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Soil–Water Conservation and Desertification Control

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Water Science and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2023) | Viewed by 16677

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Guest Editor
Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 72 Wenhua Road, Shenyang 110016, China
Interests: desertification control; biodiversity protection; population regeneration; plant reproduction strategy; plant propagation ecology; degenerative grassland restoration
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Desertification is defined as land degradation occurring in the global drylands. It is one of the global problems targeted under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 15). The United Nations, through its Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), claims that 12 million hectares of land are lost annually through desertification and drought, which is equivalent to a loss of 20 million tons of grain production. Additionally, the International Fund for Agricultural Development claims that: “The livelihoods of over 1.2 billion people inhabiting dryland areas in 110 countries are currently threatened by drought and desertification.”

Desertification control reflects the underlying ecological processes, including biotic interactions, seed dispersal, vegetation succession, and environmental change. Soil and vegetation are key components in the Earth system. In spite of this, abusive exploitation (e.g., overgrazing, intensive agriculture on fragile and coarse-textured soils) of these renewable natural resources has led to a lack of soil cover with vegetation, and subsequent soil and water losses from various types of ecosystems to a worldwide scale. As a result, large surface areas in the world have been transformed into deserts because of their exploitation rather than a sustainable utilization. Degradation of some ecosystems leading to desertification presents a global environmental challenge. Therefore, appropriate measures of combat desertification are critical to preventing degradation, and desertification, of the renewable natural resources (i.e., soil, vegetation, water resources).

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Land.

Dr. Yongcui Wang
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • vegetation recovery
  • soil erosion
  • disturbance
  • plant biodiversity
  • soil seed bank
  • bud bank

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 5015 KiB  
Article
Delineating the Intrinsic, Long-Term Path of Land Degradation: A Spatially Explicit Transition Matrix for Italy, 1960–2010
by Letizia Pace, Vito Imbrenda, Maria Lanfredi, Pavel Cudlín, Tiziana Simoniello, Luca Salvati and Rosa Coluzzi
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(3), 2402; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032402 - 29 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1808
Abstract
Vulnerability to land degradation in southern Europe has increased substantially in the last decades because of climate and land-use change, soil deterioration, and rising human pressure. The present work focuses on a quantitative evaluation of changes over time in the level of vulnerability [...] Read more.
Vulnerability to land degradation in southern Europe has increased substantially in the last decades because of climate and land-use change, soil deterioration, and rising human pressure. The present work focuses on a quantitative evaluation of changes over time in the level of vulnerability to land degradation of a Mediterranean country (Italy) using a composite indicator, the environmentally sensitive area index (ESAI), which is the final outcome of a complex model conceived to assess land vulnerability on the basis of climate, soil, vegetation, and human pressure. Considering four different levels of vulnerability to land degradation (not affected, potentially affected, fragile, and critical), the main trajectories of this index were highlighted in a long-time perspective (1960–2010), discriminating dynamics over two sub-periods (1960–1990 and 1990–2010). The empirical results at a very detailed spatial scale (1 km2 grid) reflect spatial consolidation of degradation hot-spots over time. However, aggregated trajectories of change indicate an overall improvement in the environmental conditions between 1990 and 2010 compared with what is observed during the first period (1960–1990). Worse environmental conditions concerned southern Italian regions with a dry climate and poor soil conditions in the first time interval, large parts of northern Italy, traditionally recognized as a wet and affluent agricultural region, experienced increasing levels of land vulnerability in the second time interval. Being classified as an unaffected region according with the Italian national action plan (NAP), the expansion of (originally sparse) degradation hot-spots in northern Italy, reflective of an overall increase in critical areas, suggests a substantial re-thinking of the Italian NAP. This may lead to a redesign of individual regional action plans (RAPs) implementing place-specific approaches and comprehensive measures to be adopted to mitigate land degradation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil–Water Conservation and Desertification Control)
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16 pages, 2669 KiB  
Article
Response of Grassland Soil Quality to Shallow Plowing and Nutrient Addition
by Bin Li, Guohua Ren, Xiangyang Hou, Xiaotian An and Guanhua Lv
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(3), 2308; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032308 - 28 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1552
Abstract
Due to differences in the soil environment and grassland management measures, the change characteristics of soil microbial entropy and soil comprehensive quality in different types of grassland may vary significantly. In this study, the spatial variation characteristics of grassland soil microbial entropy under [...] Read more.
Due to differences in the soil environment and grassland management measures, the change characteristics of soil microbial entropy and soil comprehensive quality in different types of grassland may vary significantly. In this study, the spatial variation characteristics of grassland soil microbial entropy under shallow plowing and nutrient addition measures were studied using a networking experimental platform established in a temperate meadow steppe, typical steppe, and desert steppe in northern China. The grassland soil quality was comprehensively evaluated to provide a theoretical basis for the scientific and reasonable management of grasslands under global climate change. The results show that in the meadow steppe, shallow plowing and nutrient addition significantly decreased the soil microbial biomass carbon and microbial entropy in the region, resulting in a decrease in the comprehensive score of soil quality. In the typical steppe, due to the influence of shallow tillage measures, the microbial biomass of the grassland soil in the region was higher than that of the control group and its two treatments, and the comprehensive score of soil quality was ranked first among the four treatments. In the desert steppe, the interaction of shallow plowing and nutrient addition significantly increased the soil microbial entropy in the region. Under the nutrient addition measures, the soil microbial entropy of the desert steppe showed a downward trend. In addition, the soil C/N ratio of the desert grassland under nutrient addition measures increased significantly, and the comprehensive score of soil quality ranked first among the four treatments as the microbial entropy decreased significantly. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil–Water Conservation and Desertification Control)
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15 pages, 2207 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Remote Sensing Ecological Index Based on Soil and Water Conservation on the Effectiveness of Management of Abandoned Mine Landscaping Transformation
by Zeke Lian, Huichao Hao, Jing Zhao, Kaizhong Cao, Hesong Wang and Zhechen He
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(15), 9750; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19159750 - 08 Aug 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 12425
Abstract
Abandoned mines are typical areas of soil erosion. Landscape transformation of abandoned mines is an important means to balance the dual objectives of regional ecological restoration and industrial heritage protection, but the secondary development and construction process of mining relics require long-term monitoring [...] Read more.
Abandoned mines are typical areas of soil erosion. Landscape transformation of abandoned mines is an important means to balance the dual objectives of regional ecological restoration and industrial heritage protection, but the secondary development and construction process of mining relics require long-term monitoring with objective scientific indicators and effective assessment of their management effectiveness. This paper takes Tongluo Mountain Mining Park in Chongqing as an example and uses a remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) based on Landsat-8 image data to assess the spatial and temporal differences in the dynamic changes in the ecological and environmental quality of tertiary relic reserves with different degrees of development and protection in the park. Results showed that: ① The effect of vegetation cover, which can significantly improve soil and water conservation capacity. ② The RSEI is applicable to the evaluation of the effectiveness of ecological management of mines with a large amount of bare soil areas. ③ The mean value of the RSEI in the region as a whole increased by 0.090, and the mean values of the RSEI in the primary, secondary and tertiary relic reserves increased by 0.121, 0.112 and 0.006, respectively. ④ The increase in the RSEI in the study area is mainly related to the significant decrease in the dryness index (NDBSI) and the increase in the humidity index (WET). The remote sensing ecological index can objectively reflect the difference in the spatial and temporal dynamics of the ecological environment in tertiary relic protection, and this study provides a theoretical reference for the ecological assessment of secondary development-based management under difficult site conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil–Water Conservation and Desertification Control)
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