebrate communities in rivers in the catchment indicated temporal and spatial declines in the ecological condition of some stretches of river associated with agricultural land and water use. Moreover, water extraction appeared to exacerbate impairment associated with agricultural land use (e.g., reduced macroinvertebrate density, more flow-avoiding taxa). The findings of our catchment-specific bioassessments will underpin decision-making during the implementation of the Ringarooma water management plan, and highlight the need to consider compounding impacts of land and water use in environmental flows and water planning in agricultural landscapes.

  11. Compounding Effects of Agricultural Land Use and Water Use in Free-Flowing Rivers: Confounding Issues for Environmental Flows.

    PubMed

    Hardie, Scott A; Bobbi, Chris J

    2018-03-01

    Defining the ecological impacts of water extraction from free-flowing river systems in altered landscapes is challenging as multiple stressors (e.g., flow regime alteration, increased sedimentation) may have simultaneous effects and attributing causality is problematic. This multiple-stressor context has been acknowledged in environmental flows science, but is often neglected when it comes to examining flow-ecology relationships, and setting and implementing environmental flows. We examined the impacts of land and water use on rivers in the upper Ringarooma River catchment in Tasmania (south-east Australia), which contains intensively irrigated agriculture, to support implementation of a water management plan. Temporal and spatial and trends in river condition were assessed using benthic macroinvertebrates as bioindicators. Relationships between macroinvertebrate community structure and environmental variables were examined using univariate and multivariate analyses, focusing on the impacts of agricultural land use and water use. Structural changes in macroinvertebrate communities in rivers in the catchment indicated temporal and spatial declines in the ecological condition of some stretches of river associated with agricultural land and water use. Moreover, water extraction appeared to exacerbate impairment associated with agricultural land use (e.g., reduced macroinvertebrate density, more flow-avoiding taxa). The findings of our catchment-specific bioassessments will underpin decision-making during the implementation of the Ringarooma water management plan, and highlight the need to consider compounding impacts of land and water use in environmental flows and water planning in agricultural landscapes.

  12. Landscape evolution and agricultural land salinization in coastal area: A conceptual model.

    PubMed

    Bless, Aplena Elen; Colin, François; Crabit, Armand; Devaux, Nicolas; Philippon, Olivier; Follain, Stéphane

    2018-06-01

    Soil salinization is a major threat to agricultural lands. Among salt-affected lands, coastal areas could be considered as highly complex systems, where salinization degradation due to anthropogenic pressure and climate-induced changes could significantly alter system functioning. For such complex systems, conceptual models can be used as evaluation tools in a preliminary step to identify the main evolutionary processes responsible for soil and water salinization. This study aimed to propose a conceptual model for water fluxes in a coastal area affected by salinity, which can help to identify the relationships between agricultural landscape evolution and actual salinity. First, we conducted field investigations from 2012 to 2016, mainly based on both soil (EC 1/5 ) and water (EC w ) electrical conductivity survey. This allowed us to characterize spatial structures for EC 1/5 and EC w and to identify the river as a preponderant factor in land salinization. Subsequently, we proposed and used a conceptual model for water fluxes and conducted a time analysis (1962-2012) for three of its main constitutive elements, namely climate, river, and land systems. When integrated within the conceptual model framework, it appeared that the evolution of all constitutive elements since 1962 was responsible for the disruption of system equilibrium, favoring overall salt accumulation in the soil root zone. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Spatio-temporal analysis of agricultural land-use intensity across the Western Siberian grain belt.

    PubMed

    Kühling, Insa; Broll, Gabriele; Trautz, Dieter

    2016-02-15

    The Western Siberian grain belt covers 1millionkm² in Asiatic Russia and is of global importance for agriculture. Massive land-use changes took place in that region after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the state farm system. Decreasing land-use intensity (LUI) in post-Soviet Western Siberia was observed on grassland due to declining livestock whilst on cropland trends of land abandonment reversed in the early 2000s. Recultivation of abandoned cropland as well as increasing fertilizer inputs and narrowing crop rotations led to increasing LUI on cropland during the last two decades. Beyond that general trend, no information is available about spatial distribution and magnitude but a crucial precondition for the development of strategies for sustainable land management. To quantify changes and patterns in LUI, we developed an intensity index that reflects the impacts of land-based agricultural production. Based on subnational yearly statistical data, we calculated two separate input-orientated indices for cropland and grassland, respectively. The indices were applied on two spatial scale: at seven provinces covering the Western Siberian grain belt (Altay Kray, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Sverdlovsk and Tyumen) and at all districts of the central province Tyumen. The spatio-temporal analysis clearly showed opposite trends for the two land-use types: decreasing intensity on grassland (-0.015 LUI units per year) and intensification on cropland (+0.014 LUI units per year). Furthermore, a spatial concentration towards intensity centres occurred during transition from a planned to a market economy. A principal component analysis enabled the individual calculations of both land-use types to be combined and revealed a strong link between biophysical conditions and LUI. The findings clearly showed the need for having a different strategy for future sustainable land management for grassland (predominantly used by livestock of households

  14. Does climatic variability influence agricultural land prices under differing uses? The Texas High Plains case

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The Texas High Plains faces projections of increasing temperature and declining precipitation in the future on account of its semi-arid climate. This research evaluated the impact of climatic variability on agricultural land prices under different land uses in the Texas High Plains, employing the Ri...

  15. Adaptation with climate uncertainty: An examination of agricultural land use in the United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Mu, Jianhong E.; McCarl, Bruce A.; Sleeter, Benjamin M.; Abatzoglou, John T.; Zhang, Hongliang

    2018-01-01

    This paper examines adaptation responses to climate change through adjustment of agricultural land use. The climate drivers we examine are changes in long-term climate normals (e.g., 10-year moving averages) and changes in inter-annual climate variability. Using US county level data over 1982 to 2012 from Census of Agriculture, we find that impacts of long-term climate normals are as important as that of inter-annual climate variability. Projecting into the future, we find projected climate change will lead to an expansion in crop land share across the northern and interior western United States with decreases in the south. We also find that grazing land share increases in southern regions and Inland Pacific Northwest and declines in the northern areas. However, the extent to which the adaptation potential would be is dependent on the climate model, emission scenario and time horizon under consideration.

  16. LAND COVER MAPPING IN AN AGRICULTURAL SETTING USING MULTISEASONAL THEMATIC MAPPER DATA

    EPA Science Inventory

    A multiseasonal Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data set consisting of five image dates from a single year was used to characterize agricultural and related land cover in the Willamette River Basin (WRB) of western Oregon. Image registration was accomplished using an automated grou...

  17. Formation of Land Use Order in Hamamatsu City under the Original Criteria of the Farm Land Exclusion from the Agricultural Promotion Area

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arita, Hiroyuki; Miyazawa, Shingo

    While zoning has been practiced to prevent sprawling development and to preserve collective farmland under the Agriculture Promotion Act, The Agricultural Promotion Area (APA) has been reduced in area by the action of the Farm Land Exclusion from the APA (EAPA) aiming at urban-uses. Since the EAPA has a great impact on the regional land use, appropriate criteria application techniques ought to be formulated at the transaction level. However, most local governments seem to have no strategic measure so far. Hamamatsu city, meanwhile, has introduced a unique standard upon which approval of the EAPA aptitude is based in 2003. Since the number of EAPA registration was relatively large in Hamamatsu city owing to the zone bordering on the line of land which a building has erected the officials' willingness to establish an objective standard was high. In this research, we verified the effect of the criteria application over the land use ordering, and made proposals for improvement of the present state through the examination of the EAPA criterion application of Hamamatsu city.

  18. Drought Impacts on Agricultural Production and Land Fallowing in California's Central Valley in 2015

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rosevelt, Carolyn; Melton, Forrest S.; Johnson, Lee; Guzman, Alberto; Verdin, James P.; Thenkabail, Prasad S.; Mueller, Rick; Jones, Jeanine; Willis, Patrick

    2016-01-01

    The ongoing drought in California substantially reduced surface water supplies for millions of acres of irrigated farmland in California's Central Valley. Rapid assessment of drought impacts on agricultural production can aid water managers in assessing mitigation options, and guide decision making with respect to mitigation of drought impacts. Satellite remote sensing offers an efficient way to provide quantitative assessments of drought impacts on agricultural production and increases in fallow acreage associated with reductions in water supply. A key advantage of satellite-based assessments is that they can provide a measure of land fallowing that is consistent across both space and time. We describe an approach for monthly and seasonal mapping of uncultivated agricultural acreage developed as part of a joint effort by USGS, USDA, NASA, and the California Department of Water Resources to provide timely assessments of land fallowing during drought events. This effort has used the Central Valley of California as a pilot region for development and testing of an operational approach. To provide quantitative measures of uncultivated agricultural acreage from satellite data early in the season, we developed a decision tree algorithm and applied it to time-series data from Landsat TM (Thematic Mapper), ETM+ (Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus), OLI (Operational Land Imager), and MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer). Our effort has been focused on development of indicators of drought impacts in the March-August timeframe based on measures of crop development patterns relative to a reference period with average or above average rainfall. To assess the accuracy of the algorithms, monthly ground validation surveys were conducted across 650 fields from March-September in 2014 and 2015. We present the algorithm along with updated results from the accuracy assessment, and data and maps of land fallowing in the Central Valley in 2015.

  19. Estimation of late twentieth century land-cover change in California

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Sleeter, Benjamin M.; Wilson, Tamara S.; Soulard, Christopher E.; Liu, Jinxun

    2011-01-01

    We present the first comprehensive multi-temporal analysis of land-cover change for California across its major ecological regions and primary land-cover types. Recently completed satellite-based estimates of land-cover and land-use change information for large portions of the United States allow for consistent measurement and comparison across heterogeneous landscapes. Landsat data were employed within a pure-panel stratified one-stage cluster sample to estimate and characterize land-cover change for 1973–2000. Results indicate anthropogenic and natural disturbances, such as forest cutting and fire, were the dominant changes, followed by large fluctuations between agriculture and rangelands. Contrary to common perception, agriculture remained relatively stable over the 27-year period with an estimated loss of 1.0% of agricultural land. The largest net declines occurred in the grasslands/shrubs class at 5,131 km2 and forest class at 4,722 km2. Developed lands increased by 37.6%, composing an estimated 4.2% of the state’s land cover by 2000.

  20. The potential for agricultural land use change to reduce flood risk in a large watershed

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Effects of agricultural land management practices on surface runoff are evident at local scales, but evidence for watershed-scale impacts is limited. In this study, we used the Soil and Water Assessment Tool model to assess changes in downstream flood risks under different land uses for the large, ...

  1. African land ecology: opportunities and constraints for agricultural development.

    PubMed

    Voortman, Roelf L; Sonneveld, Ben G J S; Keyzer, Michiel A

    2003-08-01

    Compared to other continents, the economic growth performance of Sub-Saharan Africa has been poor over the last four decades. Likewise, progress in agricultural development has been limited and the Green Revolution left Africa almost untouched. The question raised in the literature is whether the poor performance is a question of poor policies or of an unfavorable biophysical environment (policy versus destiny). This paper, with a broad perspective, analyzes adaptation of current land use to environmental conditions in Africa and compares the physical resource base of Africa with Asia. In doing so, we search for unifying principles that can have operational consequences for agricultural development. We argue that some specificities of the natural resource base, namely local homogeneity and spatial diversity of the predominant Basement Complex soils, imply that simple fertilizer strategies may not produce the yield increases obtained elsewhere.

  2. Coupled social and ecological outcomes of agricultural intensification in Costa Rica and the future of biodiversity conservation in tropical agricultural regions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sanfiorenzo, A. R.; Waits, L.; Finegan, B.; Shaver, I.; Chain Guadarrama, A.; Cleary, K.; Santiago-Garcia, R.; Hormel, L.; Vierling, L. A.; Bosque-Perez, N.; DeClerck, F.; Fagan, M. E.; Sibelet, N.

    2016-12-01

    Tropical ecosystem conversion to agriculture has caused widespread habitat loss and created fragmented landscapes composed of remnant forest patches embedded in a matrix of agricultural land uses. Non-traditional agricultural export (NTAE) crops such as pineapple are rapidly replacing multiuse landscapes characterized by a diverse matrix of pasture and smallholder crops with intensive, large-scale, monoculture plantations. Using an interdisciplinary approach, we examine the coupled social and ecological implications of agricultural intensification Guided by frameworks from political economy, landscape ecology and landscape genetics we: (1) describe the social and economic implications of pineapple expansion, specifically the concentration of land, labor and financial resources, (2) quantify pineapple cultivation's spatial characteristics, and (3) assess the effects of pineapple expansion on surrounding forest ecosystems, on the agricultural matrix and on biodiversity conservation. Our results indicate that pineapple production concentrates land, labor, and financial resources, which has a homogenizing effect on the agricultural economy in the study region. This constrains farm-based livelihoods, with larger implications for food security and agricultural diversity. Landscape ecology and genetics analyses further reveal how pineapple production simplifies and homogenizes the agricultural matrix between forest patches, which increase the genetic structure and reduce the genetic diversity of Symphonia globulifera a forest understory tree species. To offset the effects of agricultural intensification on social and environmental systems, we recommend developing landscape level land use planning capacity. Furthermore, agricultural and conservation policy reform is needed to promote landscape heterogeneity and economic diversity within the agricultural sector. Our interdisciplinary research provides a detailed examination of the social and ecological impacts of

  3. Productivity ranges of sustainable biomass potentials from non-agricultural land

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schueler, Vivian; Fuss, Sabine; Steckel, Jan Christoph; Weddige, Ulf; Beringer, Tim

    2016-07-01

    Land is under pressure from a number of demands, including the need for increased supplies of bioenergy. While bioenergy is an important ingredient in many pathways compatible with reaching the 2 °C target, areas where cultivation of the biomass feedstock would be most productive appear to co-host other important ecosystems services. We categorize global geo-data on land availability into productivity deciles, and provide a geographically explicit assessment of potentials that are concurrent with EU sustainability criteria. The deciles unambiguously classify the global productivity range of potential land currently not in agricultural production for biomass cultivation. Results show that 53 exajoule (EJ) sustainable biomass potential are available from 167 million hectares (Mha) with a productivity above 10 tons of dry matter per hectare and year (tD Mha-1 a-1), while additional 33 EJ are available on 264 Mha with yields between 4 and 10 tD M ha-1 a-1: some regions lose less of their highly productive potentials to sustainability concerns than others and regional contributions to bioenergy potentials shift when less productive land is considered. Challenges to limit developments to the exploitation of sustainable potentials arise in Latin America, Africa and Developing Asia, while new opportunities emerge for Transition Economies and OECD countries to cultivate marginal land.

  4. Land Use and Land Cover Change Modeling Using Remote Sensing and Soft Computing Approach to Assess Sugarcane Expansion Impacts in Tropical Agriculture

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vicente, L. E.; Koga-Vicente, A.; Friedel, M. J.; Victoria, D.; Zullo, J., Jr.; Gomes, D.; Bayma-Silva, G.

    2014-12-01

    Agriculture is related with land-use/cover changes (LUCC) over large areas and, in recent years, increase in demand of ethanol fuel has been influence in expansion of areas occupied with corn and sugar cane, raw material for ethanol production. Nevertheless, there´s a concern regarding the impacts on food security, such as, decrease in areas planted with food crops. Considering that the LUCC is highly dynamic, the use of Remote Sensing is a tool for monitoring changes quickly and precisely in order to provide information for agricultural planning. In this work, Remote Sensing techniques were used to monitor the LUCC occurred in municipalities of São Paulo state- Brazil related with sugarcane crops expansion in order to (i) evaluate and quantify the previous land cover in areas of sugarcane crop expansion, and (ii) provide information to elaborate a future land cover scenario based on Self Organizing Map (SOM) approach. The land cover classification procedure was based on Landsat 5 TM images, obtained from the Global Land Survey. The Landsat images were then segmented into homogeneous objects, with represent areas on the ground with similar spatial and spectral characteristics. These objects are related to the distinct land cover types that occur in each municipality. The segmentation procedure resulted in polygons over the three time periods along twenty years (1990-2010). The land cover for each object was visually identified, based on its shape, texture and spectral characteristics. Land cover types considered were: sugarcane plantations, pasture lands, natural cover, forest plantation, permanent crop, short cycle crop, water bodies and urban areas. SOM technique was used to estimate the values for the future land cover scenarios for the selected municipalities, using the information of land change provided by the remote sensing and data from official sources.

  5. Changes in historical Iowa land cover as context for assessing the environmental benefits of current and future conservation efforts on agricultural lands

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Gallant, Alisa L.; Sadinski, Walt; Roth, Mark F.; Rewa, Charles A.

    2011-01-01

    Conservationists and agriculturists face unprecedented challenges trying to minimize tradeoffs between increasing demands for food, fiber, feed, and biofuels and the resulting loss or reduced values of other ecosystem services, such as those derived from wetlands and biodiversity (Millenium Ecosystem Assessment 2005a, 2005c; Maresch et al. 2008). The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Pub. L. 110-234, Stat. 923, HR 2419, also known as the 2008 Farm Bill) reauthorized the USDA to provide financial incentives for agricultural producers to reduce environmental impacts via multiple conservation programs. Two prominent programs, the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), provide incentives for producers to retire environmentally sensitive croplands, minimize erosion, improve water quality, restore wetlands, and provide wildlife habitat (USDA FSA 2008a, 2008b; USDA NRCS 2002). Other conservation programs (e.g., Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Conservation Stewardship Program) provide incentives to implement structural and cultural conservation practices to improve the environmental performance of working agricultural lands. Through its Conservation Effects Assessment Project, USDA is supporting evaluation of the environmental benefits obtained from the public investment in conservation programs and practices to inform decisions on where further investments are warranted (Duriancik et al. 2008; Zinn 1997).

  6. Shifts in allochthonous input and autochthonous production in streams along an agricultural land-use gradient

    Treesearch

    Elizabeth Hagen; Matthew McTammany; Jackson Webster; Ernest Benfield

    2010-01-01

    Relative contributions of allochthonous inputs and autochthonous production vary depending on terrestrial land use and biome. Terrestrially derived organic matter and in-stream primary production were measured in 12 headwater streams along an agricultural land-use gradient. Streams were examined to see how carbon (C) supply shifts from forested streams receiving...

  7. Extreme temperature trends in major cropping systems and their relation to agricultural land use change

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mueller, N. D.; Butler, E. E.; McKinnon, K. A.; Rhines, A. N.; Tingley, M.; Siebert, S.; Holbrook, N. M.; Huybers, P. J.

    2015-12-01

    High temperature extremes during the growing season can reduce agricultural production. At the same time, agricultural practices can modify temperatures by altering the surface energy budget. Here we investigate growing season climate trends in major cropping systems and their relationship with agricultural land use change. In the US Midwest, 100-year trends exhibit a transition towards more favorable conditions, with cooler summer temperature extremes and increased precipitation. Statistically significant correspondence is found between the cooling pattern and trends in cropland intensification, as well as with trends towards greater irrigated land over a small subset of the domain. Land conversion to cropland, often considered an important influence on historical temperatures, is not significantly associated with cooling. We suggest that cooling is primarily associated with agricultural intensification increasing the potential for evapotranspiration, consistent with our finding that cooling trends are greatest for the highest temperature percentiles, and that increased evapotranspiration generally leads to greater precipitation. Temperatures over rainfed croplands show no cooling trend during drought conditions, consistent with evapotranspiration requiring adequate soil moisture, and implying that modern drought events feature greater warming as baseline cooler temperatures revert to historically high extremes. Preliminary results indicate these relationships between temperature extremes, irrigation, and intensification are also observed in other major summer cropping systems, including northeast China, Argentina, and the Canadian Prairies.

  8. eFarm: A Tool for Better Observing Agricultural Land Systems

    PubMed Central

    Yu, Qiangyi; Shi, Yun; Tang, Huajun; Yang, Peng; Xie, Ankun; Liu, Bin; Wu, Wenbin

    2017-01-01

    Currently, observations of an agricultural land system (ALS) largely depend on remotely-sensed images, focusing on its biophysical features. While social surveys capture the socioeconomic features, the information was inadequately integrated with the biophysical features of an ALS and the applications are limited due to the issues of cost and efficiency to carry out such detailed and comparable social surveys at a large spatial coverage. In this paper, we introduce a smartphone-based app, called eFarm: a crowdsourcing and human sensing tool to collect the geotagged ALS information at the land parcel level, based on the high resolution remotely-sensed images. We illustrate its main functionalities, including map visualization, data management, and data sensing. Results of the trial test suggest the system works well. We believe the tool is able to acquire the human–land integrated information which is broadly-covered and timely-updated, thus presenting great potential for improving sensing, mapping, and modeling of ALS studies. PMID:28245554

  9. [Effects of land use change on carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystem].

    PubMed

    Yang, Jingcheng; Han, Xingguo; Huang, Jianhui; Pan, Qingmin

    2003-08-01

    Terrestrial ecosystem is an important carbon pool, which plays a crucial role in carbon biogeochemical cycle. Human activities such as fossil fuel combustion and land use change have resulted in carbon fluxes from terrestrial ecosystem to the atmosphere, which increased the atmospheric CO2 concentration, and reinforced the greenhouse effect. Land use change affects the structure and function of the terrestrial ecosystem, which causes its change of carbon storage. To a great extent, the change of carbon storage lies in the type of ecosystem and the change of land use patterns. The conversion of forest to agricultural land and pasture causes a large reduction of carbon storage in vegetation and soil, and the decrease of soil carbon concentration is mainly caused by the reduction of detritus, the acceleration of soil organic matter decomposition, and the destroy of physical protection to organic matter due to agricultural practices. The loss of soil organic matter appears at the early stage after deforestation, and the loss rate is influenced by many factors and soil physical, chemical and biological processes. The conversion of agricultural land and pasture to forest and many conservative agricultural practices can sequester atmospheric carbon in vegetation and soil. Vegetation can sequester large amounts of carbon from atmosphere, while carbon accumulation in soil varies greatly because of farming history and soil spatial heterogeneity. Conservative agricultural practices such as no-tillage, reasonable cropping system, and fertilization can influence soil physical and chemical characters, plant growth, quality and quantity of stubble, and soil microbial biomass and its activity, and hence, maintain and increase soil carbon concentration.

  10. Aligning land use with land potential

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Current agricultural land use is dominated by an emphasis on provisioning services by applying energy-intensive inputs through relatively uniform production systems across variable landscapes. This approach to agricultural land use is not sustainable. Integrated agricultural systems (IAS) are uphe...

  11. Variations of measured and simulated soil-loss amounts in a semiarid area in Turkey.

    PubMed

    Hacisalihoğlu, Sezgin

    2010-06-01

    The main goal of this research was soil-loss determination and comparison of the plot measurement results with simulation model (universal soil loss equation (USLE)) results in different land use and slope classes. The research took place in three different land-use types (Scotch pine forest, pasture land, and agricultural land) and in two different slope classes (15-20%, 35-40%). Within six measurement stations (for each land-use type and slope class-one station), totally 18 measurement plots have been constituted, and soil-loss amount measurements have been investigated during the research period (3 years along). USLE simulation model is used in these measurement plots for calculation the soil-loss amounts. The results pointed out that measured (in plots) and simulated (with USLE) soil-loss amounts differ significantly in each land-use type and slope class.

  12. An Artist's Journey Through Endangered Lands; conveying hydrological changes and land loss informed and inspired by Science

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Varisco, M. M.

    2017-12-01

    How do we live with nature? This simple question began a 10 year art-science journey into the dynamic and endangered wetlands of southeast Louisiana and its accelerated coastal decline. Since the 1930s, nearly 1,900 square miles of Louisiana's coast have been lost. How might artworks, informed by science, convey the seriousness and urgency of this loss to a wider public? Artist Michel Varisco engaged in dialogue with environmental scientist Doug Meffert and Dan Etheridge (of Meffert + Etheridge and The Center for Bioenvironmental Research at Tulane and Xavier) about the hydrological changes which have accelerated or mitigated Louisiana's land losses. She was also inspired by the unique underwater studies of biologist Suzanne Fredericq on pollutants in the Gulf from the BP oil spill and of marine ecologist Nancy Rabalais who assesses hypoxia dynamics and their impact on "dead zones." The art work that emerged includes Shifting and Fluid States, as well as current projects Below Sea Level and Turning: prayer wheels for the Mississippi River, an art commission awarded by the City of New Orleans on view during Prospect.4 Art Biennial and AGU. Shifting is a series of large-scale photos shot from the air and water that observe the dynamic movement of the Louisiana coastline over the course of a short but powerful geologic timeline and explores the consequences of human altercations to those lands and waters via land loss and sea level rise. Turning is based on the work of Kate Orff's maps from Petrochemical America and the 1944 maps of Harold Fisk. Fisk pioneered an understanding of alluvial and sedimentological processes of the Mississippi Valley, while Orff's maps describe the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to New Orleans during three different eras: the wild un-leveed land building era; the plantation, slavery era; and the petrochemical era of present day land loss. Shifting has been exhibited around the world and Turning has already been seen by 50,000 people.

  13. Wind erosion potential after land application of biosolids

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    PI, H.; Sharratt, B. S.; Schillinger, W. F.; Bary, A.; Cogger, C.

    2017-12-01

    The world population is currently 7.6 billion and, along with continued population growth, comes the challenge of disposing of wastewater and sewage sludge (biosolids). Applying biosolids to agricultural land to replace synthetic fertilizers represents a relatively safe method to recycle or sustainably use biosolids. While land application of biosolids is recognized as a sustainable management practice for enhancing soil health, no studies have determined the effects of biosolids on soil wind erosion. Wind erosion potential of a silt loam was assessed using a portable wind tunnel after applying synthetic and biosolid fertilizer to conventional and conservation tillage practices during the summer fallow phase of a winter wheat-summer fallow rotation in 2015 and 2016 in east-central Washington. Little difference in soil loss was observed between biosolid and synthetic fertilizer treatments, but this result appeared to be dependent on susceptibility of the soil to erosion. Regression analysis between soil loss from fertilizer or tillage treatments indicated that soil loss was lower from biosolid versus synthetic fertilizer and conservation versus conventional tillage at high erosion rates. This suggests that biosolids may reduce wind erosion under highly erodible conditions. Meanwhile, heavy metal concentrations in the windblown sediment were similar for the biosolid and synthetic fertilizer treatments whereas metal loss in windblown sediment was 10% lower from biosolid than synthetic fertilizer. Our results indicate that land application of biosolids did not accelerate the loss of metals or nutrients from soils during high winds. KeywordsLand application of biosolids; wind erosion; wind tunnel; sustainable agriculture

  14. Afforestation of marginal agricultural land in the lower Mississippi River Alluvial Valley, U.S.A.

    Treesearch

    John A. Stanturf; Callie J. Schweitzer; Emile S. Gardiner

    1998-01-01

    Afforestation of marginal agricultural land in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV) relies on native species, planted mostly in single-species plantations. Hard mast species such as oak and pecan are favored for their value to wildlife, especially on public land. Successful afforestation requires an understanding of site variation within floodplains and...

  15. Grass mulching effect on infiltration, surface runoff and soil loss of three agricultural soils in Nigeria.

    PubMed

    Adekalu, K O; Olorunfemi, I A; Osunbitan, J A

    2007-03-01

    Mulching the soil surface with a layer of plant residue is an effective method of conserving water and soil because it reduces surface runoff, increases infiltration of water into the soil and retard soil erosion. The effectiveness of using elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) as mulching material was evaluated in the laboratory using a rainfall simulator set at rainfall intensities typical of the tropics. Six soil samples, two from each of the three major soil series representing the main agricultural soils in South Western Nigeria were collected, placed on three different slopes, and mulched with different rates of the grass. The surface runoff, soil loss, and apparent cumulative infiltration were then measured under each condition. The results with elephant grass compared favorably with results from previous experiments using rice straw. Runoff and soil loss decreased with the amount of mulch used and increased with slope. Surface runoff, infiltration and soil loss had high correlations (R = 0.90, 0.89, and 0.86, respectively) with slope and mulch cover using surface response analysis. The mean surface runoff was correlated negatively with sand content, while mean soil loss was correlated positively with colloidal content (clay and organic matter) of the soil. Infiltration was increased and soil loss was reduced greatly with the highest cover. Mulching the soils with elephant grass residue may benefit late cropping (second cropping) by increasing stored soil water for use during dry weather and help to reduce erosion on sloping land.

  16. Winners and losers of national and global efforts to reconcile agricultural intensification and biodiversity conservation.

    PubMed

    Egli, Lukas; Meyer, Carsten; Scherber, Christoph; Kreft, Holger; Tscharntke, Teja

    2018-05-01

    Closing yield gaps within existing croplands, and thereby avoiding further habitat conversions, is a prominently and controversially discussed strategy to meet the rising demand for agricultural products, while minimizing biodiversity impacts. The agricultural intensification associated with such a strategy poses additional threats to biodiversity within agricultural landscapes. The uneven spatial distribution of both yield gaps and biodiversity provides opportunities for reconciling agricultural intensification and biodiversity conservation through spatially optimized intensification. Here, we integrate distribution and habitat information for almost 20,000 vertebrate species with land-cover and land-use datasets. We estimate that projected agricultural intensification between 2000 and 2040 would reduce the global biodiversity value of agricultural lands by 11%, relative to 2000. Contrasting these projections with spatial land-use optimization scenarios reveals that 88% of projected biodiversity loss could be avoided through globally coordinated land-use planning, implying huge efficiency gains through international cooperation. However, global-scale optimization also implies a highly uneven distribution of costs and benefits, resulting in distinct "winners and losers" in terms of national economic development, food security, food sovereignty or conservation. Given conflicting national interests and lacking effective governance mechanisms to guarantee equitable compensation of losers, multinational land-use optimization seems politically unlikely. In turn, 61% of projected biodiversity loss could be avoided through nationally focused optimization, and 33% through optimization within just 10 countries. Targeted efforts to improve the capacity for integrated land-use planning for sustainable intensification especially in these countries, including the strengthening of institutions that can arbitrate subnational land-use conflicts, may offer an effective, yet

  17. Land Use Compounds Habitat Losses under Projected Climate Change in a Threatened California Ecosystem

    PubMed Central

    Riordan, Erin Coulter; Rundel, Philip W.

    2014-01-01

    Given the rapidly growing human population in mediterranean-climate systems, land use may pose a more immediate threat to biodiversity than climate change this century, yet few studies address the relative future impacts of both drivers. We assess spatial and temporal patterns of projected 21st century land use and climate change on California sage scrub (CSS), a plant association of considerable diversity and threatened status in the mediterranean-climate California Floristic Province. Using a species distribution modeling approach combined with spatially-explicit land use projections, we model habitat loss for 20 dominant shrub species under unlimited and no dispersal scenarios at two time intervals (early and late century) in two ecoregions in California (Central Coast and South Coast). Overall, projected climate change impacts were highly variable across CSS species and heavily dependent on dispersal assumptions. Projected anthropogenic land use drove greater relative habitat losses compared to projected climate change in many species. This pattern was only significant under assumptions of unlimited dispersal, however, where considerable climate-driven habitat gains offset some concurrent climate-driven habitat losses. Additionally, some of the habitat gained with projected climate change overlapped with projected land use. Most species showed potential northern habitat expansion and southern habitat contraction due to projected climate change, resulting in sharply contrasting patterns of impact between Central and South Coast Ecoregions. In the Central Coast, dispersal could play an important role moderating losses from both climate change and land use. In contrast, high geographic overlap in habitat losses driven by projected climate change and projected land use in the South Coast underscores the potential for compounding negative impacts of both drivers. Limiting habitat conversion may be a broadly beneficial strategy under climate change. We emphasize the

  18. Land use compounds habitat losses under projected climate change in a threatened California ecosystem.

    PubMed

    Riordan, Erin Coulter; Rundel, Philip W

    2014-01-01

    Given the rapidly growing human population in mediterranean-climate systems, land use may pose a more immediate threat to biodiversity than climate change this century, yet few studies address the relative future impacts of both drivers. We assess spatial and temporal patterns of projected 21(st) century land use and climate change on California sage scrub (CSS), a plant association of considerable diversity and threatened status in the mediterranean-climate California Floristic Province. Using a species distribution modeling approach combined with spatially-explicit land use projections, we model habitat loss for 20 dominant shrub species under unlimited and no dispersal scenarios at two time intervals (early and late century) in two ecoregions in California (Central Coast and South Coast). Overall, projected climate change impacts were highly variable across CSS species and heavily dependent on dispersal assumptions. Projected anthropogenic land use drove greater relative habitat losses compared to projected climate change in many species. This pattern was only significant under assumptions of unlimited dispersal, however, where considerable climate-driven habitat gains offset some concurrent climate-driven habitat losses. Additionally, some of the habitat gained with projected climate change overlapped with projected land use. Most species showed potential northern habitat expansion and southern habitat contraction due to projected climate change, resulting in sharply contrasting patterns of impact between Central and South Coast Ecoregions. In the Central Coast, dispersal could play an important role moderating losses from both climate change and land use. In contrast, high geographic overlap in habitat losses driven by projected climate change and projected land use in the South Coast underscores the potential for compounding negative impacts of both drivers. Limiting habitat conversion may be a broadly beneficial strategy under climate change. We emphasize

  19. Gender and Agricultural Science: Evidence from Two Surveys of Land-Grant Scientists.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Buttel, Frederick H.; Goldberger, Jessica R.

    2002-01-01

    Analysis of surveys of land-grant agricultural scientists in 1979 and 1996 found significant gender differences in postdoctoral work experience, academic rank, employment of graduate students, book publication, and links with private industry. Gender differences were found in attitudes toward biotechnology and university-industry links, but not in…

  20. Impacts of Biofuel-Induced Agricultural Land Use Changes on Watershed Hydrology and Water Quality

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lin, Z.; Zheng, H.

    2015-12-01

    The US Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 has contributed to widespread changes in agricultural land uses. The impact of these land use changes on regional water resources could also be significant. Agricultural land use changes were evaluated for the Red River of the North Basin (RRNB), an international river basin shared by the US and Canada. The influence of the land use changes on spring snowmelt flooding and downstream water quality was also assessed using watershed modeling. The planting areas for corn and soybean in the basin increased by 62% and 18%, while those for spring wheat, forest, and pasture decreased by 30%, 18%, and 50%, from 2006 to 2013. Although the magnitude of spring snowmelt peak flows in the Red River did not change from pre-EISA to post-EISA, our uncertainty analysis of the normalized hydrographs revealed that the downstream streamflows had a greater variability under the post-EISA land use scenario, which may lead to greater uncertainty in predicting spring snowmelt floods in the Red River. Hydrological simulation also showed that the sediment and nutrient loads at the basin's outlet in the US and Canada border increased under the post-EISA land use scenario, on average sediment increasing by 2.6%, TP by 14.1%, nitrate nitrogen by 5.9%, and TN by 9.1%. Potential impacts of the future biofuel crop scenarios on watershed hydrology and water quality in the RRNB were also simulated through integrated economic-hydrologic modeling.

  1. The impact of agricultural land use on stream chemistry in the Middle Hills of the Himalayas, Nepal

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Collins, Robert; Jenkins, Alan

    1996-11-01

    The chemistry of streams draining agricultural and forested catchments in the Middle Hills of Nepal is described. Differences between mean streamwater chemistry are attributable to the effects of the terraced agriculture and land management practices. The agricultural catchments were found to exhibit higher mean concentrations of base cations (Na, Mg, K), bicarbonate, acid anions (SO 4, Cl), metals (Al, Fe) and nutrients (NO 3, PO 4). Increased base cations apparently result from tillage practices exposing fresh soil material to weathering. Increased acid anions result from inputs of inorganic fertiliser, notably ammonium sulphate, and from an apparent increase in evapotranspiration from the flooded terraces in the agricultural catchments. Increased metal concentrations may be promoted by increased weathering and erosion rates, and this is further supported by observations of dramatically higher turbidity in the streamwater draining the agricultural catchments. Higher levels of nutrients are the direct result of fertiliser input but concentrations are generally low from all catchments as a result of denitrification, indicating that eutrophication downstream is not a likely consequence of land use change. The major dynamics of water chemistry occur during the monsoon, which is also the main season for agricultural production. Mean wet season concentrations of base cations tend to be lower than in the dry season at all catchments as higher flow dilutes the relatively constant weathering input. Ammonium concentrations are higher from the agricultural catchments in the wet season as a result of direct washout of fertiliser. Detailed monitoring through storm periods at one agricultural catchment indicates that the chemistry responds very rapidly to changing flow, with cations decreasing and acid anions increasing followed by equally rapid recovery as flow recedes. Bicarbonate concentrations also decline markedly but are still sufficiently high to maintain pH near

  2. Highly erodible terrain in agriculture land against chipped pruned branches. Or how to stop the soil erosion with low investment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cerdà, A.

    2009-04-01

    The session on "Soil erosion and sediment control with vegetation and bioengineering on severely eroded terrain" pays special attention to the severe soil erosion suffered on steep slopes and erodible parent materials and soils. Within the last 20 years, in the Mediterranean lands, the citrus orchards were reallocated on steep slopes due to the urban development and better climatic and management conditions of the new plantations. The lack of vegetation cover on the new slope plantations of citrus resulted in high erosion rates. Those non-sustainable soil losses were measured by means of rainfall simulation experiments, Gerlach collectors, geomorphological transect and topographical measurements. The October 2007 and October 2008 rainy periods resulted in sheet, rill and gully erosion. Some recently planted orchards (2005) had the first pruning season in 2008. The pruned chipped branches reduced the soil losses to 50 % of the expected, although the litter (pruned branches) covered 4.67 % of the soil. This is why a research was developed by means of simulated rainfall experiments to determine the vegetation cover (litter, mainly leaves) to protect the soil to reach a sustainable erosion rate. Rainfall simulation experiments at 43 mm h-1 where performed on 1 m2 plots covered with 0, 3, 7, 15, 30, 45, 60, 80 and 100 % litter cover (pruned chipped branches) to determine the sustainable litter cover to avoid the soil losses. The results show that more that 45 % litter cover almost reduces the soil losses to negligible rates. The results confirm that 4 % of vegetation cover reduces the soil losses to 50 %. Key words: Agriculture land, erodible terrain, land management, citrus, erosion, Spain, Valencia, herbicides. Acknowledgements, We thanks the financial support of the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación by means of the project CGL2008-02879/BTE, "PERDIDA DE SUELO EN NUEVAS EXPLOTACIONES CITRICOLAS EN PENDIENTE. ESTRATEGIAS PARA EL CONTROL DE LA EROSION HIDRICA"

  3. Spatial and temporal variations in non-point source losses of nitrogen and phosphorus in a small agricultural catchment in the Three Gorges Region.

    PubMed

    Chen, Chenglong; Gao, Ming; Xie, Deti; Ni, Jiupai

    2016-04-01

    Losses of agricultural pollutants from small catchments are a major issue for water quality in the Three Gorges Region. Solutions are urgently needed. However, before pollutant losses can be controlled, information about spatial and temporal variations in pollutant losses is needed. The study was carried out in the Wangjiagou catchment, a small agricultural catchment in Fuling District, Chongqing, and the data about non-point source losses of nitrogen and phosphorus was collected here. Water samples were collected daily by an automatic water sampler at the outlets of two subcatchments from 2012 to 2014. Also, samples of surface runoff from 28 sampling sites distributed through the subcatchments were collected during 12 rainfall events in 2014. A range of water quality variables were analyzed for all samples and were used to demonstrate the variation in non-point losses of nitrogen and phosphorus over a range of temporal and spatial scales and in different types of rainfall in the catchment. Results showed that there was a significant linear correlation between the mass concentrations of total nitrogen (TN) and nitrate (NO3-N) in surface runoff and that the relationship was maintained with changes in time. Concentrations of TN and NO3-N peaked after fertilizer was applied to crops in spring and autumn; concentrations decreased rapidly after the peak values in spring but declined slowly in autumn. N and P concentrations fluctuated more and showed a greater degree of dispersion during the spring crop cultivation period than those in autumn. Concentrations of TN and NO3-N in surface runoff were significantly and positively correlated with the proportion of the area that was planted with corn and mustard tubers, but were negatively correlated with the proportion of the area taken up with rice and mulberry plantations. The average concentrations of TN and NO3-N in surface runoff reached the highest level from the sampling points at the bottom of the land used for corn

  4. A spatially-explicit data driven approach to assess the effect of agricultural land occupation on species groups

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Elshout, P.; van Zelm, R.; Karuppiah, R.; Laurenzi, I.; Huijbregts, M.

    2013-12-01

    Change of vegetation cover and increased land use intensity can directly affect the natural habitat and the wildlife it houses. The actual impact of agricultural land use is region specific as crops are grown under various climatic conditions and ways of cultivation and refining. Furthermore, growing a specific crop in a tropical region may require clearance of rainforest while the same crop may replace natural grasslands in temperate regions. Within life cycle impact assessment (LCIA), methods to address impacts of land use on a global scale are still in need of development. We aim to extend existing methods to improve the robustness of LCIA by allowing spatial differentiation of agricultural land use impacts. The goal of this study is to develop characterization factors for the direct impact of land use on biodiversity, which results from the replacement of natural habitat with farmland. The characterization factor expresses the change in species richness under crop cultivation compared to the species richness in the natural situation over a certain area. A second goal was to identify the differences in impacts caused by cultivation of different crop types, sensitivity of different taxonomic groups, and differences in natural land cover. Empirical data on species richness were collected from literature for both natural reference situations and agricultural land use situations. Reference situations were selected on an ecoregion or biome basis. We calculated characterization factors for four crop groups (oil palm, low crops, cereals, and perennial grasses), four species groups (arthropods, birds, mammals, vascular plants), and six biomes.

  5. Water quality and agricultural practices: the case study of southern Massaciuccoli reclaimed land (Tuscany, Italy)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pistocchi, Chiara; Baneschi, Ilaria; Basile, Paolo; Cannavò, Silvia; Guidi, Massimo; Risaliti, Rosalba; Rossetto, Rudy; Sabbatini, Tiziana; Silvestri, Nicola; Bonari, Enrico

    2010-05-01

    Owing to increasing anthropogenic impacts, lagoons and wetlands are being exposed to environmental degradation. Therefore, the sustainable management of these environmental resources is a fundamental issue to maintain either the ecosystems and the human activity. The Massaciuccoli Lake is a coastal lake of fresh to brackish water surrounded by a marsh, which drains a total catchment of about 114 km2. Large part of the basin has been reclaimed since 1930 by means of pumping stations forcing water from the drained areas into the lake. The system is characterized by: high complexity of the hydrological setting; subsidence of the peaty soils in the reclaimed area (2 to 3 m in 70 years), that left the lake perched; reclaimed land currently devoted mainly to conventional agriculture (e.g.: maize monoculture) along with some industrial sites, two sewage treatment plants and some relevant urban settlements; social conflicts among different land users because of the impact on water quality and quantity. The interaction between such a fragile natural system and human activities leads to an altered ecological status mainly due to eutrophication and water salinisation. Hence, the present work aims at identifying and assessing the sources of nutrients (phosphorous in particular) into the lake, and characterising land use and some socio-economic aspects focusing on agricultural systems, in order to set up suitable mitigation measures. Water quantity and quality in the most intensively cultivated sub-catchment, placed 0.5 to 3 m under m.s.l. were monitored in order to underlain the interaction between water and its nutrient load. Questionnaires and interviews to farmers were conducted to obtain information about agricultural practices, farm management, risks and constraints for farming activities. The available information about the natural system and land use were collected and organised in a GIS system: a conceptual model of surface water hydrodinamics was build up and 14

  6. From jhum to broom: Agricultural land-use change and food security implications on the Meghalaya Plateau, India.

    PubMed

    Behera, Rabi Narayan; Nayak, Debendra Kumar; Andersen, Peter; Måren, Inger Elisabeth

    2016-02-01

    Human population growth in the developing world drives land-use changes, impacting food security. In India, the dramatic change in demographic dynamics over the past century has reduced traditional agricultural land-use through increasing commercialization. Here, we analyze the magnitude and implications for the farming system by the introduction of cash-cropping, replacing the traditional slash and burn rotations (jhum), of the tribal people on the Meghalaya Plateau, northeast India, by means of agricultural census data and field surveys conducted in seven villages. Land-use change has brought major alterations in hill agricultural practices, enhanced cash-cropping, promoted mono-cropping, changed food consumption patterns, underpinned the emergence of a new food system, and exposed farmers and consumers to the precariousness of the market, all of which have both long- and short-term food security implications. We found dietary diversity to be higher under jhum compared to any of the cash-crop systems, and higher under traditional cash-cropping than under modern cash-cropping.

  7. Dimensions of biodiversity loss: Spatial mismatch in land-use impacts on species, functional and phylogenetic diversity of European bees.

    PubMed

    De Palma, Adriana; Kuhlmann, Michael; Bugter, Rob; Ferrier, Simon; Hoskins, Andrew J; Potts, Simon G; Roberts, Stuart P M; Schweiger, Oliver; Purvis, Andy

    2017-12-01

    Agricultural intensification and urbanization are important drivers of biodiversity change in Europe. Different aspects of bee community diversity vary in their sensitivity to these pressures, as well as independently influencing ecosystem service provision (pollination). To obtain a more comprehensive understanding of human impacts on bee diversity across Europe, we assess multiple, complementary indices of diversity. One Thousand four hundred and forty six sites across Europe. We collated data on bee occurrence and abundance from the published literature and supplemented them with the PREDICTS database. Using Rao's Quadratic Entropy, we assessed how species, functional and phylogenetic diversity of 1,446 bee communities respond to land-use characteristics including land-use class, cropland intensity, human population density and distance to roads. We combined these models with statistically downscaled estimates of land use in 2005 to estimate and map-at a scale of approximately 1 km 2 -the losses in diversity relative to semi-natural/natural baseline (the predicted diversity of an uninhabited grid square, consisting only of semi-natural/natural vegetation). We show that-relative to the predicted local diversity in uninhabited semi-natural/natural habitat-half of all EU27 countries have lost over 10% of their average local species diversity and two-thirds of countries have lost over 5% of their average local functional and phylogenetic diversity. All diversity measures were generally lower in pasture and higher-intensity cropland than in semi-natural/natural vegetation, but facets of diversity showed less consistent responses to human population density. These differences have led to marked spatial mismatches in losses: losses in phylogenetic diversity were in some areas almost 20 percentage points (pp.) more severe than losses in species diversity, but in other areas losses were almost 40 pp. less severe. These results highlight the importance of exploring

  8. Assessment of environmental impacts following alternative agricultural policy scenarios.

    PubMed

    Bárlund, I; Lehtonen, H; Tattari, S

    2005-01-01

    Abstract Finnish agriculture is likely to undergo major changes in the near and intermediate future. The ifuture policy context can be examined at a general level by strategic scenario building. Computer-based modelling in combination with agricultural policy scenarios can in turn create a basis for the assessments of changes in environmental quality following possible changes in Finnish agriculture. The analysis of economic consequences is based on the DREMFIA model, which is applied to study effects of various agricultural policies on land use, animal production, and farmers' income. The model is suitable for an impact analysis covering an extended time span--here up to the year 2015. The changes in land use, obtained with the DREMFIA model assuming rational economic behaviour, form the basis when evaluating environmental impacts of different agricultural policies. The environmental impact assessment is performed using the field scale nutrient transport model ICECREAM. The modelled variables are nitrogen and phosphorus losses in surface runoff and percolation. In this paper the modelling strategy will be presented and highlighted using two case study catchments with varying environmental conditions and land use as an example. In addition, the paper identifies issues arising when connecting policy scenarios with impact modelling.

  9. Erosion Losses of Soils on Arable Land in the European part of Russia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maltsev, K. A.; Yermolaev, O. P.

    2018-01-01

    The quantitative assessment of potential soil losses in arable lands of the European part of Russia is carried out in the article. The assessment was carried out using a mathematical model based on the mathematical dependencies of the universal soil loss equation and the mathematical dependencies of the State Hydrological Institute of Russia. Assessment of potential soil losses was performed using calculations in a geographic information system. To perform the calculations the database was created containing information on: the relief; properties of soils; climate and land use. The raster model of data organization was used to create the database and subsequent calculations. The assessment shows that the average amount of soil loss in the plowed land of the European territory of Russia is 11 t/ha per year. At the same time, about half of the territories are located in conditions where the soil loss value does not exceed 0.5 t/ha per year. The potential loss of soil taking into account the soil protection role of vegetation is 3.3 tons/ha per year. In addition, a spatial analysis of the distribution of soil loss by landscape zones shows that there is a consistent reduction in the potential loss of soil from the forest zone (20.92 t/ha per year) to the forest-steppe (10.84 t / ha per year), steppe (8.13 t/ha per year) and semi-desert (4.7 tons/ha per year) zone.

  10. Parcels versus pixels: modeling agricultural land use across broad geographic regions using parcel-based field boundaries

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Sohl, Terry L.; Dornbierer, Jordan; Wika, Steve; Sayler, Kristi L.; Quenzer, Robert

    2017-01-01

    Land use and land cover (LULC) change occurs at a local level within contiguous ownership and management units (parcels), yet LULC models primarily use pixel-based spatial frameworks. The few parcel-based models being used overwhelmingly focus on small geographic areas, limiting the ability to assess LULC change impacts at regional to national scales. We developed a modified version of the Forecasting Scenarios of land use change model to project parcel-based agricultural change across a large region in the United States Great Plains. A scenario representing an agricultural biofuel scenario was modeled from 2012 to 2030, using real parcel boundaries based on contiguous ownership and land management units. The resulting LULC projection provides a vastly improved representation of landscape pattern over existing pixel-based models, while simultaneously providing an unprecedented combination of thematic detail and broad geographic extent. The conceptual approach is practical and scalable, with potential use for national-scale projections.

  11. The association between chronic conditions and non-agricultural work productivity loss among the middle-aged Chinese population.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Wei; Sun, Huiying; Li, Xin

    2018-05-03

    To measure the association between different chronic conditions and non-agricultural work productivity loss among the middle-aged Chinese population. We used 2011, 2013 and 2015 data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. The study focused on middle-aged respondents who had the potential to work in the non-agricultural sector. Work productivity loss was measured by non-agricultural work participation and number of absent workdays among those conducting non-agricultural work. Seven different chronic conditions were considered. Heart diseases had the strongest association with lower work participation for men and women. Stomach/digestive disease and arthritis/rheumatism were conditions with the largest incremental absent workdays for men and women, respectively. The associations with non-agricultural work productivity loss varied by chronic conditions, outcomes, and sex. The findings will help motivate chronic condition prevention/management programs and set priorities.

  12. Opportunities and challenges of sustainable agricultural development in China.

    PubMed

    Zhao, Jingzhu; Luo, Qishan; Deng, Hongbing; Yan, Yan

    2008-02-27

    This paper introduces the concepts and aims of sustainable agriculture in China. Sustainable agricultural development comprises sustainability of agricultural production, sustainability of the rural economy, ecological and environmental sustainability within agricultural systems and sustainability of rural society. China's prime aim is to ensure current and future food security. Based on projections of China's population, its economy, societal factors and agricultural resources and inputs between 2000 and 2050, total grain supply and demand has been predicted and the state of food security analysed. Total and per capita demand for grain will increase continuously. Total demand will reach 648 Mt in 2020 and 700 Mt in 2050, while total grain yield of cultivated land will reach 470 Mt in 2010, 585 Mt in 2030 and 656 Mt in 2050. The per capita grain production will be around 360kg in the period 2000-2030 and reach 470kg in 2050. When productivities of cultivated land and other agricultural resources are all taken into consideration, China's food self-sufficiency ratio will increase from 94.4% in 2000 to 101.3% in 2030, suggesting that China will meet its future demand for food and need for food security. Despite this positive assessment, the country's sustainable agricultural development has encountered many obstacles. These include: agricultural water-use shortage; cultivated land loss; inappropriate usage of fertilizers and pesticides, and environmental degradation.

  13. [Spatial-temporal pattern of sustainable intensification of agricultural land-use in Shandong Province, China.

    PubMed

    Niu, Shan Dong; Lyu, Xiao; Shi, Yang Yang

    2018-02-01

    Under the theoretical framework of sustainable intensification of agricultural land-use (SIALU), We used material flow analysis (MFA) method to establish evaluation index system for SIALU by utilizing data in 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015 to quantify the level of SIALU of 17 cities in Shandong Province, and analyzed the variation in input-output of resources factors of agricultural land, spatial distribution of resource productivity and environmental economic efficiency, in order to reveal spatial-temporal differentiation of SIALU. Results showed that the direct material input to agricultural lands decreased, whereas hidden flow, stock and pollutant emissions increased gradually from 2000 to 2015. The material productivity of all cities in the province showed that the coastal areas in the peninsula were relatively lower than the southern region, and the level of material productivity in the northwest region was relatively higher. Environmental economic efficiency was gradually enhanced, and the western region was relatively higher than coastal area of the peninsula. During the period examined here, the spatial pattern of SIALU of various cities showed clustered distribution change, with the western region tending to gradually increase and the eastern region tending to gradually reduce. The dynamics of SIALU among different regions were divided into six grades: Northwestern Shandong > Northern Shandong > Southwestern Shandong > Southern Shandong > Central Shandong > Coastal areas of Shandong Peninsula.

  14. REXPO: A catchment model designed to understand and simulate the loss dynamics of plant protection products and biocides from agricultural and urban areas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wittmer, I. K.; Bader, H.-P.; Scheidegger, R.; Stamm, C.

    2016-02-01

    During rain events, biocides and plant protection products are transported from agricultural fields but also from urban sources to surface waters. Originally designed to be biologically active, these compounds may harm organisms in aquatic ecosystems. Although several models allow either urban or agricultural storm events to be predicted, only few combine these two sources, and none of them include biocide losses from building envelopes. This study therefore aims to develop a model designed to predict water and substance flows from urban and agricultural sources to surface waters. We developed a model based on physical principles for water percolation and substance flow including micro- (also called matrix-) and macropore-flows for the agricultural areas together with a model representing sources, sewer systems and a wastewater treatment plant for urban areas. In a second step, the combined model was applied to a catchment where an extensive field study had been conducted. The modelled and measured discharge and compound results corresponded reasonably well in terms of quantity and dynamics. The total cumulative discharge was only slightly lower than the total measured discharge (factor 0.94). The total modelled losses of the agriculturally used herbicide atrazine were slightly lower (∼25%) than the measured losses when the soil pore water distribution coefficient (describing the partition between soil particles and pore water) (Kd) was kept constant and slightly higher if it was increased with time. The modelled urban losses of diuron from facades were within a factor of three with respect to the measured values. The results highlighted the change in importance of the flow components during a rain event from urban sources during the most intensive rain period towards agricultural ones over a prolonged time period. Applications to two other catchments, one neighbouring and one on another continent showed that the model can be applied using site specific data for

  15. Benchmarking the performance of a land data assimilation system for agricultural drought monitoring

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The application of land data assimilation systems to operational agricultural drought monitoring requires the development of (at least) three separate system sub-components: 1) a retrieval model to invert satellite-derived observations into soil moisture estimates, 2) a prognostic soil water balance...

  16. A contemporary decennial global sample of changing agricultural field sizes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    White, E.; Roy, D. P.

    2011-12-01

    In the last several hundred years agriculture has caused significant human induced Land Cover Land Use Change (LCLUC) with dramatic cropland expansion and a marked increase in agricultural productivity. The size of agricultural fields is a fundamental description of rural landscapes and provides an insight into the drivers of rural LCLUC. Increasing field sizes cause a subsequent decrease in the number of fields and therefore decreased landscape spatial complexity with impacts on biodiversity, habitat, soil erosion, plant-pollinator interactions, diffusion of disease pathogens and pests, and loss or degradation in buffers to nutrient, herbicide and pesticide flows. In this study, globally distributed locations with significant contemporary field size change were selected guided by a global map of agricultural yield and literature review and were selected to be representative of different driving forces of field size change (associated with technological innovation, socio-economic conditions, government policy, historic patterns of land cover land use, and environmental setting). Seasonal Landsat data acquired on a decadal basis (for 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010) were used to extract field boundaries and the temporal changes in field size quantified and their causes discussed.

  17. Spatially quantifying and attributing 17 years of land cover change to examine post-agricultural forest transition in Hawai`i

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lucas, M.; Trauernicht, C.; Carlson, K. M.; Miura, T.; Giambelluca, T. W.; Chen, Q.

    2017-12-01

    The past decades in Hawaii have seen large scale land use change and land cover shifts. However, much these dynamics are only described anecdotally or studied at a single locale, with little information on the extent, rate, or direction of change. This lack of data hinders any effort to assess, plan, and prioritize land management. To improve assessments of statewide vegetation and land cover change, this project developed high resolution, sub-pixel, percent cover maps of forest, grassland and bare earth at annual time steps from 1999 to 2016. Vegetation cover was quantified using archived LANDSAT imagery and a custom remote-sensing algorithm developed in the Google Earth Engine platform. A statistical trend analysis of annual maps of the these three proportional land covers were then used to detect land cover transitions across the archipelago. The aim of this work focused on quantifying the total area of change, annual rates of change and final vegetation cover outcomes statewide. Additionally these findings were attributed to past and current land uses and management history by compiling spatial datasets of development, agriculture, forest restoration sites and burned areas statewide. Results indicated that nearly 10% of the state's land surfaces are suspected to have transitioned between the three cover classes during the study period. Total statewide net change resulted in a gain in forest cover with largest areas of change occurring in unmanaged areas, current and past pastoral land, commercial forestry and abandoned cultivated land. The fastest annual rates of change were forest increases that occurred in restoration areas and commercial forestry. These findings indicate that Hawaii is going through a forest transition, primarily driven by agricultural abandonment with likely feedbacks from invasive species, but also influenced by the establishment of forestry production on former agricultural lands that show potential for native forest restoration. These

  18. "Left High and Dry": Federal Land Policies and Pima Agriculture, 1860-1910

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dejong, David H.

    2009-01-01

    The Akimel O'odham, or "River People" (Pima), have lived in the middle Gila River Valley for centuries, irrigating and cultivating the same land as their Huhugam ancestors did for millennia. Continuing their irrigated agricultural economy bequeathed to them by their Huhugam ancestors, the Pima leveraged a favorable geopolitical setting into a…

  19. The agroecological matrix as alternative to the land-sparing/agriculture intensification model.

    PubMed

    Perfecto, Ivette; Vandermeer, John

    2010-03-30

    Among the myriad complications involved in the current food crisis, the relationship between agriculture and the rest of nature is one of the most important yet remains only incompletely analyzed. Particularly in tropical areas, agriculture is frequently seen as the antithesis of the natural world, where the problem is framed as one of minimizing land devoted to agriculture so as to devote more to conservation of biodiversity and other ecosystem services. In particular, the "forest transition model" projects an overly optimistic vision of a future where increased agricultural intensification (to produce more per hectare) and/or increased rural-to-urban migration (to reduce the rural population that cuts forest for agriculture) suggests a near future of much tropical aforestation and higher agricultural production. Reviewing recent developments in ecological theory (showing the importance of migration between fragments and local extinction rates) coupled with empirical evidence, we argue that there is little to suggest that the forest transition model is useful for tropical areas, at least under current sociopolitical structures. A model that incorporates the agricultural matrix as an integral component of conservation programs is proposed. Furthermore, we suggest that this model will be most successful within a framework of small-scale agroecological production.

  20. Impact of the Spatial Arrangement of Agricultural Land Use on Ecosystems Services and Peri-Urban Livelihoods at the Landscape Scale.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Inkoom, J. N.; Fürst, C.

    2014-12-01

    The relationship between agricultural land uses (ALU) and their impact on ecosystems services (ES) including biodiversity conservation is complex. This complexity has been augmented by isolated research on the impact of ALU on the landscape's capacity to provide ES in most climatically vulnerable areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. Though a considerable number of studies emphasise the nexus between specific land use types and their impact on ES, a sufficient modelling basis for an empirical consideration of spatial interactions between different agricultural land uses at the landscape scale within peri-urban areas in Sub-Saharan Africa is consistently missing. The need to assess and address significant issues regarding size, shape, spatial location, and interactivity of different land use patches in assessing land use interactions and their impact on ecosystem service provision necessitated this investigation. To formulate a methodology to correspond to this complexity, ES obtained from a characteristically agricultural and urbanizing landscapes were mapped using analytical hierarchical processes and management expert approaches. Further, landscape metrics and mean enrichment factor approaches are explored as neighbourhood assessment tools aimed at assessing the mutual impact gradient of agricultural and adjacent urban land uses on ES provision. Implementation is undertaken in GISCAME using a 2012 rapideye image classification and primary data collected on selected ES from local farmers within the VEA catchment of Upper East, Ghana. The outcome aims to provide the understanding of expected trade-offs and synergies varying ALU could pose to current and potential ES provision within urbanizing landscapes. Policy implications for observed trade-offs and synergies of ALU interaction on ES, rural livelihoods, and food security are communicated to farmers and decision makers. Keywords: Agricultural land use, neighbourhood interaction, ecosystems services, livelihoods, GISCAME.

  1. Performing and updating an inventory of Oregon's expanding irrigated agricultural lands utilizing remote sensing technology

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hall, M. J.

    1981-01-01

    An inventory technique based upon using remote sensing technology, interpreting both high altitude aerial photography and LANDSAT multispectral scanner imagery, is discussed. It is noted that once the final land use inventory maps of irrigated agricultural lands are available and approximately scaled they may be overlaid directly onto either multispectral scanner or return beam vidicon prints, thereby providing an inexpensive updating procedure.

  2. Weighing the relative potential impacts of climate change and land-use change on an endangered bird

    EPA Science Inventory

    Climate change and land-use change are projected to be two of the greatest drivers of biodiversity loss over the coming century. Land-use change, particularly the conversion of more natural lands to agriculture or residential or commercial development has resulted in extensive h...

  3. LUMINATE: Linking agricultural land use, local water quality and Gulf of Mexico hypoxia

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    In this paper, we discuss the importance of developing integrated assessment models to support the design and implementation of policies to address water quality problems associated with agricultural pollution. We describe a new modelling system, LUMINATE, which links land use decisions made at the...

  4. Variations in Field-Scale Nitrogen and Phosphorus Concentrations in Runoff as a Function of Land-Use Practice

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2004-09-01

    for agricultural land-use practices that promoted P subsidies to the soils. In particular, Reddy et al. (1978) found that manure amendments...highest from this land-use practice versus the other land uses. Woodlots did not receive agricultural N subsidies in the form of manure or fertilizer...L. G., Andraski, T. W., and Powell, J. M. (2001) “Management practice effects on phosphorus losses in runoff on corn production systems,” J

  5. Gypsum as a best management practice for reducing P loss from agricultural fields

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Phosphorus loss from agricultural fields fertilized with poultry litter (PL) may contribute to eutrophication of nearby rivers, lakes, and streams. It has been suggested that gypsum can be used as a soil amendment to reduce P loss from these fields. Also, a new USDA-NRCS National Conservation Practi...

  6. Has the conversion of natural wetlands to agricultural land increased the incidence and severity of damaging freezes in south Florida?

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Marshall, C.H.; Pielke, R.A.; Steyaert, L.T.

    2004-01-01

    On several occasions, winter freezes have wrought severe destruction on Florida agriculture. A series of devastating freezes around the turn of the twentieth century, and again during the 1980s, were related to anomalies in the large-scale flow of the ocean–atmosphere system. During the twentieth century, substantial areas of wetlands in south Florida were drained and converted to agricultural land for winter fresh vegetable and sugarcane production. During this time, much of the citrus industry also was relocated to those areas to escape the risk of freeze farther to the north. The purpose of this paper is to present a modeling study designed to investigate whether the conversion of the wetlands to agriculture itself could have resulted in or exacerbated the severity of recent freezes in those agricultural areas of south Florida.For three recent freeze events, a pair of simulations was undertaken with the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System. One member of each pair employed land surface properties that represent pre-1900s (near natural) land cover, whereas the other member of each pair employed data that represent near-current land-use patterns as derived from analysis of Landsat data valid for 1992/93. These two different land cover datasets capture well the conversion of wetlands to agriculture in south Florida during the twentieth century. Use of current land surface properties resulted in colder simulated minimum temperatures and temperatures that remained below freezing for a longer period at locations of key agricultural production centers in south Florida that were once natural wetlands. Examination of time series of the surface energy budget from one of the cases reveals that when natural land cover is used, a persistent moisture flux from the underlying wetlands during the nighttime hours served to prevent the development of below-freezing temperatures at those same locations. When the model results were subjected to an important sensitivity factor

  7. Land use effects on green water fluxes from agricultural production in Mato Grosso, Brazil

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lathuilliere, M. J.; Johnson, M. S.; Donner, S. D.

    2010-12-01

    The blue water/green water paradigm is increasingly used to differentiate between subsequent routing of precipitation once it reaches the soil. “Blue” water is that which infiltrates deep in the soil to become streams and aquifers, while “green” water is that which remains in the soil and is either evaporated (non-productive green water) or transpired by plants (productive green water). This differentiation in the fate of precipitation has provided a new way of thinking about water resources, especially in agriculture for which better use of productive green water may help to relieve stresses from irrigation (blue water). The state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, presents a unique case for the study of green water fluxes due to an expanding agricultural land base planted primarily to soybean, maize, sugar cane, and cotton. These products are highly dependent on green water resources in Mato Grosso where crops are almost entirely rain-fed. We estimate the change in green water fluxes from agricultural expansion for the 2000-2008 period in the state of Mato Grosso based on agricultural production data from the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatísticas and a modified Penman-Monteith equation. Initial results for seven municipalities suggest an increase in agricultural green water fluxes, ranging from 1-10% per year, due primarily to increases in cropped areas. Further research is underway to elucidate the role of green water flux variations from land use practices on the regional water cycle.

  8. Shifting agriculture: the main cause of landscape degradation in the Central Spanish Pyrenees

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lasanta, Teodoro; Nadal-Romero, Estela; Errea, Paz

    2017-04-01

    Cereal agriculture occupied large areas in the Spanish Pyrenees to feed the population in a socio-economic system of limited exchanges with the outside. In the Western valleys, shifting agriculture constitutes the dominant field pattern, representing almost three-quarters of the traditional agricultural space (Lasanta et al., in press). These were cultivated at times of heavy population growth, necessitating steep and stony hillsides with poor soil to be tilled, or the ones that were far away from the village. The fields were created by clearing the vegetation from a slope, then burning it to use the ash as a fertilizer. Cereal was grown for 3-4 years, after which they were abandoned for 20-30 years to recover fertility, and the cycle was repeated. Almost all the fields (99%) using shifting agriculture had been abandoned by the 1950s. This study analyzes the role of the shifting agriculture in soil erosion and landscape degradation. For this purpose, (i) experimental plots, which reproduce the traditional agriculture in the Pyrenees and the abandonment processes, and (ii) the cartography made from the SIOSE (2009), which shows the present land cover 50 years after cropland abandonment, were used. The results show that shifting agriculture caused higher soil losses than other agricultural uses (1.36 kg m-2 yr-1): fallow land (0.87 kg m-2 yr-1), chemically fertilized cereal (0.86 kg m-2 yr-1) and meadow (0.14 kg m-2 yr-1). Also, after land abandonment, soil losses are higher in shifting agriculture (0.78 kg m-2 yr-1) than cereal lands (0.73 kg m-2 yr-1). The burning of the shrub cover and the use of ashes as fertilizer did not contribute to improve the soil quality, which explains both the higher soil losses during the cultivated period and after the abandonment, since slower plant succession occurs. The results obtained from the SIOSE confirm that the change from meadows to shrubland is relatively fast, as a consequence of the low relationship with livestock

  9. Land quality, sustainable development and environmental degradation in agricultural districts: A computational approach based on entropy indexes

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Zambon, Ilaria, E-mail: ilaria.zambon@unitus.it; Colantoni, Andrea; Carlucci, Margherita

    Land Degradation (LD) in socio-environmental systems negatively impacts sustainable development paths. This study proposes a framework to LD evaluation based on indicators of diversification in the spatial distribution of sensitive land. We hypothesize that conditions for spatial heterogeneity in a composite index of land sensitivity are more frequently associated to areas prone to LD than spatial homogeneity. Spatial heterogeneity is supposed to be associated with degraded areas that act as hotspots for future degradation processes. A diachronic analysis (1960–2010) was performed at the Italian agricultural district scale to identify environmental factors associated with spatial heterogeneity in the degree of landmore » sensitivity to degradation based on the Environmentally Sensitive Area Index (ESAI). In 1960, diversification in the level of land sensitivity measured using two common indexes of entropy (Shannon's diversity and Pielou's evenness) increased significantly with the ESAI, indicating a high level of land sensitivity to degradation. In 2010, surface area classified as “critical” to LD was the highest in districts with diversification in the spatial distribution of ESAI values, confirming the hypothesis formulated above. Entropy indexes, based on observed alignment with the concept of LD, constitute a valuable base to inform mitigation strategies against desertification. - Highlights: • Spatial heterogeneity is supposed to be associated with degraded areas. • Entropy indexes can inform mitigation strategies against desertification. • Assessing spatial diversification in the degree of land sensitivity to degradation. • Mediterranean rural areas have an evident diversity in agricultural systems. • A diachronic analysis carried out at the Italian agricultural district scale.« less

  10. Rainfall-runoff-soil and nutrient loss relationships for plot size areas of bhetagad watershed in Central Himalaya, India

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kothyari, B. P.; Verma, P. K.; Joshi, B. K.; Kothyari, U. C.

    2004-06-01

    The Bhetagad watershed in Kumaon Hills of Central Himalaya represents for hydro-meteorological conditions of the middle mountains over the Hindu Kush Himalayas. This study was conducted to assess the runoff, soil loss and subsequent nutrient losses from different prominent land uses in the Bhetagad watershed of Central Himalayas. Four experimental natural plots each of 20 m length and 5 m width were delineated on four most common land covers viz, pine forests, tea plantation, rainfed agricultural and degraded lands. Monthly values of runoff, soil loss and nutrient loss, for four successive years (1998-2001), from these land uses were quantified following standard methodologies. The annual runoff in these plots ranged between 51 and 3593 m 3/ha while the annual soil loss varied between 0.06 and 5.47 tonnes/ha during the entire study period. The loss of organic matter was found to be maximum in plot having pine forest followed by plot having tea plantation as the land cover. Annual loss of total N (6.24 kg/ha), total P (3.88 kg/ha) and total K (5.98 kg/ha),per unit loss of soil (tonnes/ha), was maximum from the plot having rainfed agricultural crop as the land cover. The loss of total N ranged between 0.30 and 21.27 kg/ha, total P ranged between 0.14 and 9.42 kg/ha, total K ranged from 0.12 to 11.31 kg/ha whereas organic matter loss varied between 3.65 and 255.16 kg/ha, from different experimental plots. The findings will lead towards devising better conservation/management options for mountain land use systems.

  11. [Nitrogen Losses Under the Action of Different Land Use Types of Small Catchment in Three Gorges Region].

    PubMed

    Chen, Cheng-long; Gao, Ming; Ni, Jiu-pai; Xie, De-ti; Deng, Hua

    2016-05-15

    As an independent water-collecting area, small catchment is the source of non-point source pollution in Three Gorges Region. Choosing 3 kinds of the most representative land-use types and using them to lay monitoring points of overland runoff within the small catchment of Wangjiagou in Fuling of Three Gorges Region, the author used the samples of surface runoff collected through the twelve natural rainfalls from May to December to analyze the feature of spatial-temporal change of Nitrogen's losses concentrations under the influence of different land use types and the hillslopes and small catchments composed by those land use types, revealing the relation between different land-use types and Nitrogen's losses of small catchments in Three Gorges Region. The result showed: the average losses concentration of TN showed the biggest difference for different land use types during the period of spring crops, and the average value of dry land was 1. 61 times and 6.73 times of the values of interplanting field of mulberry and paddy field, respectively; the change of the losses concentration of TN was most conspicuous in the 3 periods of paddy field. The main element was NO₃⁻-N, and the relation between TN and NO₃⁻-N showed a significant linear correlation. TN's and NO₃⁻-N's losses concentrations were significantly and positively correlated with the area ratio of corn and mustard, but got a significant negative correlation with the area ratio of paddy and mulberry; NH₄⁺-N's losses concentrations got a significant positive correlation with the area ratio of mustard. Among all the hillslopes composed by different land use types, TN's average losses concentration of surface runoff of the hillslope composed by interplantating field of mulberry and paddy land during the three periods was the lowest, and the values were 2.55, 11.52, 8.58 mg · L⁻¹, respectively; the hillslope of rotation plough land of corn and mustard had the maximum value, and the values were

  12. Potential Land Mapping for Agricultural Extentification in Mengwi Sub-district to Support Food Balance in Badung Regency, Indonesia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Made Trigunasih, Ni; Lanya, Indayati; Ratna Adi, I. G. P.; Hutauruk, Jeremia; Feronika

    2017-12-01

    The availability of agricultural land for food crops, especially in Bali, is rapidly declining every year. The availability of rice fields in Badung regency, especially in Mengwi Sub-district until 2040 is no longer exist, this means that Mengwi Sub-district has lost the rice fields. The existence of land conversion will affect food availability for the country, so there will be food deficit. The food balance in Badung Regency in 2015 with Cultivation Index (IP) and initial productivity in each Sub-district showed a food deficit of 32,843.44 tons, then after increasing IP of 2,5 the productivity in Kecamatan Petang and Kuta at 7 tons / ha, and Abiansemal, Mengwi and North Kuta Sub-districts with 8 tons / ha which indicate a surplus in 2020 and 2030 respectively of 25,155.19 tons, and 3,401.79 tons. But in 2040 and 2050 there was a food deficiency of 18,434.78 tons and 11,824.82 tons respectively. Considering that productivity improvement efforts cannot rely solely on intensification approaches, but also need to be done with extensification or expansion of agricultural areas to support food production. This research was conducted in Mengwi Sub-district, Badung Regency. Mengwi Sub-district consists of 20 villages. The objectives of this research are: (1) to map potential land that can be converted to agricultural land of food crops, and (2) to know the amount of food demand to supply food balance in Badung Regency in 2040. Research methodology includes (1) preliminary study, (2) interpretation of satellite images, (3) mapping and measurement of land area, and (4) calculation of additional food availability. The results indicate that the potential land that can be converted to agricultural land for food crops is 132 ha, consists of 128.51 ha of mixed plantation and 3.49 ha of bare land/bush. The result of additional land produced 1601.73 tons of rice that increased the food availability in Mengwi Sub-district to 45425.7 tons. The addition of surplus in 2040 in Mengwi

  13. Agricultural damages and losses from ARkStorm scenario flooding in California

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Wein, Anne; David Mitchell,; Peters, Jeff; John Rowden,; Johnny Tran,; Alessandra Corsi,; Dinitz, Laura B.

    2016-01-01

    Scientists designed the ARkStorm scenario to challenge the preparedness of California communities for widespread flooding with a historical precedence and increased likelihood under climate change. California is an important provider of vegetables, fruits, nuts, and other agricultural products to the nation. This study analyzes the agricultural damages and losses pertaining to annual crops, perennial crops, and livestock in California exposed to ARkStorm flooding. Statewide, flood damage is incurred on approximately 23% of annual crop acreage, 5% of perennial crop acreage, and 5% of livestock, e.g., dairy, feedlot, and poultry, acreage. The sum of field repair costs, forgone income, and product replacement costs span $3.7 and $7.1 billion (2009) for a range of inundation durations. Perennial crop loss estimates dominate, and the vulnerability of orchards and vineyards has likely increased with recent expansion. Crop reestablishment delays from levee repair and dewatering more than double annual crop losses in the delta islands, assuming the fragile system does not remain permanently flooded. The exposure of almost 200,000 dairy cows to ARkStorm flooding poses livestock evacuation challenges. Read More: http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/%28ASCE%29NH.1527-6996.0000174

  14. Drought Impacts on Agricultural Production and Land Fallowing in California's Central Valley in 2015

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rosevelt, C.; Melton, F. S.; Johnson, L.; Guzman, A.; Verdin, J. P.; Thenkabail, P. S.; Mueller, R.; Jones, J.; Willis, P.

    2015-12-01

    The ongoing drought in California substantially reduced surface water supplies for millions of acres of irrigated farmland in California's Central Valley. Rapid assessment of drought impacts on agricultural production can aid water managers in assessing mitigation options, and guide decision making with respect to mitigation of drought impacts. Satellite remote sensing offers an efficient way to provide quantitative assessments of drought impacts on agricultural production and increases in fallow acreage associated with reductions in water supply. A key advantage of satellite-based assessments is that they can provide a measure of land fallowing that is consistent across both space and time. We describe an approach for monthly and seasonal mapping of uncultivated agricultural acreage developed as part of a joint effort by USGS, USDA, NASA, and the California Department of Water Resources to provide timely assessments of land fallowing during drought events. This effort has used the Central Valley of California as a pilot region for development and testing of an operational approach. To provide quantitative measures of uncultivated agricultural acreage from satellite data early in the season, we developed a decision tree algorithm and applied it to timeseries of data from Landsat TM, ETM+, OLI, and MODIS. Our effort has been focused on development of indicators of drought impacts in the March - August timeframe based on measures of crop development patterns relative to a reference period with average or above average rainfall. To assess the accuracy of the algorithms, monthly ground validation surveys were conducted across 650 fields from March - September in 2014 and 2015. We present the algorithm along with updated results from the accuracy assessment, and data and maps of land fallowing in the Central Valley in 2015.

  15. Current Status and Future Potential of Energy Derived from Chinese Agricultural Land: A Review

    PubMed Central

    Mao, Chunlan; Feng, Yongzhong; Zhang, Tong; Xing, Zhenjie; Wang, Yanhong; Zou, Shuzhen; Yin, Dongxue; Han, Xinhui; Ren, Guangxin; Yang, Gaihe

    2015-01-01

    Energy crisis is receiving attention with regard to the global economy and environmental sustainable development. Developing new energy resources to optimize the energy supply structure has become an important measure to prevent energy shortage as well as achieving energy conservation and emission reduction in China. This study proposed the concept of energy agriculture and constructed an energy agricultural technical support system based on the analysis of energy supply and demand and China's foreign dependence on energy resources, combined with the function of agriculture in the energy field. Manufacturing technology equipment and agricultural and forestry energy, including crop or forestry plants and animal feces, were used in the system. The current status and future potential of China's marginal land resources, energy crop germplasm resources, and agricultural and forestry waste energy-oriented resources were analyzed. Developing the function of traditional agriculture in food production may promote China's social, economic, and environmental sustainable development and achieve energy saving and emission reduction. PMID:25874229

  16. Current status and future potential of energy derived from Chinese agricultural land: a review.

    PubMed

    Zhai, Ningning; Mao, Chunlan; Feng, Yongzhong; Zhang, Tong; Xing, Zhenjie; Wang, Yanhong; Zou, Shuzhen; Yin, Dongxue; Han, Xinhui; Ren, Guangxin; Yang, Gaihe

    2015-01-01

    Energy crisis is receiving attention with regard to the global economy and environmental sustainable development. Developing new energy resources to optimize the energy supply structure has become an important measure to prevent energy shortage as well as achieving energy conservation and emission reduction in China. This study proposed the concept of energy agriculture and constructed an energy agricultural technical support system based on the analysis of energy supply and demand and China's foreign dependence on energy resources, combined with the function of agriculture in the energy field. Manufacturing technology equipment and agricultural and forestry energy, including crop or forestry plants and animal feces, were used in the system. The current status and future potential of China's marginal land resources, energy crop germplasm resources, and agricultural and forestry waste energy-oriented resources were analyzed. Developing the function of traditional agriculture in food production may promote China's social, economic, and environmental sustainable development and achieve energy saving and emission reduction.

  17. Land loss due to recent hurricanes in coastal Louisiana, U.S.A.

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Palaseanu-Lovejoy, Monica; Kranenburg, Christine J.; Barras, John A.; Brock, John C.

    2013-01-01

    The aim of this study is to improve estimates of wetland land loss in two study regions of coastal Louisiana, U.S.A., due to the extreme storms that impacted the region between 2004 and 2009. The estimates are based on change-detection-mapping analysis that incorporates pre and postlandfall (Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike) fractional-water classifications using a combination of high-resolution (<5 m) QuickBird, IKONOS, and GeoEye-1, and medium-resolution (30 m) Landsat Thematic Mapper satellite imagery. This process was applied in two study areas: the Hackberry area located in the southwestern part of chenier plain that was impacted by Hurricanes Rita (September 24, 2005) and Ike (September 13, 2008), and the Delacroix area located in the eastern delta plain that was impacted by Hurricanes Katrina (August 29, 2005) and Gustav (September 1, 2008). In both areas, effects of the hurricanes include enlargement of existing bodies of open water and erosion of fringing marsh areas. Surge-removed marsh was easily identified in stable marshes but was difficult to identify in degraded or flooded marshes. Persistent land loss in the Hackberry area due to Hurricane Rita was approximately 5.8% and increased by an additional 7.9% due to Hurricane Ike, although this additional area may yet recover. About 80% of the Hackberry study area remained unchanged since 2003. In the Delacroix area, persistent land loss due to Hurricane Katrina measured approximately 4.9% of the study area, while Hurricane Gustav caused minimal impact of 0.6% land loss by November 2009. Continued recovery in this area may further erase Hurricane Gustav's impact in the absence of new storm events.

  18. Sensitivity Analysis in Agent-Based Models of Socio-Ecological Systems: An Example in Agricultural Land Conservation for Lake Water Quality Improvement

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ligmann-Zielinska, A.; Kramer, D. B.; Spence Cheruvelil, K.; Soranno, P.

    2012-12-01

    Socio-ecological systems are dynamic and nonlinear. To account for this complexity, we employ agent-based models (ABMs) to study macro-scale phenomena resulting from micro-scale interactions among system components. Because ABMs typically have many parameters, it is challenging to identify which parameters contribute to the emerging macro-scale patterns. In this paper, we address the following question: What is the extent of participation in agricultural land conservation programs given heterogeneous landscape, economic, social, and individual decision making criteria in complex lakesheds? To answer this question, we: [1] built an ABM for our model system; [2] simulated land use change resulting from agent decision making, [3] estimated the uncertainty of the model output, decomposed it and apportioned it to each of the parameters in the model. Our model system is a freshwater socio-ecological system - that of farmland and lake water quality within a region containing a large number of lakes and high proportions of agricultural lands. Our study focuses on examining how agricultural land conversion from active to fallow reduces freshwater nutrient loading and improves water quality. Consequently, our ABM is composed of farmer agents who make decisions related to participation in a government-sponsored Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) managed by the Farm Service Agency (FSA). We also include an FSA agent, who selects enrollment offers made by farmers and announces the signup results leading to land use change. The model is executed in a Monte Carlo simulation framework to generate a distribution of maps of fallow lands that are used for calculating nutrient loading to lakes. What follows is a variance-based sensitivity analysis of the results. We compute sensitivity indices for individual parameters and their combinations, allowing for identification of the most influential as well as the insignificant inputs. In the case study, we observe that farmland

  19. Major pollutants in soils of abandoned agricultural land contaminated by e-waste activities in Hong Kong.

    PubMed

    Lopez, Brenda Natalia; Man, Yu Bon; Zhao, Yin Ge; Zheng, Jin Shu; Leung, Anna Oi Wah; Yao, Jun; Wong, Ming Hung

    2011-07-01

    Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) compounds and five heavy metals (cadmium, copper, chromium, lead, and zinc) were determined in soil samples collected from six sites of abandoned agricultural land affected by electronic-waste: e-waste dismantling workshop [EW (DW)], e-waste open burning site [EW (OBS)], e-waste storage [EW (S)], and agricultural (A) in the New Territories, Hong Kong. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals were detected in all soil samples. EW (DW) contained the highest concentrations of PAHs, Cr, Cu, and Zn, whereas EW (OBS) had the highest concentrations of PCBs, PBDEs, Cd, and Pb. PAH at EW (DW) and EW (OBS) and PCB concentrations at EW (OBS) exceeded the target values of the New Dutch list, whereas Cd, Cu, Cr, Pb, and Zn levels exceeded the Chinese legislation for the protection of agricultural production and safeguarding of human health, by 3-11 times at EW (OBS) and 5-8 times at EW (DW). Lead at EW (OBS) and EW (DW) and Cr at EW (DW) greatly exceeded the Canadian Soil Quality Guidelines by 46 and 20 times and 27 times, respectively. Concentrations of POPs and heavy metals at EW (DW) and EW (OBS) were significantly higher than at EW (S) and A. It was concluded that e-waste activities led to increases of toxic chemicals at these abandoned agricultural land, which would hinder the redevelopment of the land.

  20. Quantitative Analysis of Land Loss in Coastal Louisiana Using Remote Sensing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wales, P. M.; Kuszmaul, J.; Roberts, C.

    2005-12-01

    For the past thirty-five years the land loss along the Louisiana Coast has been recognized as a growing problem. One of the clearest indicators of this land loss is that in 2000 smooth cord grass (spartina alterniflora) was turning brown well before its normal hibernation period. Over 100,000 acres of marsh were affected by the 2000 browning. In 2001 data were collected using low altitude helicopter based transects of the coast, with 7,400 data points being collected by researchers at the USGS, National Wetlands Research Center, and Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. The surveys contained data describing the characteristics of the marsh, including latitude, longitude, marsh condition, marsh color, percent vegetated, and marsh die-back. Creating a model that combines remote sensing images, field data, and statistical analysis to develop a methodology for estimating the margin of error in measurements of coastal land loss (erosion) is the ultimate goal of the study. A model was successfully created using a series of band combinations (used as predictive variables). The most successful band combinations or predictive variables were the braud value [(Sum Visible TM Bands - Sum Infrared TM Bands)/(Sum Visible TM Bands + Sum Infrared TM Bands)], TM band 7/ TM band 2, brightness, NDVI, wetness, vegetation index, and a 7x7 autocovariate nearest neighbor floating window. The model values were used to generate the logistic regression model. A new image was created based on the logistic regression probability equation where each pixel represents the probability of finding water or non-water at that location in each image. Pixels within each image that have a high probability of representing water have a value close to 1 and pixels with a low probability of representing water have a value close to 0. A logistic regression model is proposed that uses seven independent variables. This model yields an accurate classification in 86.5% of the locations considered in the

  1. Food losses and waste in China and their implication for water and land.

    PubMed

    Liu, Junguo; Lundqvist, Jan; Weinberg, Josh; Gustafsson, Josephine

    2013-09-17

    Conventional approaches to food security are questionable due to their emphasis on food production and corresponding neglect of the huge amount of food losses and waste. We provide a comprehensive review on available information concerning China's food losses and waste. The results show that the food loss rate (FLR) of grains in the entire supply chain is 19.0% ± 5.8% in China, with the consumer segment having the single largest portion of food waste of 7.3% ± 4.8%. The total water footprint (WF) related to food losses and waste in China in 2010 was estimated to be 135 ± 60 billion m(3), equivalent to the WF of Canada. Such losses also imply that 26 ± 11 million hectares of land were used in vain, equivalent to the total arable land of Mexico. There is an urgent need for dialogue between actors in the supply chain, from farmer to the consumer, on strategies to reduce the high rates of food losses and waste and thereby make a more worthwhile use of scarce natural resources.

  2. Threats from urban expansion, agricultural transformation and forest loss on global conservation priority areas.

    PubMed

    Veach, Victoria; Moilanen, Atte; Di Minin, Enrico

    2017-01-01

    Including threats in spatial conservation prioritization helps identify areas for conservation actions where biodiversity is at imminent risk of extinction. At the global level, an important limitation when identifying spatial priorities for conservation actions is the lack of information on the spatial distribution of threats. Here, we identify spatial conservation priorities under three prominent threats to biodiversity (residential and commercial development, agricultural expansion, and forest loss), which are primary drivers of habitat loss and threaten the persistence of the highest number of species in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, and for which spatial data is available. We first explore how global priority areas for the conservation of vertebrate (mammals, birds, and amphibians) species coded in the Red List as vulnerable to each threat differ spatially. We then identify spatial conservation priorities for all species vulnerable to all threats. Finally, we identify the potentially most threatened areas by overlapping the identified priority areas for conservation with maps for each threat. We repeat the same with four other well-known global conservation priority area schemes, namely Key Biodiversity Areas, Biodiversity Hotspots, the global Protected Area Network, and Wilderness Areas. We find that residential and commercial development directly threatens only about 4% of the global top 17% priority areas for species vulnerable under this threat. However, 50% of the high priority areas for species vulnerable to forest loss overlap with areas that have already experienced some forest loss. Agricultural expansion overlapped with ~20% of high priority areas. Biodiversity Hotspots had the greatest proportion of their total area under direct threat from all threats, while expansion of low intensity agriculture was found to pose an imminent threat to Wilderness Areas under future agricultural expansion. Our results

  3. Threats from urban expansion, agricultural transformation and forest loss on global conservation priority areas

    PubMed Central

    Moilanen, Atte; Di Minin, Enrico

    2017-01-01

    Including threats in spatial conservation prioritization helps identify areas for conservation actions where biodiversity is at imminent risk of extinction. At the global level, an important limitation when identifying spatial priorities for conservation actions is the lack of information on the spatial distribution of threats. Here, we identify spatial conservation priorities under three prominent threats to biodiversity (residential and commercial development, agricultural expansion, and forest loss), which are primary drivers of habitat loss and threaten the persistence of the highest number of species in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, and for which spatial data is available. We first explore how global priority areas for the conservation of vertebrate (mammals, birds, and amphibians) species coded in the Red List as vulnerable to each threat differ spatially. We then identify spatial conservation priorities for all species vulnerable to all threats. Finally, we identify the potentially most threatened areas by overlapping the identified priority areas for conservation with maps for each threat. We repeat the same with four other well-known global conservation priority area schemes, namely Key Biodiversity Areas, Biodiversity Hotspots, the global Protected Area Network, and Wilderness Areas. We find that residential and commercial development directly threatens only about 4% of the global top 17% priority areas for species vulnerable under this threat. However, 50% of the high priority areas for species vulnerable to forest loss overlap with areas that have already experienced some forest loss. Agricultural expansion overlapped with ~20% of high priority areas. Biodiversity Hotspots had the greatest proportion of their total area under direct threat from all threats, while expansion of low intensity agriculture was found to pose an imminent threat to Wilderness Areas under future agricultural expansion. Our results

  4. The effect of changing land use on soil radiocarbon

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Harrison, K.G.; Broecker, W.S.; Bonani, G.

    Most carbon budgets require greening of the terrestrial biosphere as a sink for some of the excess carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuel burning and deforestation. Much of this storage is thought to occur in soils, but running counter to this conclusion is the observation that cultivation has reduced the agricultural reservoir of soil humus. Radiocarbon measurements in agricultural soils lend support to this browning of agricultural lands. Moreover, the loss is from the fast cycling portion of the humus.

  5. Nitrate Leaching From Intensive Forest Management on Abandonded Agricultural Land: Fifth-Year Results

    Treesearch

    Thomas M. Williams; Charles Gresham

    2002-01-01

    This report is on the fifth year results of a cooperative research project to examine water quality impacts of maximizing plantation growth on abandoned agricultural land, first reported after two years in the Ninth Southern Silvicultural Research Conference. The study, located on International Paper's Southland Experimental Forest at Bainbridge GA, examines...

  6. Managing Nitrogen in Croplands: Implications for Increasing Ecosystem Services in Agricultural Landscapes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jackson, L.

    2011-12-01

    Many agricultural landscapes in the temperate zone are dominated by agroecosystems that are managed with high inputs of agrochemicals, including synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizers. The process of agricultural intensification increases crop production per unit area, but also often results in loss of environmental quality (such as N contamination of waters, eutrophication, atmospheric N deposition, and emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O), a potent greenhouse gas). Loss of biodiversity and its 'functional homogenization' is another concern. Not only does little land in these landscapes remain in natural ecosystems, but there are negative off-site impacts of intensive agriculture on non-target organisms. Segregating agroecosystems with high-input agricultural production from natural ecosystems (land sparing) is one view to support both food security and biodiversity conservation. But proponents of land sparing rarely address the loss of other ecosystem services, such as those related to environmental quality, health, and human well-being (e.g., livelihoods and cultural values). An emerging view is that increased reliance on ecological processes in agroecosystems ('ecological intensification') is more feasible when the landscape mosaic includes planned and unplanned biodiversity. This requires research on how to support multiple ecosystem services through the integration of agricultural production and biodiversity conservation in the same landscape, and how ecological and physico-chemical processes at various spatial scales are interlinked. It is an enormous challenge to increase reliance on ecological processes for N availability for crop productivity. There are skeptics who think that this will be detrimental for food security, despite benefits for other types of ecosystem services. Using examples from agricultural landscapes in California, mechanisms for ecologically-based N cycling will be discussed, such as: 1) increasing the reservoir of soil organic N and the

  7. Bayesian spatial modelling and the significance of agricultural land use to scrub typhus infection in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Wardrop, Nicola A; Kuo, Chi-Chien; Wang, Hsi-Chieh; Clements, Archie C A; Lee, Pei-Fen; Atkinson, Peter M

    2013-11-01

    Scrub typhus is transmitted by the larval stage of trombiculid mites. Environmental factors, including land cover and land use, are known to influence breeding and survival of trombiculid mites and, thus, also the spatial heterogeneity of scrub typhus risk. Here, a spatially autoregressive modelling framework was applied to scrub typhus incidence data from Taiwan, covering the period 2003 to 2011, to provide increased understanding of the spatial pattern of scrub typhus risk and the environmental and socioeconomic factors contributing to this pattern. A clear spatial pattern in scrub typhus incidence was observed within Taiwan, and incidence was found to be significantly correlated with several land cover classes, temperature, elevation, normalized difference vegetation index, rainfall, population density, average income and the proportion of the population that work in agriculture. The final multivariate regression model included statistically significant correlations between scrub typhus incidence and average income (negatively correlated), the proportion of land that contained mosaics of cropland and vegetation (positively correlated) and elevation (positively correlated). These results highlight the importance of land cover on scrub typhus incidence: mosaics of cropland and vegetation represent a transitional land cover type which can provide favourable habitats for rodents and, therefore, trombiculid mites. In Taiwan, these transitional land cover areas tend to occur in less populated and mountainous areas, following the frontier establishment and subsequent partial abandonment of agricultural cultivation, due to demographic and socioeconomic changes. Future land use policy decision-making should ensure that potential public health outcomes, such as modified risk of scrub typhus, are considered.

  8. Areal Changes of Lentic Water Bodies Within an Agricultural Basin of the Argentinean Pampas. Disentangling Land Management from Climatic Causes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Booman, Gisel Carolina; Calandroni, Mirta; Laterra, Pedro; Cabria, Fabián; Iribarne, Oscar; Vázquez, Pablo

    2012-12-01

    Wetland loss is a frequent concern for the environmental management of rural landscapes, but poor disentanglement between climatic and land management causes frequently constrains both proper diagnoses and planning. The aim of this study is to address areal changes induced by non-climatic factors on lentic water bodies (LWB) within an agricultural basin of the Argentinean Pampas, and the human activities that might be involved. The LWB of the Mar Chiquita basin (Buenos Aires province, Argentina) were mapped using Landsat images from 1998-2008 and then corrected for precipitation variability by considering the regional hydrological status on each date. LWB areal changes were statistically and spatially analyzed in relation to land use changes, channelization of streams, and drainage of small SWB in the catchment areas. We found that 12 % of the total LWB in the basin had changed ( P < 0.05) due to non-climatic causes. During the evaluated decade, 30 % of the LWB that changed size had decreased while 70 % showed steady increases in area. The number of altered LWB within watersheds lineally increased or decreased according to the proportion of grasslands replaced by sown pastures, or the proportion of sown pastures replaced by crop fields, respectively. Drainage and channelization do not appear to be related to the alteration of LWB; however some of these hydrologic modifications may predate 1998, and thus earlier effects cannot be discarded. This study shows that large-scale changes in land cover (e.g., grasslands reduction) can cause a noticeable loss of hydrologic regulation at the catchment scale within a decade.

  9. The effects of war on land-use/land-cover change: An analysis of Landsat imagery for northeast Bosnia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Witmer, Frank D. W.

    The use of satellite technology by military planners has a relatively long history as a tool of warfare, but little research has used satellite technology to study the effects of war. This research addresses this gap by applying satellite remote sensing imagery to study the effects of war on land-use/land-cover change in northeast Bosnia. The war in Bosnia, 1992-1995, resulted in over 100,000 deaths, many more wounded, and the mass displacement of nearly half the population of 4.2 million. When combined with the destruction of much of the transportation infrastructure and housing stock, widespread mine placement, and loss of agricultural machinery, the impacts to both the people and land were dramatic. Though the most severe war impacts are visible at local scales (e.g. destroyed buildings), this study focuses on impacts to agricultural land, a larger scale visible to satellite sensors. Multispectral Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data (30m pixels) from before and during the war in addition to recent imagery from 2004/05 were used to detect abandoned agricultural land. The satellite images were co-registered to enable a perpixel analysis of changes based on the statistical properties of the pixels using multiple change detection methods. Ground reference data were collected in May of 2006 at survey sites selected using a stratified random sampling approach based on the derived map of abandoned agricultural land. Fine resolution (60cm) Quickbird imagery was also used to verify the accuracy of the classification. The remote sensing analysis results were then used to test two hypotheses related to war outcomes: (a) land abandonment is due to wartime minefields and (b) land abandonment is greater in pre-war Croat areas and areas where ethnic cleansing was heaviest. The effects of minefields on land abandonment was first tested in a geographic information system (GIS), and then by using multiple regression models that account for spatial autocorrelation among observations

  10. Water and Land Limitations to Future Agricultural Production in the Middle East

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Koch, J. A. M.; Wimmer, F.; Schaldach, R.

    2015-12-01

    Countries in the Middle East use a large fraction of their scarce water resources to produce cash crops, such as fruit and vegetables, for international markets. At the same time, these countries import large amounts of staple crops, such as cereals, required to meet the nutritional demand of their populations. This makes food security in the Middle East heavily dependent on world market prices for staple crops. Under these preconditions, increasing food demand due to population growth, urban expansion on fertile farmlands, and detrimental effects of a changing climate on the production of agricultural commodities present major challenges to countries in the Middle East that try to improve food security by increasing their self-sufficiency rate of staple crops.We applied the spatio-temporal land-use change model LandSHIFT.JR to simulate how an expansion of urban areas may affect the production of agricultural commodities in Jordan. We furthermore evaluated how climate change and changes in socio-economic conditions may influence crop production. The focus of our analysis was on potential future irrigated and rainfed production (crop yield and area demand) of fruit, vegetables, and cereals. Our simulation results show that the expansion of urban areas and the resulting displacement of agricultural areas does result in a slight decrease in crop yields. This leads to almost no additional irrigation water requirements due to the relocation of agricultural areas, i.e. there is the same amount of "crop per drop". However, taking into account projected changes in socio-economic conditions and climate conditions, a large volume of water would be required for cereal production in order to safeguard current self-sufficiency rates for staple crops. Irrigation water requirements are expected to double until 2025 and to triple until 2050. Irrigated crop yields are projected to decrease by about 25%, whereas there is no decrease in rainfed crop yields to be expected.

  11. Impact of changes in labor resources and transfers of land use rights on agricultural non-point source pollution in Jiangsu Province, China.

    PubMed

    Lu, Hua; Xie, Hualin

    2018-02-01

    This study systematically explores the likely mechanisms driving the effect of the transfer of agricultural land use rights (ALURs) on agricultural non-point source pollution (ANSP) in the context of changing agricultural labor resources. It quantitatively estimates the direction and degree of this influence from a microeconomic perspective using data from rural households. The results reveal that economies of scale caused by ALURs transfers contribute to reducing both the ANSP and marginal costs of inputs. Changes in agricultural labor resources lead to reductions in agricultural labor supply and negatively impact on ANSP. Encouraging farmers to participate in ALURs transfers, therefore, helps to reduce ANSP. The government and related departments should implement policies that support farmers who decide to rent an entire village's land or the adjacent land to achieve economies of scale. Accelerating the development of small farm machinery that is suitable for smaller farm plots and the elderly can serve to reduce the use of chemical fertilizer and promote green production and sustainable agricultural development. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Protection reduces loss of natural land-cover at sites of conservation importance across Africa.

    PubMed

    Beresford, Alison E; Eshiamwata, George W; Donald, Paul F; Balmford, Andrew; Bertzky, Bastian; Brink, Andreas B; Fishpool, Lincoln D C; Mayaux, Philippe; Phalan, Ben; Simonetti, Dario; Buchanan, Graeme M

    2013-01-01

    There is an emerging consensus that protected areas are key in reducing adverse land-cover change, but their efficacy remains difficult to quantify. Many previous assessments of protected area effectiveness have compared changes between sets of protected and unprotected sites that differ systematically in other potentially confounding respects (e.g. altitude, accessibility), have considered only forest loss or changes at single sites, or have analysed changes derived from land-cover data of low spatial resolution. We assessed the effectiveness of protection in reducing land-cover change in Important Bird Areas (IBAs) across Africa using a dedicated visual interpretation of higher resolution satellite imagery. We compared rates of change in natural land-cover over a c. 20-year period from around 1990 at a large number of points across 45 protected IBAs to those from 48 unprotected IBAs. A matching algorithm was used to select sample points to control for potentially confounding differences between protected and unprotected IBAs. The rate of loss of natural land-cover at sample points within protected IBAs was just 42% of that at matched points in unprotected IBAs. Conversion was especially marked in forests, but protection reduced rates of forest loss by a similar relative amount. Rates of conversion increased from the centre to the edges of both protected and unprotected IBAs, but rates of loss in 20-km buffer zones surrounding protected IBAs and unprotected IBAs were similar, with no evidence of displacement of conversion from within protected areas to their immediate surrounds (leakage).

  13. Visualizing land-use and management complexity within biogeochemical cycles of an agricultural landscape

    Treesearch

    Kai Nils Nitzsche; Gernot Verch; Katrin Premke; Arthur Gessler; Zachary Kayler

    2016-01-01

    Crop fields are cultivated across continuities of soil, topography, and local climate that drive biological processes and nutrient cycling at the landscape scale; yet land management and agricultural research are often performed at the field scale, potentially neglecting the context of the surrounding landscape. Adding to this complexity is the overlap of ecosystems...

  14. Multifunctional Agriculture: Conducting an Ecosystem Service Assessment for an Agricultural Watershed

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wacha, K.; Papanicolaou, T.; Wilson, C. G.

    2012-12-01

    To meet the food production demands on a finite area of land for an exponentially growing, global population, intensive agricultural management practices are being used. The implications of this these practices lead to soil degradation, loss of biodiversity, increased greenhouse gas emissions, and decreased water quality depending on the level of conservation practices implemented in a watershed. To offset these negative environmental effects, ecosystem services should be analyzed for possible economic valuation to provide incentives for good land stewardship. In this study a Multifunctional Agriculture (MFA) evaluation in a representative agricultural watershed in Iowa was performed by assessing the ecosystem services of water quality, crop/grain production, carbon sequestration, reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and biodiversity for representative land covers (e.g., corn-soybean rotation, alfalfa, oats, and Conservation Reserve Program, or CRP). The services were analyzed using a geo-spatial platform that simulated carbon dynamics with the biogeochemical model, CENTURY, as well as soil erosion/deposition and surface runoff with the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP). Economic values given to the various services were based on current grain prices, water treatment costs, and hypothetical carbon storage credits. Results showed that crop/grain production for the corn-soybean rotations provided the largest service for the study site, followed by alfalfa. CRP provided the largest decrease in surface water runoff and CO2 emissions, while alfalfa provided the largest form of plant species diversity. The largest sequestration of carbon came from the corn-soybean rotation due to large amounts dead plant material being incorporated into the soil through tillage. Overall the MFA assessment can provide a framework for payment of ecosystem services supplied by agroecosystems which promote more sustainable land management practices.

  15. Optimization of land use of agricultural farms in Sumedang regency by using linear programming models

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zenis, F. M.; Supian, S.; Lesmana, E.

    2018-03-01

    Land is one of the most important assets for farmers in Sumedang Regency. Therefore, agricultural land should be used optimally. This study aims to obtain the optimal land use composition in order to obtain maximum income. The optimization method used in this research is Linear Programming Models. Based on the results of the analysis, the composition of land use for rice area of 135.314 hectares, corn area of 11.798 hectares, soy area of 2.290 hectares, and peanuts of 2.818 hectares with the value of farmers income of IDR 2.682.020.000.000,-/year. The results of this analysis can be used as a consideration in decisions making about cropping patterns by farmers.

  16. Nutrient production from dairy cattle manure and loading on arable land

    PubMed Central

    You, Byung-Gu; Choi, Yoon-Seok; Ra, Changsix

    2017-01-01

    Objective Along with increasing livestock products via intensive rearing, the accumulation of livestock manure has become a serious issue due to the fact that there is finite land for livestock manure recycling via composting. The nutrients from livestock manure accumulate on agricultural land and the excess disembogues into streams causing eutrophication. In order to systematically manage nutrient loading on agricultural land, quantifying the amount of nutrients according to their respective sources is very important. However, there is a lack of research concerning nutrient loss from livestock manure during composting or storage on farms. Therefore, in the present study we quantified the nutrients from dairy cattle manure that were imparted onto agricultural land. Methods Through investigation of 41 dairy farms, weight reduction and volatile solids (VS), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP) changes of dairy cattle manure during the storage and composting periods were analyzed. In order to support the direct investigation and survey on site, the three cases of weight reduction during the storing and composting periods were developed according to i) experiment, ii) reference, and iii) theoretical changes in phosphorus content (ΔP = 0). Results The data revealed the nutrient loading coefficients (NLCs) of VS, TN, and TP on agricultural land were 1.48, 0.60, and 0.66, respectively. These values indicated that the loss of nitrogen and phosphorus was 40% and 34%, respectively, and that there was an increase of VS since bedding materials were mixed with excretion in the barn. Conclusion As result of nutrient-footprint analyses, the amounts of TN and TP particularly entered on arable land have been overestimated if applying the nutrient amount in fresh manure. The NLCs obtained in this study may assist in the development of a database to assess the accurate level of manure nutrient loading on soil and facilitate systematic nutrient management. PMID:27492346

  17. Nutrient production from dairy cattle manure and loading on arable land.

    PubMed

    Won, Seunggun; Shim, Soo-Min; You, Byung-Gu; Choi, Yoon-Seok; Ra, Changsix

    2017-01-01

    Along with increasing livestock products via intensive rearing, the accumulation of livestock manure has become a serious issue due to the fact that there is finite land for livestock manure recycling via composting. The nutrients from livestock manure accumulate on agricultural land and the excess disembogues into streams causing eutrophication. In order to systematically manage nutrient loading on agricultural land, quantifying the amount of nutrients according to their respective sources is very important. However, there is a lack of research concerning nutrient loss from livestock manure during composting or storage on farms. Therefore, in the present study we quantified the nutrients from dairy cattle manure that were imparted onto agricultural land. Through investigation of 41 dairy farms, weight reduction and volatile solids (VS), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP) changes of dairy cattle manure during the storage and composting periods were analyzed. In order to support the direct investigation and survey on site, the three cases of weight reduction during the storing and composting periods were developed according to i) experiment, ii) reference, and iii) theoretical changes in phosphorus content (ΔP = 0). The data revealed the nutrient loading coefficients (NLCs) of VS, TN, and TP on agricultural land were 1.48, 0.60, and 0.66, respectively. These values indicated that the loss of nitrogen and phosphorus was 40% and 34%, respectively, and that there was an increase of VS since bedding materials were mixed with excretion in the barn. As result of nutrient-footprint analyses, the amounts of TN and TP particularly entered on arable land have been overestimated if applying the nutrient amount in fresh manure. The NLCs obtained in this study may assist in the development of a database to assess the accurate level of manure nutrient loading on soil and facilitate systematic nutrient management.

  18. Assessment of Spatio-temporal Barren-lands Expansion and Agricultural Adaptation due to Climate Change and Anthropogenic Activity: A Geospatial Approach in Hot Semi-arid Region of Maharashtra State, India

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Roy, A.; Inamdar, A. B.

    2017-12-01

    Major parts of Upper Godavari River Basin are intensely drought prone and climate vulnerable in Maharashtra State, India. The economy of the state depends on the agronomic productivity of this region. So, it is necessary to monitor and regulate the effects of climate change and anthropogenic activity on agricultural land in that region. This study investigates and maps the barren-lands and alteration of agricultural lands, their decadal deviations with the multi-temporal LANDSAT satellite images; and finally quantifies the agricultural adaptations. This work involves the utilization of remote sensing and GIS tools and modeling. First, climatic trend analysis is carried out with dataset obtained from India Meteorological Department. Then, multi-temporal LANDSAT images are classified (Level I, hybrid classification technique are followed) to determine the decadal Land Use Land Cover (LULC) changes and correlated with the agricultural water demand. Finally, various LANDSAT band analysis is conducted to determine irrigated and non-irrigated cropping area estimation and identifying the agricultural adaptations. The analysis of LANDSAT images shows that barren-lands are most increased class during the study period. The overall spatial extent of barren-lands are increased drastically during the study period. The geospatial study (class-to-class conversion study) shows that, most of the conversion of the barren-lands are from the agricultural land and reserve or open forests. The barren-lands are constantly increasing and the agricultural land is linearly decreasing. Hence, there is an inverse correlation between barren-lands and agricultural land. Moreover, there is a shift to non-irrigated and less water demanding crops, from more water demanding crops, which is a noticeable adaptation. The surface-water availability is highly dependent on rainfall and/or climatic conditions. It is changing either way in a random fashion based upon the quantity of rainfall occurred in

  19. Pasture intensification is insufficient to relieve pressure on conservation priority areas in open agricultural markets.

    PubMed

    Kreidenweis, Ulrich; Humpenöder, Florian; Kehoe, Laura; Kuemmerle, Tobias; Bodirsky, Benjamin Leon; Lotze-Campen, Hermann; Popp, Alexander

    2018-04-17

    Agricultural expansion is a leading driver of biodiversity loss across the world, but little is known on how future land-use change may encroach on remaining natural vegetation. This uncertainty is, in part, due to unknown levels of future agricultural intensification and international trade. Using an economic land-use model, we assessed potential future losses of natural vegetation with a focus on how these may threaten biodiversity hotspots and intact forest landscapes. We analysed agricultural expansion under proactive and reactive biodiversity protection scenarios, and for different rates of pasture intensification. We found growing food demand to lead to a significant expansion of cropland at the expense of pastures and natural vegetation. In our reference scenario, global cropland area increased by more than 400 Mha between 2015 and 2050, mostly in Africa and Latin America. Grazing intensification was a main determinant of future land-use change. In Africa, higher rates of pasture intensification resulted in smaller losses of natural vegetation, and reduced pressure on biodiversity hotspots and intact forest landscapes. Investments into raising pasture productivity in conjunction with proactive land-use planning appear essential in Africa to reduce further losses of areas with high conservation value. In Latin America, in contrast, higher pasture productivity resulted in increased livestock exports, highlighting that unchecked trade can reduce the land savings of pasture intensification. Reactive protection of sensitive areas significantly reduced the conversion of natural ecosystems in Latin America. We conclude that protection strategies need to adapt to region-specific trade positions. In regions with a high involvement in international trade, area-based conservation measures should be preferred over strategies aimed at increasing pasture productivity, which by themselves might not be sufficient to protect biodiversity effectively. © 2018 John Wiley

  20. Identifying best management practices to minimize P loss in a tile drained landscape

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Phosphorus losses from agriculture have been identified as a primary contributor to harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie. The objectives of this presentation will be to provide estimates of cropping systems management and other conservation practices that can be used to minimize P losses from this land...

  1. Modeling the fate and transport of bacteria in agricultural and pasture lands using APEX

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender (APEX) model is a whole farm to small watershed scale continuous simulation model developed for evaluating various land management strategies. The current version, APEX0806, does not have the modeling capacity for fecal indicator bacteria fate and trans...

  2. Assessing the effect of agricultural land abandonment on bird communities in southern-eastern Europe.

    PubMed

    Zakkak, Sylvia; Radovic, Andreja; Nikolov, Stoyan C; Shumka, Spase; Kakalis, Lefteris; Kati, Vassiliki

    2015-12-01

    Agricultural land abandonment is recognized as a major environmental threat in Europe, being particularly pronounced in south-eastern Europe, where knowledge on its effects is limited. Taking the Balkan Peninsula as a case study, we investigated agricultural abandonment impact on passerine communities at regional level. We set up a standard methodology for site selection (70 sites) and data collection, along a well-defined forest-encroachment gradient that reflects land abandonment in four countries: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Greece. Regardless the different socio-economic and political histories in the Balkans that led to diverse land abandonment patterns in space and time, rural abandonment had a consistent negative effect on bird communities, while regional-level analysis revealed patterns that were hidden at local level. The general trends were an increase of forest-dwelling bird species at the expense of farmland birds, the decline of overall bird species richness, as well as the decline of Species of European Conservation Concern (SPECs) richness and abundance. Many farmland bird species declined with land abandonment, whereas few forest species benefited from the process. In conclusion, our results support CAP towards hampering rural land abandonment and preserving semi-open rural mosaics in remote upland areas, using a suite of management measures carefully tailored to local needs. The maintenance of traditional rural landscapes should be prioritized in the Balkans, through the timely identification of HNV farmland that is most prone to abandonment. We also suggest that coordinated transnational research is needed, for a better assessment of conservation options in remote rural landscapes at European scale, including the enhancement of wild grazers' populations as an alternative in areas where traditional land management is rather unlikely to be re-established. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Assessing the shelf life of cost-efficient conservation plans for species at risk across gradients of agricultural land use.

    PubMed

    Robillard, Cassandra M; Kerr, Jeremy T

    2017-08-01

    High costs of land in agricultural regions warrant spatial prioritization approaches to conservation that explicitly consider land prices to produce protected-area networks that accomplish targets efficiently. However, land-use changes in such regions and delays between plan design and implementation may render optimized plans obsolete before implementation occurs. To measure the shelf life of cost-efficient conservation plans, we simulated a land-acquisition and restoration initiative aimed at conserving species at risk in Canada's farmlands. We accounted for observed changes in land-acquisition costs and in agricultural intensity based on censuses of agriculture taken from 1986 to 2011. For each year of data, we mapped costs and areas of conservation priority designated using Marxan. We compared plans to test for changes through time in the arrangement of high-priority sites and in the total cost of each plan. For acquisition costs, we measured the savings from accounting for prices during site selection. Land-acquisition costs and land-use intensity generally rose over time independent of inflation (24-78%), although rates of change were heterogeneous through space and decreased in some areas. Accounting for spatial variation in land price lowered the cost of conservation plans by 1.73-13.9%, decreased the range of costs by 19-82%, and created unique solutions from which to choose. Despite the rise in plan costs over time, the high conservation priority of particular areas remained consistent. Delaying conservation in these critical areas may compromise what optimized conservation plans can achieve. In the case of Canadian farmland, rapid conservation action is cost-effective, even with moderate levels of uncertainty in how to implement restoration goals. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

  4. Phosphorus losses from agricultural watersheds in the Mississippi Delta.

    PubMed

    Yuan, Yongping; Locke, Martin A; Bingner, Ronald L; Rebich, Richard A

    2013-01-30

    Phosphorus (P) loss from agricultural fields is of environmental concern because of its potential impact on water quality in streams and lakes. The Mississippi Delta has long been known for its fish productivity and recreational value, but high levels of P in fresh water can lead to algal blooms that have many detrimental effects on natural ecosystems. Algal blooms interfere with recreational and aesthetic water use. However, few studies have evaluated P losses from agricultural watersheds in the Mississippi Delta. To better understand the processes influencing P loss, rainfall, surface runoff, sediment, ortho-P (orthophosphate, PO(4)-P), and total P (TP) were measured (water years 1996-2000) for two subwatersheds (UL1 and UL2) of the Deep Hollow Lake Watershed and one subwatershed of the Beasley Lake Watershed (BL3) primarily in cotton production in the Mississippi Delta. Ortho-P concentrations ranged from 0.01 to 1.0 mg/L with a mean of 0.17 mg/L at UL1 (17.0 ha), 0.36 mg/L at UL2 (11.2 ha) and 0.12 mg/L at BL3 (7.2 ha). The TP concentrations ranged from 0.14 to 7.9 mg/L with a mean of 0.96 mg/L at UL1, 1.1 mg/L at UL2 and 1.29 mg/L at BL3. Among the three sites, UL1 and UL2 received P application in October 1998, and BL3 received P applications in the spring of 1998 and 1999. At UL1, ortho-P concentrations were 0.36, 0.25 and 0.16 for the first, second and third rainfall events after P application, respectively; At UL2, ortho-P concentrations were 1.0, 0.66 and 0.65 for the first, second and third rainfall events after P application, respectively; and at BL3, ortho-P concentrations were 0.11, 0.22 and 0.09 for the first, second and third rainfall events after P application, respectively. P fertilizer application did influence P losses, but high P concentrations observed in surface runoff were not always a direct result of P fertilizer application or high rainfall. Application of P in the fall (UL1 and UL2) resulted in more ortho-P losses, likely

  5. Phosphorus losses from agricultural watersheds in the Mississippi Delta

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Yuan, Yongping; Locke, Martin A.; Bingner, Ronald L.; Rebich, Richard A.

    2013-01-01

    Phosphorus (P) loss from agricultural fields is of environmental concern because of its potential impact on water quality in streams and lakes. The Mississippi Delta has long been known for its fish productivity and recreational value, but high levels of P in fresh water can lead to algal blooms that have many detrimental effects on natural ecosystems. Algal blooms interfere with recreational and aesthetic water use. However, few studies have evaluated P losses from agricultural watersheds in the Mississippi Delta. To better understand the processes influencing P loss, rainfall, surface runoff, sediment, ortho-P (orthophosphate, PO4–P), and total P (TP) were measured (water years 1996–2000) for two subwatersheds (UL1 and UL2) of the Deep Hollow Lake Watershed and one subwatershed of the Beasley Lake Watershed (BL3) primarily in cotton production in the Mississippi Delta. Ortho-P concentrations ranged from 0.01 to 1.0 mg/L with a mean of 0.17 mg/L at UL1 (17.0 ha), 0.36 mg/L at UL2 (11.2 ha) and 0.12 mg/L at BL3 (7.2 ha). The TP concentrations ranged from 0.14 to 7.9 mg/L with a mean of 0.96 mg/L at UL1, 1.1 mg/L at UL2 and 1.29 mg/L at BL3. Among the three sites, UL1 and UL2 received P application in October 1998, and BL3 received P applications in the spring of 1998 and 1999. At UL1, ortho-P concentrations were 0.36, 0.25 and 0.16 for the first, second and third rainfall events after P application, respectively; At UL2, ortho-P concentrations were 1.0, 0.66 and 0.65 for the first, second and third rainfall events after P application, respectively; and at BL3, ortho-P concentrations were 0.11, 0.22 and 0.09 for the first, second and third rainfall events after P application, respectively. P fertilizer application did influence P losses, but high P concentrations observed in surface runoff were not always a direct result of P fertilizer application or high rainfall. Application of P in the fall (UL1 and UL2) resulted in more ortho-P losses, likely

  6. NASA Land Cover and Land Use Change (LCLUC): an interdisciplinary research program.

    PubMed

    Justice, Chris; Gutman, Garik; Vadrevu, Krishna Prasad

    2015-01-15

    Understanding Land Cover/Land Use Change (LCLUC) in diverse regions of the world and at varied spatial scales is one of the important challenges in global change research. In this article, we provide a brief overview of the NASA LCLUC program, its focus areas, and the importance of satellite remote sensing observations in LCLUC research including future directions. The LCLUC Program was designed to be a cross-cutting theme within NASA's Earth Science program. The program aims to develop and use remote sensing technologies to improve understanding of human interactions with the environment. Since 1997, the NASA LCLUC program has supported nearly 280 research projects on diverse topics such as forest loss and carbon, urban expansion, land abandonment, wetland loss, agricultural land use change and land use change in mountain systems. The NASA LCLUC program emphasizes studies where land-use changes are rapid or where there are significant regional or global LCLUC implications. Over a period of years, the LCLUC program has contributed to large regional science programs such as Land Biosphere-Atmosphere (LBA), the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI), and the Monsoon Area Integrated Regional Study (MAIRS). The primary emphasis of the program will remain on using remote sensing datasets for LCLUC research. The program will continue to emphasize integration of physical and social sciences to address regional to global scale issues of LCLUC for the benefit of society. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  7. Relationships between physical-geographical factors and soil degradation on agricultural land.

    PubMed

    Bednář, Marek; Šarapatka, Bořivoj

    2018-07-01

    It is a well-known fact that soil degradation is dramatically increasing and currently threatens agricultural soils all around the world. The objective of this study was to reveal the possible connection between soil degradation and seven physical-geographical factors - slope steepness, altitude, elevation differences, rainfall, temperature, soil texture and solar radiation - in the form of threshold values (if these exist), where soil degradation begins and ends. The analysis involved the whole area of the Czech Republic which consists of 13,027 cadasters (78,866 km 2 ). The greatest total degradation threat occurs in areas with slope steepness >7 degrees, average annual temperature <5.9 °C, elevation differences >10.54, altitude >766 m a.s.l. Similarly, the results for water erosion, wind erosion, soil compaction, loss of organic matter, acidification and heavy metal contamination were processed. The results enable us to identify the relationships of different levels of threats which could consequently be used in various ways - for classification of threatened areas, for more effective implementation of anti-degradation measures, or purely for a better understanding of the role of physical geographical factors in soil degradation in the Czech Republic, and thus could increase the chances of reducing vulnerability to land degradation not only in the Czech Republic. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. 25 CFR 166.815 - How will the BIA determine the amount of damages to Indian agricultural land?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false How will the BIA determine the amount of damages to Indian agricultural land? 166.815 Section 166.815 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER GRAZING PERMITS Trespass Penalties, Damages, and Costs § 166.815 How will the BIA...

  9. 25 CFR 166.815 - How will the BIA determine the amount of damages to Indian agricultural land?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false How will the BIA determine the amount of damages to Indian agricultural land? 166.815 Section 166.815 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER GRAZING PERMITS Trespass Penalties, Damages, and Costs § 166.815 How will the BIA...

  10. 25 CFR 166.815 - How will the BIA determine the amount of damages to Indian agricultural land?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2012-04-01 2011-04-01 true How will the BIA determine the amount of damages to Indian agricultural land? 166.815 Section 166.815 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER GRAZING PERMITS Trespass Penalties, Damages, and Costs § 166.815 How will the BIA determine...

  11. 25 CFR 166.815 - How will the BIA determine the amount of damages to Indian agricultural land?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false How will the BIA determine the amount of damages to Indian agricultural land? 166.815 Section 166.815 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER GRAZING PERMITS Trespass Penalties, Damages, and Costs § 166.815 How will the BIA...

  12. 25 CFR 166.815 - How will the BIA determine the amount of damages to Indian agricultural land?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false How will the BIA determine the amount of damages to Indian agricultural land? 166.815 Section 166.815 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER GRAZING PERMITS Trespass Penalties, Damages, and Costs § 166.815 How will the BIA...

  13. Data model for the collaboration between land administration systems and agricultural land parcel identification systems.

    PubMed

    Inan, Halil Ibrahim; Sagris, Valentina; Devos, Wim; Milenov, Pavel; van Oosterom, Peter; Zevenbergen, Jaap

    2010-12-01

    The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union (EU) has dramatically changed after 1992, and from then on the CAP focused on the management of direct income subsidies instead of production-based subsidies. For this focus, Member States (MS) are expected to establish Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS), including a Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) as the spatial part of IACS. Different MS have chosen different solutions for their LPIS. Currently, some MS based their IACS/LPIS on data from their Land Administration Systems (LAS), and many others use purpose built special systems for their IACS/LPIS. The issue with these different IACS/LPIS is that they do not have standardized structures; rather, each represents a unique design in each MS, both in the case of LAS based or special systems. In this study, we aim at designing a core data model for those IACS/LPIS based on LAS. For this purpose, we make use of the ongoing standardization initiatives for LAS (Land Administration Domain Model: LADM) and IACS/LPIS (LPIS Core Model: LCM). The data model we propose in this study implies the collaboration between LADM and LCM and includes some extensions. Some basic issues with the collaboration model are discussed within this study: registration of farmers, land use rights and farming limitations, geometry/topology, temporal data management etc. For further explanation of the model structure, sample instance level diagrams illustrating some typical situations are also included. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Factors associated with succession of abandoned agricultural lands along the Lower Missouri River, U.S.A

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Thogmartin, W.E.; Gallagher, M.; Young, N.; Rohweder, J.J.; Knutson, M.G.

    2009-01-01

    The 1993 flood of the Missouri River led to the abandonment of agriculture on considerable land in the floodplain. This abandonment led to a restoration opportunity for the U.S. Federal Government, purchasing those lands being sold by farmers. Restoration of this floodplain is complicated, however, by an imperfect understanding of its past environmental and vegetative conditions. We examined environmental conditions associated with the current placement of young forests and wet prairies as a guide to the potential successional trajectory for abandoned agricultural land subject to flooding. We used Bayesian mixed-effects logistic regression to examine the effects of flood frequency, soil drainage, distance from the main channel, and elevation on whether a site was in wet prairie or in forest. Study site was included as a random effect, controlling for site-specific differences not measured in our study. We found, after controlling for the effect of site, that early-successional forest sites were closer to the river and at a lower elevation but occurred on drier soils than wet prairie. In a regulated river such as the lower Missouri River, wet prairie sites are relatively isolated from the main channel compared to early-successional forest, despite occurring on relatively moister soils. The modeled results from this study may be used to predict the potential successional fate of the acquired agricultural lands, and along with information on wildlife assemblages associated with wet prairie and forest can be used to predict potential benefit of these acquisitions to wildlife conservation. ?? 2009 Society for Ecological Restoration International.

  15. Research Needs for Carbon Management in Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Uses

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Negra, C.; Lovejoy, T.; Ojima, D. S.; Ashton, R.; Havemann, T.; Eaton, J.

    2009-12-01

    Improved management of terrestrial carbon in agriculture, forestry, and other land use sectors is a necessary part of climate change mitigation. It is likely that governments will agree in Copenhagen in December 2009 to incentives for improved management of some forms of terrestrial carbon, including maintaining existing terrestrial carbon (e.g., avoiding deforestation) and creating new terrestrial carbon (e.g., afforestation, soil management). To translate incentives into changes in land management and terrestrial carbon stocks, a robust technical and scientific information base is required. All terrestrial carbon pools (and other greenhouse gases from the terrestrial system) that interact with the atmosphere at timescales less than centuries, and all land uses, have documented mitigation potential, however, most activity has focused on above-ground forest biomass. Despite research advances in understanding emissions reduction and sequestration associated with different land management techniques, there has not yet been broad-scale implementation of land-based mitigation activity in croplands, peatlands, grasslands and other land uses. To maximize long-term global terrestrial carbon volumes, further development of relevant data, methodologies and technologies are needed to complement policy and financial incentives. The Terrestrial Carbon Group, in partnership with UN-REDD agencies, the World Bank and CGIAR institutions, is reviewing literature, convening leading experts and surveying key research institutions to develop a Roadmap for Terrestrial Carbon: Research Needs for Implementation of Carbon Management in Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Uses. This work will summarize the existing knowledge base for emissions reductions and sequestration through land management as well as the current availability of tools and methods for measurement and monitoring of terrestrial carbon. Preliminary findings indicate a number of areas for future work. Enhanced information

  16. Land cover change or land-use intensification: simulating land system change with a global-scale land change model.

    PubMed

    van Asselen, Sanneke; Verburg, Peter H

    2013-12-01

    Land-use change is both a cause and consequence of many biophysical and socioeconomic changes. The CLUMondo model provides an innovative approach for global land-use change modeling to support integrated assessments. Demands for goods and services are, in the model, supplied by a variety of land systems that are characterized by their land cover mosaic, the agricultural management intensity, and livestock. Land system changes are simulated by the model, driven by regional demand for goods and influenced by local factors that either constrain or promote land system conversion. A characteristic of the new model is the endogenous simulation of intensification of agricultural management versus expansion of arable land, and urban versus rural settlements expansion based on land availability in the neighborhood of the location. Model results for the OECD Environmental Outlook scenario show that allocation of increased agricultural production by either management intensification or area expansion varies both among and within world regions, providing useful insight into the land sparing versus land sharing debate. The land system approach allows the inclusion of different types of demand for goods and services from the land system as a driving factor of land system change. Simulation results are compared to observed changes over the 1970-2000 period and projections of other global and regional land change models. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  17. Watershed Analysis of Nitrate Transport as a Result of Agricultural Inputs for Varying Land Use/Land Cover and Soil Type

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Scott, M. E.; Sykes, J. F.

    2006-12-01

    The Grand River Watershed is one of the largest watersheds in southwestern Ontario with an area of approximately 7000 square kilometers. Ninety percent of the watershed is classified as rural, and 80 percent of the watershed population relies on groundwater as their source of drinking water. Management of the watershed requires the determination of the effect of agricultural practices on long-term groundwater quality and to identify locations within the watershed that are at a higher risk of contamination. The study focuses on the transport of nitrate through the root zone as a result of agricultural inputs with attenuation due to biodegradation. The driving force for transport is spatially and temporally varying groundwater recharge that is a function of land use/land cover, soil and meteorological inputs that yields 47,229 unique soil columns within the watershed. Fertilizer sources are determined from Statistics Canada's Agricultural Census and include livestock manure and a popular commercial fertilizer, urea. Accounting for different application rates yields 60,066 unique land parcels of which 22,809 are classified as croplands where manure and inorganic fertilizes are directly applied. The transport for the croplands is simulated over a 14-year period to investigate the impact of seasonal applications of nitrate fertilizers on the concentration leaching from the root zone to the water table. Based on land use/land cover maps, ArcView GIS is used to define the location of fertilizer applications within the watershed and to spatially visualize data and analyze results. The large quantity of input data is stored and managed using MS-Access and a relational database management system. Nitrogen transformations and ammonium and nitrate uptake by plants and transport through the soil column are simulated on a daily basis using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) within MS-Access modules. Nitrogen transformations within the soil column were simplified using

  18. Application of Sludges and Wastewaters on Agricultural Land: A Planning and Educational Guide, MCD-35. Research Bulletin 1090.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Knezek, Bernard D., Ed.; Miller, Robert H., Ed.

    This report addresses the application of agricultural processing wastes, industrial and municipal wastes on agricultural land as both a waste management and resource recovery and reuse practice. The document emphasizes the treatment and beneficial utilization of sludge and wastewater as opposed to waste disposal. These objectives are achieved…

  19. Evaluation of land capability and suitability for irrigated agriculture in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, UAE, using an integrated AHP-GIS model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aldababseh, A.; Temimi, M.; Maghelal, P.; Branch, O.; Wulfmeyer, V.

    2017-12-01

    The rapid economic development and high population growth in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have impacted utilization and management of agricultural land. The development of large-scale agriculture in unsuitable areas can severely impact groundwater resources in the UAE. More than 60% of UAE's water resources are being utilized by the agriculture, forestry, and urban greenery sectors. However, the contribution of the agricultural sector to the national GDP is negligible. Several programs have been introduced by the government aimed at achieving sustainable agriculture whilst preserving valuable water resources. Local subsistence farming has declined considerably during the past few years, due to low soil moisture content, sandy soil texture, lack of arable land, natural climatic disruptions, water shortages, and declined rainfall. The limited production of food and the continuing rise in the food prices on a global and local level are expected to increase low-income households' vulnerability to food insecurity. This research aims at developing a suitability index for the evaluation and prioritization of areas in the UAE for large-scale agriculture. The AHP-GIS integrated model developed in this study facilitates a step by step aggregation of a large number of datasets representing the most important criteria, and the generation of agricultural suitability and land capability maps. To provide the necessary criteria to run the model, a comprehensive geospatial database was built, including climate conditions, water potential, soil capabilities, topography, and land management. A hieratical structure is built as a decomposition structure that includes all criteria and sub-criteria used to define land suitability based on literature review and experts' opinions. Pairwise comparisons matrix are used to calculate criteria' weights. The GIS Model Builder function is used to integrate all spatial processes to model land suitability. In order to preserve some flexibility

  20. Evaluation of land capability and suitability for irrigated agriculture in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, UAE, using an integrated AHP-GIS model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aldababseh, Amal; Temimi, Marouane; Maghelal, Praveen; Branch, Oliver; Wulfmeyer, Volker

    2017-12-01

    The rapid economic development and high population growth in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have impacted utilization and management of agricultural land. The development of large-scale agriculture in unsuitable areas can severely impact groundwater resources in the UAE. More than 60% of UAE's water resources are being utilized by the agriculture, forestry, and urban greenery sectors. However, the contribution of the agricultural sector to the national GDP is negligible. Several programs have been introduced by the government aimed at achieving sustainable agriculture whilst preserving valuable water resources. Local subsistence farming has declined considerably during the past few years, due to low soil moisture content, sandy soil texture, lack of arable land, natural climatic disruptions, water shortages, and declined rainfall. The limited production of food and the continuing rise in the food prices on a global and local level are expected to increase low-income households' vulnerability to food insecurity. This research aims at developing a suitability index for the evaluation and prioritization of areas in the UAE for large-scale agriculture. The AHP-GIS integrated model developed in this study facilitates a step by step aggregation of a large number of datasets representing the most important criteria, and the generation of agricultural suitability and land capability maps. To provide the necessary criteria to run the model, a comprehensive geospatial database was built, including climate conditions, water potential, soil capabilities, topography, and land management. A hierarchical structure is built as a decomposition structure that includes all criteria and sub-criteria used to define land suitability based on literature review and experts' opinions. Pairwise comparisons matrix are used to calculate criteria' weights. The GIS Model Builder function is used to integrate all spatial processes to model land suitability. In order to preserve some flexibility

  1. Growth of Cities and Loss of Streams: Land Cover Change Impacts on Stream Channel Loss in Central Oklahoma from 1874 to 2010

    EPA Science Inventory

    Central Oklahoma has undergone substantial land cover changes since the 1800’s. Accordingly, regional watersheds have been covered by impervious surfaces, peripheral agricultural areas have been subdivided or intensified, and large reservoirs have been constructed. Here, we...

  2. Implementation of Sentinel-2 Data in the M4Land System for the Generation of Continuous Information Products in Agriculture

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Klug, P.; Schlenz, F.; Hank, T.; Migdall, S.; Weiß, I.; Danner, M.; Bach, H.; Mauser, W.

    2016-08-01

    The analysis system developed in the frame of the M4Land project (Model based, Multi-temporal, Multi scale and Multi sensorial retrieval of continuous land management information) has proven its capabilities of classifying crop type and creating products on the intensity of agricultural production using optical remote sensing data from Landsat and RapidEye. In this study, Sentinel-2 data is used for the first time together with Landsat 7 ETM+ and 8 OLI data within the M4Land analysis system to derive continuously crop type and the agricultural intensity of fields in an area north of Munich, Germany and the year 2015.

  3. Urban Intensification and Expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa: Impacts on Urban Agriculture and Food Security

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Uzokwe, V. N. E. N.; Muchelo, R. O.; Odeh, I. A.

    2015-12-01

    In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), urban intensification and expansion are increasing at alarming rates due to rapid population growth and rural-to-urban migration. This has led to the premise that the proportion of SSA urban residents most vulnerable to food insecurity is the highest in the world. Using a focused survey and multi-temporal (decadal) land use/cover classification of Landsat images, we explored the effect of urban intensification and expansion on urban agriculture and food security, focusing on a megacity and a regional center in Uganda: Kampala and Mbarara, respectively. We found that food insecurity arose due to a number of reasons, among which are: i) expansion and intensification of of urban settlements into previously productive agricultural lands in urban and peri-urban areas; ii) loss of predominantly young (rural agricultural) adult labor force to urban centers, leading to decline in rural food production; iii) lack of proper urban planning incorporating green and agricultural development leading to low productive market garden systems. We discussed these outcomes in light of existing studies which estimated that urban agriculture alone supports over 800 million people globally and accounts for 15-20% of world food supply. In spite of this relatively low contribution by urban/peri-urban agriculture, it probably accounts for higher proportion of food supply to urban poor in SSA and thus are most vulnerable to the loss of urban and peri-urban agricultural land. Further recommendations require policy makers and urban planners to team up to design a suitable framework for sustainable urban planning and development.

  4. Object-Based Retro-Classification Of A Agricultural Land Use: A Case Study Of Irrigated Croplands

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dubovyk, Olena; Conrad, Christopher; Khamzina, Asia; Menz, Gunter

    2013-12-01

    Availability of the historical crop maps is necessary for the assessment of land management practices and their effectiveness, as well as monitoring of environmental impacts of land uses. Lack of accurate current and past land-use information forestalls assessment of the occurred changes and their consequences and, thus, complicates knowledge-driven agrarian policy development. At the same time, lack of the sampling dataset for the past years often restrict mapping of historical land use. We proposed a methodology for a retro-assessment of several crops, based on multitemporal Landsat 5 TM imagery and a limited sampling dataset. The overall accuracy of the retro-map was 81% while accuracies for specific crop classes varied from 60% to 93%. If further elaborated, the developed method could be a useful tool for the generation of historical data on agricultural land use.

  5. The accumulation of heavy metals in agricultural land and the associated potential ecological risks in Shenzhen, China.

    PubMed

    Wu, Jiansheng; Song, Jing; Li, Weifeng; Zheng, Maokun

    2016-01-01

    Accumulation of heavy metals in agricultural land and their ecological risks are key issues in soil security studies. This study investigated the concentrations of six heavy metals--copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), and chromium (Cr) in Shenzhen's agricultural lands and examined the potential hazards and possible sources of these metals. Eighty-two samples from agricultural topsoil were collected. Potential ecological risk index was used to calculate the potential risk of heavy metals. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to explore pollution sources of the metals. Finally, Kriging was used to predict the spatial distribution of the metals' potential ecological risks. The concentrations of the heavy metals were higher than their background values. Most of them presented little potential ecological risk, except for the heavy metal cadmium (Cd). Four districts (Longgang, Longhua, Pingshan, and Dapeng) exhibited some degree of potential risk, which tended to have more industries and road networks. Three major sources of heavy metals included geochemical processes, industrial pollutants, and traffic pollution. The heavy metal Cd was the main contributor to the pollution in agricultural land during the study period. It also poses the potential hazard for the future. High potential risk is closely related to industrial pollution and transportation. Since the 1980s, the sources of heavy metals have evolved from parent rock weathering, erosion, degradation of organics, and mineralization to human disturbances resulting in chemical changes in the soil.

  6. Nutrient variations from swine manure to agricultural land

    PubMed Central

    You, Byung-Gu; Shim, Soomin; Choi, Yoon-Seok

    2018-01-01

    Objective Swine manure in Korea is separated into solid and liquid phases which are composted separately and then applied on land. The nutrient accumulation in soil has been a big issue in Korea but the basic investigation about nutrient input on arable land has not been achieved in detail. Within the nutrient production from livestock at the national level, most values are calculated by multiplication of the number of animals with the excreta unit per animal. However, the actual amount of nutrients from swine manure may be totally different with the nutrients applied to soil since livestock breeding systems are not the same with each country. Methods This study investigated 15 farms producing solid compost and 14 farms producing liquid compost. Composting for solid phase used the Turning+Aeration (TA) or Turning (T) only methods, while liquid phase aeration composting was achieved by continuous (CA), intermittent (IA), or no aeration (NA). Three scenarios were constructed for investigating solid compost: i) farm investigation, ii) reference study, and iii) theoretical P changes (ΔP = 0), whereas an experiment for water evaporation was conducted for analyzing liquid compost. Results In farm investigation, weight loss rates of 62% and 63% were obtained for TA and T, respectively, while evaporation rates for liquid compost were 8.75, 7.27, and 5.14 L/m2·d for CA, IA, and NA, respectively. Farm investigation provided with the combined nutrient load (solid+liquid) of VS, N, and P of 117.6, 7.2, and 2.7 kg/head·yr. Nutrient load calculated from farm investigation is about two times higher than the calculated with reference documents. Conclusion The nutrient loading coefficients from one swine (solid+liquid) were (volatile solids, 0.79; nitrogen, 0.53; phosphorus, 0.71) with nutrient loss of 21%, 47%, and 29%, respectively. The nutrient count from livestock manure using the excretion unit has probably been overestimated without consideration of the nutrient loss. PMID

  7. Quantify the Biophysical and Socioeconomic Drivers of Changes in Forest and Agricultural Land in South and Southeast Asia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, X.; Jain, A. K.; Calvin, K. V.

    2017-12-01

    Due to the rapid socioeconomic development and biophysical factors, South and Southeast Asia (SSEA) has become a hotspot region of land use and land cover changes (LULCCs) in past few decades. Uncovering the drivers of LULCC is crucial for improving the understanding of LULCC processes. Due to the differences from spatiotemporal scales, methods and data sources in previous studies, the quantitative relationships between the LULCC activities and biophysical and socioeconomic drivers at the regional scale of SSEA have not been established. Here we present a comprehensive estimation of the biophysical and socioeconomic drivers of the major LULCC activities in SSEA: changes in forest and agricultural land. We used the Climate Change Initiative land cover data developed by European Space Agency to reveal the dynamics of forest and agricultural land from 1992 to 2015. Then we synthesized 200 publications about LULCC drivers at different spatial scales in SSEA to identify the major drivers of these LULCC activities. Corresponding representative variables of the major drivers were collected. The geographically weighted regression was employed to assess the spatiotemporally heterogeneous drivers of LULCC. Moreover, we validated our results with some national level case studies in SSEA. The results showed that both biophysical conditions such as terrain, soil, and climate, and socioeconomic factors such as migration, poverty, and economy played important roles in driving the changes of forest and agricultural land. The major drivers varied in different locations and periods. Our study integrated the bottom-up knowledge from local scale case studies with the top-down estimation of LULCC drivers, therefore generated more accurate and credible results. The identified biophysical and socioeconomic components could be used to improve the LULCC modelling and projection.

  8. Clustering of Multi-Temporal Fully Polarimetric L-Band SAR Data for Agricultural Land Cover Mapping

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tamiminia, H.; Homayouni, S.; Safari, A.

    2015-12-01

    Recently, the unique capabilities of Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (PolSAR) sensors make them an important and efficient tool for natural resources and environmental applications, such as land cover and crop classification. The aim of this paper is to classify multi-temporal full polarimetric SAR data using kernel-based fuzzy C-means clustering method, over an agricultural region. This method starts with transforming input data into the higher dimensional space using kernel functions and then clustering them in the feature space. Feature space, due to its inherent properties, has the ability to take in account the nonlinear and complex nature of polarimetric data. Several SAR polarimetric features extracted using target decomposition algorithms. Features from Cloude-Pottier, Freeman-Durden and Yamaguchi algorithms used as inputs for the clustering. This method was applied to multi-temporal UAVSAR L-band images acquired over an agricultural area near Winnipeg, Canada, during June and July in 2012. The results demonstrate the efficiency of this approach with respect to the classical methods. In addition, using multi-temporal data in the clustering process helped to investigate the phenological cycle of plants and significantly improved the performance of agricultural land cover mapping.

  9. Estimating the effects of potential climate and land use changes on hydrologic processes of a large agriculture dominated watershed

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Neupane, Ram P.; Kumar, Sandeep

    2015-10-01

    Land use and climate are two major components that directly influence catchment hydrologic processes, and therefore better understanding of their effects is crucial for future land use planning and water resources management. We applied Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to assess the effects of potential land use change and climate variability on hydrologic processes of large agriculture dominated Big Sioux River (BSR) watershed located in North Central region of USA. Future climate change scenarios were simulated using average output of temperature and precipitation data derived from Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES) (B1, A1B, and A2) for end-21st century. Land use change was modeled spatially based on historic long-term pattern of agricultural transformation in the basin, and included the expansion of corn (Zea mays L.) cultivation by 2, 5, and 10%. We estimated higher surface runoff in all land use scenarios with maximum increase of 4% while expanding 10% corn cultivation in the basin. Annual stream discharge was estimated higher with maximum increase of 72% in SRES-B1 attributed from higher groundwater contribution of 152% in the same scenario. We assessed increased precipitation during spring season but the summer precipitation decreased substantially in all climate change scenarios. Similar to decreased summer precipitation, discharge of the BSR also decreased potentially affecting agricultural production due to reduced future water availability during crop growing season in the basin. However, combined effects of potential land use change with climate variability enhanced for higher annual discharge of the BSR. Therefore, these estimations can be crucial for implications of future land use planning and water resources management of the basin.

  10. Modeling Phosphorous Losses from Seasonal Manure Application Schemes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Menzies, E.; Walter, M. T.

    2015-12-01

    Excess nutrient loading, especially nitrogen and phosphorus, to surface waters is a common and significant problem throughout the United States. While pollution remediation efforts are continuously improving, the most effective treatment remains to limit the source. Appropriate timing of fertilizer application to reduce nutrient losses is currently a hotly debated topic in the Northeastern United States; winter spreading of manure is under special scrutiny. We plan to evaluate the loss of phosphorous to surface waters from agricultural systems under varying seasonal fertilization schemes in an effort to determine the impacts of fertilizers applied throughout the year. The Cayuga Lake basin, located in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, is a watershed dominated by agriculture where a wide array of land management strategies can be found. The evaluation will be conducted on the Fall Creek Watershed, a large sub basin in the Cayuga Lake Watershed. The Fall Creek Watershed covers approximately 33,000 ha in central New York State with approximately 50% of this land being used for agriculture. We plan to use the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to model a number of seasonal fertilization regimes such as summer only spreading and year round spreading (including winter applications), as well as others. We will use the model to quantify the phosphorous load to surface waters from these different fertilization schemes and determine the impacts of manure applied at different times throughout the year. More detailed knowledge about how seasonal fertilization schemes impact phosphorous losses will provide more information to stakeholders concerning the impacts of agriculture on surface water quality. Our results will help farmers and extensionists make more informed decisions about appropriate timing of manure application for reduced phosphorous losses and surface water degradation as well as aid law makers in improving policy surrounding manure application.

  11. A multi-tracer approach to assess fingerprints of nitrate in an aquifer under agriculturally used land

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pasten-Zapata, Ernesto; Ledesma-Ruiz, Rogelio; Ramirez, Aldo; Harter, Thomas; Mahlknecht, Jürgen

    2014-05-01

    To effectively manage groundwater quality it is essential to understand sources of contamination and underground processes. The objective of the study was to identify sources and fate of nitrate pollution occurring in an aquifer underneath a sub-humid to humid region in NE Mexico which provides 10% of national citrus production. Nitrate isotopes and halide ratios were applied to understand nitrate sources and transformations in relation to land use/land cover. It was found that the study area is subject to diverse nitrate sources including organic waste and wastewater, synthetic fertilizers and soil processes. Animal manure and sewage from septic tanks were the causes of groundwater nitrate pollution within orchards and vegetable agriculture. Dairy activities within a radius of 1,000m from a sampling point increased nitrate pollution. Leachates from septic tanks incited nitrate pollution in residential areas. Soil nitrogen and animal waste were the sources of nitrate in groundwater under shrubland and grassland. Partial denitrification processes were evidenced. The denitrification process helped to attenuate nitrate concentration in the agricultural lands and grassland particularly during summer months.

  12. Estimating potential wind erosion of agricultural lands in northern China using the Revised Wind Erosion Equation (RWEQ) and GIS

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Fine materials emissions from severe wind-induced soil erosion have multiple impacts on land degradation and environmental pollution in the agro-pastoral ecotone in northern China (APEC). Assessment of wind erosion for the agricultural land management systems in APEC are needed to determine which sy...

  13. 25 CFR 166.812 - What are the penalties, damages, and costs payable by trespassers on Indian agricultural land?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false What are the penalties, damages, and costs payable by trespassers on Indian agricultural land? 166.812 Section 166.812 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER GRAZING PERMITS Trespass Penalties, Damages, and Costs § 166.812 What...

  14. 25 CFR 166.812 - What are the penalties, damages, and costs payable by trespassers on Indian agricultural land?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false What are the penalties, damages, and costs payable by trespassers on Indian agricultural land? 166.812 Section 166.812 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER GRAZING PERMITS Trespass Penalties, Damages, and Costs § 166.812 What...

  15. 25 CFR 166.812 - What are the penalties, damages, and costs payable by trespassers on Indian agricultural land?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false What are the penalties, damages, and costs payable by trespassers on Indian agricultural land? 166.812 Section 166.812 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER GRAZING PERMITS Trespass Penalties, Damages, and Costs § 166.812 What...

  16. 25 CFR 166.812 - What are the penalties, damages, and costs payable by trespassers on Indian agricultural land?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false What are the penalties, damages, and costs payable by trespassers on Indian agricultural land? 166.812 Section 166.812 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER GRAZING PERMITS Trespass Penalties, Damages, and Costs § 166.812 What...

  17. 25 CFR 166.812 - What are the penalties, damages, and costs payable by trespassers on Indian agricultural land?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2012-04-01 2011-04-01 true What are the penalties, damages, and costs payable by trespassers on Indian agricultural land? 166.812 Section 166.812 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER GRAZING PERMITS Trespass Penalties, Damages, and Costs § 166.812 What...

  18. Land Cover and Hydrologic Variability in Residential Watersheds: Drivers of N Loss in Sacramento CA

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McConaghie, J. B.; Zhou, W.; Cadenasso, M. L.

    2011-12-01

    A key aspect to understanding N loss from urban systems is the link between landscape heterogeneity and variability in non-point source (NPS) nitrogen (N) flux. Because water transports N across the landscape and into receiving streams as runoff, understanding how landscape heterogeneity influences water quantity and movement is also needed. High variability in N loss has been documented from urban systems. However, typical NPS studies characterize landscape heterogeneity by land use and only weakly explain variability in stream N. Focusing on land cover, rather than land use, may better explain observed variability in N loss because land cover elements may better indicate major drivers of N loss. Also, most studies have been conducted in temperate urban systems with stream flow year round. In semi-arid urban systems, storm flow accounts for the majority of stream discharges, and residential irrigation contributes significantly to flows in the dry season. To address how landscape heterogeneity affects variability in water quantity and quality in urban streams, we examined how land cover influences stream flows and N loss in residential streams of metropolitan Sacramento, CA. We analyzed fine-scale variation in land cover and stream N during base flow and storm events in 4 residential watersheds which differ substantially in land cover. We classified land cover using HERCULES (High Ecological Resolution Classification for Urban Landscapes and Environmental Systems) which was developed specifically for urban systems. HERCULES classifies high-resolution aerial photographs into 5 elements: buildings, pavement, herbaceous and woody vegetation, and bare soil. Streams were sampled for discharge, NO3, and Total N using auto samplers during storms in the 2010-2011 rainy season and monthly in the dry season. Partial correlation analysis and multivariate models describe the relationships between land cover elements, water retention, and stream N in these watersheds. We found

  19. Effects of mountain agriculture on nutrient cycling at upstream watersheds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lin, T.-C.; Shaner, P. L.; Wang, L.-J.; Shih, Y.-T.; Wang, C.-P.; Huang, G.-H.; Huang, J.-C.

    2015-05-01

    The expansion of agriculture to rugged mountains can exacerbate negative impacts of agriculture activities on ecosystem function. In this study, we monitored streamwater chemistry of four watersheds with varying proportions of agricultural lands (0.4, 3, 17, 22%) and rainfall chemistry of two of the four watersheds at Feitsui Reservoir Watershed in northern Taiwan to examine the effects of agriculture on watershed nutrient cycling. We found that the greater the proportions of agricultural lands, the higher the ion concentrations, which is evident for fertilizer-associated ions (NO3-, K+) but not for ions that are rich in soils (SO42-, Ca2+, Mg2+), suggesting that agriculture enriched fertilizer-associated nutrients in streamwater. The watershed with the highest proportion of agricultural lands had higher concentrations of ions in rainfall and lower nutrient retention capacity (i.e. higher output-input ratio of ions) compared to the relatively pristine watershed, suggesting that agriculture can influence atmospheric deposition of nutrients and a system's ability to retain nutrients. Furthermore, we found that a forested watershed downstream of agricultural activities can dilute the concentrations of fertilizer-associated ions (NO3-, K+) in streamwater by more than 70%, indicating that specific landscape configurations help mitigate nutrient enrichment to aquatic systems. We estimated that agricultural lands at our study site contributed approximately 400 kg ha-1 yr-1 of NO3-N and 260 kg ha-1 yr-1 of PO4-P output via streamwater, an order of magnitude greater than previously reported around the globe and can only be matched by areas under intense fertilizer use. Furthermore, we re-constructed watershed nutrient fluxes to show that excessive leaching of N and P, and additional loss of N to the atmosphere via volatilization and denitrification, can occur under intense fertilizer use. In summary, this study demonstrated the pervasive impacts of agriculture activities

  20. Estimation of soil erosion risk within an important agricultural sub-watershed in Bursa, Turkey, in relation to rapid urbanization.

    PubMed

    Ozsoy, Gokhan; Aksoy, Ertugrul

    2015-07-01

    This paper integrates the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) with a GIS model to investigate the spatial distribution of annual soil loss and identify areas of soil erosion risk in the Uluabat sub-watershed, an important agricultural site in Bursa Province, Turkey. The total soil loss from water erosion was 473,274 Mg year(-1). Accordingly, 60.3% of the surveyed area was classified into a very low erosion risk class while 25.7% was found to be in high and severe erosion risk classes. Soil loss had a close relationship with land use and topography. The most severe erosion risk typically occurs on ridges and steep slopes where agriculture, degraded forest, and shrubs are the main land uses and cover types. Another goal of this study was to use GIS to reveal the multi-year urbanization status caused by rapid urbanization that constitutes another soil erosion risk in this area. Urbanization has increased by 57.7% and the most areal change was determined in class I lands at a rate of 80% over 25 years. Urbanization was identified as one of the causes of excessive soil loss in the study area.

  1. Development of the Land-use and Agricultural Management Practice web-Service (LAMPS) for generating crop rotations in space and time

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Agroecosystem models and conservation planning tools require spatially and temporally explicit input data about agricultural management operations. The Land-use and Agricultural Management Practices web-Service (LAMPS) provides crop rotation and management information for user-specified areas within...

  2. Trends in Global Agricultural Land Use: Implications for Environmental Health and Food Security.

    PubMed

    Ramankutty, Navin; Mehrabi, Zia; Waha, Katharina; Jarvis, Larissa; Kremen, Claire; Herrero, Mario; Rieseberg, Loren H

    2018-04-29

    The eighteenth-century Malthusian prediction of population growth outstripping food production has not yet come to bear. Unprecedented agricultural land expansions since 1700, and technological innovations that began in the 1930s, have enabled more calorie production per capita than was ever available before in history. This remarkable success, however, has come at a great cost. Agriculture is a major cause of global environmental degradation. Malnutrition persists among large sections of the population, and a new epidemic of obesity is on the rise. We review both the successes and failures of the global food system, addressing ongoing debates on pathways to environmental health and food security. To deal with these challenges, a new coordinated research program blending modern breeding with agro-ecological methods is needed. We call on plant biologists to lead this effort and help steer humanity toward a safe operating space for agriculture.

  3. Estimation of Agricultural Pesticide Use in Drainage Basins Using Land Cover Maps and County Pesticide Data. National Water-Quality Assessment Program

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2005-01-01

    National Water-Quality Assessment Program NCFAP National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy NLCD 92 National Land Cover Data 1992 NLCDe 92 enhanced...cropland acreage and state agricultural pesticide use in the early to mid-1990s reported by the National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy (NCFAP...Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). [17]. The National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy (NCFAP) is a

  4. Agricultural land cover mapping in the context of a geographically referenced digital information system. [Carroll, Macon, and Gentry Counties, Missouri

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Stoner, E. R.

    1982-01-01

    The introduction of soil map information to the land cover mapping process can improve discrimination of land cover types and reduce confusion among crop types that may be caused by soil-specific management practices and background reflectance characteristics. Multiple dates of LANDSAT MSS digital were analyzed for three study areas in northern Missouri to produce cover types for major agricultural land cover classes. Digital data bases were then developed by adding ancillary data such as digitized soil and transportation network information to the LANDSAT-derived cover type map. Procedures were developed to manipulate the data base parameters to extract information applicable to user requirements. An agricultural information system combining such data can be used to determine the productive capacity of land to grow crops, fertilizer needs, chemical weed control rates, irrigation suitability, and trafficability of soil for planting.

  5. Evaluation of current state of agricultural land using problem-oriented fuzzy indicators in GIS environment

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Current state of agricultural lands is defined under influence of processes in soil, plants and atmosphere and is described by observation data, complicated models and subjective opinion of experts. Problem-oriented indicators summarize this information in useful form for decision of the same specif...

  6. Whole-farm phosphorus loss from grazing-based dairy farms

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Phosphorus (P) loss from agricultural farms persists as a water quality impairment issue. For dairy farms, P can be lost from cropland, pastures, and open-air lots. We used interview surveys to document land use, cattle herd characteristics, and manure management for four grazing-based dairy farms i...

  7. New Jersey Land-Use Planning Techniques and Legislation. Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin AE-338.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schneider, Lee D.

    In response to recent urban to rural migration trends and the development of rather piecemeal land use policies and practices by local, state, and Federal decision makers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has established a regional project (NE-78) and this report reflects the first of three major project objectives (to describe and appraise…

  8. Linking river nutrient concentrations to land use and rainfall in a paddy agriculture-urban area gradient watershed in southeast China.

    PubMed

    Xia, Yongqiu; Ti, Chaopu; She, Dongli; Yan, Xiaoyuan

    2016-10-01

    The effects of land use and land-use changes on river nutrient concentrations are not well understood, especially in the watersheds of developing countries that have a mixed land use of rice paddy fields and developing urban surfaces. Here, we present a three-year study of a paddy agricultural-urban area gradient watershed in southeast China. The annual anthropogenic nitrogen (N) input from the agricultural region to the urban region was high, yet the results showed that the monthly nutrient concentrations in the river were low in the rainy seasons. The nutrient concentrations decreased continuously as the river water passed through the traditional agriculture region (TAR; paddy rice and wheat rotation) and increased substantially in the city region (CR). The traditional agricultural reference region exported most of the nutrient loads at high flows (>1mmd(-1)), the intensified agricultural region (IAR, aquaculture and poultry farming) exported most of the nutrient loads at moderate flows (between 0.5 and 1mmd(-1)), and the CR reference area exported most of the nutrient loads under low to moderate flows. We developed a statistical model to link variations in the nutrient concentrations to the proportion of land-use types and rainfall. The statistical results showed that impervious surfaces, which we interpret as a proxy for urban activities including sewage disposal, were the most important drivers of nutrient concentrations, whereas water surfaces accounted for a substantial proportion of the nutrient sinks. Therefore, to efficiently reduce water pollution, sewage from urban areas must be addressed as a priority, although wetland restoration could also achieve substantial pollutant removal. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  9. Gemas: Geochemical mapping of the agricultural and grasing land soils of Europe

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Reimann, Clemens; Fabian, Karl; Birke, Manfred; Demetriades, Alecos; Matschullat, Jörg; Gemas Project Team

    2017-04-01

    Geochemical Mapping of Agricultural and grazing land Soil (GEMAS) is a cooperative project between the Geochemistry Expert Group of EuroGeoSurveys and Eurometaux. During 2008 and until early 2009, a total of 2108 samples of agricultural (ploughed land, 0-20 cm, Ap-samples) and 2023 samples of grazing land (0-10 cm, Gr samples)) soil were collected at a density of 1 site/2500 km2 each from 33 European countries, covering an area of 5,600,000 km2. All samples were analysed for 52 chemical elements following an aqua regia extraction, 42 elements by XRF (total), and soil properties, like CEC, TOC, pH (CaCl2), following tight external quality control procedures. In addition, the Ap soil samples were analysed for 57 elements in a mobile metal ion (MMI®) extraction, Pb isotopes, magnetic susceptibility and total C, N and S. The results demonstrate that robust geochemical maps of Europe can be constructed based on low density sampling, the two independent sample materials, Ap and Gr, show very comparable distribution patterns across Europe. At the European scale, element distribution patterns are governed by natural processes, most often a combination of geology and climate. The geochemical maps reflect most of the known metal mining districts in Europe. In addition, a number of new anomalies emerge that may indicate mineral potential. The size of some anomalies is such that they can only be detected when mapping at the continental scale. For some elements completely new geological settings are detected. An anthropogenic impact at a much more local scale is discernible in the immediate vicinity of some major European cities (e.g., London, Paris) and some metal smelters. The impact of agriculture is visible for Cu (vineyard soils) and for some further elements only in the mobile metal ion (MMI) extraction. For several trace elements deficiency issues are a larger threat to plant, animal and finally human health at the European scale than toxicity. Taking the famous step

  10. Co-benefits, trade-offs, barriers and policies for greenhouse gas mitigation in the agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) sector.

    PubMed

    Bustamante, Mercedes; Robledo-Abad, Carmenza; Harper, Richard; Mbow, Cheikh; Ravindranat, Nijavalli H; Sperling, Frank; Haberl, Helmut; Pinto, Alexandre de Siqueira; Smith, Pete

    2014-10-01

    The agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) sector is responsible for approximately 25% of anthropogenic GHG emissions mainly from deforestation and agricultural emissions from livestock, soil and nutrient management. Mitigation from the sector is thus extremely important in meeting emission reduction targets. The sector offers a variety of cost-competitive mitigation options with most analyses indicating a decline in emissions largely due to decreasing deforestation rates. Sustainability criteria are needed to guide development and implementation of AFOLU mitigation measures with particular focus on multifunctional systems that allow the delivery of multiple services from land. It is striking that almost all of the positive and negative impacts, opportunities and barriers are context specific, precluding generic statements about which AFOLU mitigation measures have the greatest promise at a global scale. This finding underlines the importance of considering each mitigation strategy on a case-by-case basis, systemic effects when implementing mitigation options on the national scale, and suggests that policies need to be flexible enough to allow such assessments. National and international agricultural and forest (climate) policies have the potential to alter the opportunity costs of specific land uses in ways that increase opportunities or barriers for attaining climate change mitigation goals. Policies governing practices in agriculture and in forest conservation and management need to account for both effective mitigation and adaptation and can help to orient practices in agriculture and in forestry towards global sharing of innovative technologies for the efficient use of land resources. Different policy instruments, especially economic incentives and regulatory approaches, are currently being applied however, for its successful implementation it is critical to understand how land-use decisions are made and how new social, political and economic forces

  11. Mapping decadal land cover changes in the woodlands of north eastern Namibia using the Landsat satellite archive (1975-2014)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wingate, Vladimir; Phinn, Stuart; Kuhn, Nikolaus

    2016-04-01

    Woodland savannahs provide essential ecosystem functions and services to communities. On the African continent, they are widely utilized and converted to intensive land uses. This study investigates the land cover changes over 108,038 km2 in NE Namibia using multi-sensor Landsat imagery, at decadal intervals from 1975 to 2014, with a post-classification change detection method and supervised Regression Tree classifiers. We discuss likely impacts of land tenure and reforms over the past four decades on changes in land use and land cover. These included losses, gains and exchanges between predominant land cover classes. Exchanges comprised logical conversions between woodland and agricultural classes, implying woodland clearing for arable farming, cropland abandonment and vegetation succession. The dominant change was a reduction in the area of the woodland class due to the expansion of the agricultural class, specifically, small-scale cereal and pastoral production. Woodland area decreased from 90% of the study area in 1975 to 83% in 2014, while cleared land increased from 9% to 14%. We found that the main land cover changes are conversion from woodland to agricultural and urban land uses, driven by urban expansion and woodland clearing for subsistence-based agriculture and pastoralism.

  12. Validating the use of 137Cs and 210Pbex measurements to estimate rates of soil loss from cultivated land in southern Italy.

    PubMed

    Porto, Paolo; Walling, Des E

    2012-04-01

    Soil erosion represents an important threat to the long-term sustainability of agriculture and forestry in many areas of the world, including southern Italy. Numerous models and prediction procedures have been developed to estimate rates of soil loss and soil redistribution, based on the local topography, hydrometeorology, soil type and land management. However, there remains an important need for empirical measurements to provide a basis for validating and calibrating such models and prediction procedures as well as to support specific investigations and experiments. In this context, erosion plots provide useful information on gross rates of soil loss, but are unable to document the efficiency of the onward transfer of the eroded sediment within a field and towards the stream system, and thus net rates of soil loss from larger areas. The use of environmental radionuclides, particularly caesium-137 ((137)Cs) and excess lead-210 ((210)Pb(ex)), as a means of estimating rates of soil erosion and deposition has attracted increasing attention in recent years and the approach has now been recognised as possessing several important advantages. In order to provide further confirmation of the validity of the estimates of longer-term erosion and soil redistribution rates provided by (137)Cs and (210)Pb(ex) measurements, there is a need for studies aimed explicitly at validating the results obtained. In this context, the authors directed attention to the potential offered by a set of small erosion plots located near Reggio Calabria in southern Italy, for validating estimates of soil loss provided by (137)Cs and (210)Pb(ex) measurements. A preliminary assessment suggested that, notwithstanding the limitations and constraints involved, a worthwhile investigation aimed at validating the use of (137)Cs and (210)Pb(ex) measurements to estimate rates of soil loss from cultivated land could be undertaken. The results demonstrate a close consistency between the measured rates of soil

  13. Reconstructing Land Use History from Landsat Time-Series. Case study of Swidden Agriculture Intensification in Brazil

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dutrieux, L.; Jakovac, C. C.; Siti, L. H.; Kooistra, L.

    2015-12-01

    We developed a method to reconstruct land use history from Landsat images time-series. The method uses a breakpoint detection framework derived from the econometrics field and applicable to time-series regression models. The BFAST framework is used for defining the time-series regression models which may contain trend and phenology, hence appropriately modelling vegetation intra and inter-annual dynamics. All available Landsat data are used, and the time-series are partitioned into segments delimited by breakpoints. Segments can be associated to land use regimes, while the breakpoints then correspond to shifts in regimes. To further characterize these shifts, we classified the unlabelled breakpoints returned by the algorithm into their corresponding processes. We used a Random Forest classifier, trained from a set of visually interpreted time-series profiles to infer the processes and assign labels to the breakpoints. The whole approach was applied to quantifying the number of cultivation cycles in a swidden agriculture system in Brazil. Number and frequency of cultivation cycles is of particular ecological relevance in these systems since they largely affect the capacity of the forest to regenerate after abandonment. We applied the method to a Landsat time-series of Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDMI) spanning the 1984-2015 period and derived from it the number of cultivation cycles during that period at the individual field scale level. Agricultural fields boundaries used to apply the method were derived using a multi-temporal segmentation. We validated the number of cultivation cycles predicted against in-situ information collected from farmers interviews, resulting in a Normalized RMSE of 0.25. Overall the method performed well, producing maps with coherent patterns. We identified various sources of error in the approach, including low data availability in the 90s and sub-object mixture of land uses. We conclude that the method holds great promise for

  14. [Runoff loss of soil mineral nitrogen and its relationship with grass coverage on Loess slope land].

    PubMed

    Zhang, Yali; Li, Huai'en; Zhang, Xingchang; Xiao, Bo

    2006-12-01

    In a simulated rainfall experiment on Loess slope land, this paper determined the rainfall, surface runoff and the effective depth of interaction (EDI) between rainfall and soil mineral nitrogen, and studied the effects of grass coverage on the EDI and the runoff loss of soil mineral nitrogen. The results showed that with the increase of EDI, soil nitrogen in deeper layers could be released into surface runoff through dissolution and desorption. The higher the grass coverage, the deeper the EDI was. Grass coverage promoted the interaction between surface runoff and surface soil. On the slope land with 60%, 80% and 100% of grass coverage, the mean content of runoff mineral nitrogen increased by 34.52%, 32.67% and 6.00%, while surface runoff decreased by 4.72%, 9.84% and 12.89%, and eroded sediment decreased by 83.55%, 87.11% and 89.01%, respectively, compared with bare slope land. The total runoff loss of soil mineral nitrogen on the lands with 60%, 80%, and 100% of grass coverage was 95.73%, 109.04%, and 84.05% of that on bare land, respectively. Grass cover had dual effects on the surface runoff of soil mineral nitrogen. On one hand, it enhanced the influx of soil mineral nitrogen to surface runoff, and on the other hand, it markedly decreased the runoff, resulting in the decrease of soil mineral nitrogen loss through runoff and sediment. These two distinct factors codetermined the total runoff loss of soil mineral nitrogen.

  15. Spatially explicit land-use and land-cover scenarios for the Great Plains of the United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Sohl, Terry L.; Sleeter, Benjamin M.; Sayler, Kristi L.; Bouchard, Michelle A.; Reker, Ryan R.; Bennett, Stacie L.; Sleeter, Rachel R.; Kanengieter, Ronald L.; Zhu, Zhi-Liang

    2012-01-01

    The Great Plains of the United States has undergone extensive land-use and land-cover change in the past 150 years, with much of the once vast native grasslands and wetlands converted to agricultural crops, and much of the unbroken prairie now heavily grazed. Future land-use change in the region could have dramatic impacts on ecological resources and processes. A scenario-based modeling framework is needed to support the analysis of potential land-use change in an uncertain future, and to mitigate potentially negative future impacts on ecosystem processes. We developed a scenario-based modeling framework to analyze potential future land-use change in the Great Plains. A unique scenario construction process, using an integrated modeling framework, historical data, workshops, and expert knowledge, was used to develop quantitative demand for future land-use change for four IPCC scenarios at the ecoregion level. The FORE-SCE model ingested the scenario information and produced spatially explicit land-use maps for the region at relatively fine spatial and thematic resolutions. Spatial modeling of the four scenarios provided spatial patterns of land-use change consistent with underlying assumptions and processes associated with each scenario. Economically oriented scenarios were characterized by significant loss of natural land covers and expansion of agricultural and urban land uses. Environmentally oriented scenarios experienced modest declines in natural land covers to slight increases. Model results were assessed for quantity and allocation disagreement between each scenario pair. In conjunction with the U.S. Geological Survey's Biological Carbon Sequestration project, the scenario-based modeling framework used for the Great Plains is now being applied to the entire United States.

  16. The changing trend in nitrate concentrations in major aquifers due to historical nitrate loading from agricultural land across England and Wales from 1925 to 2150.

    PubMed

    Wang, L; Stuart, M E; Lewis, M A; Ward, R S; Skirvin, D; Naden, P S; Collins, A L; Ascott, M J

    2016-01-15

    Nitrate is necessary for agricultural productivity, but can cause considerable problems if released into aquatic systems. Agricultural land is the major source of nitrates in UK groundwater. Due to the long time-lag in the groundwater system, it could take decades for leached nitrate from the soil to discharge into freshwaters. However, this nitrate time-lag has rarely been considered in environmental water management. Against this background, this paper presents an approach to modelling groundwater nitrate at the national scale, to simulate the impacts of historical nitrate loading from agricultural land on the evolution of groundwater nitrate concentrations. An additional process-based component was constructed for the saturated zone of significant aquifers in England and Wales. This uses a simple flow model which requires modelled recharge values, together with published aquifer properties and thickness data. A spatially distributed and temporally variable nitrate input function was also introduced. The sensitivity of parameters was analysed using Monte Carlo simulations. The model was calibrated using national nitrate monitoring data. Time series of annual average nitrate concentrations along with annual spatially distributed nitrate concentration maps from 1925 to 2150 were generated for 28 selected aquifer zones. The results show that 16 aquifer zones have an increasing trend in nitrate concentration, while average nitrate concentrations in the remaining 12 are declining. The results are also indicative of the trend in the flux of groundwater nitrate entering rivers through baseflow. The model thus enables the magnitude and timescale of groundwater nitrate response to be factored into source apportionment tools and to be taken into account alongside current planning of land-management options for reducing nitrate losses. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. An Initial Analysis of LANDSAT-4 Thematic Mapper Data for the Discrimination of Agricultural, Forested Wetland, and Urban Land Covers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Quattrochi, D. A.

    1984-01-01

    An initial analysis of LANDSAT 4 Thematic Mapper (TM) data for the discrimination of agricultural, forested wetland, and urban land covers is conducted using a scene of data collected over Arkansas and Tennessee. A classification of agricultural lands derived from multitemporal LANDSAT Multispectral Scanner (MSS) data is compared with a classification of TM data for the same area. Results from this comparative analysis show that the multitemporal MSS classification produced an overall accuracy of 80.91% while the TM classification yields an overall classification accuracy of 97.06% correct.

  18. Humans reclaimed lands in NorthEastern Italy and artificial drainage networks: effects of 30 years of Agricultural Surface Water Management

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sofia, Giulia; Pizzulli, Federica; Tarolli, Paolo

    2017-04-01

    Agriculture and land-use management has changed drastically in Italy since the end of the Second World War, driven by local but also European agricultural policies. As a result of these changes in farming practices and land use, many drainage networks have changed producing a greater exposure to flooding with a broad range of impacts on society, also because of climate inputs coupling with the human drivers. This study focuses on two main points: which kind of land use and farming changes have been observed in the most recent years ( 30 years)? How do these changes interact with climate and soil conditions? An open challenge to understand how these changes influence the watershed response, is, in fact, to understand if rainfall characteristics and climate have a synergistic effect, if their interaction matters, or to understand what element has the greatest influence on the watershed response connected to agricultural changes. The work is based on a simple model of water infiltration due to soil properties, and a connected evaluation of the distributed surface water storage offered by artificial drainage networks in a study area in Veneto (north-eastern Italy). The analysis shows that economic changes control the development of agro-industrial landscapes, with effects on the hydrological response. However, these changes deeply interact with antecedent soil conditions and climate characteristics. Intense and irregular rainfall events and events with a high recurrence should be expected to be the most critical. The presented outcomes highlight the importance of understanding how agricultural practices can be the driver of or can be used to avoid, or at least mitigate, flooding. The proposed methods can be valuable tools in evaluating the costs and benefits of the management of water in agriculture to inform better policy decision-making. References Sofia G, Tarolli P. 2017. Hydrological Response to 30 years of Agricultural Surface Water Management. Land 6 (1): 3 DOI

  19. Reframing the land-sparing/land-sharing debate for biodiversity conservation.

    PubMed

    Kremen, Claire

    2015-10-01

    Conservation biologists are devoting an increasing amount of energy to debating whether land sparing (high-yielding agriculture on a small land footprint) or land sharing (low-yielding, wildlife-friendly agriculture on a larger land footprint) will promote better outcomes for local and global biodiversity. In turn, concerns are mounting about how to feed the world, given increasing demands for food. In this review, I evaluate the land-sparing/land-sharing framework--does the framework stimulate research and policy that can reconcile agricultural land use with biodiversity conservation, or is a revised framing needed? I review (1) the ecological evidence in favor of sparing versus sharing; (2) the evidence from land-use change studies that assesses whether a relationship exists between agricultural intensification and land sparing; and (3) how that relationship may be affected by socioeconomic and political factors. To address the trade-off between biodiversity conservation and food production, I then ask which forms of agricultural intensification can best feed the world now and in the future. On the basis of my review, I suggest that the dichotomy of the land-sparing/land-sharing framework limits the realm of future possibilities to two, largely undesirable, options for conservation. Both large, protected regions and favorable surrounding matrices are needed to promote biodiversity conservation; they work synergistically and are not mutually exclusive. A "both-and" framing of large protected areas surrounded by a wildlife-friendly matrix suggests different research priorities from the "either-or" framing of sparing versus sharing. Furthermore, wildlife-friendly farming methods such as agroecology may be best adapted to provide food for the world's hungry people. © 2015 New York Academy of Sciences.

  20. Ethics and Agricultural Education: Determining Needs.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Foster, Billye

    2000-01-01

    In a three-round Delphi (n=197, 109, 75), secondary teachers (61.5% in agriculture) identified important ethical issues regarding land and water use: conversion of agricultural land for urban development, water rights control, and public land used for agriculture. Nearly all addressed ethical issues in class. (SK)

  1. A method for calculating a land-use change carbon footprint (LUC-CFP) for agricultural commodities - applications to Brazilian beef and soy, Indonesian palm oil.

    PubMed

    Persson, U Martin; Henders, Sabine; Cederberg, Christel

    2014-11-01

    The world's agricultural system has come under increasing scrutiny recently as an important driver of global climate change, creating a demand for indicators that estimate the climatic impacts of agricultural commodities. Such carbon footprints, however, have in most cases excluded emissions from land-use change and the proposed methodologies for including this significant emissions source suffer from different shortcomings. Here, we propose a new methodology for calculating land-use change carbon footprints for agricultural commodities and illustrate this methodology by applying it to three of the most prominent agricultural commodities driving tropical deforestation: Brazilian beef and soybeans, and Indonesian palm oil. We estimate land-use change carbon footprints in 2010 to be 66 tCO2 /t meat (carcass weight) for Brazilian beef, 0.89 tCO2 /t for Brazilian soybeans, and 7.5 tCO2 /t for Indonesian palm oil, using a 10 year amortization period. The main advantage of the proposed methodology is its flexibility: it can be applied in a tiered approach, using detailed data where it is available while still allowing for estimation of footprints for a broad set of countries and agricultural commodities; it can be applied at different scales, estimating both national and subnational footprints; it can be adopted to account both for direct (proximate) and indirect drivers of land-use change. It is argued that with an increasing commercialization and globalization of the drivers of land-use change, the proposed carbon footprint methodology could help leverage the power needed to alter environmentally destructive land-use practices within the global agricultural system by providing a tool for assessing the environmental impacts of production, thereby informing consumers about the impacts of consumption and incentivizing producers to become more environmentally responsible. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  2. Effectiveness of conservation easements in agricultural regions.

    PubMed

    Braza, Mark

    2017-08-01

    Conservation easements are a standard technique for preventing habitat loss, particularly in agricultural regions with extensive cropland cultivation, yet little is known about their effectiveness. I developed a spatial econometric approach to propensity-score matching and used the approach to estimate the amount of habitat loss prevented by a grassland conservation easement program of the U.S. federal government. I used a spatial autoregressive probit model to predict tract enrollment in the easement program as of 2001 based on tract agricultural suitability, habitat quality, and spatial interactions among neighboring tracts. Using the predicted values from the model, I matched enrolled tracts with similar unenrolled tracts to form a treatment group and a control group. To measure the program's impact on subsequent grassland loss, I estimated cropland cultivation rates for both groups in 2014 with a second spatial probit model. Between 2001 and 2014, approximately 14.9% of control tracts were cultivated and 0.3% of treated tracts were cultivated. Therefore, approximately 14.6% of the protected land would have been cultivated in the absence of the program. My results demonstrate that conservation easements can significantly reduce habitat loss in agricultural regions; however, the enrollment of tracts with low cropland suitability may constrain the amount of habitat loss they prevent. My results also show that spatial econometric models can improve the validity of control groups and thereby strengthen causal inferences about program effectiveness in situations when spatial interactions influence conservation decisions. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

  3. Against the Grain: The Influence of Changing Agricultural Management on the Earth System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Foley, J. A.

    2007-12-01

    The rise of modern agriculture was one of the most transformative events in human history, and has forever changed our relationship to the natural world. By clearing tropical forests, practicing subsistence agriculture on marginal lands and intensifying industrialized farmland production, agricultural practices are changing the worldês landscapes in pervasive ways. In the past decade, we have made tremendous progress in monitoring agricultural expansion from satellites, and modeling associated environmental impacts. In the past decade, the Earth System Science research community has begun to recognize the importance of agricultural lands, particularly as they continue expanding at the expense of important natural ecosystems, potentially altering the planetês carbon cycle and climate. With the advent of new remote sensing and global modeling methods, several efforts have documented the expansion of agricultural lands, the corresponding loss of natural ecosystems, and how this may influence the earth system. But the geographic expansion of agricultural lands is not the whole story. While significant agricultural expansion (or extensification) has occurred in the past few decades, the intensification of agricultural practices Ð under the aegis of the -Green Revolution" Ð has dramatically altered the relationship between humans and environmental systems across the world. Simply put, many of the worldês existing agricultural lands are being used much more intensively as opportunities for agricultural expansion are being exhausted elsewhere. In the last 40 years, global agricultural production has more than doubled Ð although global cropland has increased by only 12% Ð mainly through the use of high yielding varieties of grain, increased reliance on irrigation, massive increases in chemical fertilization, and increased mechanization. Indeed, in the past 40 years there has been a 700% increase in global fertilizer use and a 70% increase in irrigated cropland area

  4. Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework: 3. Land Use and Field Boundary Database Development and Structure.

    PubMed

    Tomer, Mark D; James, David E; Sandoval-Green, Claudette M J

    2017-05-01

    Conservation planning information is important for identifying options for watershed water quality improvement and can be developed for use at field, farm, and watershed scales. Translation across scales is a key issue impeding progress at watershed scales because watershed improvement goals must be connected with implementation of farm- and field-level conservation practices to demonstrate success. This is particularly true when examining alternatives for "trap and treat" practices implemented at agricultural-field edges to control (or influence) water flows through fields, landscapes, and riparian corridors within agricultural watersheds. We propose that database structures used in developing conservation planning information can achieve translation across conservation-planning scales, and we developed the Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF) to enable practical planning applications. The ACPF comprises a planning concept, a database to facilitate field-level and watershed-scale analyses, and an ArcGIS toolbox with Python scripts to identify specific options for placement of conservation practices. This paper appends two prior publications and describes the structure of the ACPF database, which contains land use, crop history, and soils information and is available for download for 6091 HUC12 watersheds located across Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, and parts of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Wisconsin and comprises information on 2.74 × 10 agricultural fields (available through /). Sample results examining land use trends across Iowa and Illinois are presented here to demonstrate potential uses of the database. While designed for use with the ACPF toolbox, users are welcome to use the ACPF watershed data in a variety of planning and modeling approaches. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  5. Ensuring food security with lower environmental costs under intensive agricultural land use patterns: A case study from China.

    PubMed

    Qi, Xiaoxing; Wang, Raymond Yu; Li, Jianchun; Zhang, Tao; Liu, Liming; He, Yanling

    2018-05-01

    Rapid population growth and environmental deterioration make ensuring food security with lower environmental costs fundamental to realizing sustainable development in China and other developing countries. The conceptual framework used in this paper integrates the major consequences of intensive agricultural land use and the diverse objectives of policymakers and farmers. It also offers an operational approach, based on farmers' diverse performance in grain production and farmland productivity, to assess food production and environmental impacts under foci-differentiated scenarios. Using data from farmer household surveys, soil surveys, land use images, and statistical yearbooks, this approach was tested using a regional case in China. The results indicate that, among all farmer types, the medium-scale farmers had a better comprehensive performance for grain production for yield, fertilizer and pesticide inputs, labor productivity, and sustainability. Therefore, grain yields can be increased and environmental costs reduced simultaneously through the use of policy instruments that encourage the transformation of trapped farmers into medium-scale farmers and balancing the proportion of single and double cropped rice. In addition, and in order to reduce grain losses caused by natural disasters and to prevent environmental degradation, robust policy measures should be developed to avoid the currently predominant cropping patterns that erode biodiversity. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Chloride Sources and Losses in Two Tile-Drained Agricultural Watersheds.

    PubMed

    David, Mark B; Mitchell, Corey A; Gentry, Lowell E; Salemme, Ronald K

    2016-01-01

    Chloride is a relatively unreactive plant nutrient that has long been used as a biogeochemical tracer but also can be a pollutant causing aquatic biology impacts when concentrations are high, typically from rock salt applications used for deicing roads. Chloride inputs to watersheds are most often from atmospheric deposition, road salt, or agricultural fertilizer, although studies on agricultural watersheds with large fertilizer inputs are few. We used long-term (21 and 17 yr) chloride water quality data in two rivers of east-central Illinois to better understand chloride biogeochemistry in two agricultural watersheds (Embarras and Kaskaskia), the former with a larger urban land use and both with extensive tile drainage. During our sampling period, the average chloride concentration was 23.7 and 20.9 mg L in the Embarras and Kaskaskia Rivers, respectively. Annual fluxes of chloride were 72.5 and 61.2 kg ha yr in the Embarras and Kaskaskia watersheds, respectively. In both watersheds, fertilizer chloride was the dominant input (∼49 kg ha yr), with road salt likely the other major source (23.2 and 7.2 kg ha yr for the Embarras and Kaskaskia watersheds, respectively). Combining our monitoring data with earlier published data on the Embarras River showed an increase in chloride concentrations as potash use increased in Illinois during the 1960s and 1970s with a lag of about 2 to 6 yr to changes in potash inputs based on a multiple-regression model. In these agricultural watersheds, riverine chloride responds relatively quickly to potash fertilization as a result of tile-drainage. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  7. Trade-off between water pollution prevention, agriculture profit, and farmer practice--an optimization methodology for discussion on land-use adjustment in China.

    PubMed

    Liu, Jianchang; Zhang, Luoping; Zhang, Yuzhen; Deng, Hongbing

    2015-01-01

    Agricultural decision-making to control nonpoint source (NPS) water pollution may not be efficiently implemented, if there is no appropriate cost-benefit analysis on agricultural management practices. This paper presents an interval-fuzzy linear programming (IFLP) model to deal with the trade-off between agricultural revenue, NPS pollution control, and alternative practices through land adjustment for Wuchuan catchment, a typical agricultural area in Jiulong River watershed, Fujian Province of China. From the results, the lower combination of practice 1, practice 2, practice 3, and practice 7 with the land area of 12.6, 5.2, 145.2, and 85.3 hm(2), respectively, could reduce NPS pollution load by 10%. The combination yields an income of 98,580 Chinese Yuan/a. If the pollution reduction is 15%, the higher combination need practice 1, practice 2, practice 3, practice 5, and practice 7 with the land area of 54.4, 23.6, 18.0, 6.3, and 85.3 hm(2), respectively. The income of this combination is 915,170 Chinese Yuan/a. The sensitivity analysis of IFLP indicates that the cost-effective practices are ranked as follows: practice 7 > practice 2 > practice 1 > practice 5 > practice 3 > practice 6 > practice 4. In addition, the uncertainties in the agriculture NPS pollution control system could be effectively quantified by the IFLP model. Furthermore, to accomplish a reasonable and applicable project of land-use adjustment, decision-makers could also integrate above solutions with their own experience and other information.

  8. Louisiana Coastal Area, Louisiana. Land Loss and Marsh Creation

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1984-11-01

    Craig et al., 1979, and Bahr et al., 1983). These factors have produced a net change in the land and water surface elevations. Long-term subsidence...wildlife resources has been documented. Biologists generally agree that habitat reduction would be accompanied by diminished harvests ( Craig et al., 1979...wetland losses reported by Craig et al. (1979) are equivalent to 6.31 million pounds of shrimp harvest "loe’t" over the past 20 years (Turner 1979

  9. Population, agriculture, and the environment in Africa.

    PubMed

    Cleaver, K; Schreiber, G

    1992-06-01

    An overview is provided of the World Bank study about the interaction between rapid population growth, poor agricultural performance, and environmental degradation. The links between these 3 phenomena are identified as traditional methods of crop and livestock production, land tenure systems, women's responsibilities, and methods of forest use. When land was abundant and capital limited, pastoralism, shifting cultivation, and setting aside fallow land was possible. Mobility and allowances for natural regeneration of vegetation could not continue with rapid population growth. Permanent settlements developed but cultivation methods remained the same; the result was deterioration of soil fertility, low yields, and erosion of soil as occurred in Rwanda, Burkina Faso, and parts of Nigeria. Technological innovation has been slow and poor roads have interfered with a market oriented economy. Inappropriate pricing, exchange rates, and fiscal policies also prevent productivity gains. A heavy demand is placed on women's time. Demand for children is high and is stimulated by environmental degradation, food insecurity, land tenure systems, and cultural traditions. Child labor is needed. The demand for contraception is 30-50% in North Africa, 36-55% in Asia, and 40-60% in South America. Land ownership problems have arisen under community ownership and between herders and settlers. Solutions have ranged from land nationalization and arbitrary designation of individual ownership. Open access situations have developed and lent themselves to exploitation. Fuelwood needs have exacerbated the destruction of forests. Commercial logging accounted for 10-20% of the forest loss. New approaches are needed to link cross-sectionally population, the environment, an agriculture. Emphasis should be on resource conservation, family planning, and environmentally benign intensive farming. Agricultural production needs to grow at 4%/year, fertility lowered by 50% over 30 years, and deforestation

  10. Land-atmosphere coupling and soil moisture memory contribute to long-term agricultural drought

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kumar, S.; Newman, M.; Lawrence, D. M.; Livneh, B.; Lombardozzi, D. L.

    2017-12-01

    We assessed the contribution of land-atmosphere coupling and soil moisture memory on long-term agricultural droughts in the US. We performed an ensemble of climate model simulations to study soil moisture dynamics under two atmospheric forcing scenarios: active and muted land-atmosphere coupling. Land-atmosphere coupling contributes to a 12% increase and 36% decrease in the decorrelation time scale of soil moisture anomalies in the US Great Plains and the Southwest, respectively. These differences in soil moisture memory affect the length and severity of modeled drought. Consequently, long-term droughts are 10% longer and 3% more severe in the Great Plains, and 15% shorter and 21% less severe in the Southwest. An analysis of Coupled Model Intercomparsion Project phase 5 data shows four fold uncertainty in soil moisture memory across models that strongly affects simulated long-term droughts and is potentially attributable to the differences in soil water storage capacity across models.

  11. On Assessment and Estimation of Potential Losses due to Land Subsidence in Urban Areas of Indonesia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Abidin, Hasanuddin Z.; Andreas, Heri; Gumilar, Irwan; Sidiq, Teguh P.

    2016-04-01

    Land subsidence is natural-anthropogenic hazard affecting several large urban areas in Indonesia, i.e. Jakarta, Bandung and Semarang. Geodetic based results from various techniques (e.g. Leveling, GPS and InSAR) show that land subsidence rates in all three cities generally have spatial and temporal variations, and their magnitude is in average about 5-10 cm/year. The impacts of subsidence in those cities can be seen in the field in various forms such as cracking of permanent constructions and roads, tilting of houses and buildings, 'sinking' of houses and buildings, changes in river canal and drain flow systems, wider expansion of coastal and/or inland flooding areas, and increased inland sea water intrusion. These impacts can be categorized into infrastructure, environmental, economic, and social impacts. The potential losses due to land subsidence in urban areas are actually quite significant. Related infrastructural, social and environmental costs due to direct and indirect impacts of land subsidence are economically quite significant, and can not be underestimated in sustainable urban development. The planning, development and maintenance costs of building and infrastructures in the affected areas are usually much higher than the normal situation. The collateral impact of coastal subsidence in Jakarta and Semarang, in the form of coastal flooding during high tides is also quite damaging. This repeated coastal flooding in several areas along the coast will deteriorate the structure and function of building and infrastructures, badly influences the quality of the living environment and life (e.g. health and sanitation condition), and also disrupts economic and social activities in the affected areas. As in the case of Bandung, inland subsidence also has a quite significant impact on inland flooding phenomena, since it will theoretically lead to expanded coverage and deeper water depth of flooded (inundated) areas. Since the direct and indirect impacts of

  12. Microbial Community-Level Physiological Profiles (CLPP) and herbicide mineralization potential in groundwater affected by agricultural land use

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Janniche, Gry Sander; Spliid, Henrik; Albrechtsen, Hans-Jørgen

    2012-10-01

    Diffuse groundwater pollution from agricultural land use may impact the microbial groundwater community, which was investigated as Community-Level Physiological Profiles (CLPP) using EcoPlate™. Water was sampled from seven piezometers and a spring in a small agricultural catchment with diffuse herbicide and nitrate pollution. Based on the Shannon-Wiener and Simpson's diversity indices the diversity in the microbial communities was high. The response from the EcoPlates™ showed which substrates support groundwater bacteria, and all 31 carbon sources were utilized by organisms from at least one water sample. However, only nine carbon sources were utilized by all water samples: D-Mannitol, N-acetyl-D-glucosamine, putrescine, D-galacturonic acid, itaconic acid, 4-hydroxy benzoic acid, tween 40, tween 80, and L-asparagine. In all water samples the microorganisms preferred D-mannitol, D-galacturonic acid, tween 40, and 4-hydroxy benzoic acid as substrates, whereas none preferred 2-hydroxy benzoic acid, α-D-lactose, D,L-α-glycerol phosphate, α-ketobutyric acid, L-threonine and glycyl-L-glutamic acid. Principal Component Analysis of the CLPP's clustered the most agriculturally affected groundwater samples, indicating that the agricultural land use affects the groundwater microbial communities. Furthermore, the ability to mineralize atrazine and isoproturon, which have been used in the catchment, was also associated with this cluster.

  13. Agriculture and Water Quality. Issues in Agricultural Policy. Agriculture Information Bulletin Number 548.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Crowder, Bradley M.; And Others

    Agriculture generates byproducts that may contribute to the contamination of the United States' water supply. Any effective regulations to ban or restrict agricultural chemical or land use practices in order to improve water quality will affect the farm economy. Some farmers will benefit; some will not. Most agricultural pollutants reach surface…

  14. Assessing biodiversity loss due to land use with Life Cycle Assessment: are we there yet?

    PubMed Central

    Souza, Danielle M; Teixeira, Ricardo FM; Ostermann, Ole P

    2015-01-01

    Ecosystems are under increasing pressure from human activities, with land use and land-use change at the forefront of the drivers that provoke global and regional biodiversity loss. The first step in addressing the challenge of how to reverse the negative outlook for the coming years starts with measuring environmental loss rates and assigning responsibilities. Pinpointing the global pressures on biodiversity is a task best addressed using holistic models such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). LCA is the leading method for calculating cradle-to-grave environmental impacts of products and services; it is actively promoted by many public policies, and integrated as part of environmental information systems within private companies. LCA already deals with the potential biodiversity impacts of land use, but there are significant obstacles to overcome before its models grasp the full reach of the phenomena involved. In this review, we discuss some pressing issues that need to be addressed. LCA mainly introduces biodiversity as an endpoint category modeled as a loss in species richness due to the conversion and use of land over time and space. The functional and population effects on biodiversity are mostly absent due to the emphasis on species accumulation with limited geographic and taxonomical reach. Current land-use modeling activities that use biodiversity indicators tend to oversimplify the real dynamics and complexity of the interactions of species among each other and with their habitats. To identify the main areas for improvement, we systematically reviewed LCA studies on land use that had findings related to global change and conservation ecology. We provide suggestion as to how to address some of the issues raised. Our overall objective was to encourage companies to monitor and take concrete steps to address the impacts of land use on biodiversity on a broader geographical scale and along increasingly globalized supply chains. PMID:25143302

  15. Restoring abandoned agricultural lands in cold desert shrublands: Tradeoffs between water availability and invasive species

    Treesearch

    Jeanne C. Chambers; Eric P. Eldredge; Keirith A. Snyder; David I. Board; Tara Forbis de Queiroz; Vada Hubbard

    2014-01-01

    Restoration of abandoned agricultural lands to create resilient ecosystems in arid and semi-arid ecosystems typically requires seeding or transplanting native species, improving plant-soil-water relations, and controlling invasive species. We asked if improving water relations via irrigation or surface mulch would result in negative tradeoffs between native species...

  16. EnviroAtlas - Manure application to agricultural lands from confined animal feeding operations by 12-digit HUC for the Conterminous United States, 2006

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    This EnviroAtlas dataset contains data on the mean livestock manure application to cultivated crop and hay/pasture lands by 12-digit Hydrologic Unit (HUC) in 2006. Livestock manure inputs to cultivated crop and hay/pasture lands were estimated using county-level estimates of recoverable animal manure from confined feeding operations compiled for 2007. Recoverable manure is defined as manure that is collected, stored, and available for land application from confined feeding operations. County-scale data on livestock populations -- needed to calculate manure inputs -- were only available for the year 2007 from the USDA Census of Agriculture (http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/index.php). We acquired county-level data describing total farm-level inputs (kg N/yr) of recoverable manure to individual counties in 2007 from the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI) Nutrient Geographic Information System (NuGIS; http://www.ipni.net/nugis). These data were converted to per area rates (kg N/ha/yr) of manure N inputs by dividing the total N input by the land area (ha) of combined cultivated crop and hay/pasture (agricultural) lands within a county as determined from county-level summarization of the 2006 NLCD. We distributed county-specific, per area N inputs rates to cultivated crop and hay/pasture lands (30 x 30 m pixels) within the corresponding county. Manure data described here represent an average input to a typical agricultural land type within a county, i.e., the

  17. Pathways of nitrogen loss following land clearing in a humid tropical forest

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Matson, Pamela; Vitousek, Peter

    1985-01-01

    Tropical deforestation generally leads to large losses of carbon and nitrogen. The Premontane Wet Forest Life Zone is subject to the highest rate of deforestation in Central America, and carbon and nutrient losses in from these fertile soils is very rapid and extreme. Losses of 2000 to 3000 kgN/ha have been reported. Losses of this magnitude could be extremely significant on a regional or global scale if even a small proportion of this nitrogen is lost as nitrous oxide to the atmosphere or through leaching of nitrate to rivers. This study seeks to measure the rates and regulation of nitrogen transformations, and the pathways of nitrogen losses following land clearing and burning at a site in the Premontane Wet Forest Life Zone near Turrialba, Costa Rica.

  18. Effect of widespread agricultural chemical use on butterfly diversity across Turkish provinces.

    PubMed

    Pekin, Burak K

    2013-12-01

    Although agricultural intensification is thought to pose a significant threat to species, little is known about its role in driving biodiversity loss at regional scales. I assessed the effects of a major component of agricultural intensification, agricultural chemical use, and land-cover and climatic variables on butterfly diversity across 81 provinces in Turkey, where agriculture is practiced extensively but with varying degrees of intensity. I determined butterfly species presence in each province from data on known butterfly distributions and calculated agricultural chemical use as the proportion of agricultural households that use chemical fertilizers and pesticides. I used constrained correspondence analyses and regression-based multimodel inference to determine the effect of environmental variables on species composition and richness, respectively. The variation in butterfly species composition across the provinces was largely explained (78%) by the combination of agricultural chemical use, particularly pesticides, and climatic and land-cover variables. Although overall butterfly richness was primarily explained by climatic and land-cover variables, such as the area of natural vegetation cover, threatened butterfly richness and the relative number of threatened butterfly species decreased substantially as the proportion of agricultural households using pesticides increased. These findings suggest that widespread use of agricultural chemicals, or other components of agricultural intensification that may be collinear with pesticide use, pose an imminent threat to the biodiversity of Turkey. Accordingly, policies that mitigate agricultural intensification and promote low-input farming practices are crucial for protecting threatened species from extinction in rapidly industrializing nations such as Turkey. Efectos del Uso Extensivo de Agroquímicos sobre la Diversidad de Mariposas en Provincias Turcas. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

  19. Modelling soil erosion at European scale: the importance of management practices and the future climate and land use scenarios

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Panagos, Panos; Ballabio, Cristiano; Meusburger, Katrin; Poesen, Jean; Lugato, Emanuele; Montanarella, Luca; Alewell, Christine; Borrelli, Pasquale

    2017-04-01

    The implementation of RUSLE2015 for modelling soil loss by water erosion at European scale has introduced important aspects related to management practices. The policy measurements such as reduced tillage, crop residues, cover crops, grass margins, stone walls and contouring have been incorporated in the RUSLE2015 modelling platform. The recent policy interventions introduced in Good Agricultural Environmental Conditions of Common Agricultural Policy have reduced the rate of soil loss in the EU by an average of 9.5% overall, and by 20% for arable lands (NATURE, 526, 195). However, further economic and political action should rebrand the value of soil as part of ecosystem services, increase the income of rural land owners, involve young farmers and organize regional services for licensing land use changes (Land Degradation and Development, 27 (6): 1547-1551). RUSLE2015 is combining the future policy scenarios and land use changes introduced by predictions of LUISA Territorial Modelling Platform. Latest developments in RUSLE2015 allow also incorporating the climate change scenarios and the forthcoming intensification of rainfall in North and Central Europe contrary to mixed trends in Mediterranean basin. The rainfall erosivity predictions estimate a mean increase by 18% in European Union by 2050. Recently, a module of CENTURY model was coupled with the RUSLE2015 for estimating the effect of erosion in current carbon balance in European agricultural lands (Global Change Biology, 22(5), 1976-1984; 2016). Finally, the monthly erosivity datasets (Science of the Total Environment, 579: 1298-1315) introduce a dynamic component in RUSLE2015 and it is a step towards spatio-temporal soil erosion mapping at continental scale. The monthly mapping of rainfall erosivity permits to identify the months and the areas with highest risk of soil loss where conservation measures should apply in different seasons of the year. In the future, the soil erosion-modelling platform will

  20. Evaluating the effects of land use on headwater wetland amphibian assemblages in coastal Alabama

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Alix, Diane M.; Anderson, Christopher J.; Grand, James B.; Guyer, Craig

    2014-01-01

    Anthropogenic land use is known to impact aquatic ecosystems in several ways, including increased frequency and intensity of floods, stream channel incision, sedimentation, and loss of microtopography. Amphibians are susceptible to changes in wetland and surrounding habitats. This study evaluated amphibian assemblages of fifteen headwater slope wetlands in coastal Alabama across a gradient of land uses. Amphibians were surveyed on a seasonal basis and land use was delineated within wetland watersheds and within a 200-m buffer surrounding each wetland. Amphibian presence/absence and land use data were used to develop species occupancy models. Both urban and agricultural land use were shown to influence amphibian occurrence. Species richness ranged from five to ten species across sites; however, five species only occurred in wetlands surrounded by forested lands. Many species were detected more frequently on these wetlands compared to wetlands surrounded by urban or mixed land uses. Occupancy models showed Acris gryllus was negatively associated with the amount of agriculture within a buffer around the wetland. Hyla squirella, Lithobates clamitans, and L. sphenocephalus were positively associated with agricultural land within a watershed. Anaxyrus terrestris and the non-native Eleutherodactylus planirostris were positively associated with the amount of impervious surface area within the wetland buffer.

  1. Less water: How will agriculture in Southern Mountain states adapt?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Frisvold, George B.; Konyar, Kazim

    2012-05-01

    This study examined how agriculture in six southwestern states might adapt to large reductions in water supplies, using the U.S. Agricultural Resource Model (USARM), a multiregion, multicommodity agricultural sector model. In the simulation, irrigation water supplies were reduced 25% in five Southern Mountain (SM) states and by 5% in California. USARM results were compared to those from a "rationing" model, which assumes no input substitution or changes in water use intensity, relying on land fallowing as the only means of adapting to water scarcity. The rationing model also ignores changes in output prices. Results quantify the importance of economic adjustment mechanisms and changes in output prices. Under the rationing model, SM irrigators lose 65 in net income. Compared to this price exogenous, "land-fallowing only" response, allowing irrigators to change cropping patterns, practice deficit irrigation, and adjust use of other inputs reduced irrigator costs of water shortages to 22 million. Allowing irrigators to pass on price increases to purchasers reduced income losses further, to 15 million. Higher crop prices from reduced production imposed direct losses of 130 million on first purchasers of crops, which include livestock and dairy producers, and cotton gins. SM agriculture, as a whole, was resilient to the water supply shock, with production of high value specialty crops along the Lower Colorado River little affected. Particular crops were vulnerable however. Cotton production and net returns fell substantially, while reductions in water devoted to alfalfa accounted for 57% of regional water reduction.

  2. Economic potential of short-rotation woody crops on agricultural land for pulp fiber production in the United States.

    Treesearch

    Ralph J. Alig; Darius M. Adams; Bruce A. McCarl; Peter J. Ince

    2000-01-01

    A model of the U.S. forestry and agricultural sectors is used to simulate the consequences of growing short-rotation woody crops on agricultural lands as a fiber source for pulp and paper production. Hybrid poplar, a short-rotation woody crop, annually produces 4 to 7 dry tons per acre of hardwood pulpwood over a 6- to 10-year rotation. When harvested, the material...

  3. Building factorial regression models to explain and predict nitrate concentrations in groundwater under agricultural land

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stigter, T. Y.; Ribeiro, L.; Dill, A. M. M. Carvalho

    2008-07-01

    SummaryFactorial regression models, based on correspondence analysis, are built to explain the high nitrate concentrations in groundwater beneath an agricultural area in the south of Portugal, exceeding 300 mg/l, as a function of chemical variables, electrical conductivity (EC), land use and hydrogeological setting. Two important advantages of the proposed methodology are that qualitative parameters can be involved in the regression analysis and that multicollinearity is avoided. Regression is performed on eigenvectors extracted from the data similarity matrix, the first of which clearly reveals the impact of agricultural practices and hydrogeological setting on the groundwater chemistry of the study area. Significant correlation exists between response variable NO3- and explanatory variables Ca 2+, Cl -, SO42-, depth to water, aquifer media and land use. Substituting Cl - by the EC results in the most accurate regression model for nitrate, when disregarding the four largest outliers (model A). When built solely on land use and hydrogeological setting, the regression model (model B) is less accurate but more interesting from a practical viewpoint, as it is based on easily obtainable data and can be used to predict nitrate concentrations in groundwater in other areas with similar conditions. This is particularly useful for conservative contaminants, where risk and vulnerability assessment methods, based on assumed rather than established correlations, generally produce erroneous results. Another purpose of the models can be to predict the future evolution of nitrate concentrations under influence of changes in land use or fertilization practices, which occur in compliance with policies such as the Nitrates Directive. Model B predicts a 40% decrease in nitrate concentrations in groundwater of the study area, when horticulture is replaced by other land use with much lower fertilization and irrigation rates.

  4. Understanding Multifunctional Agricultural Land by Using Low Cost and Open Source Solutions to Quantify Ecosystem Function and Services

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Forsmoo, Joel; Anderson, Karen; Brazier, Richard; Macleod, Kit; Wilkinson, Mark

    2016-04-01

    There is a need to advance our understanding of how the spatial structure of farmed landscapes contributes to the provision of functions and services. Agricultural land is of critical importance in NW Europe, covering large parts of NW Europe's temperate land. Moreover, these agricultural areas are primarily intensively managed, with a focus on maximizing food and fibre production. Such landscapes therefore can provide a wealth of ecosystem goods and services (ESs) including regulation of climate, erosion regulation, hydrology, water quality, nutrient cycling and biodiversity conservation. However, it has been shown they are key sources of sediment, phosphorous, nitrogen and storm runoff contributing to flooding, and therefore it is likely that most agricultural landscapes do not maximize the services or benefits that they might provide. The focus of this study is the spatio-temporal assessment of carbon sequestration (particularly through proxies such as above-ground biomass) and hydrological processes on agricultural land. Understanding and quantifying both of these is important to (a) inform payments for ecosystem services frameworks, (b) evaluate and improve carbon sequestration models, (c) manage the flood risk, (d) downstream water security and (e) water quality. Quantifying both of these ESs is dependent on data describing the fine spatial and temporal structure and function of the landscape. Common practice has been to use remote sensing techniques, e.g. satellites, providing coarse spatial resolution (around 30cm at 20° off nadir) and/or temporal resolution (around 5 days revisit time at <20° off nadir). In this paper we will explain how imaging data from lightweight and easily deployed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can be used to generate structure from motion (SFM) products describing the very fine detailed (<3 cm pixel resolution) structure of the agricultural environment. We will demonstrate how these products can be delivered using advanced free

  5. Spatial and temporal contrasts in the distribution of crops and pastures across Amazonia: A new agricultural land use data set from census data since 1950.

    PubMed

    Imbach, P; Manrow, M; Barona, E; Barretto, A; Hyman, G; Ciais, P

    2015-06-01

    Amazonia holds the largest continuous area of tropical forests with intense land use change dynamics inducing water, carbon, and energy feedbacks with regional and global impacts. Much of our knowledge of land use change in Amazonia comes from studies of the Brazilian Amazon, which accounts for two thirds of the region. Amazonia outside of Brazil has received less attention because of the difficulty of acquiring consistent data across countries. We present here an agricultural statistics database of the entire Amazonia region, with a harmonized description of crops and pastures in geospatial format, based on administrative boundary data at the municipality level. The spatial coverage includes countries within Amazonia and spans censuses and surveys from 1950 to 2012. Harmonized crop and pasture types are explored by grouping annual and perennial cropping systems, C3 and C4 photosynthetic pathways, planted and natural pastures, and main crops. Our analysis examined the spatial pattern of ratios between classes of the groups and their correlation with the agricultural extent of crops and pastures within administrative units of the Amazon, by country, and census/survey dates. Significant correlations were found between all ratios and the fraction of agricultural lands of each administrative unit, with the exception of planted to natural pastures ratio and pasture lands extent. Brazil and Peru in most cases have significant correlations for all ratios analyzed even for specific census and survey dates. Results suggested improvements, and potential applications of the database for carbon, water, climate, and land use change studies are discussed. The database presented here provides an Amazon-wide improved data set on agricultural dynamics with expanded temporal and spatial coverage. Agricultural census database covers Amazon basin municipalities from 1950 to 2012Harmonized database groups crops and pastures by cropping system, C3/C4, and main cropsWe explored

  6. Agricultural and recreational impacts of the conservation reserve program in rural North Dakota, USA.

    PubMed

    Bangsund, Dean A; Hodur, Nancy M; Leistritz, F Larry

    2004-07-01

    The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), created in 1985, provides conservation benefits and agricultural supply control through voluntary, long-term retirement of crop land. While the effects of the CRP on the agricultural sector are well understood, the implications of its conservation benefits for rural economies remain largely undocumented. To quantify the effects on rural economies, this study addressed the net economic effects of decreased agricultural activity and increased recreational activity associated with the CRP in six rural areas of North Dakota from 1996 to 2000. Based on the level of economic activity that would have occurred in the absence of the program, net revenues from CRP land if returned to agricultural production in the six study areas were estimated at $50.2 million annually or $37 per acre of land currently enrolled in the CRP. Recreational (hunting) revenues as a result of the CRP in the study areas were estimated at $12.8 million annually or $9.45 per CRP-acre. The net economic effect of the CRP (lost agricultural revenues and gains in recreational expenditures) indicated that several areas of the state are not as economically burdened by the CRP as previous research has suggested. In addition, the net economic effects of the program would appear more favourable if revenues from all CRP-based recreation were included. The degree that recreational revenues offset agricultural losses might be further enhanced by enterprises that capitalize on the economic opportunities associated with expanded recreational activities on CRP lands.

  7. International trade causes large net economic losses in tropical countries via the destruction of ecosystem services.

    PubMed

    Chang, Junning; Symes, William S; Lim, Felix; Carrasco, L Roman

    2016-05-01

    Despite the large implications of the use of tropical land for exports ("land absorption") on ecosystem services (ES) and global biodiversity conservation, the magnitude of these externalities is not known. We quantify the net value of ES lost in tropical countries as a result of cropland, forestland and pastureland absorption for exports after deducting ES gains through imports ("land displacement"). We find that net ES gains occur only in 7 out of the 41 countries and regions considered. We estimate global annual net losses of over 1.7 x 10(12) international dollars (I$) (I$1.1 x 10(12) if carbon-related services are not considered). After deducting the benefits from agricultural, forest and livestock rents in land replacing tropical forests, the net annual losses are I$1.3 and I$0.7 x 10(12), respectively. The results highlight the large magnitude of tropical ES losses through international trade that are not compensated by the rents of land uses in absorbed land.

  8. Estimating phosphorus loss in runoff from manure and fertilizer for a phosphorus loss quantification tool.

    PubMed

    Vadas, P A; Good, L W; Moore, P A; Widman, N

    2009-01-01

    Nonpoint-source pollution of fresh waters by P is a concern because it contributes to accelerated eutrophication. Given the state of the science concerning agricultural P transport, a simple tool to quantify annual, field-scale P loss is a realistic goal. We developed new methods to predict annual dissolved P loss in runoff from surface-applied manures and fertilizers and validated the methods with data from 21 published field studies. We incorporated these manure and fertilizer P runoff loss methods into an annual, field-scale P loss quantification tool that estimates dissolved and particulate P loss in runoff from soil, manure, fertilizer, and eroded sediment. We validated the P loss tool using independent data from 28 studies that monitored P loss in runoff from a variety of agricultural land uses for at least 1 yr. Results demonstrated (i) that our new methods to estimate P loss from surface manure and fertilizer are an improvement over methods used in existing Indexes, and (ii) that it was possible to reliably quantify annual dissolved, sediment, and total P loss in runoff using relatively simple methods and readily available inputs. Thus, a P loss quantification tool that does not require greater degrees of complexity or input data than existing P Indexes could accurately predict P loss across a variety of management and fertilization practices, soil types, climates, and geographic locations. However, estimates of runoff and erosion are still needed that are accurate to a level appropriate for the intended use of the quantification tool.

  9. Topographic changes detection through Structure-from-Motion in agricultural lands affected by erosion processes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Prosdocimi, Massimo; Pradetto Sordo, Nicoletta; Burguet, Maria; Di Prima, Simone; Terol Esparza, Enric; Tarolli, Paolo; Cerdà, Artemi

    2016-04-01

    Throughout the world, soil erosion by water is a serious problem, especially in semi-arid and semi-humid areas (Cerdà et al., 2009; Cerdan et al., 2010; García-Ruiz, 2010). Although soil erosion by water consists of physical processes that vary significantly in severity and frequency according to when and where they occur, they are also strongly influenced by anthropic factors such as land-use changes on large scales and unsustainable farming practices (Boardman et al., 1990; Cerdà 1994; Montgomery, 2007). Tillage operations, combined with weather conditions, are recognized to primarily influence soil erosion rates. If, on one hand, tillage operations cause uniform changes based on the tool used, on the other, weather conditions, such as rainfalls, produce more random changes, less easily traceable (Snapir et al., 2014). Within this context, remote-sensing technologies can facilitate the detection and quantification of these topographic changes. In particular, a real opportunity and challenge is offered by the low-cost and flexible photogrammetric technique, called 'Structure-from-Motion' (SfM), combined with the use of smartphones (Micheletti et al., 2014; Prosdocimi et al., 2015). This represents a significant advance compared with more expensive technologies and applications (e.g. Terrestrial Laser Scanner - TLS) (Tarolli, 2014). This work wants to test the Structure from Motion to obtain high-resolution topography for the detection of topographic changes in agricultural lands affected by erosion processes. Two case studies were selected: i) a tilled plot characterized by bare soil and affected by rill erosion located in the hilly countryside of Marche region (central Italy), and ii) a Mediterranean vineyard located within the province of Valencia (south eastern Spain) where rainfall simulation experiments were carried out. Extensive photosets were obtained by using one standalone reflex digital camera and one smartphone built-in digital camera. Digital

  10. Land grabbing: a preliminary quantification of economic impacts on rural livelihoods.

    PubMed

    Davis, Kyle F; D'Odorico, Paolo; Rulli, Maria Cristina

    2014-01-01

    Global demands on agricultural land are increasing due to population growth, dietary changes and the use of biofuels. Their effect on food security is to reduce humans' ability to cope with the uncertainties of global climate change. In light of the 2008 food crisis, to secure reliable future access to sufficient agricultural land, many nations and corporations have begun purchasing large tracts of land in the global South, a phenomenon deemed "land grabbing" by popular media. Because land investors frequently export crops without providing adequate employment, this represents an effective income loss for local communities. We study 28 countries targeted by large-scale land acquisitions [comprising 87 % of reported cases and 27 million hectares (ha)] and estimate the effects of such investments on local communities' incomes. We find that this phenomenon can potentially affect the incomes of ~12 million people globally with implications for food security, poverty levels and urbanization. While it is important to note that our study incorporates a number of assumptions and limitations, it provides a much needed initial quantification of the economic impacts of large-scale land acquisitions on rural livelihoods.

  11. Seasonal monitoring of soil erosion at regional scale: An application of the G2 model in Crete focusing on agricultural land uses

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Panagos, Panagos; Christos, Karydas; Cristiano, Ballabio; Ioannis, Gitas

    2014-04-01

    A new soil erosion model, namely G2, was applied in the island of Crete with a focus on agricultural land uses, including potential grazing lands. The G2 model was developed within the Geoland2 project as an agro-environmental service in the framework of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES, now Copernicus) initiative. The G2 model takes advantage of the empirical background of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and the Gavrilovic model, together with readily available time series of vegetation layers and 10-min rainfall intensity data to produce monthly time-step erosion risk maps at 300 m cell size. The innovations of the G2 model include the implementation of land-use influence parameters based on empirical data and the introduction of a corrective term in the estimation of the topographic influence factor. The mean annual erosion rate in Crete was found to be 8.123 t ha-1. The season from October to January (the rainy season in Crete) was found to be the most critical, accounting for 80% of the annual erosion in the island. Seasonal erosion figures proved to be crucial for the identification of erosion hotspots and of risky land uses. In Crete, high annual erosion figures were detected in natural grasslands and shrublands (14.023 t ha-1), mainly due to the intensification of livestock grazing during the past decades. The G2 model allows for the integrated spatio-temporal monitoring of soil erosion per land-use type based on moderate data input requirements and existing datasets.

  12. Land Suitability Assessment in the Catchment Area of Four Southwestern Atlantic Coastal Lagoons: Multicriteria and Optimization Modeling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rodriguez-Gallego, Lorena; Achkar, Marcel; Conde, Daniel

    2012-07-01

    In the present study, a land suitability assessment was conducted in the basin of four Uruguayan coastal lagoons (Southwestern Atlantic) to analyze the productive development while minimizing eutrophication, biodiversity loss and conflicts among different land uses. Suitable land for agriculture, forest, livestock ranching, tourism and conservation sectors were initially established based on a multi-attribute model developed using a geographic information system. Experts were consulted to determine the requirements for each land use sector and the incompatibilities among land use types. The current and potential conflicts among incompatible land use sectors were analyzed by overlapping land suitability maps. We subsequently applied a multi-objective model where land (pixels) with similar suitability was clustered into "land suitability groups", using a two-phase cluster analysis and the Akaike Information Criterion. Finally, a linear programming optimization procedure was applied to allocate land use sectors into land suitable groups, maximizing total suitability and minimizing interference among sectors. Results indicated that current land use overlapped by 4.7 % with suitable land of other incompatible sectors. However, the suitable land of incompatible sectors overlapped in 20.3 % of the study area, indicating a high potential for the occurrence of future conflict. The highest competition was between agriculture and conservation, followed by forest and agriculture. We explored scenarios where livestock ranching and tourism intensified, and found that interference with conservation and agriculture notably increased. This methodology allowed us to analyze current and potential land use conflicts and to contribute to the strategic planning of the study area.

  13. Land suitability assessment in the catchment area of four Southwestern Atlantic coastal lagoons: multicriteria and optimization modeling.

    PubMed

    Rodriguez-Gallego, Lorena; Achkar, Marcel; Conde, Daniel

    2012-07-01

    In the present study, a land suitability assessment was conducted in the basin of four Uruguayan coastal lagoons (Southwestern Atlantic) to analyze the productive development while minimizing eutrophication, biodiversity loss and conflicts among different land uses. Suitable land for agriculture, forest, livestock ranching, tourism and conservation sectors were initially established based on a multi-attribute model developed using a geographic information system. Experts were consulted to determine the requirements for each land use sector and the incompatibilities among land use types. The current and potential conflicts among incompatible land use sectors were analyzed by overlapping land suitability maps. We subsequently applied a multi-objective model where land (pixels) with similar suitability was clustered into "land suitability groups", using a two-phase cluster analysis and the Akaike Information Criterion. Finally, a linear programming optimization procedure was applied to allocate land use sectors into land suitable groups, maximizing total suitability and minimizing interference among sectors. Results indicated that current land use overlapped by 4.7 % with suitable land of other incompatible sectors. However, the suitable land of incompatible sectors overlapped in 20.3 % of the study area, indicating a high potential for the occurrence of future conflict. The highest competition was between agriculture and conservation, followed by forest and agriculture. We explored scenarios where livestock ranching and tourism intensified, and found that interference with conservation and agriculture notably increased. This methodology allowed us to analyze current and potential land use conflicts and to contribute to the strategic planning of the study area.

  14. Understanding the role of soil erosion on co2-c loss using (13)c isotopic signatures in abandoned Mediterranean agricultural land.

    PubMed

    Novara, Agata; Keesstra, Saskia; Cerdà, Artemio; Pereira, Paulo; Gristina, Luciano

    2016-04-15

    Understanding soil water erosion processes is essential to evaluate the redistribution of soil organic carbon (SOC) within a landscape and is fundamental to assess the role of soil erosion in the global carbon (C) budget. The main aim of this study was to estimate the C redistribution and losses using (13)C natural abundance. Carbon losses in soil sediment, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and CO2 emission were determined. Four bounded parallel plots were installed on a 10% slope. In the upper part of the plots, C3soil was replaced with C4soil. The SOC and δ(13)C were measured after 145.2mm rainfall in the upper (2m far from C4strip), middle (4m far from C4strip) lower (6m far from C4strip) trams of the plot and in the sediments collected in the Gerlach collector at the lower part of the plot. A laboratory incubation experiment was performed to evaluate the CO2 emission rate of soils in each area. OC was mainly lost in the sediments as 2.08g(-)(2) of C was lost after 145.2mm rainfall. DOC losses were only 5.61% of off-site OC loss. Three months after the beginning of the experiment, 15.90% of SOC in the upper tram of the plot had a C4 origin. The C4-SOC content decreased along the 6m length of the plot, and in the sediments collected by the Gerlach collector. CO2 emission rate was high in the upper plot tram due to the high SOC content. The discrimination of CO2 in C3 and C4 portion permitted to increase our level of understanding on the stability of SOC and its resilience to decomposition. The transport of sediments along the plot increased SOC mineralization by 43%. Our study underlined the impact of rainfall in C losses in soil and water in abandoned Mediterranean agriculture fields and the consequent implications on the C balance. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. The National Research Council report on the Colleges of Agriculture at the Land Grant Universities: some issues of interest to poultry science.

    PubMed

    Ballenger, N

    1998-02-01

    The recently released National Research Council report, Colleges of Agriculture at the Land Grant Universities: Public Service and Public Policy (NRC 1996), may be of particular interest to poultry scientists. The dramatic changes in U.S. agriculture, which were among the factors that spawned the NRC's interest in a study of the land grant colleges, are probably nowhere more evident than in the poultry industry. Furthermore, there is considerable discussion in the report about the value of multi-state and multi-disciplinary efforts in teaching, research, and extension. The need to attract nontraditional students to poultry science curricula and to produce graduates well-suited for modern, vertically integrated agricultural enterprises, such as poultry, are a high priority.

  16. Influence of Agricultural Management on Soil Organic Carbon: A Compendium and Assessment of Canadian Studies

    DOE Data Explorer

    VandenBygaart, A. J. [Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottowa, Canada; Gregorich, E. G. [Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottowa, Canada; Angers, D. A. [Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottowa, Canada

    2004-01-01

    To fulfill commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, Canada is required to provide verifiable estimates and uncertainties for soil oganic carbon (SOC) stocks, and for changes in those stocks over time. Estimates and uncertainties for agricultural soils can be derived from long-term studies that have measured differences in SOC between different management practices. We compiled published data from long-term studies in Canada to assess the effect of agricultural management on SOC. A total of 62 studies were compiled, in which the difference in SOC was determined for conversion from native land to cropland, and for different tillage, crop rotation and fertilizer management practices. There was a loss of 24 ± 6% of the SOC after native land was converted to agricultural land. No-till (NT) increased the storage of SOC in western Canada by 2.9 ± 1.3 Mg ha–1; however, in eastern Canada conversion to NT did not increase SOC.

  17. The effects of climate change on agriculture, land resources, water resources, and biodiversity in the United States

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-06-01

    This report provides an assessment of the effects of climate change on U.S. agriculture, land resources, water resources, and biodiversity. It is one of a series of 21 Synthesis and Assessment Products (SAP) that are being produced under the auspices...

  18. Intensive agriculture erodes β-diversity at large scales.

    PubMed

    Karp, Daniel S; Rominger, Andrew J; Zook, Jim; Ranganathan, Jai; Ehrlich, Paul R; Daily, Gretchen C

    2012-09-01

    Biodiversity is declining from unprecedented land conversions that replace diverse, low-intensity agriculture with vast expanses under homogeneous, intensive production. Despite documented losses of species richness, consequences for β-diversity, changes in community composition between sites, are largely unknown, especially in the tropics. Using a 10-year data set on Costa Rican birds, we find that low-intensity agriculture sustained β-diversity across large scales on a par with forest. In high-intensity agriculture, low local (α) diversity inflated β-diversity as a statistical artefact. Therefore, at small spatial scales, intensive agriculture appeared to retain β-diversity. Unlike in forest or low-intensity systems, however, high-intensity agriculture also homogenised vegetation structure over large distances, thereby decoupling the fundamental ecological pattern of bird communities changing with geographical distance. This ~40% decline in species turnover indicates a significant decline in β-diversity at large spatial scales. These findings point the way towards multi-functional agricultural systems that maintain agricultural productivity while simultaneously conserving biodiversity. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/CNRS.

  19. Land-Sparing Opportunities for Solar Energy Development in Agricultural Landscapes: A Case Study of the Great Central Valley, CA, United States.

    PubMed

    Hoffacker, Madison K; Allen, Michael F; Hernandez, Rebecca R

    2017-12-19

    Land-cover change from energy development, including solar energy, presents trade-offs for land used for the production of food and the conservation of ecosystems. Solar energy plays a critical role in contributing to the alternative energy mix to mitigate climate change and meet policy milestones; however, the extent that solar energy development on nonconventional surfaces can mitigate land scarcity is understudied. Here, we evaluate the land sparing potential of solar energy development across four nonconventional land-cover types: the built environment, salt-affected land, contaminated land, and water reservoirs (as floatovoltaics), within the Great Central Valley (CV, CA), a globally significant agricultural region where land for food production, urban development, and conservation collide. Furthermore, we calculate the technical potential (TWh year -1 ) of these land sparing sites and test the degree to which projected electricity needs for the state of California can be met therein. In total, the CV encompasses 15% of CA, 8415 km 2 of which was identified as potentially land-sparing for solar energy development. These areas comprise a capacity-based energy potential of at least 17 348 TWh year -1 for photovoltaic (PV) and 2213 TWh year -1 for concentrating solar power (CSP). Accounting for technology efficiencies, this exceeds California's 2025 projected electricity demands up to 13 and 2 times for PV and CSP, respectively. Our study underscores the potential of strategic renewable energy siting to mitigate environmental trade-offs typically coupled with energy sprawl in agricultural landscapes.

  20. Habitat use and movement patterns of Northern Pintails during spring in northern Japan: the importance of agricultural lands

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Yamaguchi, Noriyuki M.; Hupp, Jerry W.; Flint, Paul L.; Pearce, John M.; Shigeta, Yusuke; Shimada, Tetsuo; Hiraoka, Emiko N.; Higuchi, Hiroyoshi

    2012-01-01

    From 2006 to 2009, we marked 198 Northern Pintails (Anas acuta) with satellite transmitters on their wintering areas in Japan to study their migration routes and habitat use in spring staging areas. We hypothesized that the distribution of pintails during spring staging was influenced by patterns of land use and expected that the most frequently used areas would have more agricultural habitat than lesser-used areas. We obtained 3031 daily locations from 163 migrant pintails marked with satellite transmitters and identified 524 stopover sites. Based on a fixed kernel home range analysis of stopover utilization distribution (UD), core staging areas (areas within the 50% UD) were identified in northern Honshu and western Hokkaido, and were used by 71% of marked pintails. Core staging areas had a greater proportion of rice fields than peripheral (51–95% UD) and rarely used (outside the 95% UD) staging areas. Stopover sites also contained more rice fields and other agricultural land than were available at regional scales, indicating that pintails selected rice and other agricultural habitats at regional and local scales. Pintails remained at spring staging areas an average of 51 d. Prolonged staging in agricultural habitats of northern Japan was likely necessary for pintails to prepare for transoceanic migration to Arctic nesting areas in eastern Russia.

  1. A GIS based estimation of loss of particulate nitrogen and phosphorus in typical drainage area of Pearl River Delta

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Xiaonan; Wu, Zhifeng; Cheng, Jiong; Liu, Ping

    2008-10-01

    The output of nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural activities is the main source for water eutrophication. The fully developed agriculture in vegetables, fruits and flowers in Pearl River Delta gives rise to excessive use of chemical matter such as fertilizer and pesticide and thus bring about the serious water pollution because of the loss of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from the farmland in the region. Based on Geographic Information System (GIS) and soil pollution data, Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and source type method are used to estimate the loads of particulate N and P from the soil of different land use types in the drainage area of Liuxi River in Guangzhou, China. So the key regions those the NPS pollution occurred can be confirmed and the technical support for the pollution control target and the capital flow concentration can be provided by the results. The study shows that, (1) The total loss of particulate N and P in the drainage area is 582.49 t/a and 424.74 t/a respectively. Among them the loss of particulate N from paddy soil occupies 40.02% and that of forest 6.31%, while the loss of particulate P from the soil of dry-land accounts for 28.75% and that of paddy soil 26.31%. (2) There are significantly different losses of particulate N and P per unit area from the soils of different source land use types in the drainage area. The losses of particulate N and P per unit area are both the highest from the soil of dry-land, which is 7.72 kg/hm2 and 9.50 kg/hm2 respectively, followed by those of orchard, which is 7.20 kg/hm2 and 6.56 kg/hm2 respectively. The causes are excessive use of chemical matter, unreasonable cultivation pattern, and the soil erosion of different land use. (3) The excessive N and P come from the loss of particulate N and P from the fertilization in agricultural production, and they are the main source of the pollutants in Liuxi River water.

  2. Assessing biodiversity loss due to land use with Life Cycle Assessment: are we there yet?

    PubMed

    Souza, Danielle M; Teixeira, Ricardo F M; Ostermann, Ole P

    2015-01-01

    Ecosystems are under increasing pressure from human activities, with land use and land-use change at the forefront of the drivers that provoke global and regional biodiversity loss. The first step in addressing the challenge of how to reverse the negative outlook for the coming years starts with measuring environmental loss rates and assigning responsibilities. Pinpointing the global pressures on biodiversity is a task best addressed using holistic models such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). LCA is the leading method for calculating cradle-to-grave environmental impacts of products and services; it is actively promoted by many public policies, and integrated as part of environmental information systems within private companies. LCA already deals with the potential biodiversity impacts of land use, but there are significant obstacles to overcome before its models grasp the full reach of the phenomena involved. In this review, we discuss some pressing issues that need to be addressed. LCA mainly introduces biodiversity as an endpoint category modeled as a loss in species richness due to the conversion and use of land over time and space. The functional and population effects on biodiversity are mostly absent due to the emphasis on species accumulation with limited geographic and taxonomical reach. Current land-use modeling activities that use biodiversity indicators tend to oversimplify the real dynamics and complexity of the interactions of species among each other and with their habitats. To identify the main areas for improvement, we systematically reviewed LCA studies on land use that had findings related to global change and conservation ecology. We provide suggestion as to how to address some of the issues raised. Our overall objective was to encourage companies to monitor and take concrete steps to address the impacts of land use on biodiversity on a broader geographical scale and along increasingly globalized supply chains. © 2014 The Authors. Global Change

  3. Water-Quality and Biological Characteristics and Responses to Agricultural Land Retirement in Three Streams of the Minnesota River Basin, Water Years 2006-08

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Christensen, Victoria G.; Lee, Kathy E.; Sanocki, Christopher A.; Mohring, Eric H.; Kiesling, Richard L.

    2009-01-01

    Water-quality and biological characteristics in three streams in the Minnesota River Basin were assessed using data collected during water years 2006-08. The responses of nutrient concentrations, suspended-sediment concentrations, and biological characteristics to agricultural land retirement also were assessed. In general, total nitrogen, suspended-sediment, and chlorophyll-a concentrations, and fish resource quality improved with increasing land retirement. The Chetomba Creek, West Fork Beaver Creek, and South Branch Rush River subbasins, which range in size from about 200 to 400 square kilometers, have similar geologic and hydrologic settings but differ with respect to the amount, type, and location of retired agricultural land. Total nitrogen concentrations were largest, with a mean of 15.0 milligrams per liter (mg/L), in water samples from the South Branch Rush River, a subbasin with little to no agricultural land retirement; total nitrogen concentrations were smaller in samples from Chetomba Creek (mean of 10.6 mg/L) and West Fork Beaver Creek (mean of 7.9 mg/L), which are subbasins with more riparian or upland land retirement at the basin scale. Total phosphorus concentrations were not related directly to differing land-retirement percentages with mean concentrations at primary data-collection sites of 0.259 mg/L in the West Fork Beaver Creek subbasin, 0.164 mg/L in the Chetomba Creek subbasin, and 0.180 mg/L in the South Branch Rush River subbasin. Temporal variation in water quality was characterized using data from in-stream water-quality monitors and storm-sediment data. Fish data indicate better resource quality for the West Fork Beaver Creek subbasin than for other subbasins likely due to a combination of factors, including habitat quality, food resources, and dissolved oxygen characteristics. Index of biotic integrity (IBI) scores increased as local land-retirement percentages (within 50 and 100 meters of the streams) increased. Data and analysis from

  4. Soil water infiltration impacted by maize (zea mays) growth on sloping agricultural land of the loess plateau

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Increasing infiltration rates of sloping agricultural land from arid and semiarid regions not only affects water supply and precipitation transformations in soil directly, but also impacts erosion intensity. This is extremely important to the Loess Plateau regions of Northwest China, where a majorit...

  5. Agricultural intensification escalates future conservation costs.

    PubMed

    Phelps, Jacob; Carrasco, Luis Roman; Webb, Edward L; Koh, Lian Pin; Pascual, Unai

    2013-05-07

    The supposition that agricultural intensification results in land sparing for conservation has become central to policy formulations across the tropics. However, underlying assumptions remain uncertain and have been little explored in the context of conservation incentive schemes such as policies for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, conservation, sustainable management, and enhancement of carbon stocks (REDD+). Incipient REDD+ forest carbon policies in a number of countries propose agricultural intensification measures to replace extensive "slash-and-burn" farming systems. These may result in conservation in some contexts, but will also increase future agricultural land rents as productivity increases, creating new incentives for agricultural expansion and deforestation. While robust governance can help to ensure land sparing, we propose that conservation incentives will also have to increase over time, tracking future agricultural land rents, which might lead to runaway conservation costs. We present a conceptual framework that depicts these relationships, supported by an illustrative model of the intensification of key crops in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a leading REDD+ country. A von Thünen land rent model is combined with geographic information systems mapping to demonstrate how agricultural intensification could influence future conservation costs. Once postintensification agricultural land rents are considered, the cost of reducing forest sector emissions could significantly exceed current and projected carbon credit prices. Our analysis highlights the importance of considering escalating conservation costs from agricultural intensification when designing conservation initiatives.

  6. Agricultural intensification escalates future conservation costs

    PubMed Central

    Phelps, Jacob; Carrasco, Luis Roman; Webb, Edward L.; Koh, Lian Pin; Pascual, Unai

    2013-01-01

    The supposition that agricultural intensification results in land sparing for conservation has become central to policy formulations across the tropics. However, underlying assumptions remain uncertain and have been little explored in the context of conservation incentive schemes such as policies for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, conservation, sustainable management, and enhancement of carbon stocks (REDD+). Incipient REDD+ forest carbon policies in a number of countries propose agricultural intensification measures to replace extensive “slash-and-burn” farming systems. These may result in conservation in some contexts, but will also increase future agricultural land rents as productivity increases, creating new incentives for agricultural expansion and deforestation. While robust governance can help to ensure land sparing, we propose that conservation incentives will also have to increase over time, tracking future agricultural land rents, which might lead to runaway conservation costs. We present a conceptual framework that depicts these relationships, supported by an illustrative model of the intensification of key crops in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a leading REDD+ country. A von Thünen land rent model is combined with geographic information systems mapping to demonstrate how agricultural intensification could influence future conservation costs. Once postintensification agricultural land rents are considered, the cost of reducing forest sector emissions could significantly exceed current and projected carbon credit prices. Our analysis highlights the importance of considering escalating conservation costs from agricultural intensification when designing conservation initiatives. PMID:23589860

  7. Agricultural Land Use mapping by multi-sensor approach for hydrological water quality monitoring

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brodsky, Lukas; Kodesova, Radka; Kodes, Vit

    2010-05-01

    The main objective of this study is to demonstrate potential of operational use of the high and medium resolution remote sensing data for hydrological water quality monitoring by mapping agriculture intensity and crop structures. In particular use of remote sensing mapping for optimization of pesticide monitoring. The agricultural mapping task is tackled by means of medium spatial and high temporal resolution ESA Envisat MERIS FR images together with single high spatial resolution IRS AWiFS image covering the whole area of interest (the Czech Republic). High resolution data (e.g. SPOT, ALOS, Landsat) are often used for agricultural land use classification, but usually only at regional or local level due to data availability and financial constraints. AWiFS data (nominal spatial resolution 56 m) due to the wide satellite swath seems to be more suitable for use at national level. Nevertheless, one of the critical issues for such a classification is to have sufficient image acquisitions over the whole vegetation period to describe crop development in appropriate way. ESA MERIS middle-resolution data were used in several studies for crop classification. The high temporal and also spectral resolution of MERIS data has indisputable advantage for crop classification. However, spatial resolution of 300 m results in mixture signal in a single pixel. AWiFS-MERIS data synergy brings new perspectives in agricultural Land Use mapping. Also, the developed methodology procedure is fully compatible with future use of ESA (GMES) Sentinel satellite images. The applied methodology of hybrid multi-sensor approach consists of these main stages: a/ parcel segmentation and spectral pre-classification of high resolution image (AWiFS); b/ ingestion of middle resolution (MERIS) vegetation spectro-temporal features; c/ vegetation signatures unmixing; and d/ semantic object-oriented classification of vegetation classes into final classification scheme. These crop groups were selected to be

  8. Temporal-spatial loss of diffuse pesticide and potential risks for water quality in China.

    PubMed

    Ouyang, Wei; Cai, Guanqing; Huang, Weijia; Hao, Fanghua

    2016-01-15

    Increasing amount of pesticide has been used in Chinese agricultural system with effects on environmental quality and human health. The comprehensive inventory of pesticide use in six main crop categories over the period from 1990 to 2011 in China was conducted. The national average pesticide use intensity was estimated 1.74k g · ha(-1) for grain crops in paddy land, 1.31 kg · ha(-1) for grain crops in dry land, 1.38 kg · ha(-1) for economic crops, 3.82 kg · ha(-1) for vegetables, 1.54 kg · ha(-1) for tea plantations, and 3.49 kg · ha(-1) for orchards. The pesticide use was estimated to be approximately 5.24 × 10(4)t for grain crops in paddy land, 1.05 × 10(5)t for grain crops in dry land, 3.08 × 10(4)t for economic crops, 7.51 × 10(4)t for vegetables, 3.26 × 10(3)t for tea plantations, and 4.13 × 10(4)t for orchards. Based on the pesticide use and loss coefficients for each category, the distribution of pesticide loss in China was calculated. Total pesticide loss in China was estimated about 4.39 × 10(3)t in 2011. The pesticide loss from six main crop categories was about 14.84% for grain crops in paddy land of total pesticide loss, 33.31% for grain crops in dry land, 10.47% for economic crops, 26.37% for vegetables, 1.08% for tea plantations and 13.93% for orchards. The results indicated that the highest pesticide use intensity and highest pesticide loss rate occurred in China's eastern and central provinces. The Monte Carlo simulation was used to quantify the uncertainties associated with estimation of pesticide use and loss rate for the six types of crops. The potential risk to national water quality was assessed and the water in the provinces of Henan, Shandong, Hebei, Beijing and Shanghai was at high risk for pesticide pollution. The implication for the future agricultural and environmental policies on reducing the risk to environmental quality was also summarized. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Assessing the changes in land use and ecosystem services in an oasis agricultural region of Yanqi Basin, Northwest China.

    PubMed

    Wang, Shuixian; Wu, Bin; Yang, Pengnian

    2014-12-01

    The Yanqi Basin, one of the most productive agricultural areas, has a high population density in Xinjiang, Northwest China. Land use changes, mainly driven by oasis expansion, significantly impact ecosystem services and functions, but these effects are difficult to quantify. The valuation of ecosystem services is important to clarify the ecological and environmental changes caused by agriculturalization of oasis. This study aimed to investigate variations in ecosystem services in response to land use changes during oasis agricultural expansion activities in the Yanqi Basin from 1964 to 2009. The methods used were based on formula of ecosystem service value (ESV) and ESV coefficients. Satellite data were combined with the ESV coefficients to quantify land use changes and ecosystem service changes in the study area. Sensitivity analysis determined the effect of manipulating the coefficients on the estimated values. The results show that the total ESVs in the Yanqi Basin were $1,674, $1,692, $1,471, $1,732, and $1,603 million in 1964, 1973, 1989, 1999, and 2009, respectively. The net deline in ESV was $71 million in the past 46 years, but the ESVs of each types of landscape changed significantly. The aggregated ESVs of water areas and wetlands were approximately 80 % of the total ESV. Water supply and waste treatment were the two largest service functions and contributed approximately 65 % of the total ESV. The estimated ESVs in this study were elastic with respect to the value coefficients. Therefore, the estimations were robust in spite of uncertainties on the value coefficients. These significant changes in land use occur within the entire basin over the study period. These changes cause environmental problems, such as land degradation, vegetation degeneracy, and changes in aquatic environment.

  10. Subsurface soil carbon losses offset surface carbon accumulation in abandoned agricultural fields

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Y.; Knops, J. M. H.

    2017-12-01

    Soil carbon is widely understood to accumulate after agricultural abandonment. However, most of the studies have been focused on shallow depths (10 to 30 cm), and there is a lack of deeper soil carbon data. It was reported that in temperate grasslands, 58% of the soil organic carbon in the first meter was stored between 20 and 100 cm, and organic matter in deeper soil might also be susceptible to agricultural disturbance. We used repeated sampling in 2001 and 2014 to directly measure rates of soil carbon change in both surface and subsurface soil in 21 abandoned agricultural fields at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, MN. Congruent with many other studies, we found carbon accumulated 384.2 C g/m2 in surface soil (0 - 20 cm) over the 13 years. However, we also found carbon pool declined 688.1 C g/m2 in the subsurface soil (40-100 cm), which resulted in a net total loss of soil carbon. We investigated the ecosystem carbon pools and fluxes to explore the mechanisms of the observed soil carbon changes. We found root carbon was not significantly correlated with soil carbon in any of the depth. In situ soil incubation showed nitrogen mineralization rates in subsurface soil are lower than that of surface soil. However, the estimated nitrogen and carbon output through decomposition is higher than inputs from roots, therefore leading to carbon loss in subsurface soil. These results suggest that the decomposition of soil organic matter by microorganisms in subsurface soil is significant, and should be incorporated in ecosystem carbon budget models.

  11. Cover Crops and Fertilization Alter Nitrogen Loss in Organic and Conventional Conservation Agriculture Systems

    PubMed Central

    Shelton, Rebecca E.; Jacobsen, Krista L.; McCulley, Rebecca L.

    2018-01-01

    Agroecosystem nitrogen (N) loss produces greenhouse gases, induces eutrophication, and is costly for farmers; therefore, conservation agricultural management practices aimed at reducing N loss are increasingly adopted. However, the ecosystem consequences of these practices have not been well-studied. We quantified N loss via leaching, NH3 volatilization, N2O emissions, and N retention in plant and soil pools of corn conservation agroecosystems in Kentucky, USA. Three systems were evaluated: (1) an unfertilized, organic system with cover crops hairy vetch (Vicia villosa), winter wheat (Triticum aestivum), or a mix of the two (bi-culture); (2) an organic system with a hairy vetch cover crop employing three fertilization schemes (0 N, organic N, or a fertilizer N-credit approach); and (3) a conventional system with a winter wheat cover crop and three fertilization schemes (0 N, urea N, or organic N). In the unfertilized organic system, cover crop species affected NO3-N leaching (vetch > bi-culture > wheat) and N2O-N emissions and yield during corn growth (vetch, bi-culture > wheat). Fertilization increased soil inorganic N, gaseous N loss, N leaching, and yield in the organic vetch and conventional wheat systems. Fertilizer scheme affected the magnitude of growing season N2O-N loss in the organic vetch system (organic N > fertilizer N-credit) and the timing of loss (organic N delayed N2O-N loss vs. urea) and NO3-N leaching (urea >> organic N) in the conventional wheat system, but had no effect on yield. Cover crop selection and N fertilization techniques can reduce N leaching and greenhouse gas emissions without sacrificing yield, thereby enhancing N conservation in both organic and conventional conservation agriculture systems. PMID:29403512

  12. Seawater/Saline Agriculture for Energy, Warming, Water, Rainfall, Land, Food and Minerals

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bushnell, Dennis

    2006-01-01

    The combination of the incipient demise of cheap oil and increasing evidence of Global Warming due to anthropogenic fossil carbon release has reinvigorated the need for and efforts on Renewable energy sources, especially for transportation applications. Biomass/Bio-diesel appears to have many benefits compared to Hydrogen, the only other major renewable transportation fuel candidate. Biomass Production is currently limited by available arable land and fresh water. Halophyte Plants and seawater irrigation proffer a wholly new biomass production mantra using wastelands and very plentiful seawater. Such an approach addresses many-to-most of the major emerging Societal Problems including Land, Water, Food, Warming and Energy. For many reasons, including seawater agriculture, portions of the Sahara appear to be viable candidates for future Biomass Production. The apparent nonlinearity between vegetation cover and atmospheric conditions over North Africa necessitates serious coupled boundary layer Meteorology and Global Circulation Modeling to ensure that this form of Terra Forming is Favorable and to avoid adverse Unintended Consequences.

  13. Summary of the 2017 South Southeast Research Initiative (SARI) Agricultural Workshop

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Vadrevu, Krishna Prasad; Justice, Chris

    2017-01-01

    South/Southeast Asian countries are growing rapidly in terms of population, industrialization, andurbanization. As a result of this growth, one of the key policy challenges facing the region is foodsecurity—that is, those conditions “…when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access tosufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active andhealthy life”.1 Although total food production has increased in the region since 1960 due to land areahaving been converted to agricultural use, more recently it has decreased, mostly due to loss ofproductive agricultural land due to urbanization and industrial development. Furthermore, the region isexperiencing variability in the timing of the monsoon and extreme weather events, resulting in droughtor flooding, which impact agricultural production. Monitoring crop production in a timely manner isessential to predict and prepare for disruptions in the food supply. To achieve such timely monitoringrequires improved and up-to-date information on agricultural land-use practices.Although there has been significant progress in remote sensing and geospatial technologies over thepast few decades, there has been little emphasis placed on developing robust methods for operationalmapping and monitoring of areas devoted to crops. In South/Southeast Asia generally, most mappingefforts to date have focused on the broader classification of land cover types and generalized croplandareas into a single or limited number of thematic classes. Only a few countries have access to up-todatecrop type information. There is an urgent need to make this near-real-time information morereadily available to stakeholders and to enhance national and regional operational systems formonitoring agricultural crops..

  14. Soil erosion and associated organic carbon transfer along the southern Amazon land use frontier - status quo and future scenarios

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schindewolf, Marcus; Herrmann, Anne-Kathrin; Herrmann, Marie-Kristin; Amorim, Ricardo S. S.; Schmidt, Jürgen

    2016-04-01

    The Southern Amazon deforestation arc is one of the world's most dynamically changing landscapes mainly caused by global demands on animal products. Already more than 50 % of the savanna vegetation in Mato Grosso is converted to agricultural land. Following the BR-163 highway to the north deforestation is continuing, where former tropical rainforest is converted to pastures. Consequences are expected to be negative and highly relevant concerning soil functions. Soil losses and related carbon transfer by water erosion are likely to occur on a larger scale. Within the Carbiocial project, the impact of land use changes on soil loss was measured by applying artificial rainfall simulations. Experimental results were used to parameterize the physical based EROSION 3D simulation model in two meso-scale watersheds. The impact of future land use and climate scenarios on soil erosion and particle bound organic carbon transfer were simulated in addition to present day effects. Our results allow different predictions: Land use changes from natural vegetation to pasture lead to increased surface runoffs and soil losses. Due to the predominant no-tillage management, croplands do not reveal a similar behaviour; runoff and sediment yields are close to the initial level. Particle bound organic carbon losses are negligible compared to the removal of biomass during deforestation. Compared to the land use change effect more significant differences appear concerning the predominant soil types of the study region. Deterioration of soil functions are less pronounced for Ferralsols with a stable microstructure than for Acrisols. Additionally, our data suggest, that the main soil losses are related to the narrow time windows of land use conversion. Consequently, intensifying production on existing agricultural land rather than creating new production area (deforestation) might be the most practical way of preserving soils of the Southern Amazon.

  15. An initial analysis of LANDSAT 4 Thematic Mapper data for the classification of agricultural, forested wetland, and urban land covers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Quattrochi, D. A.; Anderson, J. E.; Brannon, D. P.; Hill, C. L.

    1982-01-01

    An initial analysis of LANDSAT 4 thematic mapper (TM) data for the delineation and classification of agricultural, forested wetland, and urban land covers was conducted. A study area in Poinsett County, Arkansas was used to evaluate a classification of agricultural lands derived from multitemporal LANDSAT multispectral scanner (MSS) data in comparison with a classification of TM data for the same area. Data over Reelfoot Lake in northwestern Tennessee were utilized to evaluate the TM for delineating forested wetland species. A classification of the study area was assessed for accuracy in discriminating five forested wetland categories. Finally, the TM data were used to identify urban features within a small city. A computer generated classification of Union City, Tennessee was analyzed for accuracy in delineating urban land covers. An evaluation of digitally enhanced TM data using principal components analysis to facilitate photointerpretation of urban features was also performed.

  16. Identification and Prioritization of Management Practices to Reduce Methylmercury Exports from Wetlands and Irrigated Agricultural Lands

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McCord, Stephen A.; Heim, Wesley A.

    2015-03-01

    The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta's (Delta) beneficial uses for humans and wildlife are impaired by elevated methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations in fish. MeHg is a neurotoxin that bioaccumulates in aquatic food webs. The total maximum daily load (TMDL) implementation plan aimed at reducing MeHg in Delta fish obligates dischargers to conduct MeHg control studies. Over 150 stakeholders collaborated to identify 24 management practices (MPs) addressing MeHg nonpoint sources (NPS) in three categories: biogeochemistry (6), hydrology (14), and soil/vegetation (4). Land uses were divided into six categories: permanently and seasonally flooded wetlands, flooded and irrigated agricultural lands, floodplains, and brackish-fresh tidal marshes. Stakeholders scored MPs based on seven criteria: scientific certainty, costs, MeHg reduction potential, spatial applicability, technical capacity to implement, negative impacts to beneficial uses, and conflicting requirements. Semi-quantitative scoring for MPs applicable to each land use (totaling >400 individual scores) led to consensus-based prioritization. This process relied on practical experience from diverse and accomplished NPS stakeholders and synthesis of 17 previous studies. Results provide a comprehensive, stakeholder-driven prioritization of MPs for wetland and irrigated agricultural land managers. Final prioritization highlights the most promising MPs for practical application and control study, and a secondary set of MPs warranting further evaluation. MPs that address hydrology and soil/vegetation were prioritized because experiences were positive and implementation appeared more feasible. MeHg control studies will need to address the TMDL conundrum that MPs effective at reducing MeHg exports could both exacerbate MeHg exposure and contend with other management objectives on site.

  17. Practicing Conservation Agriculture to mitigate and adapt to Climate Change in Jordan.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Khresat, Saeb

    2016-04-01

    Climate change scenarios indicate that Jordan and the Middle East could suffer from reduced agricultural productivity and water availability among other negative impacts. Based on the projection models for the area, average temperature in Jordan is projected to increase between 1.2 and 1.6 °C by 2050. Projections for precipitation trends are projected to decrease by 16% by the year 2050. Evaporation is likely to increase due to higher temperatures. This is likely to increase the incidence of drought potential since precipitation is projected to decrease. The dominant form of agriculture system in Jordan is based on intensive tillage. This form of tillage has resulted in large losses of organic soil carbon, weaker soil structure, and cause compaction. It has negative effects on soil aeration, root development and water infiltration among other factors. There is a need to transform farming practices to conservation agriculture to sequester carbon so that climate change mitigation becomes an inherent property of future farming systems. Conservation Agriculture, a system avoiding or minimizing soil disturbance, combined with soil cover and crop diversification, is considered to be a sustainable production system that can also sequester carbon unlike tillage agriculture. Conservation agriculture promotes minimal disturbance of the soil by tillage (zero tillage), balanced application of chemical inputs and careful management of residues and wastes. This study was conducted to develop a clear understanding of the impacts and benefits of the two most common types of agriculture, traditional tillage agriculture and conservation agriculture with respect to their effects on land productivity and on soil carbon pools. The study results indicated that conservation agriculture contributed to the reduction of the farming systems' greenhouse gas emissions and enhance its role as carbon sinks. Also, it was found that by shifting to conservation agriculture labor cost needed for

  18. Spatial and temporal contrasts in the distribution of crops and pastures across Amazonia: A new agricultural land use data set from census data since 1950

    PubMed Central

    Imbach, P; Manrow, M; Barona, E; Barretto, A; Hyman, G; Ciais, P

    2015-01-01

    Amazonia holds the largest continuous area of tropical forests with intense land use change dynamics inducing water, carbon, and energy feedbacks with regional and global impacts. Much of our knowledge of land use change in Amazonia comes from studies of the Brazilian Amazon, which accounts for two thirds of the region. Amazonia outside of Brazil has received less attention because of the difficulty of acquiring consistent data across countries. We present here an agricultural statistics database of the entire Amazonia region, with a harmonized description of crops and pastures in geospatial format, based on administrative boundary data at the municipality level. The spatial coverage includes countries within Amazonia and spans censuses and surveys from 1950 to 2012. Harmonized crop and pasture types are explored by grouping annual and perennial cropping systems, C3 and C4 photosynthetic pathways, planted and natural pastures, and main crops. Our analysis examined the spatial pattern of ratios between classes of the groups and their correlation with the agricultural extent of crops and pastures within administrative units of the Amazon, by country, and census/survey dates. Significant correlations were found between all ratios and the fraction of agricultural lands of each administrative unit, with the exception of planted to natural pastures ratio and pasture lands extent. Brazil and Peru in most cases have significant correlations for all ratios analyzed even for specific census and survey dates. Results suggested improvements, and potential applications of the database for carbon, water, climate, and land use change studies are discussed. The database presented here provides an Amazon-wide improved data set on agricultural dynamics with expanded temporal and spatial coverage. Key Points Agricultural census database covers Amazon basin municipalities from 1950 to 2012Harmonized database groups crops and pastures by cropping system, C3/C4, and main crops

  19. [Estimation on value of water and soil conservation of agricultural ecosystems in Xi' an metropolitan, Northwest China].

    PubMed

    Yang, Wen-yan; Zhou, Zhong-xue

    2014-12-01

    With the urban eco-environment increasingly deteriorating, the ecosystem services provided by modern urban agriculture are exceedingly significant to maintain and build more suitable environment in a city. Taking Xi' an metropolitan as the study area, based on remote sensing data, DEM data and the economic and social statistics data, the water and soil conservation service of the agricultural ecosystems was valued employing the remote sensing and geographic information system method, covering the reduction values on land waste, soil fertility loss and sediment loss from 2000 to 2011, and analyzed its changes in time and space. The results showed that during the study period, the total value of water and soil conservation service provided by agricultural systems in Xi' an metropolitan was increased by 46,086 and 33.008 billion yuan respectively from period of 2000 to 2005 and from 2005 to 2011. The cultivated land (including grains, vegetables and other farming land), forest (including orchard) and grassland provided higher value on the water and soil conservation service than waters and other land use. Ecosystem service value of water and soil conserva- tion provided by agriculture was gradually decreasing from the southern to the northern in Xi' an metropolitan. There were significantly positive relationship between the ecosystem service value and the vegetation coverage. Forest, orchard and grassland distributed intensively in the southern which had higher vegetation coverage than in northern where covered by more cultivated land, sparse forest and scattered orchard. There were significantly negative correlation between the urbanization level and the value of water and soil conservation. The higher level of urbanization, the lower value there was from built-up area to suburban and to countryside within Xi' an metropolitan.

  20. Impacts of the Conversion of Forest to Arable Land and Long Term Agriculture Practices on the Water Pathways in Southern Brazil

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Robinet, J.; Minella, J. P. G.; Schlesner, A.; Lücke, A.; Ameijeiras-Marino, Y.; Opfergelt, S.; Vanderborght, J.; Gerard, G.

    2017-12-01

    Changes in runoff pathways affect many environmental processes. Land use change (LUC), and more specifically forest conversion to arable land, is one of the controls of water fluxes at the hillslope or catchment scale. Still, the long term effects of forest conversion and agricultural activities in (sub-) tropical environments have been relatively understudied. Our objective was therefore to study the impact of deforestation and land degradation through agriculture on runoff pathways. We selected two small catchments with contrasting land use (agriculture vs. natural forest) in a subtropical region in the south of Brazil. Stream-, pore-, subsurface- and rainwater were monitored, sampled and analyzed for Dissolve Silicon concentration (DSi) and δ18O isotopic signature. Both forested and agricultural catchments were highly responsive to rainfall event and only 2 runoff components contributed to the stream discharge were identified: baseflow and peak flow components. The δ18O peak flow signal in the agricultural catchment was closely related to the δ18O rainfall signal. In the forested catchment, the δ18O peak flow signal was similar to a seasonally averaged signal. This suggested that most peak flow was derived from current rainfall events in the agricultural catchment, while being derived from a mixed reservoir in the forested one. The DSi of the peak flow was low in both catchments. Hence, the mixing in the forested catchment cannot have taken place in the soil matrix as the soil pore water contained high DSi concentrations. Instead, the mixing must have taken place in a reservoir with a relatively short residence time and isolated, to some extent, from the soil matrix. The dense channel network left by decayed roots in the forest soil above a clay-rich water-impeding B horizon is the most likely candidate and this was confirmed by visual observations. Contributions of other, deeper reservoirs are unlikely given the quick response time of the catchment

  1. High-resolution assessment of land use impacts on biodiversity in life cycle assessment using species habitat suitability models.

    PubMed

    de Baan, Laura; Curran, Michael; Rondinini, Carlo; Visconti, Piero; Hellweg, Stefanie; Koellner, Thomas

    2015-02-17

    Agricultural land use is a main driver of global biodiversity loss. The assessment of land use impacts in decision-support tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA) requires spatially explicit models, but existing approaches are either not spatially differentiated or modeled at very coarse scales (e.g., biomes or ecoregions). In this paper, we develop a high-resolution (900 m) assessment method for land use impacts on biodiversity based on habitat suitability models (HSM) of mammal species. This method considers potential land use effects on individual species, and impacts are weighted by the species' conservation status and global rarity. We illustrate the method using a case study of crop production in East Africa, but the underlying HSMs developed by the Global Mammals Assessment are available globally. We calculate impacts of three major export crops and compare the results to two previously developed methods (focusing on local and regional impacts, respectively) to assess the relevance of the methodological innovations proposed in this paper. The results highlight hotspots of product-related biodiversity impacts that help characterize the links among agricultural production, consumption, and biodiversity loss.

  2. Agricultural management impact on physical and chemical functions of European peat soils.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Piayda, Arndt; Tiemeyer, Bärbel; Dettmann, Ullrich; Bechtold, Michel; Buschmann, Christoph

    2017-04-01

    is lowest for extensive grass land. Both findings indicate a strong impact of land use intensity and management on soil carbon losses and peat conservation on the European scale. This study provides evidence how functions of peat soils, valuable for successful agricultural production and relevant for climate change mitigation, are impacted by agricultural management.

  3. Reconnaissance of water quality in the High Plains Aquifer beneath agricultural lands, south-central Kansas

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Stullken, L.E.; Stamer, J.K.; Carr, J.E.

    1987-01-01

    The High Plains of western Kansas was one of 14 areas selected for preliminary groundwater quality reconnaissance by the U.S. Geological Survey 's Toxic Waste--Groundwater Contamination Program. The specific objective was to evaluate the effects of land used for agriculture (irrigated cropland and non-irrigated rangeland) on the water in the High Plains aquifer. Conceptual inferences, based on the information available, would lead one to expect groundwater beneath irrigated cropland to contain larger concentrations of sodium, sulfate, chloride, nitrite plus nitrate, and some water soluble pesticides than water beneath non-irrigated land (range-land) The central part of the Great Bend Prairie, an area of about 1,800 sq mi overlying the High Plains aquifer in south-central Kansas, was selected for the study of agricultural land use because it has sand soils, a shallow water table, relatively large annual precipitation, and includes large areas that are exclusively irrigated cropland or non-irrigated rangeland. As determined by a two-tailed Wilcoxon rank-sum test, concentrations of sodium and alkalinity were significantly larger at the 95% confidence level for water samples from beneath irrigated cropland than from beneath rangeland. No statistically significant difference in concentrations of sulfate, chloride, nitrite plus nitrate, and ammonia, was detected. Concentrations of 2,4-D found in water samples from beneath the rangeland were larger at the 99% confidence level as compared to concentrations of 2,4-D in samples from beneath irrigated cropland. Larger concentrations of sodium and alkalinity were found in water beneath irrigated cropland, and the largest concentration of the pesticide atrazine (triazines were found in three samples) was found in water from the only irrigation well sampled. The sodium and atrazine concentrations found in water from the irrigation well support the premise that water-level drawdown develops under irrigated fields. This diverts

  4. Object-Based Land Use Classification of Agricultural Land by Coupling Multi-Temporal Spectral Characteristics and Phenological Events in Germany

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Knoefel, Patrick; Loew, Fabian; Conrad, Christopher

    2015-04-01

    Crop maps based on classification of remotely sensed data are of increased attendance in agricultural management. This induces a more detailed knowledge about the reliability of such spatial information. However, classification of agricultural land use is often limited by high spectral similarities of the studied crop types. More, spatially and temporally varying agro-ecological conditions can introduce confusion in crop mapping. Classification errors in crop maps in turn may have influence on model outputs, like agricultural production monitoring. One major goal of the PhenoS project ("Phenological structuring to determine optimal acquisition dates for Sentinel-2 data for field crop classification"), is the detection of optimal phenological time windows for land cover classification purposes. Since many crop species are spectrally highly similar, accurate classification requires the right selection of satellite images for a certain classification task. In the course of one growing season, phenological phases exist where crops are separable with higher accuracies. For this purpose, coupling of multi-temporal spectral characteristics and phenological events is promising. The focus of this study is set on the separation of spectrally similar cereal crops like winter wheat, barley, and rye of two test sites in Germany called "Harz/Central German Lowland" and "Demmin". However, this study uses object based random forest (RF) classification to investigate the impact of image acquisition frequency and timing on crop classification uncertainty by permuting all possible combinations of available RapidEye time series recorded on the test sites between 2010 and 2014. The permutations were applied to different segmentation parameters. Then, classification uncertainty was assessed and analysed, based on the probabilistic soft-output from the RF algorithm at the per-field basis. From this soft output, entropy was calculated as a spatial measure of classification uncertainty

  5. The role of land use changes in the distribution of shallow landslides.

    PubMed

    Persichillo, Maria Giuseppina; Bordoni, Massimiliano; Meisina, Claudia

    2017-01-01

    The role of land use dynamics on shallow landslide susceptibility remains an unresolved problem. Thus, this work aims to assess the influence of land use changes on shallow landslide susceptibility. Three shallow landslide-prone areas that are representative of peculiar land use settings in the Oltrepò Pavese (North Apennines) are analysed: the Rio Frate, Versa and Alta Val Tidone catchments. These areas were affected by widespread land abandonment and modifications in agricultural practices from 1954 to 2012 and relevant shallow landslide phenomena in 2009, 2013 and 2014. A multi-temporal land use change analysis allows us to evaluate the degree of transformation in the three investigated areas and the influence of these changes on the susceptibility to shallow landslides. The results show that the three catchments were characterised by pronounced land abandonment and important changes in agricultural practices. In particular, abandoned cultivated lands that gradually recovered through natural grasses, shrubs and woods were identified as the land use change classes that were most prone to shallow landslides. Additionally, the negative qualities of the agricultural maintenance practices increased the surface water runoff and consequently intensified erosion processes and instability phenomena. Although the land use was identified as the most important predisposing factor in all the study areas, some cases existed in which the predisposition of certain areas to shallow landslides was influenced by the combined effect of land use changes and the geological conditions, as highlighted by the high susceptibility of slopes that are characterised by adverse local geological (thick soils derived from clayey-marly bedrocks) and geomorphological (slope angle higher than 25°) conditions. Thus, the achieved results are particularly useful to understand the best land conservation strategies to be adopted to reduce instability phenomena and the consequent economic losses in

  6. Large scale land acquisitions and REDD+: a synthesis of conflicts and opportunities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Carter, Sarah; Manceur, Ameur M.; Seppelt, Ralf; Hermans-Neumann, Kathleen; Herold, Martin; Verchot, Lou

    2017-03-01

    Large scale land acquisitions (LSLA), and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) are both land based phenomena which when occurring in the same area, can compete with each other for land. A quantitative analysis of country characteristics revealed that land available for agriculture, accessibility, and political stability are key explanatory factors for a country being targeted for LSLA. Surprisingly LSLA occur in countries with lower accessibility. Countries with good land availability, poor accessibility and political stability may become future targets if they do not already have LSLA. Countries which high levels of agriculture-driven deforestation and LSLA, should develop interventions which reduce forest loss driven either directly or indirectly by LSLA as part of their REDD+ strategies. Both host country and investor-side policies have been identified which could be used more widely to reduce conflicts between LSLA and REDD+. Findings from this research highlight the need for and can inform the development of national and international policies on land acquisitions including green acquisitions such as REDD+. Land management must be considered with all its objectives—including food security, biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation—in a coherent strategy which engages relevant stakeholders. This is not currently occurring and might be a key ingredient to achieve the targets under the Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 15 and 16 (related to food security and sustainable agriculture and the protection of forests) among others.

  7. Energy crop mapping with enhanced TM/MODIS time series in the BCAP agricultural lands

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Cuizhen; Fan, Qian; Li, Qingting; SooHoo, William M.; Lu, Linlin

    2017-02-01

    Since the mid-2000s, agricultural lands in the United States have been undergoing rapid change to meet the increasing bioenergy demand. In 2009 the USDA Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) was established. In its Project Area 1, land owners are financially supported to grow perennial prairie grasses (switchgrass) in their row-crop lands. To promote the program, this study tested the feasibility of biomass crop mapping based on unique timings of crop development. With a previously published data fusion algorithm - the Enhanced Spatial and Temporal Adaptive Reflectance Fusion Model (ESTARFM), a 10-day normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series in 2007 was established by fusing MODIS reflectance into TM image series. Two critical dates - peak growing (PG) and peak drying (PD) - were extracted and a unique "PG-0-PD" timing sequence was defined for each crop. With a knowledge-based decision tree approach, the classification of enhanced TM/MODIS time series reached an overall accuracy of 76% against the USDA Crop Data layer (CDL). Especially, our results showed that winter wheat single cropping and wheat-soybean double cropping were much better classified, which may provide additional information for the CDL product. More importantly, this study extracted the first spatial layer of warm-season prairie grasses that have not been published in any national land cover products, which could serve as a base map for decision making of bioenergy land use in BCAP land.

  8. Integrated services to support detection, prevention and planning of the agricultural-forest-rural land against fires

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Scipioni, A.; Tagliaferri, F.

    2009-04-01

    Objective of the document is to define lines of development and distribution of the services to support detection, prevention and planning of the agricultural-forest-rural land against fire. The services will be a valid support on hand of the Regional and National Administrations involved in the agricultural-forest-rural activities (Ministry of Agricultural and Forestry Policies, National Forest Police, ecc..), through the employment of the SIAN "National Agricultural Informative System", that is the integrated national information system for the entire agriculture, forestry and fisheries Administration. The services proposals would be distributed through the GIS (Geographic Information Systems) of the SIAN: the GIS database is a single nation-wide digital graphic database consisting of: - Ortophotos: Aerial images of approz. 45 km2 each with ground resolution of 50 cm; - Cadastral maps: Land maps; - Thematic layers: Land use and crops identification The GIS services can take full advantage of the benefits of SIAN architectural model designed for best integration and interoperability with other Central and Local P.A. bodies whose main items are: - Integration of information from different sources; - Maintainance of the internal coeherence of any integrated information; - Flexibility with respect to technical or organizational changes The "innovative "services described below could be useful to support the development of institutional tasks of public Agencies and Administrations (es. Regions or Civil Protection agencies) according to than previewed from the D.Lgs. 173/98. Services of support to the management of the phenomenon of wildland fires The activities outlined in below figure, don't have a linear and defined temporal sequence, but a dynamic and time integration. It guarantees not only the integrated use of the various information, but also the value of every product, for level of accuracy, coherence and timeliness of the information. Description of four main

  9. A long-term forecast analysis on worldwide land uses.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Wenjun; Qi, Yanhong; Zhang, Zhiguo

    2006-08-01

    More and more lands worldwide are being cultivated for food production while forests are disappearing at an unprecedented rate. This paper aims to make a long-term forecast on land uses worldwide and provide the public, researchers, and government officials with a clear profile for land uses in the future. Data of land uses since 1961 were used to fit historical trajectories and make the forecast. The results show that trajectories of land areas can be well fitted with univariate linear regressions. The forecasts of land uses during the coming 25 years were given in detail. Areas of agricultural land, arable land, and permanent pasture land worldwide would increase by 6.6%, 7.2%, and 6.3% respectively in the year 2030 as compared to the current areas. Permanent crops land area all over the world is forecasted to increase 0.64% by 2030. By the year 2030 the areas of forests and woodland, nonarable and nonpermanent land worldwide would decrease by 2.4% and 0.9% against the current areas. All other land area in the world would dramatically decline by 6.4% by the year 2030. Overall the land area related to agriculture would tend to decrease in developed countries, industrialized countries, Europe, and North and Central America. The agriculture related land area would considerably increase in developing countries, least developed countries, low-income countries, Asia, Africa, South America, etc. Developing countries hold larger total land area than developed countries. Dramatic and continuous growth in agricultural land area of developing countries would largely contribute to the expected growth of world agricultural land area in the coming years. Population explosion, food shortage and poverty in the world, especially in developing countries, together caused the excessive cultivation of land for agricultural uses in the past years. Increasing agricultural land area exacerbates the climate changes and degradation of environment. How to limit the growth of human

  10. Reconciling Agricultural Needs with Biodiversity and Carbon Conservation in a Savanna Transformation Frontier

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Spiegel, M. P.; Estes, L. D.; Caylor, K. K.; Searchinger, T.

    2015-12-01

    Zambia is a major hotspot for agricultural development in the African savannas, which will be targeted for agricultural expansion to relieve food shortages and economic insecurity in the next few decades. Recent scholarship rejects the assumption that the large reserves of arable land in the African savannas could be converted to cropland with low ecological costs. In light of these findings, the selection of land for agricultural expansion must consider not only its potential productivity, but also the increase in greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss that would result from the land conversion. To examine these tradeoffs, we have developed a multi-objective optimization technique to seek scenarios for agricultural development in Zambia that simultaneously achieve production targets and minimize carbon, biodiversity, and economic cost constraints, while factoring in the inter-annual variability in crop production in this highly uncertain climate. Potential production is determined from well-characterized yield potential estimates while robust metrics of biodiversity and high resolution mapping of carbon storage provide fine scale estimates of ecological impact. We draw production targets for individual crops from potential development pathways, primarily export, commodity-crop driven expansion and identify ecologically responsible agricultural development scenarios that are resilient to climate change and meet these demands. In order to achieve a doubling of production of nine key crops, assuming a modest 20% overall increase in yield potential, we find a range of scenarios that use less than 1600 km2 of new land without infringing on any protected areas or exceeding 6.7 million tons of carbon emissions.

  11. LandCaRe DSS--an interactive decision support system for climate change impact assessment and the analysis of potential agricultural land use adaptation strategies.

    PubMed

    Wenkel, Karl-Otto; Berg, Michael; Mirschel, Wilfried; Wieland, Ralf; Nendel, Claas; Köstner, Barbara

    2013-09-01

    Decision support to develop viable climate change adaptation strategies for agriculture and regional land use management encompasses a wide range of options and issues. Up to now, only a few suitable tools and methods have existed for farmers and regional stakeholders that support the process of decision-making in this field. The interactive model-based spatial information and decision support system LandCaRe DSS attempts to close the existing methodical gap. This system supports interactive spatial scenario simulations, multi-ensemble and multi-model simulations at the regional scale, as well as the complex impact assessment of potential land use adaptation strategies at the local scale. The system is connected to a local geo-database and via the internet to a climate data server. LandCaRe DSS uses a multitude of scale-specific ecological impact models, which are linked in various ways. At the local scale (farm scale), biophysical models are directly coupled with a farm economy calculator. New or alternative simulation models can easily be added, thanks to the innovative architecture and design of the DSS. Scenario simulations can be conducted with a reasonable amount of effort. The interactive LandCaRe DSS prototype also offers a variety of data analysis and visualisation tools, a help system for users and a farmer information system for climate adaptation in agriculture. This paper presents the theoretical background, the conceptual framework, and the structure and methodology behind LandCaRe DSS. Scenario studies at the regional and local scale for the two Eastern German regions of Uckermark (dry lowlands, 2600 km(2)) and Weißeritz (humid mountain area, 400 km(2)) were conducted in close cooperation with stakeholders to test the functionality of the DSS prototype. The system is gradually being transformed into a web version (http://www.landcare-dss.de) to ensure the broadest possible distribution of LandCaRe DSS to the public. The system will be continuously

  12. Mapping Soil Organic Carbon Resources Across Agricultural Land Uses in Highland Lesotho Using High Resolution Satellite Imagery

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Knight, J.; Adam, E.

    2015-12-01

    Mapping spatial patterns of soil organic carbon (SOC) using high resolution satellite imagery is especially important in inaccessible or upland areas that have limited field measurements, where land use and land cover (LULC) are changing rapidly, or where the land surface is sensitive to overgrazing and high rates of soil erosion and thus sediment, nutrient and carbon export. Here we outline the methods and results of mapping soil organic carbon in highland areas (~2400 m) of eastern Lesotho, southern Africa, across different land uses. Bedrock summit areas with very thin soils are dominated by xeric alpine grassland; terrace agriculture with strip fields and thicker soils is found within river valleys. Multispectral Worldview 2 imagery was used to map LULC across the region. An overall accuracy of 88% and kappa value of 0.83 were achieved using a support vector machine model. Soils were examined in the field from different LULC areas for properties such as soil depth, maturity and structure. In situ soils in the field were also evaluated using a portable analytical spectral device (ASD) in order to ground truth spectral signatures from Worldview. Soil samples were examined in the lab for chemical properties including organic carbon. Regression modeling was used in order to establish a relationship between soil characteristics and soil spectral reflectance. We were thus able to map SOC across this diverse landscape. Results show that there are notable differences in SOC between upland and agricultural areas which reflect both soil thickness and maturity, and land use practices such as manuring of fields by cattle. Soil erosion and thus carbon (nutrient) export is significant issue in this region, which this project will now be examining.

  13. Future C loss in mid-latitude mineral soils: climate change exceeds land use mitigation potential in France.

    PubMed

    Meersmans, Jeroen; Arrouays, Dominique; Van Rompaey, Anton J J; Pagé, Christian; De Baets, Sarah; Quine, Timothy A

    2016-11-03

    Many studies have highlighted significant interactions between soil C reservoir dynamics and global climate and environmental change. However, in order to estimate the future soil organic carbon sequestration potential and related ecosystem services well, more spatially detailed predictions are needed. The present study made detailed predictions of future spatial evolution (at 250 m resolution) of topsoil SOC driven by climate change and land use change for France up to the year 2100 by taking interactions between climate, land use and soil type into account. We conclude that climate change will have a much bigger influence on future SOC losses in mid-latitude mineral soils than land use change dynamics. Hence, reducing CO 2 emissions will be crucial to prevent further loss of carbon from our soils.

  14. Addressing agricultural phosphorus loss in artificially drained landscapes with 4R nutrient management practices

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Agricultural phosphorus (P) loss has been linked to the eutrophication of surface water bodies throughout the world and minimizing offsite P transport continues to be a priority in many watersheds. In the U.S. Midwest and other tile-drained regions, there is a critical need to identify nutrient mana...

  15. Water management controls net carbon exchange in drained and flooded agricultural peatlands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, CA

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hatala, J.; Detto, M.; Sonnentag, O.; Verfaillie, J. G.; Baldocchi, D. D.

    2011-12-01

    Draining peatlands for agricultural cultivation creates an ecosystem shift with some of the fastest rates and largest magnitudes of carbon loss attributable to land-use change, yet peatland drainage is practiced around the world due to the high economic benefit of fertile soil. The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in California was drained at the end of the 19th century for agriculture and human settlement, and as a result, has lost 5-8m of peat soil due to oxidation. To reverse subsidence and capture carbon, there is increasing interest in converting drained agricultural land-uses back to flooded conditions to inhibit further peat oxidation. However, this method remains relatively untested at the landscape-scale. This study analyzed the short-term effects of drained to flooded land-use conversion on the balance of carbon, water, and energy over two years at two landscapes in the Delta. We used the eddy covariance method to compare CO2, CH4, H2O, and energy fluxes under the same meteorological conditions in two different land-use types: a drained pasture grazed by cattle, and a flooded newly-converted rice paddy. By analyzing differences in the fluxes from these two land-use types we determined that water management and differences in the plant canopy both play a fundamental role in governing the seasonal pattern and the annual budgets of CO2 and CH4 fluxes at these two sites. While the pasture was a source of carbon to the atmosphere in both years, the rice paddy captured carbon through NEE, even after considering losses from CH4. Especially during the fallow winter months, flooding the soil at the rice paddy inhibited loss of CO2 through ecosystem respiration when compared with the carbon exchange from the drained pasture.

  16. 7 CFR 634.20 - Eligible land.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Eligible land. 634.20 Section 634.20 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LONG TERM CONTRACTING RURAL CLEAN WATER PROGRAM Participant RCWP Contracts § 634.20 Eligible land...

  17. 7 CFR 634.20 - Eligible land.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Eligible land. 634.20 Section 634.20 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LONG TERM CONTRACTING RURAL CLEAN WATER PROGRAM Participant RCWP Contracts § 634.20 Eligible land...

  18. 7 CFR 634.20 - Eligible land.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Eligible land. 634.20 Section 634.20 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LONG TERM CONTRACTING RURAL CLEAN WATER PROGRAM Participant RCWP Contracts § 634.20 Eligible land...

  19. 7 CFR 634.20 - Eligible land.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 6 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Eligible land. 634.20 Section 634.20 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LONG TERM CONTRACTING RURAL CLEAN WATER PROGRAM Participant RCWP Contracts § 634.20 Eligible land...

  20. INDICATORS OF NITRATE LEACHING LOSS UNDER DIFFERENT LAND USE OF CLAYEY AND SANDY SOILS IN SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA

    EPA Science Inventory

    Evidence of increasing nitrate (NO3-) leaching losses from soils under various land use systems has elevated the interest and need to find better land management practices. An essential step in developing new management practices is understanding of the com...

  1. Land use and land cover changes in Zêzere watershed (Portugal)--Water quality implications.

    PubMed

    Meneses, B M; Reis, R; Vale, M J; Saraiva, R

    2015-09-15

    To understand the relations between land use allocation and water quality preservation within a watershed is essential to assure sustainable development. The land use and land cover (LUC) within Zêzere River watershed registered relevant changes in the last decades. These land use and land cover changes (LUCCs) have impacts in water quality, mainly in surface water degradation caused by surface runoff from artificial and agricultural areas, forest fires and burnt areas, and caused by sewage discharges from agroindustry and urban sprawl. In this context, the impact of LUCCs in the quality of surface water of the Zêzere watershed is evaluated, considering the changes for different types of LUC and establishing their possible correlations to the most relevant water quality changes. The results indicate that the loss of coniferous forest and the increase of transitional woodland-shrub are related to increased water's pH; while the growth in artificial surfaces and pastures leads mainly to the increase of soluble salts and fecal coliform concentration. These particular findings within the Zêzere watershed, show the relevance of addressing water quality impact driven from land use and should therefore be taken into account within the planning process in order to prevent water stress, namely within watersheds integrating drinking water catchments. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Ecoregional differences in late-20th-century land-use and land-cover change in the U.S. northern great plains

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Auch, Roger F.; Sayler, K. L.; Napton, D.E.; Taylor, Janis L.; Brooks, M.S.

    2011-01-01

    Land-cover and land-use change usually results from a combination of anthropogenic drivers and biophysical conditions found across multiple scales, ranging from parcel to regional levels. A group of four Level 111 ecoregions located in the U.S. northern Great Plains is used to demonstrate the similarities and differences in land change during nearly a 30-year period (1973-2000) using results from the U.S. Geological Survey's Land Cover Trends project. There were changes to major suites of land-cover; the transitions between agriculture and grassland/shrubland and the transitions among wetland, water, agriculture, and grassland/ shrubland were affected by different factors. Anthropogenic drivers affected the land-use tension (or land-use competition) between agriculture and grassland/shrubland land-covers, whereas changes between wetland and water land-covers, and their relationship to agriculture and grassland/shrubland land-covers, were mostly affected by regional weather cycles. More land-use tension between agriculture and grassland/shrubland landcovers occurred in ecoregions with greater amounts of economically marginal cropland. Land-cover change associated with weather variability occurred in ecoregions that had large concentrations of wetlands and water impoundments, such as the Missouri River reservoirs. The Northwestern Glaciated Plains ecoregion had the highest overall estimated percentage of change because it had both land-use tension between agriculture and grassland/shrubland land-covers and wetland-water changes. 

  3. The sustainable management of ameliorated peatlands on changed land use conditions; scenarios of constrains and possibilities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shanskiy, , Merrit; Vollmer, Elis; Penu, Priit

    2015-04-01

    The utilization of organic soils for forestry or agriculture requires the land amelioration that could result on the peat losses from 15 to 20 t ha-1 in a year on following five years. After five years, the peat losses will be 5 - 15 t ha-1 in a year. The agricultural land resource on different types of organic soils (including ameliorated bogs) in Estonia is 360 000 ha that comprises 41% of total agricultural land area. The landscape iself is a valuable resource that considered to be a set of characteristics that satisfy needs of people using the landscape: economical or non-economical value; ecological, social, recreational, aesthetical, educational, scientific or even protective value. More diverse landscapes have higher biodiversity and yield more services to public, they are also seen as more sustainable and resilient to short-term changes. In order to maintain landscape diversity, sustainable maintenance is important. The purpose of current study was to estimate the land use potential on three different ameliorated peat areas and to develop the methodology for the futher sustainable utilization in order to secure the best ecological functioning of soil while taking into account maintaining and increasing landscape value. Therefore, site specific soil sampling (n=77) was carried out on predetermined eight study sites. Soil samples were analyzed for main agrochemical parameters (n=17; pHKCl, P, K, C%, N%, S%, ash, main anions and cations). This enables determing site-specific best suitable crops and land use scenarios. For the land resource description (soils type, topology) the digital soil map (1: 10,000) and field sudy based database were used for describing the model areas. For more specific identification of the field layers the Agricultural Registers and Information Board (ARIB) and databases of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments were used for subsidy schemes chekout. Estonian Nature Information System map tool was used to specify the

  4. Derivation of ecological criteria for copper in land-applied biosolids and biosolid-amended agricultural soils.

    PubMed

    Lu, Tao; Li, Jumei; Wang, Xiaoqing; Ma, Yibing; Smolders, Erik; Zhu, Nanwen

    2016-12-01

    The difference in availability between soil metals added via biosolids and soluble salts was not taken into account in deriving the current land-applied biosolids standards. In the present study, a biosolids availability factor (BAF) approach was adopted to investigate the ecological thresholds for copper (Cu) in land-applied biosolids and biosolid-amended agricultural soils. First, the soil property-specific values of HC5 add (the added hazardous concentration for 5% of species) for Cu 2+ salt amended were collected with due attention to data for organisms and soils relevant to China. Second, a BAF representing the difference in availability between soil Cu added via biosolids and soluble salts was estimated based on long-term biosolid-amended soils, including soils from China. Third, biosolids Cu HC5 input values (the input hazardous concentration for 5% of species of Cu from biosolids to soil) as a function of soil properties were derived using the BAF approach. The average potential availability of Cu in agricultural soils amended with biosolids accounted for 53% of that for the same soils spiked with same amount of soluble Cu salts and with a similar aging time. The cation exchange capacity was the main factor affecting the biosolids Cu HC5 input values, while soil pH and organic carbon only explained 24.2 and 1.5% of the variation, respectively. The biosolids Cu HC5 input values can be accurately predicted by regression models developed based on 2-3 soil properties with coefficients of determination (R 2 ) of 0.889 and 0.945. Compared with model predicted biosolids Cu HC5 input values, current standards (GB4284-84) are most likely to be less protective in acidic and neutral soil, but conservative in alkaline non-calcareous soil. Recommendations on ecological criteria for Cu in land-applied biosolids and biosolid-amended agriculture soils may be helpful to fill the gaps existing between science and regulations, and can be useful for Cu risk assessments in

  5. Competition for land

    PubMed Central

    Smith, Pete; Gregory, Peter J.; van Vuuren, Detlef; Obersteiner, Michael; Havlík, Petr; Rounsevell, Mark; Woods, Jeremy; Stehfest, Elke; Bellarby, Jessica

    2010-01-01

    A key challenge for humanity is how a future global population of 9 billion can all be fed healthily and sustainably. Here, we review how competition for land is influenced by other drivers and pressures, examine land-use change over the past 20 years and consider future changes over the next 40 years. Competition for land, in itself, is not a driver affecting food and farming in the future, but is an emergent property of other drivers and pressures. Modelling studies suggest that future policy decisions in the agriculture, forestry, energy and conservation sectors could have profound effects, with different demands for land to supply multiple ecosystem services usually intensifying competition for land in the future. In addition to policies addressing agriculture and food production, further policies addressing the primary drivers of competition for land (population growth, dietary preference, protected areas, forest policy) could have significant impacts in reducing competition for land. Technologies for increasing per-area productivity of agricultural land will also be necessary. Key uncertainties in our projections of competition for land in the future relate predominantly to uncertainties in the drivers and pressures within the scenarios, in the models and data used in the projections and in the policy interventions assumed to affect the drivers and pressures in the future. PMID:20713395

  6. Patterns of plant diversity loss and species turnover resulting from land abandonment and intensification in semi-natural grasslands.

    PubMed

    Uchida, Kei; Koyanagi, Tomoyo F; Matsumura, Toshikazu; Koyama, Asuka

    2018-07-15

    Land-use changes cause biodiversity loss in semi-natural ecosystems worldwide. Biotic homogenization has led to biodiversity loss, mainly through declines in species composition turnover. Elucidating patterns of turnover in species composition could enhance our understanding of how anthropogenic activities affect community assembly. Here, we focused on whether the decreasing patterns in plant diversity and turnover of species composition resulting from land-use change vary in two regions. We estimated the species diversity and composition of semi-natural grasslands surrounding paddy fields in satoyama landscapes. We examined the differences in species diversity and composition across three land-use types (abandoned, traditional, and intensified) in two regions (Hyogo and Niigata Prefectures, Japan), which were characterized by different climatic conditions. We then assessed alpha-, beta-, and gamma-diversity to compare the patterns of diversity losses in the two regions as a result of land-use changes. In each region, gamma-diversity was consistently higher in the traditional sites compared to abandoned or intensified sites. The analyses revealed that most of the beta-diversity in traditional sites differed significantly from those of abandoned and intensified sites in both regions. However, the beta-diversity of total and perennial species did not differ between traditional and abandoned sites in the Hyogo region. We noted that the beta-diversity of total and perennial species in intensified sites was much lower than that in the traditional sites of the Niigata region. Overall, the patterns of alpha- and gamma-diversity loss were similar in both study regions. Although the biotic homogenization was caused by intensified land-use in the Niigata region, this hypothesis did not completely explain the loss of biodiversity in the abandoned sites in the Hyogo region. The present study contributes to the growing body of work investigating changes in biodiversity as a

  7. E-precision agriculture for small scale cash crops in Tobasa regency

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Putra Simanjuntak, Panca; Tiurniari Napitupulu, Pangeran; Pratama Silalahi, Soni; Kisno; Pasaribu, Norlina; Valešová, Libuše

    2017-09-01

    Cash crop is a promising sector in Tobasa regency; however, the trend showed a negative change of the cash crop production in. This research aims to develop an application which is based on Arduino for watering and fertilizing corn land. The result of using e-precision agriculture based on embedded system is 100% higher than the conventional one and the risk of harvesting failure using the embedded system decreased to 50%. Embedded system in this study acquired critical environment measurements which at last affected the yield raising and risk reduction. As the result, the use of e-precision agriculture provided a framework to be used by different stakeholders to implement e-agriculture platform that supports marketing of agricultural production since the system is proven to save the material and time which finally reduces the risk of harvesting failure and increases the yield. In other words, the system is able to economize the use of water and fertilizer on a small corn land. The system will be developed for more efficiency in material loss and the mobile-based application development to reach sustainable rural development particularly for cash-crop farmers.

  8. Applying ECOSTRESS Diurnal Cycle Land Surface Temperature and Evapotranspiration to Agricultural Soil and Water Management

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pestana, S. J.; Halverson, G. H.; Barker, M.; Cooley, S.

    2016-12-01

    Increased demand for agricultural products and limited water supplies in Guanacaste, Costa Rica have encouraged the improvement of water management practices to increase resource use efficiency. Remotely sensed evapotranspiration (ET) data can contribute by providing insights into variables like crop health and water loss, as well as better inform the use of various irrigation techniques. EARTH University currently collects data in the region that are limited to costly and time-intensive in situ observations and will greatly benefit from the expanded spatial and temporal resolution of remote sensing measurements from the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS). In this project, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Priestly-Taylor Jet Propulsion Laboratory (PT-JPL) data, with a resolution of 5 km per pixel, was used to demonstrate to our partners at EARTH University the application of remotely sensed ET measurements. An experimental design was developed to provide a method of applying future ECOSTRESS data, at the higher resolution of 70 m per pixel, to research in managing and implementing sustainable farm practices. Our investigation of the diurnal cycle of land surface temperature, net radiation, and evapotranspiration will advance the model science for ECOSTRESS, which will be launched in 2018 and installed on the International Space Station.

  9. Land subsidence in Yunlin, Taiwan, due to Agricultural and Domestic Water Use

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hsu, K.; Lin, P.; Lin, Z.

    2013-12-01

    Subsidence in a layered aquifer is caused by groundwater excess extraction and results in complicated problems in Taiwan. Commonly, responsibility to subsidence for agricultural and domestic water users is difficulty to identify due to the lack of quantitative evidences. An integrated model was proposed to analyze subsidence problem. The flow field utilizes analytical solution for pumping in a layered system from Neuman and Witherspoon (1969) to calculate the head drawdown variation. The subsidence estimation applies Terzaghi (1943) one-dimensional consolidation theory to calculate the deformation in each layer. The proposed model was applied to estimate land subsidence and drawdown variation at the Yuanchang Township of Yunlin County in Taiwan. Groundwater data for dry-season periods were used for calibration and validation. Seasonal effect in groundwater variation was first filtered out. Dry-season pumping effect on land subsidence was analyzed. The results show that multi-layer pumping contributes more in subsidence than single-layer pumping on the response of drawdown and land subsidence in aquifer 2 with a contribution of 97% total change at Yuanchang station. Pumping in aquifer 2 contributes more significant than pumping in aquifer 3 to cause change in drawdown and land subsidence in aquifer 2 with a contribution of 70% total change at Yuanchang station. Larger area of subsidence in Yuanchang Township was attributed pumping at aquifer 2 while pumping at aquifer 3 results in significant subsidence near the well field. The single-layer user contributes most area of subsidence but the multi-layer user generates more serious subsidence.

  10. Agricultural expansion and its impacts on tropical nature.

    PubMed

    Laurance, William F; Sayer, Jeffrey; Cassman, Kenneth G

    2014-02-01

    The human population is projected to reach 11 billion this century, with the greatest increases in tropical developing nations. This growth, in concert with rising per-capita consumption, will require large increases in food and biofuel production. How will these megatrends affect tropical terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity? We foresee (i) major expansion and intensification of tropical agriculture, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and South America; (ii) continuing rapid loss and alteration of tropical old-growth forests, woodlands, and semi-arid environments; (iii) a pivotal role for new roadways in determining the spatial extent of agriculture; and (iv) intensified conflicts between food production and nature conservation. Key priorities are to improve technologies and policies that promote more ecologically efficient food production while optimizing the allocation of lands to conservation and agriculture. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Law No. 87-19 determining the means of exploitation of agricultural land owned by the State and setting the rights and duties of producers, 8 December 1987.

    PubMed

    1988-01-01

    A 1987 law of Algeria determining the means of exploitation of agricultural land owned by the State and setting the rights and duties of producers marks a new departure because it creates a situation in which the right to ownership of the land resources of the socialist state (DAS) is to be shared. The state retains ownership but grants the "right of permanent usufruct" of these lands to groups of farmers which are made up of at least three producers who participate directly and in person in the activities of the farm. Payment will be exacted from the beneficiary group at rates fixed by decree, with the beneficiaries having the obligation to farm the land in an "optimum" manner. The State grants agricultural producers the right to full ownership of all other types of farm property other than the land itself. This right is conceded subject to certain obligations. Property acquired subsequent to the introduction of this reform belongs to the respective group of farmers, and not all the state lands are subject to distribution. The State will continue to operate farms attached to research or training centers as well as certain pilot farms. It will also retain such small plots of land as remain after the general distribution, allocating them subsequently on an individual basis. In the distribution of land, priority is to be given to regular workers on the former DAS estates as well as to applicants with technical agricultural qualifications, notably young people who have graduated from the agricultural training colleges or centers. The producer members of the collective groups will have the right to leave property to their heirs or to pass on their right after five years have elapsed from the setting up of the collective group, but they can pass on their rights only to other workers in the agricultural sector or to young people with technical agricultural qualifications. No one may interfere in the administration and management of the farms set up under the new law, but

  12. Evaluation of Nitrate Fluxes to Groundwater under Agriculture Land Uses across the Loess Plateau - A Catchment Scale Investigation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Turkeltaub, T.; Jia, X.; Binley, A. M.

    2016-12-01

    Nitrate management is required for fulfilling the objective of high agriculture productivity and concurrently reduced groundwater contamination to minimum. Yet, nitrate is considered as a non-point contaminant. Therefore, understanding the temporal and spatial processes controls of nitrate transport in the vadose zone are imperative for protection of groundwater. This study is conducted in the Loess Plateau which located in the north-central of mainland China and characterized with a semi-arid climate. Moreover, it accounts for about 6.6% of the Chinese territory and supports over 8.5% of the Chinese population. This area undergoes high pressure from human activities and requiring optimal management interventions. Integrated modelling frameworks, which include unsaturated and saturated processes, are able to simulate nitrate transport under various scenarios, and provide reasonable prediction for the decision-makers. We used data obtained from soil samples collected across a region of 41 × 104 km2 (243 samples, to 5 m depth) to derive unsaturated flow and transport properties. Particle size distributions, saturated hydraulic conductivity, water content at field capacity (0.33 atm) and saturated water content were also obtained for the shallower layers (0-40 cm). The van Genuchten - Mualem soil parameters describing the retention and the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity curves were estimated with the Rosetta code. The analysis of the soil samples indicated that the silt loam soil type is dominant. Hence, a scaling approach was chosen as an adequate method for estimation of representative retention and hydraulic conductivity curves. Water flow and nitrate leaching were simulated with mechanistic based 1-D model for each agriculture land use within the area. The simulated nitrate losses were compared with results of root zone model simulations. Subsequently, the calculated fluxes were input as upper boundary conditions in the Modflow model to examine the regional

  13. Exposure of farm workers to electromagnetic radiation from cellular network radio base stations situated on rural agricultural land.

    PubMed

    Pascuzzi, Simone; Santoro, Francesco

    2015-01-01

    The electromagnetic field (EMF) levels generated by mobile telephone radio base stations (RBS) situated on rural-agricultural lands were assessed in order to evaluate the exposure of farm workers in the surrounding area. The expected EMF at various distances from a mobile telephone RBS was calculated using an ad hoc numerical forecast model. Subsequently, the electric fields around some RBS on agricultural lands were measured, in order to obtain a good approximation of the effective conditions at the investigated sites. The viability of this study was tested according to the Italian Regulations concerning general and occupational public exposure to time-varying EMFs. The calculated E-field values were obtained with the RBS working constantly at full power, but during the in situ measurements the actual power emitted by RBS antennas was lower than the maximum level, and the E-field values actually registered were much lower than the calculated values.

  14. Agricultural implications of providing soil-based constraints on urban expansion: Land use forecasts to 2050.

    PubMed

    Smidt, Samuel J; Tayyebi, Amin; Kendall, Anthony D; Pijanowski, Bryan C; Hyndman, David W

    2018-07-01

    Urbanization onto adjacent farmlands directly reduces the agricultural area available to meet the resource needs of a growing society. Soil conservation is a common objective in urban planning, but little focus has been placed on targeting soil value as a metric for conservation. This study assigns commodity and water storage values to the agricultural soils across all of the watersheds in Michigan's Lower Peninsula to evaluate how cities might respond to a soil conservation-based urbanization strategy. Land Transformation Model (LTM) simulations representing both traditional and soil conservation-based urbanization, are used to forecast urban area growth from 2010 to 2050 at five year intervals. The expansion of urban areas onto adjacent farmland is then evaluated to quantify the conservation effects of soil-based development. Results indicate that a soil-based protection strategy significantly conserves total farmland, especially more fertile soils within each soil type. In terms of revenue, ∼$88 million (in current dollars) would be conserved in 2050 using soil-based constraints, with the projected savings from 2011 to 2050 totaling more than $1.5 billion. Soil-based urbanization also increased urban density for each major metropolitan area. For example, there were 94,640 more acres directly adjacent to urban land by 2050 under traditional development compared to the soil-based urbanization strategy, indicating that urban sprawl was more tightly contained when including soil value as a metric to guide development. This study indicates that implementing a soil-based urbanization strategy would better satisfy future agricultural resource needs than traditional urban planning. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  15. Evapotranspiration measurements in rainfed and irrigated cropland illustrate trade-offs in land and water management in Southern Amazonia's agricultural frontier

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lathuilliere, M. J.; Dalmagro, H. J.; Black, T. A.; Arruda, P. H. Z. D.; Hawthorne, I.; Couto, E. G.; Johnson, M. S.

    2017-12-01

    Southern Amazonia, Brazil, is home to a rapidly expanding agricultural frontier in which tropical forest and savanna landscapes have been increasingly replaced by agricultural land since the 1990s. One important impact of deforestation is the reduction in water vapour transferred to the atmosphere via evapotranspiration (ET) from rainfed agriculture landscapes compared to natural vegetation, leading to a reduction in regional precipitation recycling. Here, we discuss land and water management choices for future agricultural production in Southern Amazonia and their potential effects on the atmospheric water cycle. We illustrate these choices by presenting ET measurements on an agricultural landscape by eddy covariance (EC) between September 2015 and February 2017. Measurements were made for two fields adjacent to one micrometeorological EC tower: (1) one rainfed field containing a succession of soybean, maize, brachiara and soybean, and (2) one irrigated field with a succession of soybean, rice, beans, and soybean. Over the time period, total ET in the rainfed and irrigated fields was 1266 ± 294 mm and 1415 ± 180 mm, respectively for a total precipitation of 3099 mm. The main difference in ET between the fields was attributed to the application of 118 mm of surface water irrigated for bean production in the irrigated field between June and September 2016. In the rainfed field, soybean ET was 332 ± 82 mm (2015-2016) and 423 ± 99 mm (2016-2017) for 824 mm and 1124 mm of precipitation, respectively. In the irrigated field, soybean ET was 271 ± 38 mm (2015) and 404 ± 60 mm (2016-2017) with supplemental irrigation added in 2015. Our results illustrate how supplemental irrigation can favour early soybean planting while transferring additional water vapour to the atmosphere at levels similar to natural vegetation. We conclude by discussing our results in the context of future land and water trade-offs for agricultural intensification in Brazil's "arc-of-deforestation".

  16. Carbon dioxide emissions from forestry and peat land using land-use/land-cover changes in North Sumatra, Indonesia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Basyuni, M.; Sulistyono, N.; Slamet, B.; Wati, R.

    2018-03-01

    Forestry and peat land including land-based is one of the critical sectors in the inventory of CO2 emissions and mitigation efforts of climate change. The present study analyzed the land-use and land-cover changes between 2006 and 2012 in North Sumatra, Indonesia with emphasis to CO2 emissions. The land-use/land-cover consists of twenty-one classes. Redd Abacus software version 1.1.7 was used to measure carbon emission source as well as the predicted 2carbon dioxide emissions from 2006-2024. Results showed that historical emission (2006-2012) in this province, significant increases in the intensive land use namely dry land agriculture (109.65%), paddy field (16.23%) and estate plantation (15.11%). On the other hand, land-cover for forest decreased significantly: secondary dry land forest (7.60%), secondary mangrove forest (9.03%), secondary swamp forest (33.98%), and the largest one in the mixed dry land agriculture (79.96%). The results indicated that North Sumatra province is still a CO2 emitter, and the most important driver of emissions mostly derived from agricultural lands that contributed 2carbon dioxide emissions by 48.8%, changing from forest areas into degraded lands (classified as barren land and shrub) shared 30.6% and estate plantation of 22.4%. Mitigation actions to reduce carbon emissions was proposed such as strengthening the forest land, rehabilitation of degraded area, development and plantation forest, forest protection and forest fire control, and reforestation and conservation activity. These mitigation actions have been simulated to reduce 15% for forestry and 18% for peat land, respectively. This data is likely to contribute to the low emission development in North Sumatra.

  17. The effects of climate change on agriculture, land resources, water resources, and biodiversity in the United States

    Treesearch

    Peter Backlund; Anthony Janetos; David Schimel

    2008-01-01

    This report provides an assessment of the effects of climate change on U.S. agriculture, land resources, water resources, and biodiversity. It is one of a series of 21 Synthesis and Assessment Products (SAP) that are being produced under the auspices of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP).

  18. GlobeLand30 shows little cropland area loss but greater fragmentation in China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yu, Qiangyi; Hu, Qiong; van Vliet, Jasper; Verburg, Peter H.; Wu, Wenbin

    2018-04-01

    Understanding of cropland dynamics in a large geographical extent is mostly based on observations of area change, while the changes in landscape pattern are hardly assessed. The total amount of cropland in China has remained relatively stable in recent years, which might suggest there was little change. In this analysis, we combine the number of cropland patches (NP) with the total cropland area (TA) for a more comprehensive characterization of cropland change in China. We use GlobeLand30-a global land cover dataset with a 30 m resolution for the years 2000 and 2010-and characterize changes in TA and NP for each county as increase, stable, or decrease. This characterization shows that 703 out of 2420 counties experienced both cropland loss and increased fragmentation. The predominant cropland loss in these areas, especially in the North China Plain, is converted to artificial land. Another 212 are characterized by the opposite developments: an increase in cropland and decreased fragmentation. These counties, are mainly characterized by a conversion of forest areas and grassland areas. It suggests that the cropland conservation policy in China effectively protected the total cropland area in overall, but the consequences in terms of fragmentation might be underestimated. Counties with no obvious change in both indicators, measuring 279 counties, are mainly located in the Southeast. Our results are further compared with local level case studies: the fair consistency indicates alternatives of applying GlobeLand30 for analyzing landscape changes across scales and for cross-site comparisons.

  19. Stormwater runoff quality in correlation to land use and land cover development in Yongin, South Korea.

    PubMed

    Paule, M A; Memon, S A; Lee, B-Y; Umer, S R; Lee, C-H

    2014-01-01

    Stormwater runoff quality is sensitive to land use and land cover (LULC) change. It is difficult to understand their relationship in predicting the pollution potential and developing watershed management practices to eliminate or reduce the pollution risk. In this study, the relationship between LULC change and stormwater runoff quality in two separate monitoring sites comprising a construction area (Site 1) and mixed land use (Site 2) was analyzed using geographic information system (GIS), event mean concentration (EMC), and correlation analysis. It was detected that bare land area increased, while other land use areas such as agriculture, commercial, forest, grassland, parking lot, residential, and road reduced. Based on the analyses performed, high maximum range and average EMCs were found in Site 2 for most of the water pollutants. Also, urban areas and increased conversion of LULC into bare land corresponded to degradation of stormwater quality. Correlation analysis between LULC and stormwater quality showed the influence of different factors such as farming practices, geographical location, and amount of precipitation, vegetation loss, and anthropogenic activities in monitoring sites. This research found that GIS application was an efficient tool for monthly monitoring, validation and statistical analysis of LULC change in the study area.

  20. U.S.-State Agricultural Data. Agriculture Information Bulletin Number 512.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Womack, Letricia M.; Traub, Larry G.

    This report presents agricultural information for each state and the United States as a whole for the years 1981-1985. Included are data on population, land use, agricultural production, farm income, value of assets on farms, and selected characteristics of farms. The primary data sources are the "1982 Census of Agriculture," the…