Global analysis of cover management and support practice factors that control soil erosion and conservation

Cover management and support practices largely control the magnitude and variability of soil erosion.Although soil erosion models account for their importance(particularly by C-and P-factors in the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation),obtaining spatially explicit quantitative field data on these factors remains challenging.Hence,also our insight into the effects of soil conservation measures at larger spatial scales remains limited.We analyzed the variation in C-and P-factors caused by human activities and climatic variables by reviewing 255 published articles reporting measured or calculated C-and P-factor values.We found a wide variation in both factor values across climatic zones,land use or cover types,and support practices.The average C-factor values decreased from arid(0.26)to humid(0.15)climates,whereas the average P-factor values increased(from 0.33 to 0.47,respectively).Thus,support practices reduce soil loss more effectively in drylands and drought-prone areas.The global average C-factor varies by one order of magnitude from cropland(0.34)to forest(0.03).Among the major crops,the average C-factor was highest for maize(0.42)followed by potato(0.40),among the major orchard crops,it was highest for olive(0.31),followed by vineyards(0.26).The P-factor ranged from 0.62 for contouring in cropland plots to 0.19 for trenches in uncultivated land.The C-factor results indicate that cultivated lands requiring intensive site preparation and weeding are most vulnerable to soil loss by sheet and rill erosion.The low P-factor for trenches,reduced tillage cultivation,and terraces suggests that significantly decreased soil loss is possible by implementing more efficient management practices.These results improve our understanding of the variation in C-and P-factors and support large-scale integrated catchment management interventions by applying soil erosion models where it is difficult to empirically determine the impact of particular land use or cover types and support practices:the datasets compiled in this study can support further modeling and land management attempts in different countries and geographic regions.

Urban green resilience: Experience from post-industrial cities in Poland

De-industrialisation triggered economic,spatial and environmental changes in cities.Therefore,this study identifies whether there has been a reorientation of spatial development in post-industrial cities towards the creation of green spaces.The aim of the study is to analyse and evaluate the transformation of green spaces in 32 major cities in Poland,including 12 post-industrial cities.Data sources were vector land cover data models from the Urban Atlas for 2006 and 2018,administrative boundaries from the National Boundary Register and building layers from the Topographic Objects Database.The research procedure was carried out using the GIS environment,through spatial analysis,geoprocessing algorithms,and spatial statistics.The results have shown that post-industrial cities do not develop their urban resi-lience based on the expansion of green spaces and,consequently,do not build green urban resilience.In addition,the research has proven that the greatest loss of green spaces is noticeable in parts of post-industrial cities with medium and high development intensity,where there is an intensification of con-struction activity.The dominant direction of the transformation of green spaces has been the conversion of agricultural areas into green spaces(87.79%).In contrast,the main direction of loss in green space has been the creation of new industrial units(24.80%)and the expansion of the urban fabric(23.53%).The article is original due to the fact that there is a gap in the literature regarding the study of green spaces in post-industrial cities with regard to the concept of green urban resilience.

Monitoring gully erosion in the European Union: A novel approach based on the Land Use/Cover Area frame survey (LUCAS)

The European Commission's Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection(COM(2012)46)identified soil erosion as an important threat to European Union's(EU)soil resources.Gully erosion is an important but hitherto poorly understood component of this threat.Here we present the results of an unprecedented attempt to monitor the occurrence of gully erosion across the EU and UK.We integrate a soil erosion module into the 2018 LUCAS Topsoil Survey,which was conducted to monitor the soil health status across the EU and to support actions to prevent soil degradation.We discuss and explore opportunities to further improve this method.The 2018 LUCAS Topsoil Survey consisted of soil sampling(0-20 cm depth)and erosion observations conducted in ca.10%(n=24,759)of the 238,077 Land Use/Cover Area frame Survey(LUCAS)2018 in-field survey sites.Gully erosion channels were detected for ca.1%(211 sites)of the visited LUCAS Topsoil sites.Commission(false positives,2.5%)and omission errors(false negatives,5.6%)were found to be low and at a level that could not compromise the representativeness of the gully erosion survey.Overall,the findings indicate that the tested 2018 LUCAS Topsoil in-field gully erosion monitoring system is effective for detecting the incidence of gully erosion.The morphogenesis of the mapped gullies suggests that the approach is an effective tool to map permanent gullies,whereas it appears less effective to detect short-lived forms like ephemeral gullies.Spatial patterns emerging from the LUCAS Topsoil field observations provide new insights on typical gully formation sites across the EU and UK.This can help to design further targeted research activities.An extension of this approach to all LUCAS sites of 2022 would significantly enhance our understanding of the geographical distribution of gully erosion processes across the EU.Repeated every three years,LUCAS soil erosion surveys would contribute to assess the state of gully erosion in the EU over time.It will also enable monitoring and eventually predicting the dynamics of gully erosion.Data collected were part of the publicly available Gully Erosion LUCAS visual assessment(GE-LUCAS v1.0)inventory.