Land-Use Changes at Nest Sites of the Little Owl (Athene noctua) in the South-Moravian Region of the Czech Republic

Abstract The Little Owl is currently endangered bird species of agricultural lowland areas in Central Europe. Nesting sites of the Little Owl are often old trees as well as buildings and quarries with suitable nesting cavities. The Little Owl has severely declined in a major part of Europe during the past decades. Information on habitat requirements of the Little Owl and data related to land-use changes at nest sites (covering both the breeding and foraging habitats) are needed for conservation programmes aimed at this bird species. Land-use changes in farmland rank among frequently discussed negative factors causing the population decline of the Little Owl. The aim of this study is to analyse land-use changes at nest sites of the Little Owl in the South-Moravian region (Czech Republic) between the years 1976/1977 and 2014. In both studied periods (1976/1977 and 2014), the most important land-use type within 500 m from the nest sites of the Little Owl was arable land (66.94 % – 62.25 %), followed by built-up areas (19.97 % –22.41 %), while the other land-use types made up less than 5 %. The proportion of the particular land-use type did not change significantly between the years 1976/1977 and 2014. The most important change in comparison with the period 1976/1977 was the decrease in the area of arable land by 4.69 % and that of orchards and gardens by 1.99 %, while the surface of built-up areas increased slightly by 2.45 % and that of meadows and pastures by 1.5 %. The analysis shows that at the known nest sites of the Little Owl in the South-Moravian region (Czech Republic), there were no significant changes in the proportion of the particular land-use types within 500 m from the nests between the years 1976/1977 and 2014. Based on these results, we can conclude that in comparison with the availability of nest sites, which seems to be the important limiting factor for the occurrence and population density of the Little Owl, land-use changes in study area were not very important factor influencing decline of the Little Owl.

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Why a landscape view is important: nearby urban and agricultural land affects bird abundances in protected areas

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.10719 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

pp. e10719

Author(s):

Gregory Duncan Duckworth ◽

Res Altwegg

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Urban Area ◽

Protected Area ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Bird Species ◽

Grid Cell ◽

Land Use Type ◽

Bird Abundance ◽

Land Use Types

Protected areas are one of the primary conservation tools used worldwide. However, they are often embedded in a landscape that is intensely used by people, such as for agriculture or urban development. The proximity of these land-use types to protected areas can potentially affect the ecological effectiveness (or conservation effectiveness) of protected areas. In this article, we examine to what degree adjacent agricultural and urban land uses affect the ecological effectiveness of protected areas over the greater Gauteng region of South Africa. We selected 198 common, resident bird species, and analysed detection/non-detection data for these species collected over regular grid cells (approximately 61 km2 in area). For each species, we estimated abundance per grid cell with the Royle-Nichols model in relation to the proportion of protected area as a covariate. Our study focused on how this relationship between proportion of protected area and abundance (which we term the ‘protection–abundance relationship’) changed as a function of other land-use types in the grid cell. Specifically, we examined the interaction effects between protected area and both urban and agricultural land-use type per grid cell on bird abundance. We assigned each species to one of seven guilds, namely: frugivores, gleaners, granivores, ground-feeders, hawkers, predators and vegivores, and examined how the protection–abundance relationship varied across guilds in relation to agriculture and urban area. As urban area within a grid cell increased, the protection–abundance relationship became more positive for 58% of all species. At the level of guilds, the protection–abundance relationship became more positive for two guilds (granivores and ground-feeders), more negative for frugivores, and remained unchanged for the other four guilds (gleaners, hawkers, predators and vegivores). As agricultural area within a grid cell increased, the protection–abundance relationship became more positive for 49% of all species. At the guild level, the protection–abundance relationship became more positive for six guilds (frugivores, gleaners, ground-feeders, hawkers, predators and vegivores) and remained unchanged for the granivores. Our results show land-use type near protected areas modified the effect protected areas had on bird abundances, and hence the ecological effectiveness of protected areas. Our results suggest that protected areas should be viewed as constituents within the landscape, rather than islands of protection.

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Influences of land use changes on the dynamics of water quantity and quality in the German lowland catchment of the Stör

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-6777 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Chaogui Lei ◽

Paul Wagner ◽

Nicola Fohrer

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Land Use Changes ◽

Arable Land ◽

Hydrologic Model ◽

Water Quantity ◽

Water Yield ◽

Near Surface ◽

Daily Streamflow ◽

Land Use Types ◽

Water Quantity And Quality

<p>Understanding the impacts of land use changes (LUCC) on the dynamics of water quantity and quality is necessary to identify suitable mitigation measures that are needed for sustainable watershed management. Lowland catchments are characterized by a strong interaction of streamflow and near-surface groundwater that intensifies the risk of nutrient pollution. In this study, a hydrologic model (Soil and Water Assessment Tool, SWAT) and partial least squares regression (PLSR) were used to quantify the impacts of different land use types on the variations in actual evapotranspiration (ET), surface runoff (SQ), base flow (BF), and water yield (WYLD) as well as on sediment (SED), total phosphorus (TP), and total nitrogen (TN). To this end, the model was calibrated and validated with daily streamflow data (30 years) and daily sediment and nutrient data from measurement campaigns (3 years in total). Three model runs over thirty years were performed using the different land use maps of 1987, 2010, and 2019, respectively. Land use changes between those years were used to explain the modelled changes in water quantity and quality on the subbasin scale applying PLSR. SWAT achieved a good performance for streamflow (calibration: NSE=0.8, PBIAS=5.5%; validation: NSE=0.78, PBIAS=5.1%) and for TN (calibration: NSE=0.65, PBIAS= -11.3%; validation: NSE=0.87, PBIAS=2.7%) and an acceptable performance for sediment and TP (calibration: NSE=0.49-0.53, PBIAS=25.8% -29.7%; validation: 0.51-0.7, PBIAS= -23.9% - -8.7%) in St&#246;r catchment. The variations in ET, SQ, BF, WYLD, SED, TP, and TN could be explained to an extent of 67%-88% by changes in the area, shape, dominance, and aggregation of individual land use types. They were largely correlated with the major LUCC in the study area i.e. a decrease of arable land, and a respective increase of pasture and settlement. The change in the percentage of arable land affected the dynamics of SED, TP, TN and BF, indicated by a Variable Influence on Projection (VIP) > 1.2 and largest absolute regression coefficients (RCs: 0.45-0.72 for SED, TP, TN; -0.84 for BF). The change in pasture area affected ET, SED, TP, and TN, as indicated by VIPs >1. &#160;The change in settlement percentage had VIP up to 1.62 for SQ and was positively and significantly influenced it (RC: 1.28). PLSR helped to identify the key contributions from individual land use changes on water quantity and quality dynamics. These provide a quantitative basis for targeting most influential land use changes to mitigate impacts on water quality in the future.</p>

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Soil Quality Variation under Different Land Use Types in Haramosh Valley, Gilgit, Pakistan

International Journal of Economic and Environmental Geology ◽

10.46660/ojs.v10i2.259 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 32-37

Author(s):

Farida Begum ◽

Muneer Alam ◽

Sameena Mumtaz ◽

Manzoor Ali ◽

Seema Wafee ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Soil Quality ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Arable Land ◽

Soil Health ◽

Chemical Properties ◽

Land Use Type ◽

Rapid Urbanization ◽

Mean Values ◽

Land Use Types

Soil quality is a fundamental component of environmental quality and impact of land use is also a keydetrimental factor in today’s rapid urbanization era. The study aims to evaluate the effects of different land-use type on selected soil quality indicators. Sixty soil samples were collected from various land use types, i.e, pasture, forest and agriculture from a depth of 0-15cm. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the land use type significantly affected the soil’s physical and chemical properties. The moisture content was significantly higher (p<0.001) in the pasture (41.7%) than the forest (26.2%) and lowest in agricultural land (14.4%). The soil pH was significantly higher or slightly alkaline for agriculture (7.8), while for pasture (6.5) and forest (6.1), it was found to be slightly acidic. Electric conductivity (EC) and bulk density (BD) did not vary significantly with land use type, but the EC followed the decreasing order: forest (203.7μS/cm) < pasture (235μS/cm) < agriculture (328.7μS/cm). The soil organic matter (SOM) and soil organic carbon (SOC) significantly (p<0.05) differed with land use type and found in the order: forest (3.0%, 1.3 %) > pasture land (2.9%, 1.2%) > arable land (2.5%, 1.1%). NO3-N, available P and exchangeable K did not vary significantly across land use types. However, mean values were higher for agriculture (10.2mg/kg, 4.5mg/kg, 66mg/kg) than forest (10mg/kg,3.5mg/kg, 60mg/kg) and pasture (9.8mg/kg, 4.3, 60.2mg/kg). Alpine soils are good ecological indicators because of vulnerability to environmental change, therefore, regular monitoring of soil properties along with carbon stocks is essential to maintain soil health, enhance agricultural productivity and sustain agroecosystems.

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Land use changes in the last half century and their impact on water retention in the Šumava mountains and foothills (Czech Republic)

European Countryside ◽

10.1515/euco-2017-0007 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 116-131 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Václav Bystřický ◽

Jana Moravcová ◽

Jakub Polenský ◽

Jiří Pečenka

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Czech Republic ◽

Water Retention ◽

Land Use Changes ◽

Arable Land ◽

Landscape Management ◽

Intense Rainfall ◽

Herbaceous Vegetation ◽

Vegetation Water ◽

Positive Effect

Abstract Changes in land use and runoff characteristics in Otava river basin and its two subcatchment (Volšovka and Vydra) were examined. The goal was to find out how water retention have responded to changes in landscape management in Šumava mountains and foothills since the year 1970. There were two basic levels of changing land use - (a) conversion of arable land with varying intensity at different management of intensive and extensive grassland, (b) deforestation of large areas of indigenous mostly spruce monocultures and their transfer to the shrub and herbaceous vegetation covering the surface with a discontinuous vegetation. Water retention in Šumava mountains is locally reduced due to vulnerability of monoculture spruce forests by natural disasters (windstorms), diseases and pests. A positive effect of current agricultural management in the Šumava foothills on the reduction of direct runoff during intense rainfall was confirmed.

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Influences of land use changes on the dynamics of water quantity and quality in the German lowland catchment of the Stör

10.5194/hess-2021-476 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Chaogui Lei ◽

Paul D. Wagner ◽

Nicola Fohrer

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Land Use ◽

Land Use Changes ◽

Arable Land ◽

Hydrologic Model ◽

Water Quantity ◽

Near Surface ◽

Daily Streamflow ◽

Land Use Types ◽

Water Quantity And Quality

Abstract. Understanding the impacts of land use changes (LUCC) on the dynamics of water quantity and quality is necessary to identify suitable mitigation measures that are needed for sustainable watershed management. Lowland catchments are characterized by a strong interaction of streamflow and near-surface groundwater that intensifies the risk of nutrient pollution. This study aims to reveal the relationship between long-term land use change and the water and nutrient balance in a typical lowland catchment in northern Germany. A hydrologic model (Soil and Water Assessment Tool, SWAT) and partial least squares regression (PLSR) were used to quantify the impacts of different land use types on the variations in actual evapotranspiration (ET), surface runoff (SQ), base flow (BF), and water yield (WYLD) as well as on sediment yield (SED), total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN) loads. To this end, the model was calibrated and validated with daily streamflow data (30 years) as well as sediment and nutrient data from two water quality measurement campaigns (3 years in total). Three model runs over thirty years were performed using land use maps of 1987, 2010, and 2019, respectively. Land use changes between those years were used to explain the modelled changes in water quantity and quality on the subbasin scale applying PLSR. SWAT achieved a very good performance for daily streamflow values (calibration: NSE = 0.79, KGE = 0.88, PBIAS = 0.3 %; validation: NSE = 0.79, KGE = 0.87, PBIAS = 7.2 %), a satisfactory to very good performance for daily TN (calibration: NSE = 0.64, KGE = 0.71, PBIAS = −11.5 %; validation: NSE = 0.86, KGE = 0.91, PBIAS = 5 %), a satisfactory performance for daily sediment load (NSE = 0.54–0.65, KGE = 0.58–0.59, PBIAS = −22.2 %–12 %), and an acceptable performance for daily TP (calibration: NSE = 0.56, KGE = 0.65, PBIAS = −4.7 %; validation: NSE = 0.29, KGE = 0.22, PBIAS = −46.2 %) in the Stör Catchment. The variations in ET, SQ, BF, WYLD, SED, TP, and TN could be explained to an extent of 61 %–88 % by changes in the area, shape, dominance, and aggregation of individual land use types. They were largely correlated with the major LUCC in the study area i.e. a decrease of arable land, and a respective increase of pasture and settlement. The change in the areal percentage of arable land positively affected the dynamics of SED, TP, TN and negatively affected BF, indicated by a Variable Influence on Projection (VIP) > 1.16 and large absolute regression coefficients (RCs: 0.6–0.88 for SED, TP, TN; −1.65 for BF). The change in pasture area was negatively affecting SED, TP, and TN (RCs: −0.69–−0.12, VIPs > 1) while positively affecting ET (RC: 0.09, VIP: 0.92). The change in settlement percentage had a VIP of up to 1.17 for SQ and positively and significantly influenced it (RC: 1.16, p-value < 0.001). PLSR helped to identify the key contributions from individual land use changes on water quantity and quality dynamics. These provide a quantitative basis for targeting most influential land use changes to mitigate impacts on water quality in the future.

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Soil Quality Variation under Different Land Use Types in Haramosh Valley, Gilgit, Pakistan

International Journal of Economic and Environmental Geology ◽

10.46660/ijeeg.vol10.iss2.2019.259 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 32-37

Author(s):

Farida Begum ◽

Muneer Alam ◽

Sameena Mumtaz ◽

Manzoor Ali ◽

Seema Wafee ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Soil Quality ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Arable Land ◽

Soil Health ◽

Chemical Properties ◽

Land Use Type ◽

Rapid Urbanization ◽

Mean Values ◽

Land Use Types

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Assessment of the soil loss caused by riverbank erosion in Serbia

Glasnik srpskog geografskog drustva ◽

10.2298/gsgd2101031l ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 101 (1) ◽

pp. 31-47

Author(s):

Marko Langovic ◽

Slavoljub Dragicevic ◽

Ivan Novkovic ◽

Nenad Zivkovic ◽

Radislav Tosic ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Soil Loss ◽

Large Scale ◽

Temporal Dynamics ◽

Land Use Changes ◽

Arable Land ◽

Aerial Photographs ◽

Lateral Migration ◽

Channel Migration ◽

Riverbank Erosion

Riverbank erosion and lateral channel migration are important geomorphological processes which cause various landscape, socio-economic, and environmental consequences. Although those processes are present on the territory of Serbia, there is no available data about the soil loss caused by riverbank erosion for the entire country. In this study, the spatial and temporal dynamics of the riverbank erosion for the largest internal rivers in Serbia (Velika Morava, Zapadna Morava, Juzna Morava, Pek, Mlava, Veliki Timok, Kolubara) was assessed using remote sensing and GIS. The aim of this paper is to determine the total and average soil loss over large-scale periods (1923-2020), comparing data from the available sources (aerial photographs, satellite images, and different scale paper maps). Results indicated that lateral migration caused significant problems through land loss (approximately 2,561 ha), especially arable land, and land use changes in river basins, but also economic loss due to the reduction of agricultural production. Total and average soil loss was calculated for five most representative meanders on all studied rivers, and on the basis of the obtained values, certain regularities about further development and dynamics of riverbank movement are presented. A better understanding of river channel migration in this area will be of a great importance for practical issues such as predicting channel migration rates for river engineering and planning purposes, soil and water management and land use changes, environment protection.

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Drinking Water Security in the Mid-hill Region of Nepal

ASEJ Scientific Journal of Bielsko-Biala School of Finance and Law ◽

10.5604/01.3001.0014.1351 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 24 (1) ◽

pp. 44-48

Author(s):

Durga D. Poudel ◽

Timothy W. Duex ◽

Roshan Poudel

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Drinking Water ◽

Water Samples ◽

Water Security ◽

Total Coliform ◽

Spring Water ◽

Land Use Type ◽

Hill Region ◽

Land Use Types ◽

Spring Type

Drinking water security is increasingly becoming a global concern in recent decades. The mid-hill region of Nepal is also experiencing serious water shortages in recent years. In order to assess the availability of drinking water in the mid-hill regions of Nepal, we studied hydrogeology, land use types and collected water samples from 30 springs in Kavre, Kahmandu Valley, Nuwakot and Tanahu in Nepal between July 17-September 12, 2017. For each sampling spring, while surrounding land use type (mixed, agriculture, urban, vegetation) and spring type (fracture, depression, contact) were determined through field observation, the field pH, conductivity and temperature was determined using relevant probes and thermometers. Water samples were collected in 1L and 165mL plastic bottles for chemical and total coliform determination, respectively, in the lab. Bottles were rinsed twice using spring water before filling them with sample water, then stored in an ice chest, and brought to the lab. In the laboratory, turbidity, conductivity, Ca, Mg, HCO3, SO4, Na, NO3, Cl, Fe, As, and total coliform were determined using standard methods. Spring water in agricultural areas showed significantly higher suspended solids compared to other land use types whereas spring water in urban areas showed significantly higher dissolved substances. By spring type, turbidity and conductivity values and the concentration of dissolved constituents (Ca, Mg, HCO3, SO4, NO3, and Cl) were ranked in the order of fracture < contact < depression. Na and Fe concentration were in the order of fracture = contact < depression. By land-use type, conductivity and dissolved constituents (Ca, Mg, HCO3) were in the order of agriculture < vegetation < mixed < urban. Whereas urban land use had the highest values for SO4, Na, NO3, and Cl, other land use types showed variable order. Fe concentration was ranked in the order of urban < mixed < vegetation < agriculture. Total coliform was in the order of mixed < agriculture < urban < vegetation. These results indicate that land use type and surface condition, which is possibly associated with human activities, heavily affect spring water properties in the region. These results suggest that drinking water security of mid-hill region of Nepal is threatened heavily due to poor spring water quality. Protection of drinking water sources should be specific to land use type and activities around the springs. Index Terms— three to six pertinent, specific to the paper, keywords added after the abstract, separated by commas.

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Forms and Dynamics of Soil Potassium in Acid Soil in the Wolaita Zone of Southern Ethiopia

10.20944/preprints202105.0287.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Mesfin Kassa ◽

Wassie Haile ◽

fassile kebede

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Ammonium Acetate ◽

Water Soluble ◽

Land Use Type ◽

Exchangeable Potassium ◽

Management Options ◽

Grazing Land ◽

Soil Potassium ◽

Crop Land ◽

Land Use Types

Quantity-intensity characteristics are among conventional approaches for studying potassium dynamics and its availability; this was assessed to determine availability in four districts: namely, Sodo Zuria, Damot Gale, Damot Sore, and Boloso Sore at three different land use type viz., enset-coffee, crop land, and grazing land. There was water soluble, ammonium acetate, nitric acid extractable potassium, exchangeable potassium, and non-exchangeable potassium studied in soil samples, which were collected from 0-20 cm depth of each land type. The study revealed that water soluble and ammonium acetate extractable potassium concentrations ranged from 0.04 to 0.42 cmolKg-1 soils enset-coffee and grazing land use types, respectively. The study showed that exchangeable potassium constituted the highest proportion of available potassium, while the proportion of water soluble potassium was found to be the lowest. In this study, non-exchangeable potassium concentrations varied from 0.10 to 0.04cmolKg-1soils for enset-coffee, and crop and grazing land use type. Furthermore, available potassium and exchangeable potassium concentrations were positively correlated with OC(r=0.95***), cation exchange capacity, and sand and clay(r=0.98***). In addition, the K dynamics as impacted by land use types found that the highest change in exchangeable potassium (0.31cmolkg-1soils) and potential buffering capacity (1.79cmolkg-1soils) were noted in crop land use types, whereas the lowest change(1.26cmolkg-1 soils) was observed in the enset-coffee system, The varying properties, potassium status, dynamic and land use type of soils identified in the study areas provided adequate information to design soil potassium management options and further research about the soil in each site. Therefore, application of site specific soil fertility management practices and research can improve soil potassium status and quantity intensity parameters to sustain crop productive soils.

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