Statistics for Spatial Data.

Climate change 2014 - Synthesis Report

▶ Addresses a wide range of timely environment, economic and energy topics ▶ A forum to review, analyze and stimulate the development, testing and implementation of mitigation and adaptation strategies at regional, national and global scales ▶ Contributes to real-time policy analysis and development as national and international policies and agreements are discussed and promulgated ▶ 94% of authors who answered a survey reported that they would definitely publish or probably publish in the journal again

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change

Nature And Properties Of Soils

B6nassy, C., 1955. R6marques sur deux Aphelinid6s: Aphelinus mytilaspidis Le Baron et Aphytis proclia Walker. Annls l~piphyt. 6: 11-17. Lord, F. T. & MacPhee, A. W., 1953. The influence of spray programs on the fauna of apple orchards in Nova Scotia II. Oyster shell scale. Can. Ent. 79: 196-209. Pickett, A. D., 1946. A progress report on long term spray programs. Rep. Nova Scotia Fruit Grow. Ass. 83 : 27-31. Pickett, A. D., 1967. The influence of spray programs on the fauna of apple orchards in Nova Scotia XIV. Can. Ent. 97: 816-821. Tothill, J. D., 1918. The predacious mite Hemisarcoptes malus Shimer and its relation to the natural control of the oyster shell scale Lepidosaphes ulmi L. Agric. Gaz. Can. 5 : 234-239.

http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/BF01976688.pdf

Soil enzymes: Kuprevich, V. F. & Shcherbakova, T. A.: Translated from the Russian edition (1966), published by the Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre, New Delhi 1971. 392 pp., offset printing from type script, paper cover. Obtainable from U.S. Department of Commerce, National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Va. 22151

This study was conducted in the northwest highlands of Ethiopia to, (i) map the different land use types and detect land use changes between 2000 and 2017, (ii) assess whether A. Decurrens plantation brings a land use change, and (iii) evaluate the role of A. Decurrens plantation on man-made forest cover change. ArcGIS 10.3 was used for spatial analysis and mapping while ERDAS Imagine 9.2 was used for land use classification and change detection. Landsat images were used to generate the land use maps using unsupervised and supervised classification methods. Cultivated land, wetland, natural forest and bare lands were declining whereas plantation, grazing land and settlement lands were expanding. Plantation cover was the most expanded land use type, which increased by 16%. A. Decurrens plantation was found to be the main reason in changing the land use from crop based land use to plantation land use. Man-made plantation was also increased because of A. Decurrens plantation. Moreover, A. Decurrens planation based land use was found to be a means to rehabilitate the degraded mountainous areas by reducing soil erosion and increasing the fertility of the soil through nitrogen fixation.

Conversion of crop land use to plantation land use, northwest Ethiopia

Persimmons (Diospyros kaki) are trees cultivated under subtropical environmental conditions but are also found in other regions such as the Mediterranean. However, no research has been conducted to investigate soil erosion processes under Mediterranean soil management systems characterized by flood irrigation and/or tillage. The Improved Stock Unearthing Method (ISUM) for assessing long-term soil mobilization was applied to two fields, one under tillage and the other under no-till with herbicide within a 25-year old Mediterranean persimmon plantation. Replicating methods used in vineyard studies, graft unions on persimmon plants were used as passive bio-indicators of soil surface changes in this study. The tilled field showed a total soil mobilization volume of 48.4 m3 on a 408.5 m2 plot, representing a total soil loss of 52.6 Mg ha-1 yr-1. For the plot (468 m2) managed with no-till and herbicide, the results indicated total soil mobilization of 33.6 m3 which translates to 31.9 Mg ha-1 yr-1. It is concluded that flood irrigation is able to modify the runoff pathways and landforms in Mediterranean persimmon plantations, and the flood impact is more extensive when combined with tillage. For the first time, ISUM has been successfully applied to estimate soil erosion in a plantation under flood irrigation.

Soil erosion processes in subtropical plantations (Diospyros kaki) managed under flood irrigation in Eastern Spain

Fire Effects on Soil

The topic of wildfire is a major research focus in the Mediterranean area. It was twenty years ago when was held a seminar titled «El papel del fuego en los ecosistemas mediterraneos» by Manuel costa in the «Universidad Internacional Menendez Pelayo» de Valencia with the attendance of prestigious scientists. Now wildfire and its management remain a major socio-economic issue and fire research keeps on progressing and clarifying important questions. The aim of this review is to summarise the key outputs from research carried out over the last 20 years on the effects of wildfire in the ecosystem of the Mediterranean basin with a particular focus on fire effects on vegetation, soil and hydrological processes. Fire has played a significant role in Earth processes for over 400 millions of years. Its occurrence influenced the composition of gases in the atmosphere, climate, weathering rates, erosion and deposition processes and acted as an ecological agent in ecosystem evolution. The composition and distribution of ecosystems are not only shaped by the climate but also by fire recurrence. In ecological terms, fire acts as a huge herbivore consuming biomass and affecting the world’s biome distribution. The Mediterranean environment is one of world’s key fire prone ecosystems. Its climate is characterised by hot, dry summers, providing ideal fuel conditions for combustion. Lightning and volcanic eruptions were the most common ignition sources before the humans existed, and fire was perhaps less frequent, but the areas affected larger due to a more homogeneous landscape distribution. Human activity has modified the natural fire recurrence by using it as a tool for clearing the forest for habitation, agri- and silviculture and hunting. The Neolithic agricultural revolution may have initiated the biggest change when fire was used to clear forests for agriculture and pastures. Such controlled use of fire has been in use in some form almost until the 1960’s in the Mediterranean basin. The rural population was dispersed, managing a mosaic-like landscape composed of crops, forest and pastures with low risk of extensive uncontrolled fire. Today’s Mediterranean landscape is the result of millennia of intensive human use and management.

/pdf/a-review-of-fire-effects-on-vegetation-and-soil-in-the-jlzfku3pjw.pdf

A review of fire effects on vegetation and soil in the mediterranean basin

Soil water repellency (SWR) has been reported under different soils, land uses and regions of the world, particularly in forest land and after wildfires, yet the understanding of this variable in agricultural lands is still rather limited. This study presents the characterization from field-based measurements of SWR in four contrasted olive groves (Olea europaea L.) in Spain in terms of different environmental conditions and management: abandoned and commercial farms under permanent cover crop, conventional tillage and herbicide use. The main objectives were [1] to evaluate the potential occurrence, intensity and persistence of soil water repellency in different types of olive groves and [2] to explore its spatio-temporal features as well as the influence of soil properties such as organic matter (OM) and soil moisture. The Water Drop Penetration Time test (WDPT) was used in situ to assess SWR values. Measurements were carried out in two areas for each of the four groves: below and between the tree canopies. A high spatial and seasonal variability was observed. SWR was absent (WDPT = 0 s) for the olive groves under conventional tillage and with the lowest values of OM (OM-mean = 2.04%). The maximum WDPT values were found for cover crop under canopy in summer (WDPT-max = 610 s) and on the lanes in autumn (WDPT-max = 468 s). SWR was developed during the dry season, and to be reduced during the rainfall season as the organic compounds might be reoriented and turned amphiphilic. Strong water repellent values (> 60 s) were related with extremely high OM values (> 12%) for the cover crop orchard.

Artemi Cerdà

Papers

Conversion of crop land use to plantation land use, northwest Ethiopia

Soil erosion processes in subtropical plantations (Diospyros kaki) managed under flood irrigation in Eastern Spain

Fire Effects on Soil

A review of fire effects on vegetation and soil in the mediterranean basin

Soil water repellency assessment in olive groves in Southern and Eastern Spain