Land Use Practices Research Articles

How and why do rangeland changes and their underlying drivers differ across Namibia’s two major land-tenure systems?

Rangeland degradation, with the loss of perennial grasses and shrub encroachment, negatively affects livestock production and reduces the drought resilience of commercial ranchers and pastoralists in drylands. This situation applies in Namibia, where few attempts have been made to investigate rangeland changes and shrub encroachment across the two major land-tenure systems in the country, namely, freehold and communal land. This study aimed to investigate the inter-relationships among rangeland changes, land tenure and management in Namibia within the past 55 years, by combining remote-sensing analysis, literature review, and interviews. Land-cover classification results revealed different trends in the two tenure systems between 1965 and 2020. Both were affected by shrub invasion. At the onset of the observation period, the percentage of grass-dominated savanna was higher on communal land. Whereas a linear increase in shrubland was observed after 1965 on communal land and on freehold land up to 2001, the shrub encroachment trend on freehold land reversed from 2011, mainly because of de-bushing measures. The most important drivers for rangeland changes and shrub encroachment were related to specific land-management practices and the historical and socio-economic contexts in which they occurred, including various policies associated with colonialism, fire suppression and overgrazing, combined with recurrent droughts. Although farmers on freehold land apply various strategies to combat shrub encroachment, the aftermaths of colonial policies and the issues of common-pool resource management have limited the options of those on communal land to implement such measures. The search for sustainable management options, thus, requires a deeper understanding of their potentials and shortcomings in both land-tenure types; such understanding could be acquired by considering local knowledge and past and current land-use practices. Management options that incorporate the numerous benefits of woody plants and the uses of shrubs hold promise for sustaining livelihoods in both land-tenure systems.

Clustering Business Models of Heterogeneous Nature-Based Solutions Implementing Innovative Governance and Financing Concepts

Nature-based solutions (NBSs) are considered sustainable, cost-efficient, and resource-efficient land-use management approaches. When analysing NBS business models, two major challenges are commonly identified as slowing down broader NBS implementation: governance and financing barriers. This explorative study aims first to test the applicability of a NBS specific business model template and, second, to provide a clustered NBS business model pilot case study collection, which enables transferable solutions for overcoming the typical implementation challenges to be derived. Methodically, this is achieved by using the Nature-based Sustainability Business Model Canvas (NB S BMC for guided interviews. Twenty-three NBS case studies from proGIreg’s four Front Runner Cities, namely Dortmund, Ningbo, Turin, and Zagreb, are examined. Pestoff’s welfare triangle enables the NBS business models to be clustered. The main business model clusters are public provision, sales, and diversified. NBSs’ governance models are very adaptable to individual NBS cases, of the independent type, and can include a huge diversity of involved stakeholders regarding their functions in the NBS implementation. Our findings highlight adaptable governance models across diverse stakeholder functions and confirm the NB S BMC as a robust framework for understanding NBS business models. These insights extend to land-use practices beyond NBSs, offering a template for innovative urban planning strategies.

Assessing the spatio-temporal impact of landuse landcover change on water yield dynamics of rapidly urbanizing Kathmandu valley watershed of Nepal

Study RegionThe Kathmandu valley watershed (KVW), capital region of Nepal, which is one of the rapidly urbanizing areas not only in Nepal but in South Asia. Study FocusHaphazard landuse practice coupled with the lack of stringent landuse policies has put stress on already scarce resources like water, land, agriculture, etc. of the Kathmandu valley watershed (KVW). Given the underlying problem of unscientific landuse practice as a result of the rapid urbanization and the consequent water stress, this study has attempted to predict future landuse and hence comprehensively assess the spatio-temporal dynamics of water yield components in KVW from the past to the future. New Hydrological Insights for the regionA forecast of future land use indicates that nearly half of KVW will be covered by built-up areas by 2040. Land use changes are expected to significantly affect water yield components, particularly at the sub-basin level. Subbasin responses to land use and land cover (LULC) changes are most prominent for surface runoff, followed by groundwater flow, lateral flow, with the least impact on evapotranspiration (ET). Anticipated outcomes include a substantial 70% reduction in groundwater flow and a potential 200% increase in surface runoff in certain subbasins. These findings emphasize the urgent need to regulate land use practices and develop effective strategies to mitigate the adverse effects of uncontrolled urban expansion.

Human settlement density, not late Holocene climate change, influenced Artiodactyla species abundance in northeastern California faunal assemblages

Variation in late Holocene artiodactyl (e.g., deer, pronghorn, bighorn sheep) hunting in northern California has often been examined from a behavioral ecological perspective to understand past foraging and land-use practices and related changes in human behavior, including settlement patterns, technological change, social signaling, large-scale resource intensification, and anthropogenic resource depression. However, rarely are past climate records and proxies of human population density coupled with zooarchaeological estimates of artiodactyl abundance to evaluate the ecological and anthropogenic drivers of changes in species representation over time. To better understand changes in human behavior related to past large game hunting, we disentangle the causal relationships between late Holocene climate change, human demography, and artiodactyl abundance to assess whether climate change, human hunting, or both impacted the abundance of artiodactyls in zooarchaeological assemblages from northeastern California. We evaluate how climatic variability and inferred human settlement density impacted artiodactyl abundance using modeled paleoclimatic reconstructions, distributions of radiocarbon dates, and faunal data derived from 35 archaeological sites and 37,319 individual faunal specimens. Using piecewise structural equation models, we assess the direct and mediating effects between climate, human settlement density, and artiodactyl abundance and determine the individual effects of these variables on large game species representation in zooarchaeological assemblages. We find that expanding human settlement density and related increases in logistical foraging—not late Holocene climate change—directly impacts the relative abundance of artiodactyls in these assemblages. Moreover, our findings reveal that the effects of climate change are entirely mediated through human settlement density. While our study is unable to decipher if observed changes in human behavior were motivated by goals related to energetic maximization or costly signaling, our study does provide a useful framework for separating the effects of human- and climate-induced explanations for variation in species composition in faunal assemblages.

Monitoring and evaluation of the water quality of the Lower Neches River, Texas, USA

Increasing bacteria levels in the Lower Neches River caused by Hurricane Harvey has been of a serious concern. This study is to analyze the historical water sampling measurements and real-time water quality data collected with wireless sensors to monitor and evaluate water quality under different hydrological and hydraulic conditions. The statistical and Pearson correlation analysis on historical water samples determines that alkalinity, chloride, hardness, conductivity, and pH are highly correlated, and they decrease with increasing flow rate due to dilution. The flow rate has positive correlations with Escherichia coli, total suspended solids, and turbidity, which demonstrates that runoff is one of the causes of the elevated bacteria and sediment loadings in the river. The correlation between E. coli and turbidity indicates that turbidity greater than 45 nephelometric turbidity units in the Neches River can serve as a proxy for E. coli to indicate the bacterial outbreak. A series of statistical tools and an innovative two-layer data smoothing filter are developed to detect outliers, fill missing values, and filter spikes of the sensor measurements. The correlation analysis on the sensor data illustrates that the elevated sediment/bacteria/algae in the river is either caused by the first flush rain and heavy rain events in December to March or practices of land use and land cover. Therefore, utilizing sensor measurements along with rainfall and discharge data is recommended to monitor and evaluate water quality, then in turn to provide early alerts on water resources management decisions.

Analysis of water quality influencing factors under multi-source data fusion based on PLS-SEM model: An example of East-Liao River in China

Owing to alterations in the environment and human activities, the quality of surface water is declining. Despite a substantial number of studies on the factors that impact water quality, there is still a need for a better understanding of the major causes of water quality degradation. This study fused multi-source data using partial least squares structural equation modeling to evaluate the effects of weather, soil composition, and geographical features on the water quality of the East Liao River (ELR), Jilin Province, China. The impacts of land-use practices on water quality at different buffer scales were analyzed. The most significant correlation between land use and water quality was observed at a distance of 4 km. The severity of water pollution was significantly influenced by soil type, with a path coefficient of 0.689 (p < 0.001). Conversely, landscape factors exhibited a notable adverse effect, indicated by a path coefficient of −0.608 (p < 0.001). Additionally, meteorological factors exhibited a significant impact, with a path coefficient of 0.463 (p < 0.001). The indirect effects of landscape elements on water quality were also examined. Water quality could be indirectly influenced by landscape through soil factors, as evidenced by a path coefficient of −0.572 (p < 0.01). In this study, new ideas for studying water quality drivers using multi-source data fusion are introduced. Managers can leverage the findings of this study to improve their decision-making and effectively address water quality issues in ELR located in Jilin Province, China.

Carbon Distribution Characteristics and Sequestration Potential of Various Land-Use Types in a Stony Soil Zone of the Arid Mountainous Regions on the Eastern Tibetan Plateau

In arid mountainous areas with stony soils in the Eastern Tibetan Plateau, intensively managed orchards (which include the need for plowing, irrigation, and soil stone removal), eco-forests, and grasslands, all converted from croplands, are becoming increasingly popular. We randomly collected soil samples at 0–15, 15–30, 30–45, and 45–60 cm depths from the four land-use types on the northern and southern slopes in the region. Differences in soil organic carbon (SOC) content/stock, soil water content (SWC), and rock fragment content (RFC) in land-use types and slopes were analyzed using two-way ANOVA. The factors’ contributions to SOC variation were assessed using mixed-effect models. Results showed the following: (1) In topsoil (0–30 cm), SOC contents followed the order eco-forest &gt; orchard &gt; grassland ≈ cropland; in subsoil (30–60 cm), the order was orchard &gt; eco-forest &gt; cropland ≈ grassland. SOC stocks (0–60 cm) were higher in orchards (93.72 Mg ha−1) and eco-forests (92.44 Mg ha−1) than in grasslands (53.65 Mg ha−1) and croplands (53.05 Mg ha−1). Contributions of SOC stocks at the 0–15 cm depth level to total SOC were above 40% for GL and EF and between 27 and 35% for OL and CL; at the 45–60 cm level, OL contributed 16–20% and was higher than 10–15% for the other land-use types. (2) Eco-forests and grasslands showed increased SOC contents/stocks at all soil layers on the northern slope than on the southern one. Orchards and croplands, however, showed no differences in contents between slopes. (3) Land-use types, TN, SWC, RFC, slope aspect, and management practices significantly affected SOC variation. Our results suggest that forest plantations (orchards and eco-forests) in arid mountainous regions, through active management practices (e.g., irrigation and fertilization), are vital for improving soil carbon sinks and achieving peak carbon/carbon neutrality goals.

Impact of landuse systems on soil organic carbon and its projection in northwestern India

AbstractThe evaluation of the impact of landuse on soil organic carbon (SOC) is required to understand the long‐term productivity and possible sustainability of a landuse system. The effect of landuse on SOC was studied in the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district of Punjab (India). Surface (0–15 cm) and subsurface (15–30 cm) soil samples were collected under different land uses (cropland, forest, scrubland, and plantation) using stratified random sampling. Soil samples were analyzed for soil texture, bulk density, pH, electrical conductivity, organic carbon, Olsen P (available P), NH4OAc–extractable K (available K), and CaCl2 extractable S (available S) using standard methods. Ordinary kriging was used to study the distribution of soil properties in different land uses. Soil organic carbon under future climate was simulated using Rothamsted carbon (RothC) model with current landuse and management practices. Organic carbon in surface and subsurface soils was in the order: Forest &gt; scrubland &gt; plantation &gt; cropland. The content of organic carbon, available P, K, and S decreased with increasing soil depth. The simulated SOC content in cropland soils under future climate may reduce, and in soils under forest, plantation and scrubland may increase by the year 2100. These results suggest that the landuse system is one of the major factors affecting SOC stocks. The study of organic carbon in different landuses could help the famers and policy makers to take measures for increasing SOC stocks to mitigate the climate change and also for sustainable agriculture.

Ecological risk assessment on nutrient over-enrichment in water quality: A case study of the Kenyan Coral Reef ecosystems

The natural (seasonality) and anthropogenic drivers (e.g., coastal developments and change in land-use practices), continue to threaten the lives of organisms in shallow marine environments by compromising water quality. A case study was conducted to assess the impact of these drivers on nutrient over-enrichments using water and sediment samples that were collected from healthy live Porites spp. colonies from three Kenyan coral reef ecosystems: Tana Delta, Watamu, and Shimoni Mupunguti Reef. The evaluated nutrient over-enrichment levels were above the universal reference background concentrations of 0.01 and 0.003 mg/L for (N-(NO3- + NO2-)) and (P-PO43-) respectively. Ecological risk exposure to nutrient over-enrichments was evaluated using Renfield (N/P) ratio and nitrogen-phosphorous pollution index. Results on N/P ratios were < the Renfield ratio (N/P = 16 ratios), implying that phosphorous was in surplus in water columns in all the three reefs investigated. The nitrogen pollution indices were between > 0.85 to ˂ 2.45, while that of phosphorous, the pollution indices were < 0.5. The nutrient over-enrichment followed the order; Watamu > Tana Delta > Shimoni Mupunguti coral reef ecosystem. To identify the possible sources of the nutrient influx in the investigated coral reef ecosystems, a principal component analysis was carried out, and results revealed that anthropogenic activities e.g., tourism, coastal cities urbanization and change in land use practices accounted for 36.26%, while seasonality accounted for 17.82% of the total nutrients influx in the investigated coral reefs.

Assessment of environmental degradation of lakes of Nainital district: an ecohydrological perspective

Human activities have degraded lakes in Uttarakhand, endangering their vital role in urban sustainability, which includes providing essential services like water supply, flood mitigation, agriculture support, and biodiversity conservation in the Himalayan region. This study focused on Nainital district lakes, utilizing remote sensing and GIS techniques to assess their condition. Time series Landsat 8 satellite imageries acquire by USGS earth explorer from 2017 and 2022 were captured, pre-processed, and subjected to spectral-based classification algorithms in ArcGIS software to calculate Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalised Difference Water Index (NDWI), and Normalised Difference Built-up Index (NDBI) indices to assess changes in vegetation, water bodies, and build-up area in and around the lakes respectively. The results indicate a decrease in built-up areas for Nainital district lakes from 2017 to 2022: Naini Lake (1.42%), Bhimtal Lake (1.83%), Naukuchiatal Lake (1.45%), Sattal Lake (2.18%), Khurpatal Lake (2.25%), and Sariyatal Lake (1.3%). Additionally, Bhimtal, Naukuchiatal, and Khurpatal lakes exhibited reductions in shrub and grass vegetation by approximately 12%, 16%, and 0% over the five-year period. Notably, Sattal and Khurapatal lakes demonstrated significant decreases in built-up areas, likely attributed to restoration efforts or landslides. Findings emphasize the need for conservation, sustainable land-use practices, and effective management to protect lake ecosystems.

Too big to succeed? Institutional inertia in low-carbon district heating experiment

The energy transitions are in an acceleration phase, where less carbon intensive technologies emerge, but their applicability is uncertain creating a need for real-life experimentation. Cities have become a focal context, where novel constellations of technologies and practices are introduced to reconfigure patterns of production and consumption. One area of urban energy governance gaining increasing attention especially in a Northern context is the low carbon transition in district heating systems that provide the majority of heating in the residential sector and has been primarily built around combustion technologies relying on fossil energy reserves. This article analyses a bidirectional low heat experiment in district heat in Finland by examining what are the dimensions of institutional inertia and how it impacts the reconfiguration of an urban energy system. Institutional inertia emerges from the technical innovation itself, land-use planning practices, the absence of formal regulations and via organisational inertia in the implementation of the experiment. We find that visions about the innovation can become constraints of the experiment, which limit learning and reshaping of innovation, thus preventing radical transformation of the district heating system and watering down the initial target of the experiment. We contribute to the conceptualisation of institutional inertia within the energy transition.

Moving green infrastructure planning from theory to practice in sub-Saharan African cities requires collaborative operationalization

Researchers increasingly consider the systematic integration of green infrastructure (GI) concepts in urban planning as an essential approach to tackle significant current and future challenges. Cities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) face rapid urbanization, unregulated land-use practices, and poor enforcement of policies. These cities struggle to address the depletion and degradation of existing GI that increases their vulnerability to climatic hazards that threaten ecosystem integrity, and compromise human health. This paper draws on a review of policy documents, semi-structured interviews with metro officials, and cross-sector focus group discussions to explore ways to operationalize GI spatial planning and design on the ground. Through a case study of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa, which takes a public-private co-development approach, we investigate the uptake of GI planning principles, the challenges, and local proposals for GI applications. In conjunction with the literature, we discuss the alternatives at hand. The local policy documents reflected many planning principles anchored in the Global North literature. Together with public and private partners, we co-developed four locally informed GI objectives: environmental protection, safety, joint ownership, and collaborative governance. We co-identified local planning principles and three strategies for operationalizing GI planning, including working with conventional planning, greater flexibility and creativity, and cross-sectoral collaboration. The findings suggest that collaborative strategies that allow greater access and the active, diverse use of GI could provide much-required cross-sectoral care and management. The real challenge is the establishment of such participatory partnerships as mechanisms to consolidate diverse priorities and co-develop technical and financial alternatives.

Landscape Performance: Farmer Interactions across Spatial Scales

Agricultural lands in the north-central United States represent some of the most uniform and non-sustainable landscapes in human history. The conformity in land-use practices reflects a broad social agreement, albeit unspoken, of having an influence on agricultural practices and is referred to as a normative landscape. Implementing conservation agricultural practices requires engaging such social agreements in ways that question and disrupt them. By using a mixed methods approach to support the application of the influence of a normative landscape, this study examines two research questions: (1) How do regionally normative landscapes influence site-based farming practices? And (2) To what extent do aspects (i.e., crop areas, buffer areas, and living areas) of individual farms contribute to the development of those regionally normative landscape meanings? When examining the first research question, an analysis of 21 interviews with farmers in Wisconsin and Illinois’ Driftless Region revealed two recurrent themes: “road farming” was a common way in which farmers communicated with each other about farm practices, and land-based learning events were opportunities to foster dialogue about farming activities that shape normative ideals. The results from the thematic analysis connect site-based farming practices within a broader regional context. A quantitative analysis of a survey of 82 farmers in the same region indicates that social agreement to evaluate the farming practices of others is strongest for crop areas. Our findings suggest that farmers and professionals wanting to improve conservation outcomes should use local events that reflect sustainable practices to disrupt and re-envision regional norms to spread conservation farming practices.

Abrupt, climate-induced increase in wildfires in British Columbia since the mid-2000s

In the province of British Columbia, Canada, four of the most severe wildfire seasons of the last century occurred in the past 7 years: 2017, 2018, 2021, and 2023. To investigate trends in wildfire activity and fire-conducive climate, we conducted an analysis of mapped wildfire perimeters and annual climate data for the period of 1919–2021. Results show that after a century-long decline, fire activity increased from 2005 onwards, coinciding with a sharp reversal in the wetting trend of the 20th century. Even as precipitation levels remain high, moisture deficits have increased due to rapid warming and increased evaporative demand. Bottom-up factors further influence fire activity, as the legacy of past wildfires, insect outbreaks, and land-use practices continually influence fire regimes. The compound effects of climate-induced moisture changes and altered fuels now force British Columbians to confront the harsh reality of more frequent years of intense and prolonged wildfire activity.

Landslide susceptibility mapping and management in Western Serbia: an analysis of ANFIS- and SVM-based hybrid models

Landslide susceptibility mapping (LSM) is essential for land-use planning, as it helps to identify areas at risk of landslides and enables effective prevention measures to be taken. Various statistical and machine learning (ML) models are used in LSM, including SVM and ANFIS, which have shown promising results. However, determining which model performs better remains a key challenge. To address this issue, this paper aims to compare six hybrid models constructed with two well-known and powerful ML models, namely SVM and ANFIS, and three meta-heuristic algorithms, namely Genetic Algorithm (GA), Differential Evolution (DE), and Cultural Algorithm (CA), for LSM in a case study in western Serbia. In the process of building the models, 359 landslide sites and 14 determinants were used. The accuracy of the models was evaluated using several indexes, including Root Mean-Squared Error (RMSE), coefficient of determination (R2), and Area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (AUROC). The modeling results showed that the SVM-GA model has the highest accuracy (AUROC = 0.78) in predicting landslide incidence, followed by the ANFIS-GA (AUROC = 0.775), SVM-CA (AUROC = 0.773), ANFIS-DE (AUROC = 0.771), SVM-DE (AUROC = 0.76), and ANFIS-CA (AUROC = 0.65) models in validation phase. Therefore, the study suggested that SVM-based hybrid models are more accurate than ANFIS-based models for LSM, and thus, modelers may use SVM-based hybrid models for such applications. This study provides valuable insights into identifying the most appropriate and effective models for LSM, which can help to mitigate the risks associated with landslides and ensure sustainable land-use practices.

“Whose carbon is it?” Understanding municipalities role in blue carbon ecosystems management in Canada

Blue carbon ecosystems are marine vegetated ecosystems, such as mangroves, salt marshes, kelp forests and seagrass meadows, that naturally sequester and store atmospheric carbon in their deep sediments and biomass. Their ecosystem services extend from carbon capture and storage to coastline protection and flood mitigation, making their management and protection a form of nature-based solution (NbS) for climate change adaptation. However, these ecosystems are subject to degradation and destruction from coastal development and land use change, releasing sequestered carbon into the atmosphere. In Canada, although home to the largest coastline of any country in the world, neither federal nor provincial policy explicitly address the management or protection of blue carbon ecosystems, leaving them susceptible to these threats. Coastal municipalities, however, may play an important role in the current management and protection of blue carbon. Land-use planning decisions on the local level offer an opportunity to protect and conserve coastal ecosystems and the co-benefits these ecosystems provide offer a NbS to address many climate threats faced by coastal communities. This study examines the current and potential role of municipalities in the management, protection and/or restoration of blue carbon ecosystems for sustainable land-use planning practices and carbon pollution mitigation by interviewing municipal staff from coastal municipalities across Canada. Study results demonstrated municipal interest in blue carbon ecosystems for their tangible co-benefits, not carbon sequestration and storage capacity, and that restoring blue carbon ecosystems for living shoreline projects was the most common active management strategy at the local level. However, institutional capacity, a lack of jurisdictional clarity and uncertainty surrounding blue carbon were identified as barriers that hindered municipal engagement in active management strategies, largely restricting them to play a supportive role to blue carbon projects led by local environmental non-governmental organizations.

Hydrological characteristics and available water storage of typical karst soil in SW China under different soil–rock structures

Soil hydrological characteristics are influenced by factors such as parent rock weathering, human activities, and soil texture. However, the influence of the complex soil–rock structures and heterogeneous soil types on soil hydrological characteristics resulting from the weathering of carbonate rocks into soils on slopes in the karst region of SW China is not fully understood. The relationships between zonal and nonzonal soil hydrological characteristic differences, land uses, and soil–rock structures were analyzed using a typical watershed in the SW China karst region. In this study, (1) the difference between zonal and nonzonal soil hydrological characteristics is significant. For infiltration capacity (Ks), yellow soil (19.50 ∼ 1058.00 cm·d-1) < limestone soil (34.50 ∼ 2364.00 cm·d-1), while for soil available water storage, limestone soil on the dolomitic slope (43.26 mm) > yellow soil (20.16 ∼ 35.25 mm) > limestone soil on the limestone slope (17.73 ∼ 34.72 mm). (2) Land-use practices and soil–rock structures have long affected the hydrological characteristics of soil in karst. (3) The bare bedrock on carbonate slopes leads to a reduction in the total amount of soil per unit area on the slope, which compresses the space for vegetation growth and reduces the total amount of water provided by the soil for vegetation growth per unit area, which confirms one of the reasons for the low plant biomass in karst. These results suggest that the utilization of soil water in karst areas should consider the weights of soil type, lithology, and soil–rock structures.

Effect of Morphological Characteristics of Fruit Orchards on Soil Physio-chemical Properties

Biophysical characteristics of 16-year-old fruit orchards and their influence on soil physico-chemical properties of sixteen-year-old fruit orchards established at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Birouli, Samastipur (Bihar) were compared. Fruit orchards were Mango (Mangifera indica) var. Malda, Litchi (litchi chinensis) var. China and Aonla (Emblica officinalis) var. NA-7. An investigation was undertaken to evaluate the dynamics of Oxidisable Organic Carbon (Coc), SOC sequestration, Bulk Density (BD), pH and Electrical Conductivity (EC) in fruit orchards. All the orchards significantly improved SOC showing 12.9 to 44.6 % higher than that in open (without trees) and followed the order: Aonla &gt; Litchi &gt; Mango. The total SOC increased by 10 to 20 % at the surface and 15 to 35 % in the lower depths. The crown diameter of Mango, Litchi and Aonla orchards were 11.64 m, 8.61 m and 8.6 m and girth at breast height (GBH) varied from 9.53 m in Aonla orchard to 5.6 m in Litchi orchard. By and large, Aonla orchard may be considered as the best orchard production system from the standpoint of SOC build up and improvement in soil physic-chemical properties. Hence, its promotion and expansion as land-use practices in the calcareous belt of Bihar will be helpful for food security and mitigating climate change.

Integrated Hydrogeological Modelling for Sustainable Management of the Brindisi Plain Aquifer (Southern Italy)

Nowadays, changes in precipitation patterns together with the increasing water demand impose a sustainable management where the budget between water availability and demand is positively closed. A parsimonious hydrogeological modelling approach coupled with a soil water balance is developed and applied in order to quantify the hydrological and hydrogeological dynamics in a semi-arid region of the Mediterranean basin. In particular, the present work focuses on the hydrogeological dynamics of the catchment areas of Siedi, Foggia di Rau, Pigonati, and the Palmarini channels located in the Brindisi Plain, Southern Italy. In the last decades, in the Brindisi Plain the anthropization processes as well as the industrial and agricultural development have generated an intensive exploitation of both shallow and deep groundwater resources as well as their qualitative deterioration. A dry hydrologic year (2019–2020) caused a recharge deficit, resulting in a lowering of the groundwater level of the shallow aquifer compared to the expected seasonal value. The results evidence a sensitive natural system, where the variability of the rainfall regime combined with water withdrawal leads to a system that is very vulnerable to climate change impacts, such as the presence of erratic rainfall patterns affecting aquifer recharge. This study represents the first approach to couple a soil moisture balance model and groundwater flow model to assess the impact of changes in rainfall patterns on groundwater recharge for the Brindisi Plain aquifer. The developed integrated hydrogeological model can be applied to other sites with similar hydrogeological features and represents an important tool in order to evaluate the effectiveness of cost-effective sustainable actions for the management of the groundwater resources with respect to land-use practices and socio-economic aspects.

Structural complexity is a better predictor than single habitat attributes of understory bird densities in Andean temperate forests

Abstract The simplification of forest structural complexity, caused by anthropogenic land-use practices, is one of the main threats to understory specialist birds. We examined the association of both single structural attributes and structural complexity, with the density of 4 understory bird species in the Global Biodiversity Hotspot “Chilean Winter Rainfall-Valdivian Forests” of South America. Between 2011 and 2013, we surveyed habitat attributes and conducted bird point counts in 505 plots in Andean temperate ecosystems in Chile. In each habitat plot, we measured understory density, volume of coarse woody debris (CWD), number of snags, diameter at breast height (DBH) of trees, and leaf litter depth. With these attributes, we developed an index of stand structural complexity (ISC). On average, old-growth forests had higher values for understory density, CWD volume, DBH, and litter depth than secondary forests and open fields, and thus greater values of ISC. The density of understory birds was positively correlated with the ISC for the Rhinocryptidae Pteroptochos tarnii, Scelorchilus rubecula, and Scytalopus magellanicus. We also found a positive association between understory density and litter depth, with the density of the Furnariidae Sylviorthorhynchus desmursii. However, this latter species showed a negative association with the density of snags. Our results suggest the utility of using an index of structural complexity, rather than single or even additive habitat attributes, for determining the density of understory specialist birds. We recommend that management plans should promote the retention of habitat attributes that contribute to the structural complexity of temperate forests of South America and beyond.