Agricultural Production Areas Research Articles

State policy of Russia in the field of transition to an innovative economy in agribusiness

The aim of the article is to analyse the state policy of Russia in the field of transition to an innovative economy in agribusiness. The achievement of the goal set by the authors is carried out as a result of the study of the provisions of regulatory and program documents that establish the foundations of the state policy of the Russian Federation in the scientific, technical and innovative sphere and in the field of agriculture. In conducting the research, the authors used systematic and structural-functional methods of scientific cognition, the method of interpretation of legal norms, as well as the logical method. As a result of the consideration of various directions of state policy in the field of transition to an innovative economy in the field of agribusiness, the authors draw conclusions about the need to take a number of measures aimed at increasing the innovative activity of agricultural organisations, in particular measures of tax incentives in some areas of innovative agricultural production. According to the authors, the proposed measures of state stimulation of innovative activity in agriculture will positively affect the dynamics of the agricultural products market and the agro-industrial sector of the Russian economy.

APPLICATION GIS IDENTIFY LAND AREA SUITABLE FOR RUBBER AND COFFEE TREES TO AGRICULTURE RESTRUCTURE GIA LAI PROVINCE

Gia Lai has great potential for developing agricultural production, and it is home to a large crop industrial material area in Vietnam. It boasts nearly 100,000 hectares of coffee and nearly 90,000 hectares of rubber. The area has immense potential to develop its agricultural production due to its unique characteristics of soil and climate, which can support a rich diversity of plants and animal with high economic value. By creating areas for intensive agricultural production and concentrating on commodity products with a competitive advantage, Gia Lai can improve the efficiency of its agricultural restructuring. To achieve this goal, this research has utilized the Land Evaluation Method of the FAO method and GIS to identify suitable land areas for rubber and coffee trees to restructure agriculture in Gia Lai province. the results indicate that the land suitability for coffee trees is mainly moderately suitable (S2) with 86,163 hectares of land suitable for cultivation. Coffee trees are primarily grown in districts such as Chu Pah, Dak Doa, Chu Se and Ia Grai. On the other hand, the land suitability for rubber trees is mainly moderately suitable (S2) with 60,000 hectares of land suitable for cultivation. Rubber trees are primarily grown in districts such as Chu Pah, Dak Doa, Chu Se, Ia Grai and Chu Prong. These areas are characterized by the distribution of red basaltic soils, rainfall exceeding 2500 mm, and a favorable climate for the development of industrial plants.

Analysis of the bean agricultural production system in the state of São Paulo from a survey of agricultural production areas

Resumo Este trabalho teve por objetivo caracterizar e analisar aspectos sociais, econômicos, produtivos e tecnológicos sobre a cultura do feijão em dois períodos (2007/2008 e 2016/2017), a partir Levantamento das Unidades de Produção Agropecuária (LUPA). Destaca-se que a originalidade deste trabalho se deve ao fato de ser a primeira análise de dados quantitativos do LUPA para a caracterização do cultivo de feijão no Estado de São Paulo. Como resultados, observou-se em 2016/2017 que o cultivo de feijão esteve presente em 9.187 Unidades de Produção Agropecuárias (UPAs), totalizando uma área de 105.018 ha. Entre os dois anos agrícolas, esses indicadores apresentaram redução de 19,5% no número de UPAs e 2,0% na área cultivada. As reduções podem estar associadas à crise hídrica e oscilações de preços pagos aos produtores de feijão, que fizeram a opção por culturas mais rentáveis, como o milho e a soja. Fenômenos como escassez hídrica e falta de mão de obra provocaram aumento em áreas com cultivo irrigado e uso de colheita mecanizada. Em ambos os períodos, se observou que a maioria dos produtores apresentavam a área de seus imóveis de até quatro módulos fiscais e a renda obtida pela exploração agropecuária superior a 50% na composição da renda familiar, informações que podem caracterizar essa atividade como de agricultura familiar. Os resultados obtidos demonstraram a importância de bases de informações organizadas e sistematizadas para compreender tanto essa atividade agrícola quanto outras, além de permitir observar o processo de desenvolvimento da agropecuária no Estado de São Paulo.

Spatiotemporal responses of habitat quality to land use changes in the source area of Pearl River, China.

Habitat quality assessment provides an effective interface for exploring the mechanisms linking land use change and biodiversity. We used InVEST model to assess the spatial and temporal variations of habitat quality in the Pearl River source area from 2000 to 2020, and to examine the impacts of land use change on habitat quality. The results showed that during the study period, construction land had the largest change, with an area increase of 321.48 km2, and the area of grassland decreased most significantly. Habitat quality in the Pearl River source area was generally at a high level, with a small downward trend. The low value areas were concentrated in the town centers and main agricultural production areas, while habitat quality was high in the mountainous areas in the south and north region. The cold spots of habitat quality change had the most significant aggregation effect in the Quzhan Basin along the Nanpan River. The number of hot spots was small and scattered. Among the various types of nature reserves, habitat quality of Jiache Nature Reserve in Huize County was the lowest, and that of Zhujiangyuan Nature Reserve had a slight decreasing trend, mainly due to the transformation of grassland to cropland. The contribution of habitat quality degradation driven by land function change was 5.6 times as that of improvement. The encroachment of urban and rural construction space into grassland ecological space and agricultural production space was the dominant factor driving the reduction of habitat quality in the Pearl River source area. The contribution of construction land expansion decreased from 69.9% (2000-2010) to 46.7% (2010-2020). The expansion of construction land was the main cause for the degradation of habitat quality. The degradation threat from arable land expansion overtook the traffic network construction as the secondary threat source from 2010 to 2020. It was necessary to increase control of nature reserves in the Pearl River source area and to implement land use regulation strictly to guarantee no net loss and integrity of the ecosystem.

Soil aggregation and associated organic matter under management systems in sandy-textured soils, subtropical region of Brazil.

Increasing the diversity of plant species in agricultural production areas favors the maintenance or improvement of soil quality, particularly for soils with a sandy texture. This beneficial effect is related to the formation of aggregates of different origins. This study aimed to (i) verify whether soil use and management affect the proportion of biogenic (Bio) and physicogenic (Phy) aggregates and (ii) verify whether biogenic aggregation is more likely to lead to soil improvement than physicogenic aggregation. Three management systems were evaluated (permanent pasture, PP; no-tillage system, NT; and no-tillage + Brachiaria system, NT + B) as well as a reference area (Atlantic Forest biome vegetation, NF). According to their origin or formation pathway, the aggregates were separated, identified, and classified as Bio (formed by biological processes) and Phy (resulting from chemical and physical actions). The differentiation between Bio and Phy aggregates was performed based on the visualization of morphological features, such as shape, size, presence of roots, porosity, and subunit arrangements, and junctions. Only the PP area was able to promote greater aggregate formation of biological origin, with greater amounts of Bio aggregates. The highest total organic carbon (TOC) contents and the least negative δ13C values were also quantified in the aggregates of the PP area. The NT + B system provided an increase in the TOC content of its aggregates in comparison with aggregates in the NT and NF areas. Among the formation pathways, the Bio aggregates had the highest TOC and soil organic matter fractions contents and the most negative δ13C values. Perennial forage grasses vegetation was more important than the plant species diversity in favoring Bio aggregate formation. The beneficial effect of Brachiaria can be observed when incorporated as part of intercropping with corn in grain production systems. The biogenic aggregates favored the concentration of more labile soil organic matter fractions. The results of this study can provide important theoretical information for future studies focused on the combination of different plant species in agricultural food production areas on sandy-textured soils.

Comparison of Performance in Mechanised Agricultural Tasks Between Precision and Conventional Agriculture on Farms in Tolima (Colombia)?

Purpose: Agricultural work in Colombia, particularly in small and medium-sized farms, is lagging behind in terms of technology; advances such as precision agriculture (PA) are unknown. This project managed to promote the implementation of PA technologies in the primary tasks of land adaptation, by comparing efficiency indices when conventional practices were used against the use of new technologies. Theoretical framework: The company CasaToro SA, with its John Deere® agricultural line, allowed the implementation of StarFire TM6000®, 4240® Monitors, Auto Track 200®, and JDLink® technologies, and the use of T3RRA CUTTA® software, in tractors of its brand in different farms in Tolima, Colombia. Method/design/approach: Measurements of time and area worked in situ were taken and the data obtained were statistically compared using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Results and conclusion: Finding significant differences in tasks such as contour line drawing, which reported a decrease of up to 30% in the time needed in h ha–1, and in primary tillage with discs with increases of up to 13% of the tilled area in ha h–1. Research implications: In conclusion, in Tolima, which has extensive areas of agricultural production, the implementation of PA can improve yields and reduce production costs. Originality/value: To demonstrate the benefits of PA.

A Large-Scale Dataset of Conservation and Deep Tillage in Mollisols, Northeast Plain, China

One of the primary challenges of our time is to feed a growing and more demanding world population with degraded soil environments under more variable and extreme climate conditions. Conservation tillage (CS) and deep tillage (DT) have received strong international support to help address these challenges but are less used in major global food production in China. Hence, we conducted a large-scale literature search of English and Chinese publications to synthesize the current scientific evidence to evaluate the effects of CS and DT on soil protection and yield maintenance in the Northeast China Plain, which has the most fertile black soil (Mollisols) and is the main agricultural production area of China. As a result, we found that CS had higher soil bulk density, strong soil penetration resistance, greater water contents, and lower soil temperature, and was well-suited for dry and wind erosion-sensitive regions i.e., the southwest areas of the Northeast. Conversely, DT had better performance in the middle belt of the Northeast China Plain, which contained a lower soil temperature and humid areas. Finally, we created an original dataset from papers [dataset 1, including soil physio-chemical parameters, such as soil water, bulk density, organic carbon, sand, silt, clay, pH, total and available nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), etc., on crop biomass and yield], by collecting data directly from publications, and two predicted datasets (dataset 2 and dataset 3) of crop yield changes by developing random forest models based on our data.

Ecological risk assessment of pesticides in sediments of Pampean streams, Argentina

After their application in agricultural areas, pesticides are dispersed throughout the environment, causing contamination problems. In Argentina, the main promoter of transgenic biotechnology in the region, the total consumption of agrochemicals has increased significantly in recent years. Most chemicals dumped near surface waters eventually end up in bottom sediments and can be toxic to the organisms that live there. However, published data on the mixing of pesticides in this compartment is still scarce. The objective of this work was to detect and quantify pesticide residues in the sediment of rural streams in the Pampas region and to carry out acute and chronic risk assessment in these aquatic ecosystems. The study area comprises the mountainous system of Tandilia, located in one of the most productive agricultural areas in the country. The concentration of atrazine, acetochlor, chlorpyrifos, cypermethrin, and 2,4-D in the sediment of four rural streams was determined in three different seasons, and the toxic units (TU) and the risk ratios (RQ) were calculated. All the compounds analyzed were detected in most of the sampling seasons and study sites, at concentrations higher than those established in the national and international quality guidelines for the protection of aquatic biota in surface waters and for human consumption. Chlorpyrifos, cypermethrin, and acetochlor were the main pesticides contributing to the TU and RQ values, representing a medium or high ecological risk in most of the sites. Therefore, the evaluation of these pesticides in the bottom sediments could be a decisive factor in assessing the risk to the aquatic environment.

Optimization and Construction of Ecological Security Patterns Based on Natural and Cultivated Land Disturbance

In previous research on the construction of ecological security patterns (ESPs), the positioning characteristics of urban development were rarely considered, resulting in the identification of key conservation areas that are insufficient to support the ecological security of the entire region and the overall development of urban functions. Firstly, a “quality-importance-connectivity-balance” framework was created to identify ESPs and chose Liaocheng City (LC), a typical main agricultural production area, as the study site. Secondly, the ecological security level of the watershed perspective is an integrated resistance assessment method that exhibits topography, human activities, distance, and agricultural environmental impacts. Finally, the coordination pattern between agriculture and ecology was divided by the comprehensive quality of cultivated land and ESPs. A “six cores-seven belts-three zones” optimization pattern was constructed based on the components of ESPs and the distribution of cultivated land comprehensive quality. The study presents a novel approach for measuring ESPs and is an essential resource for ecological conservation and regional development planning in agroecologically complex regions.

Highland barley grain and soil surveys reveal the widespread deficiency of dietary selenium intake of Tibetan adults living along Yalung Zangpo River

ObjectiveIn order to assess selenium (Se) flux through the soil-plant-human chain in Tibet plateau and explore the reason why local Tibetan adult residents from large scale agricultural production areas in Tibet lacked daily Se intake.MethodsA total of 210 intact highland barley plants and their corresponding cultivated topsoil samples were collected in fields of 14 agricultural counties along Yalung Zangpo River and quantitative dietary data were collected from a cross-sectional survey using a cultural-specific food frequency questionnaire that contained all local Tibetan foods in 2020.ResultsThe mean value of The estimated daily Se dietary intake by each participant was 17.1 ± 1.9 μg/day/adult, the Se concentration in topsoil and highland barley grain were 0.128 ± 0.015 mg/kg and 0.017 ± 0.003 mg/kg, respectively. Although highland barley was the first contributor of dietary Se in local adult residents (34.2%), the dietary Se intake provided by highland barley only about 10% of the EAR value (50 μg/day/adult) currently. A significantly positive relationship was determined between soil total Se content (STSe), available Se content (SASe) and highland barley grain Se content (GSe). The amount of Se in food system depends on a number of soil properties (TOC, pH, clay content, Fe/Mn/Al oxides), climate variables (MAP, MAT) and terrain factor (altitude).ConclusionTo sum up, it can be inferred that the insufficient dietary Se intake of Tibetan adult population living along Yalung Zangbo River is mainly caused by the low Se content in highland barley grain, which was result from the low Se content in cultivated soil. In order to enable adult participants in the present study to achieve recommended dietary Se-intake levels, agronomic fortification with selenised fertilizers applied to highland barley could be a great solution. It is necessary to combine the influencing factors, and comprehensively consider the spatial variation of local soil properties, climatic and topographic conditions, and planting systems.

Geo environmental green growth towards sustainable development in semi-arid regions using physicochemical and geospatial approaches.

The process of determining whether a specific portion of land is suitable for a specific purpose is known as land suitability analysis (LSA). In order to promote sustainable development in semi-arid regions, the objective of this study is to analyse, evaluate, and identify the land for green growth based on topography, climate, and soil characteristics. Twelve thematic maps are prepared by using remote sensing satellite data. The Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS is used for the preparation of the thematic maps like land use land cover (LULC), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), top soil grain size index (TGSI), and geomorphology (GM), and DEM data is used for the preparation slope, and drainage density (DD). The collateral data is used to prepare geology and soil thematic maps. From the field work, we have collected soil samples for the compulsory physicochemical parameters such as soil EC and soil N-P-K which were taken into consideration and prepared thematic maps. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was used to generate the LSA of the research region, by assigning the appropriate weights to each criterion and sub-criterion for the thematic maps. Geographic information systems (GIS) and the multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) approach were used in the study's methodology. The LSA of the study area has been categories in to four types, i.e., highly suitable, moderately suitable, marginally suitable, and not suitable. The results revealed that 421.31 sq.km (40.09%) is not suitable for agriculture green growth in the study region, whereas 89.58 sq.km (8.52%) is moderately suitable, 267.66 sq.km (25.47%) is marginally suitable, and 266.54 sq.km (25.36%) is highly suitable. Accuracy assessment has validated the LSA map's accuracy (AA). The AA of LSA is 84.22%, which demonstrates a strong connection with the actual data. The research's results could be helpful in locating productive agricultural areas in various parts of the world. The decision-making AHP tool paired with GIS provides a novel method.

Spatial Spillover Effects of Agricultural Agglomeration on Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollution in the Yangtze River Basin

Agricultural non-point source pollution has become a matter of increasing public concern, and modern agriculture is gradually transforming into agglomeration, so it is important to study the influence of agricultural agglomeration on agricultural non-point source pollution to coordinate the relationship between resources, environment, and agricultural economic growth for guidance. With a focus on 89 prefecture-level cities in the main agricultural production areas of the Yangtze River basin in China, the authors analyzed the spatial and temporal evolution trends of agricultural agglomeration and agricultural non-point source pollution from 2000 to 2020 and then empirically tested the spatial spillover effects of agricultural agglomeration on agricultural non-point source pollution based on the spatial Durbin model (SDM). The results show that: (1) Between 2000 and 2020, agricultural agglomeration, in general, decreased from 0.364 to 0.342, and cities with agglomeration values in the third and fourth ranks are mainly located in the area north of the Yangtze River and have a tendency to extend southward over time. Agricultural non-point source pollution shows a general trend of increasing and then decreasing; its emissions rose from 404.319 × 104 tons in 2000 to 464.341 × 104 tons in 2015, and then fell to 373.338 × 104 tons in 2020, emissions in the third and fourth class of cities are mainly located in the middle and lower basin of the Yangtze River; High-value hots-pot areas of agricultural agglomeration, that is, areas with high spatial correlation, are mainly located in the upper and lower Yangtze River basin, and the areas with the higher spatial correlation of agricultural non-point source pollution are distributed in the upper, middle and lower basin of the Yangtze River. (2) The whole basin and upper basin exhibit positive and negative spatial spillover effects of agricultural non-point source pollution, Spillover effects values are 0.300 and −1.086, respectively; Agricultural agglomeration of the Whole Basin has a positive direct effect and a negative spatial spillover effect on agricultural non-point source pollution, the effect values are 0.846 and −0.520, respectively. (3) In addition to the core explanatory variable, agricultural production conditions and the share of livestock and poultry industry have a positive direct effect (the effect values are 0.109 and 0.048, respectively) and a negative spatial spillover effect (the effect values are −0.520 and −0.910, respectively) on agricultural non-point source pollution, while agricultural population size has a positive direct effect and spatial spillover effect, the effect values 0.099 and 0.452 respectively; The urbanization rate exacerbates the emission of agricultural non-point source pollution, the effect value is 0.110. while the industrial structure reduces the emission of agricultural non-point source pollution, the effect value is −0.438, but neither has a spatial spillover effect. The results imply that some effective policy measures, such as strengthening research on nutrient requirements and fertilization techniques for major crops, improving farmland infrastructure, scientifically planning and monitoring the scale of livestock farms, and strengthening inter-regional coordination and cooperation in the fight against pollution, should be taken to achieve ecological and sustainable objectives.

Theoretical foundations for designing complexes of anti-erosion measures in the natural and anthropogenic conditions of the area

The difference between the regions of Russia in terms of natural and climatic factors, landscapes, soil conditions, environmental conditions associated with the development of industrial production, the degree of urbanization and the development of infrastructure requires fundamentally different approaches to the areas of agricultural production in these regions, which correspond to their specialization, taking into account the listed factors. The specified large variety of natural and anthropogenic conditions and the need for a simplified mastering of the methodology for designing anti-erosion complexes by a large number of specialists require a more flexible, calculation-normative approach to the design of anti-erosion complexes, based on simplified calculations, allowing technologically and impartially to take into account the features of the natural and anthropogenic conditions of the area. Such a calculation-normative approach will make it possible to avoid the template design of anti-erosion complexes during their widespread introduction into production. In this regard, in this article, the theoretical foundations for the design of anti-erosion measures complexes have been developed.

Irrigation Ponds as Sources of Antimicrobial-Resistant Bacteria in Agricultural Areas with Intensive Use of Poultry Litter.

Poultry litter is widely used worldwide as an organic fertilizer in agriculture. However, poultry litter may contain high concentrations of antibiotics and/or antimicrobial-resistant bacteria (ARB), which can be mobilized through soil erosion to water bodies, contributing to the spread of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment. To better comprehend this kind of mobilization, the bacterial communities of four ponds used for irrigation in agricultural and poultry production areas were determined in two periods of the year: at the beginning (low volume of rainfall) and at the end of the rainy season (high volume of rainfall). 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed not only significantly different bacterial community structures and compositions among the four ponds but also between the samplings. When the DNA obtained from the water samples was PCR amplified using primers for ARGs, those encoding integrases (intI1) and resistance to sulfonamides (sul1 and sul2) and β-lactams (blaGES, blaTEM and blaSHV) were detected in three ponds. Moreover, bacterial strains were isolated from CHROMagar plates supplemented with sulfamethoxazole, ceftriaxone or ciprofloxacin and identified as belonging to clinically important Enterobacteriaceae. The results presented here indicate a potential risk of spreading ARB through water resources in agricultural areas with extensive fertilization with poultry litter.

Agricultural production structure and inequality of educational development in China.

Unbalanced regional development in China has always been the focus of the government's attention. Agricultural development in China's main agricultural regions is characterized by relatively obvious features, which are mainly manifested in the excessive concentration of agricultural production on one crop or a few agricultural products. Whether this trend of concentration will help to improve the inequalities in China's educational development is an important question for this study. Based on China's population, education and agricultural data over the past 20 years, this paper provides an in-depth analysis of educational inequalities in five typical agricultural-producing provinces by calculating indicators such as the rationalization index of agricultural production structures, the average number of years of schooling of residents and the Gini coefficient of education, in order to analyze the essential reasons for the development of education inequality in major agricultural producing areas. The results show that the urban-rural gap is an important factor affecting the equality of educational development in the main agricultural production areas; the reduction of the rationalization index of agricultural production structure can promote the improvement of inequality in educational development and narrow the urban-rural educational development gap; it also shows that the improvement of specialization in major agricultural producing areas is conducive to reducing educational inequality in major agricultural producing provinces; these conclusions provide a useful reference for narrowing the urban-rural education gap in the main agricultural production areas.

Crop type mapping using time-series Sentinel-2 imagery and U-Net in early growth periods in the Hetao irrigation district in China

The information on spatial distribution pattern and area of different crops is particularly useful for monitoring and managing the sustainability of agricultural resources. However, there are still challenges in timely mapping of crop types and planting areas to support production during the present growing season. Here, we proposed to use time-series Sentinel-2 imagery and a deep learning method for major crop mapping (wheat, maize, sunflower, and squash) in the agricultural production areas in the Hetao Irrigation District (HID), Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. A feature selection method that combines the global separability index and feature recursive elimination was proposed to optimize the band features of Sentinel-2 imagery. The Random Forest, Extreme Gradient Boosting, U-Net and deeplabv3+ algorithms were then used for image classification with all spectral bands and the selected band features, respectively. The selected bands and best method were used to determine the key time window for the early identification of four major crops. Integrate all image datasets in the early window period, and build mapping models suitable for images at different times in the window period by combining the selected bands and best method. The results showed that the proposed feature selection method effectively removed redundant features and improved the classification efficiency. The U-Net algorithm was more suitable for the classification of major crops in HID with a higher accuracy whether using all band features or the selected features. The key periods for early recognition of wheat, maize, sunflower, and squash in HID were mid-May, late June, early July, and late June, respectively. The constructed models for crop type mapping in the early period were tested in 2020 and 2021 in the HID, and the F1-score, the mean intersection-over-union and overall accuracy were 86.71 %, 84.66 %, and 98.89 %, respectively. The proposed feature selection method, U-Net classification algorithm, and screening of the early mapping window period in this study provide an efficient, accurate and timely crop mapping tool in HID. Future research can further verify the applicability of the early identification time window proposed in this study to support other agricultural management activities in the areas.

Can the Brazilian National Logistics Plan Induce Port Competitiveness by Reshaping the Port Service Areas?

Brazil’s transportation infrastructure did not follow the country’s agricultural development and the macro-logistics operations still rely on trucking. Even with a lack of roads, the service areas of the ports on the Atlantic coast, particularly the port of Santos, expanded to central Brazil, the country’s most productive agricultural area. Recently, the Federal Government released mid-term plans to build railways to reduce transportation costs until 2035. However, no simulation about port regionalization and competitiveness was performed. This research evaluated the effectiveness of the proposed transportation infrastructure regarding transportation cost and new routes that can reshape the ports’ influence areas. Our geographically explicit model used the Dinamica_EGO modeling platform and PostgreSQL, fed by official public data from transportation and agriculture authorities. Considering the hypothesis that new railways can increase port competitiveness, we computed scenarios considering the planned 2035 infrastructure and compared them to the current situation. The findings showed that the Ferrogrão railway can effectively reduce transport costs, therefore changing the spatial configuration of macro-logistics basins. In conclusion, a geospatial model can predict short-cheaper routes, port regionalization, and competitiveness regarding the geographic aspects of the supply chain. The long-distance and importance of Brazilian agriculture exportation justify and value the investigation.

Analysis of the use and occupation of land in the municipality of São Martinho da Serra – RS

The present work presents quantitative and spacial data on the population and the use and occupation of land in the municipality of São Martinho da Serra with the support of secondary data and geotechnologies. The municipality arises from a path that connected the mission zone and the southern coast of Uruguay in reference to Guarda de São Martin, gaining political and administrative autonomy in 1992, when it dismembered from Santa Maria. It presents low population density, where the majority of the population lives in rural areas, but already showing a decrease in relation to the urban population by the last census. The municipality's economy is strongly supported by the primary sector and has been expanding due to the advance of commodities, especially soy that occupies 88% of the area of agricultural production in the area. The agricultural expansion accompanies the lack of care and control with environmental issues, shown by the lack of respect for areas of environmental protection with degradation, mainly of riparian forests.

Effects of the Japanese Nitrate Directive Plan (NDP) to curb groundwater nitrate-nitrogen content in the Miyakonojo River basin

There are urgent needs to evaluate different management techniques to improve groundwater quality. To maintain a good quality of groundwater in the Miyakonojo River Basin (MRB), Japan, the Nitrate Directive Plan (NDP) was implemented in 2004. To assess the efficiency of this plan, we performed multivariate times-series analyses on 26 years (1996–2021) of groundwater nitrate-nitrogen (NO3−-N) data from up to 584 groundwater wells. Results showed that wells with an increasing NO3−-N trend (p ≤ 0.05) increased from 5.8% in 1996 to 13.8% in 2009 and thereafter leveled off with time. The number of groundwater wells with a decreasing NO3−-N trend (p ≤ 0.05) increased from 18.7% in 1996 to 52.5% in 2021. These groundwater wells are primarily distributed in urban and agricultural production areas near rivers. However, the annual change rate of NO3−-N content displayed both increasing and decreasing NO3−-N trend (p ≤ 0.05) over time. But most importantly, the number of groundwater wells exceeding the environmental maximum permissive value reduced by > 60% from 2004 to 2021. Thus, there is statistical evidence that NDP has improved the groundwater quality regarding NO3−-N at the regional basin scale and that nitrogen levels are gradually being reduced.

Trade-offs and driving factors of multiple ecosystem services and bundles under spatiotemporal changes in the Danjiangkou Basin, China

The Danjiangkou Basin (DJKB) is an important water source area for the South-to-North Water Diversion Middle Route Project in China. A comprehensive understanding of various ecosystem service (ES) bundles and their socioecological driving factors in this area remains important for ecological management and decision-making. Eight representative ES types within the DJKB were analyzed: food supply (FS), carbon sequestration (CS), habitat provision (HP), nitrogen retention (NR), phosphorus retention (PR), soil retention (SR), water yield (WY), and outdoor recreation (OR). The Spearman correlation coefficient was used to reveal trade-offs and synergies between paired ESs at subwatershed, grid, and regional scales, in addition to exploring their relationship with socioecological drivers. Using Getis-Ord Gi* and superposition analysis, spatiotemporal hotspots were superimposed, and a distribution map was generated. Lastly, K-means cluster analysis was used to analyze the spatiotemporal dynamics of ES bundles (ESBs) in 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020. The results revealed that: (1) from 2000 to 2020, the eight ESs displayed clear spatiotemporal variability at the subwatershed scale: FS increased by 40.55 %, NR and PR first decreased, then increased. (2) Differences in trade-offs and synergies between spatiotemporal ESs at subwatershed, grid, and regional scales were also observed. (3) Superpositioning of hotspots revealed that only 1.33 % of the basin provided six ES types (except FS and NR); whereas ∼ 50 % of the study area provided 1–2 ES types. (4) Among the nine socioecological driving factors selected in the study, their respective influences remained relatively stable in time. GDP, population density, elevation, and slope were the main driving factors of ES changes, while other factors, such as precipitation and forest land ratio, also maintained notable influences. Three ESBs were mapped at the subwatershed scale [ESB1 (ecological high-quality area), ESB2 (agricultural production area), and ESB3 (ecological equilibrium area)] and their spatiotemporal patterns were analyzed. Overall, this study revealed the variations in ESs and their trade-offs within the DJKB across various spatiotemporal scales, identified the spatial distribution of ESB hotspots, and revealed the relationship between ESs and their socioecological drivers. These, results strengthened our understanding of spatiotemporal variations in ESs and ESBs, while providing technical and theoretical support for the planning and implementation of future DJKB ecosystem policies.