Desertification Research Research Articles

Determination of mechanization properties in Switch Grass(Panicum virgatum L.) Agriculture

In this study, the determination of mechanization characteristics in the production of the plant of the Panicum virgatum L. was intended within the scope of TUBITAK project no. 114 O 941for the first time in Turkey. The study was carried out at trial sites belonging to the Karapinar Soil, Water and Desertification Research Institute Directorate. Soil has been made ready for cultivation by tillage plough and afterwards using horizontal spindle rotovator + rotary rake combination in the preparation of seed bed followed by pulling flat rollers for soil cultivation and pneumatic peeseding seeding machine which can sow small seeds was used for cultivation. In this three-recurrent study, three different types of Switchgrass (Kanlow, Shawne, Cave In Rock) were used. According to the results obtained in the study, the consumption of fuel consumed in soil application and as far as the harvest was 5,89-0,476-0,538 l / da for tillage, sowing and harvest respectively. When field values of field shoots were examined, the highest field shoot yields were obtained in the Kanlow variety with 78.88% and the Shawne variety with the lowest value of 31.77. When the MED(Mean Emerge Duration) and ERI( Emerge Ratio Index) values were examined according to the data obtained from the application, it was seen that it ranged between 10,73-12,25-13,07 days and 6,61-2,32-4,59 m/day respectively. In the survey, The green yield values for the Kanlow, Shawne and Cave In Rock varieties which were determined in the 2 nd year following the establishment year ranged from 5566, 3046 and 3666 kg / da respectively in the study.

基于Visual Studio平台的荒漠化监测与评估系统构建

荒漠化监测与评估研究是荒漠化研究领域的核心内容之一。虽然中国是系统开展荒漠化研究和长期监测较早的国家，但在荒漠化软件开发方面却相对滞后，尚未开发荒漠化监测与评估系统。为此，本文参考国内外文献，借助Visual Studio平台，构建了荒漠化监测与评估指标体系，创建了评估方法，开发了适合中国国情的荒漠化监测与评估系统，为及时掌握我国荒漠化的现状、程度及发生发展和动态变化规律以及发展趋势提供了技术支撑，满足了我国荒漠化宏观管理方面的需求。 The monitoring and assessment of desertification is one of the core contents in the desertification research areas. Although, China is the earlier countries that carried out the desertification research systematically and do long-term monitoring of desertification in the world, but it has not developed software of monitoring and assessment system. For this reason, based on the Visual Studio platform, this paper built a monitoring and assessment indictor system of desertification and created assessment method, and developed software of monitoring and assessment system of desertification. The purpose is to grasp the status, the extent, the dynamic development and the trends of desertification of China, to meet the needs of China’s desertification macro management.

Quantifying land degradation in the Zoige Basin, NE Tibetan Plateau using satellite remote sensing data

Considerable efforts have been dedicated to desertification research in the arid and semi-arid drylands of central Asia. However, there are few quantitative studies in conjunction with proper qualitative evaluation concerning land degradation and aeolian activity in the alpine realm. In this study, spectral information from two Landsat-5 TM scenes (04.08.1994 and 28.07.2009, respectively) was combined with reference information obtained in the field to run supervised classifications of eight landscape types for both time steps. Subsequently, the temporal and spatial patterns of the alpine wetlands/grasslands evolutions in the Zoige Basin were quantified and assessed based on these two classification maps. The most conspicuous change is the sharp increase of ~627 km2 degraded meadow. Concerning other land-covers, shallow wetland increases ~107 km2 and aeolian sediments (mobile dunes and sand sheets) have an increase of ~30 km2. Considering the deterioration, an obvious decrease of ~440 km2 degraded wetland can be observed. Likewise, decrease of deep wetland (~78 km2), humid meadow (~80 km2) and undisturbed meadow (~88 km2) were determined. These entire evolution matrixes undoubtedly hint a deteriorating tendency of the Zoige Basin ecosystem, which is characterized by significantly declined proportion of intact wetlands, meadow, rangeland and a considerable increase of degraded meadow and larger areas of mobile dunes. In particular, not only temporal alteration of the land-cover categories, the spatial and topographical characteristics of the land degradation also deserves more attention. In the alpine rangelands, the higher terraces of the river channels along with their slopes are more liable to the degradation and desertification. This tendency has significantly impeded the nomadic and agriculture activities. The set of anthropozoogenic factors encompassing enclosures, overgrazing and trampling, rodent damaging and exceedingly ditching in the wetlands are assumed to be the main controlling mechanisms for the landscape degradation. A suite of strict protection policies is urgent and indispensable for self-regulation and restoration of the alpine meadow ecosystem. Controlling the size of livestock, less ditching in the rangeland, and the launching of a more strict nature reserve management by adjacent Ruoergai, Maqu and Hongyuan Counties would be practical and efficacious in achieving these objectives.

Discussing the genesis of karst rocky desertification research based on the correlations between cropland and settlements in typical peak-cluster depressions

Abstract. This paper attempts to explain the theoretical reasons why local farmers have executed land mismanagement measures such as steep slope land cultivation, in order to reveal the mechanisms of karst rocky desertification (KRD, including light KRD, moderate KRD and severe KRD) through typical case studies. Firstly, this paper assumes that the low land capacity is the initial cause of KRD in peak-cluster depression areas. Furthermore, the ecological quality of the peak-cluster depression zone (a combination of clustered karst cones with a common base and depressions between cones) is influenced by the relationship between the area of depressions and the population of residential areas. Therefore, six typical peak-cluster depression areas of Guizhou province were selected to compare the distribution circumstances of cropland, the characteristics of settlements and the formation of KRD with the help of ALOS images in 2010 (with a resolution of 10 m × 10 m). The results show that there is a negative correlation between the percentage of the cultivated land and the percentage of KRD at peak-cluster depressions. The relationship could be concluded by three situations of the process of KRD, which are low, middle and upper carrying capacities of land. Severe KRD is only distributed in peak-cluster depression areas with less flatland, low land capacity and a high population. The harmonization between population pressure and bearing capacity of land will influence the ecological qualities in the peak-cluster depressions. The KRD phenomenon which occurred in six typical peak-cluster depression areas confirms that the hypothesis suggested by this paper is correct, and this result will contribute to understanding the natural mechanisms of KRD and guide the ecological restoration of KRD land.

Desertification Research in Argentina

AbstractIn Latin America, Argentina is second – behind Brazil – in extent of drylands: 55% of its territory. Research on desertification and dryland degradation has a lengthy tradition, being undertaken even prior to the establishment of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. The paper aims to analyse desertification research in Argentina, the disciplines from which its knowledge arises and the topics receiving greater attention. The work focuses on the results from descriptive, bibliometric and social network analyses of a sample of articles on desertification in scientific journals indexed in Web of Science. A visual representation of citation relationships was created considering keywords such as ‘desertification’, ‘dry*land*’, ‘*arid’ and ‘development’, ‘policy’ or ‘economy’ among others, in ‘Argentina’. According to this search, the number of papers per year dealing with desertification in Argentina is only 4·3. National knowledge, usually categorized as traditional knowledge, is barely captured by international databases. The challenge for the scientific community is to make traditional knowledge visible and disseminate the findings. Results demonstrate that desertification research in Argentina is in a great proportion related to studies of soil erosion and soil degradation, and only in a minor proportion to socioeconomic issues. However, desertification problems are the outcome of interactions among physical–biological, socioeconomic and political dimensions, and therefore, the science summoned to analyse them must not only be a science centred on isolated themes but also one resulting from interdisciplinary studies and integrated approaches. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

How is Desertification Research Addressed in Spain? Land Versus Soil Approaches

AbstractThis study intends to understand how desertification research is organised in Spain. We assume that a strong communication between scientific knowledge and stakeholders is needed to slow down and reverse the impacts of land degradation on drylands. With this purpose, we conducted an in‐depth study at a national level in Spain. The work focused on a sample of published references on desertification in scientific journals indexed in the Web of Science (WoS). The keywords were related to ‘desertification’, ‘drylands’, ‘land’, ‘soil’, ‘development’ and ‘Spain’. Multivariate analysis, bibliometric techniques and network analysis were used in order to (i) identify research categories and their temporal evolution throughout the period under consideration (1989–2012), (ii) determine if there were different approaches amongst different regions affected by desertification in Spain, (iii) establish the relationships between research categories, (iv) characterise types of co‐authorship and (v) map out the Spanish network on the science of desertification. Erosion‐soil degradation and soil analysis are the most important research categories, whereas climatic issues are subsidiary and quite isolated from the rest of topics. Very few articles consider ‘desertification’ as the main theme. Socio‐economic issues have scant links with the core of biophysical science. The Spanish network on the science of desertification shows a low density. Moreover, the relationships between universities/research centres with other stakeholders are marginal. This is not the best scenario for transforming scientific knowledge into practical tools for policy makers and land users. Knowledge transfer should be a priority for national desertification programmes. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Effects of bacterial isolates and strains on Phelipanche ramosa (L.) Pomel haustorium initiation

Laboratory experiments were conducted to study the efficacy of bacterial isolates and strains on Phelipanche ramosa haustorium initiation at the Bio-pesticides and Bio-fertilizers Department, Environment, Natural Resources and Desertification Research Institute (ENDRI), NCR, Khartoum, Sudan. Fifteen soil borne bacteria isolates (9 organic nitrogen users and 6 mineral nitrogen users) and 3 bacterial strains (Bacillus circulans, B. megatherium var. phosphaticum and Azospirillum brasiliense) were tested. All tested bacterial isolates and strains caused a significant (P≤ 0.5) reduction in haustorium initiation as compared to control in response to DMBQ (2, 6 dimethoxybenzequinone). Organic nitrogen using bacterial isolates ISO5M and ISO22M reduced haustoria by 32 to 54% as compared to the corresponding control. While the mineral nitrogen using bacterial isolate ISO1S and Bacillus circulans strain reduced haustorium by 37 to 45% compared to medium control. The most efficient isolates were identified as Serratia odorifera (ISO22M) with probability 95% and Rhizobium radiobacter (ISO5M) with probability 99%.

Several challenges in monitoring and assessing desertification

Desertification is one of the most serious environmental and socioeconomic problems in the world. Desertification has got ever-increasing attention from scientists to policy makers worldwide. Monitoring and assessing desertification (MAD) has been a key and extreme important work, for combating desertification in threatened areas. Tremendous progress has been made in MAD during the last several decades, including multi-level indicator system, various kinds of extracting and assessing method of desertification information, etc. In particularly, Remote Sensing has become an important data source and technology in MAD due to its strength of macroscopic, synthesis, abundant information, quickly updated data, but it focused primarily on biophysical symptoms and involved some uncertainties challenging MAD. In this paper, several key challenges in MAD were reviewed and discussed. Some findings were given, mainly including: (1) the reference frame or baseline of desertification usually lacking of enough scientific support from environmental background reconstruction and ecosystem dynamics, (2) effective and readily accessible monitoring indicators of desertification usually lacking of reliability and scientific basis derived from bio-physics mechanism of desertification process, (3) underemphasized temporal and spatial scales of desertification and the scale effect, as well as (4) those extracting and assessing methods of real desertification information in need of improvement. Finally, some suggestions were put forward for advancing desertification research and providing authentic desertification information, including more distinct desertification connotation, addressing desertification research at multiple temporal and spatial scales, integrated application of multisource remote sensing data, closely combining MAD with field research work about desertification processes, establishing and protecting natural ecosystems’ reserves with different climate types and vegetation types for desertification baselines, etc.

Biomass allocation response of species with different life history strategies to nitrogen and water addition in sandy grassland in Inner Mongolia

Biomass allocation response of species with different life history strategies to nitrogen and water addition in sandy grassland in Inner Mongolia MAO Wei, LI Yu-Lin, CUI Duo, ZHAO Xue-Yong, ZHANG Tong-Hui, and LI Yu-Qiang Naiman Desertification Research Station, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China; and Center for Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Participatory approach for integrated development and management of North African marginal zones: demonstrative plan to fight desertification in Morocco and Tunisia

A demonstrative and participatory development project on desertification mitigation and rural development has been launched in Northern Africa under SMAP Programme (Short and Medium-term priority environmental Action Programme) financed by the European Union. The project, which title is Demonstration Project on Strategies to Combat Desertification in Arid Lands with Direct Involvement of Local Agro-pastoral Communities in North Africa, is carried out in sensitive regions of Morocco and Tunisia with the coordination of the Nucleo Ricerca sulla Desertificazione (NRD, Desertification Research Center) of the University of Sassari (Italy) and the partnership of Morocco and Tunisia Agriculture Ministries. The areas concerned are located in regions characterised by rural poverty, food dependency and land abandoning where urgent measures are needed to promote optimisation of resource availability and management for a sustainable development. The project involves direct desertification mitigation by vegetation cover restoration, with drought resistant perennial forage species ( Opuntia ficus-indica , Atriplex nummularia and Acacia saligna ) in highly degraded rangelands in order to mitigate desertification processes while improving rangelands productivity; and adopts measures for local population technical capacities building through training sessions related to all project activities, and making it a concrete demonstration supported by the direct involvement of local communities. Successful actions already carried out in this field by the participants of the project as well as by other Mediterranean countries, has been taken into account, re-elaborated and exploited, thus promoting south/south co-operation and exchange of knowledge. Participation of all actors and especially of local communities is the key point in all phases of the project and is strengthened by means of dissemination and sensitisation campaigns and by training courses. At the end of the project, all actors own/share all choices made and the technology used participating thus to the intervention sustainability.

Design and Application of Regional Kar st Rocky Deser tification Information System

Using ArcGIS software as a basic platform,taking Du'an County as a case,and by the aid of spatial superimposing analysis and geographical statistical analysis methods among them,Regional Karst Rocky Desertification Information System,or RKRDIS,a specialty GIS based on Arc Objects,is designed out.In this system,specialty analytic model of Karst rocky desertification is taken as the nucleus,with spatial data as information materials,with the computer network as transport vehicle,in order to realize abstracting "information" from "data".The information processing technology supports data analysis,query,display and management for Karst Rocky Desertification research,and provides spatial data analysis of Karst rocky desertification for dynamic monitoring,driving diagnosis,early-warming analysis,calamity assessment,and policy making. Development of this system involves a variety of knowledge and professional skills like GIS,software engineering,natural geography,remote sensing,database design,computer technology and,etc.,and is indeed a comprehensive integration of multidisciplinary knowledge.In particular,space analysis on Karst desertification disaster data,such as temporal-spatial monitoring,drive diagnosis,etc.,is a full incarnation of features unique to GIS technology,since assembly system development method and method of management of space data by using relationship database,system structure based on C/S model,customized user interface and complete user functions,can better satisfy the requirements for application by users.So this is definitely a beneficial attempt that GIS technological application has ever been made in Karst desertification disaster field. The system can provide new study methods and means for integrated assessment and analysis of Karst desertification by using geographical information system in combination with mathematical models,and for prevention and treatment of disasters in Karst desertification areas.Moreover,it is of particular importance for providing guidance to the scientific treatment and construction in Karst desertification areas.

Appraising and selecting conservation measures to mitigate desertification and land degradation based on stakeholder participation and global best practices

AbstractMost desertification research focuses on degradation assessments without putting sufficient emphasis on prevention and mitigation strategies, although the concept of sustainable land management (SLM) is increasingly being acknowledged. A variety of already applied conservation measures exist at the local level, but they are not adequately recognised, evaluated and shared, either by land users, technicians, researchers, or policy makers. Likewise, collaboration between research and implementation is often insufficient. The aim of this paper is to present a new methodology for a participatory process of appraising and selecting desertification mitigation strategies, and to present first experiences from its application in the EU‐funded DESIRE project. The methodology combines a collective learning and decision approach with the use of evaluated global best practices. In three parts, it moves through a concise process, starting with identifying land degradation and locally applied solutions in a stakeholder workshop, leading to assessing local solutions with a standardised evaluation tool, and ending with jointly selecting promising strategies for implementation with the help of a decision support tool. The methodology is currently being applied in 16 study sites. Preliminary analysis from the application of the first part of the methodology shows that the initial stakeholder workshop results in a good basis for stakeholder cooperation, and in promising land conservation practices for further assessment. Study site research teams appreciated the valuable results, as burning issues and promising options emerged from joint reflection. The methodology is suitable to initiate mutual learning among different stakeholder groups and to integrate local and scientific knowledge. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Progress in sandy desertification research of China

Sandy desertification is land degradation characterized by wind erosion mainly resulted from the excessive human activities in arid, semiarid and part of sub-humid regions in northern China. The research on sandy desertification has experienced more than 5 decades of arduous course of the struggle along with the establishment and development of China’s desert science. Researches in this field have made a great contribution to the national economic construction, and environmental protection. This paper focuses on presenting the major progress and achievements in the sandy desertification research during the last 50 years, including the stages of study on sandy desertification, background environment of sandy desertification and its changes, the conception, causes, process, monitoring and assessment of sandy desertification, the vegetation succession, landscape ecology, plant physiology, impacts on ecosystem, high-effective use of water and land resources and sustainable development in sandy desertified regions, sandy desertification control models and techniques etc

A quantitative analysis on the sources of dune sand in the Hulun Buir sandy land:

Quantitatively determining the sources of dune sand is one of the problems necessarily and urgently to be solved in aeolian landforms and desertification research. Based on the granulometric data of sand materials from the Hulun Buir Sandy Land, the paper employs the stepwise discriminant analysis technique (SDA) for two groups to select the principal factors determining the differences between surface loose sediments. The extent of similarity between two statistical populations can be described quantitatively by three factors such as the number of principal variables, Mahalanobis distance D2 and confidence level α for F-test. Results reveal that: 1) Aeolian dune sand in the region mainly derives from Hailar Formation (Q3), while fluvial sand and palaeosol also supply partially source sand for dunes; and 2) in the vicinity of Cuogang Town and west of the broad valley of the lower reaches of Hailar River, fluvial sand can naturally become principal supplier for dune sand.

Desertification problems in the Yangtze River source area, China

AbstractDesertification in the source area of Yangtze River is discussed in the paper. Under the conditions of the cold climate and permafrost, the freeze–thaw processes have significant effects on the different kinds of desertification. The classification, distribution, development, formation and control measurements of desertification in the source area are in particular compared with other desertified regions in east China. Furthermore, suggestions for desertification research and control in the source area are put forward. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Rescuing drylands: a project for the world

Environmental hazards menace life-support systems in drylands worldwide; science and technology can play an important role in enabling the habitats and their people to cope with these. Desertification is a global issue, comparable to other generally-recognized global problems such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, and epidemic diseases. And desertification can be stopped, if science and technology are mobilized in the service of a determined international effort. Three global initiatives are essential: (1) a drought early-warning system; (2) international desertification research centers; and (3) an international program to develop water resource technologies.

Progress in the study of desertification in China

The study of desertification in China began in 1977 with the UN Conference on Desertification. Since then, much progress has been made. This article reviews progress over the last five years in China. A brief description of desertification research in China is given, and developments and changes in the definition of desertification described. Finally, the causes and patterns of desertification are discussed.