Fresh insights into long-term changes in flora, vegetation, land use and soil erosion in the karstic environment of the Burren, western Ireland

Abstract. Snow processes might be one important driver of soil erosion in Alpine grasslands and thus the unknown variable when erosion modelling is attempted. The aim of this study is to assess the importance of snow gliding as a soil erosion agent for four different land use/land cover types in a subalpine area in Switzerland. We used three different approaches to estimate soil erosion rates: sediment yield measurements in snow glide depositions, the fallout radionuclide 137Cs and modelling with the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). RUSLE permits the evaluation of soil loss by water erosion, the 137Cs method integrates soil loss due to all erosion agents involved, and the measurement of snow glide deposition sediment yield can be directly related to snow-glide-induced erosion. Further, cumulative snow glide distance was measured for the sites in the winter of 2009/2010 and modelled for the surrounding area and long-term average winter precipitation (1959–2010) with the spatial snow glide model (SSGM). Measured snow glide distance confirmed the presence of snow gliding and ranged from 2 to 189 cm, with lower values on the north-facing slopes. We observed a reduction of snow glide distance with increasing surface roughness of the vegetation, which is an important information with respect to conservation planning and expected and ongoing land use changes in the Alps. Snow glide erosion estimated from the snow glide depositions was highly variable with values ranging from 0.03 to 22.9 t ha−1 yr−1 in the winter of 2012/2013. For sites affected by snow glide deposition, a mean erosion rate of 8.4 t ha−1 yr−1 was found. The difference in long-term erosion rates determined with RUSLE and 137Cs confirms the constant influence of snow-glide-induced erosion, since a large difference (lower proportion of water erosion compared to total net erosion) was observed for sites with high snow glide rates and vice versa. Moreover, the difference between RUSLE and 137Cs erosion rates was related to the measured snow glide distance (R2 = 0.64; p < 0.005) and to the snow deposition sediment yields (R2 = 0.39; p = 0.13). The SSGM reproduced the relative difference of the measured snow glide values under different land uses and land cover types. The resulting map highlighted the relevance of snow gliding for large parts of the investigated area. Based on these results, we conclude that snow gliding appears to be a crucial and non-negligible process impacting soil erosion patterns and magnitude in subalpine areas with similar topographic and climatic conditions.

Download Full-text

Site Formation Processes and Long-term Changes in Land Use among Maritime Hunter-Gatherers: A Case Study at the Hamanaka-2 Site, Rebun Island, Hokkaido

Arctic Anthropology ◽

10.1353/arc.2011.0031 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 44 (2) ◽

pp. 31-50 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

T. Sakaguchi

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Site Formation ◽

Site Formation Processes ◽

Formation Processes ◽

Hunter Gatherers ◽

Long Term Changes ◽

Rebun Island

Download Full-text

The consequences for stream water quality of long-term changes in landscape patterns: Implications for land use management and policies

Land Use Policy ◽

10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105679 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 109 ◽

pp. 105679

Author(s):

António Carlos Pinheiro Fernandes ◽

Lisa Maria de Oliveira Martins ◽

Fernando António Leal Pacheco ◽

Luís Filipe Sanches Fernandes

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Land Use ◽

Stream Water ◽

Landscape Patterns ◽

Land Use Management ◽

Stream Water Quality ◽

Long Term Changes

Download Full-text

Assessment of land cover on soil erosion in Lam Phra Phloeng watershed by USLE model

MATEC Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/matecconf/201819202017 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 192 ◽

pp. 02017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jatuwat Wattanasetpong ◽

Uma Seeboonruang ◽

Uba Sirikaew ◽

Walter Chen

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Soil Erosion ◽

Land Cover ◽

Soil Loss ◽

Land Development ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Surface Erosion ◽

Agricultural Field ◽

Land Cover Data

Soil loss due to surface erosion has been a global problem not just for developing countries but also for developed countries. One of the factors that have greatest impact on soil erosion is land cover. The purpose of this study is to estimate the long-term average annual soil erosion in the Lam Phra Phloeng watershed, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand with different source of land cover by using the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and GIS (30 m grid cells) to calculate the six erosion factors (R, K, L, S, C, and P) of USLE. Land use data are from Land Development Department (LDD) and ESA Climate Change Initiative (ESA/CCI) in 2015. The result of this study show that mean soil erosion by using land cover from ESA/CCI is less than LDD (29.16 and 64.29 ton/ha/year respectively) because soil erosion mostly occurred in the agricultural field and LDD is a local department that survey land use in Thailand thus land cover data from this department have more details than ESA/CCI.

Download Full-text

Long-term changes in land use, land cover and vegetation in the Karoo drylands of South Africa: implications for degradation monitoring

African Journal of Range and Forage Science ◽

10.2989/10220119.2018.1516237 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 35 (3-4) ◽

pp. 209-221 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

M Timm Hoffman ◽

Andrew Skowno ◽

Wesley Bell ◽

Samukele Mashele

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Land Use ◽

Land Cover ◽

Land Use Land Cover ◽

Long Term Changes ◽

Degradation Monitoring

Download Full-text

Long- and Short-Term Changes of the Structure of Macrophytes in Lake Piaseczno in Relation to Land Use in the Łęczna-Włodawa Lakeland (Poland)

Transylvanian Review of Systematical and Ecological Research ◽

10.2478/trser-2013-0022 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 101-110

Author(s):

Joana Sender ◽

Weronika Maślanko

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Aquatic Plants ◽

Short Term ◽

Main Interest ◽

Central European ◽

Macrophyte Communities ◽

Long Term Changes ◽

Very High ◽

Macrophyte Structure

ABSTRACT The Łęczna-Włodawa Plain, known also as the Łęczna-Wlodawa Lakeland, lies within the territory of the largest subregion of the Polesie region, covering over 1,300 km2. The main interest of the Łęczna-Włodawa Lakeland is that it is the oldest in the Central European Lowlands group of about 68 lakes. Among such a large number of lakes there exist all trophic types. However, since the late 1950’s, enormous dynamics of change associated with the disappearance of oligo- and mesotrophic lakes and their transformation into eutrophic, even hypertrophic, lakes have been observed. One of the biocenotic elements of the lakes, which are indicators of these changes, is aquatic plants. The aim of this study was to determine the macrophyte structure of Piaseczno Lake and changes of land use in its surroundings. Piaseczno Lake still represents very high natural values. A reduction in the number of macrophyte communities, which occurred especially in 2008, was a consequence of the fast-growing recreation infrastructure. From 1976 until 2010 an area of recreation infrastructure in the studied area increased more than 3.5 times, and in the built-up area more than five times, as well as a doubling of the total length of the roads. Meanwhile the surface area of wetlands and peatbogs significantly decreased - more than 11 times. Long-term changes in the structure of the macrophyte communities show that the number of communities has varied in each year, probably as a consequence of changes in landuse. Analysis showed changes to the surfaces inhabited by macrophytes, which have decreased significantly over only four years, by more than 25%. However, the proportion of rush communities has increased.

Download Full-text