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Environmental Quality of Agroecosystems: Characterisation, Monitoring and Remediation of Environmental Matrices Applying Nature-Based Solutions

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Dear Colleagues,

The term agroecosystem refers to a natural system modified by man for agricultural production for economic purposes, characterised by a particular combination of abiotic factors (such as the soil and its properties, climate and hydrology) and biotic factors (such as the biocenosis, consisting of a set of organisms that play different roles in food webs).

In an agro-ecosystem, man intervenes considerably, altering and controlling the composition of the biocenosis and regulating the flow of energy and matter through agricultural practices or also with illegal activities that compromise the environmental matrices.

An agricultural system cannot be ascribed within the natural ecological succession and often needs a continuous supply of auxiliary energy in the form of fertilizers, work performed by machinery or animal power and irrigation and other inputs.

In this Special Issue, we want to address some issues that could change the way agroecosystems are managed, making human activities less impactful.

The main issues are:

Monitoring of agro-ecosystems;
Sustainable strategies of remediation and management;
Understanding the fate and behaviour of pollutants in agro-ecosystems;
Plant protection products detection;
Recovery of nutrients, such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium;
Material recovery and reuse, i.e., biochair;
Efficiency of the systems of cultivation in regard to the use of natural resources;
Interventions to safeguard biodiversity as various nature based agricultural solutions;
The mitigation role of protected areas to improve the quality of agro-ecosystems;
Physical, chemical and microbiological interactions in compromised environmental matrices;
Regulatory aspects, such as community agricultural policies.

Dr. Carmine Massarelli
Dr. Claudia Campanale
Guest Editors

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Keywords

environmental quality
agro-ecosystem
nature-based solutions
soil
water
biodiversity

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Research

16 pages, 20252 KiB

Open AccessArticle

In-Depth Monitoring of Anthropic Activities in the Puglia Region: What Is the Acceptable Compromise between Economic Activities and Environmental Protection?

by Maria Silvia Binetti, Claudia Campanale, Vito Felice Uricchio and Carmine Massarelli

Sustainability 2023, 15(11), 8875; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15118875 - 31 May 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 942

Abstract

In many countries in the world, the conservation of habitats is at risk mainly due to anthropic pressures on the environment. A study was conducted to assess the extent to which sensitive and high nature-value habitats are damaged by high-impact human activities. Some evaluation methods that are applied may not be entirely appropriate to the characteristics of the investigated areas or may be very accurate but provide results that are delayed with respect to the occurrence of the events that created the loss of their characteristics. The main purpose of this study is to optimise some methodologies for monitoring the impacts of human activities making it possible to obtain better results in less time and with much lower costs. This methodology has been applied in two different areas present in the Puglia Region in south-eastern Italy, in the central Mediterranean area. The biotope fragmentation method was applied on coastal dunes, in the province of Brindisi, affected by an important tourist influx. The results of the inclusion, in the evaluation methodology, of the remote sensing of the paths indicate a more real situation on the state of fragmentation of the coastal dunes. The second methodology concerns the monitoring, through topographical profiles obtained from Sentinel-1 DEM images, of active and inactive mining sites, allowing to obtain of very detailed information on the progress of mining activities in a very short time. By implementing these methodologies, it is possible to improve the control of the territory allowing a more detailed analysis in order to safeguard the environment from impacting human activities and avoiding, as much as possible, the occurrence of illegal activities. Finally, compensation factors to ensure that human activities are conducted in a sustainable way are also evaluated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Quality of Agroecosystems: Characterisation, Monitoring and Remediation of Environmental Matrices Applying Nature-Based Solutions)

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Environmental Quality of Agroecosystems: Characterisation, Monitoring and Remediation of Environmental Matrices Applying Nature-Based Solutions

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