scholarly journals The Impact of Late Holocene Flood Management on the Central Po Plain (Northern Italy)

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 3968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filippo Brandolini ◽  
Mauro Cremaschi
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Land Reclamation ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Flood Management ◽  
Po Plain ◽  
The Impact

Fluvial environments have always played a crucial role in human history. The necessity of fertile land and fresh water for agriculture has led populations to settle in floodplains more frequently than in other environments. Floodplains are complex human–water systems in which the mutual interaction between anthropogenic activities and environment affected the landscape development. In this paper, we analyzed the evolution of the Central Po Plain (Italy) during the Medieval period through a multi-proxy record of geomorphological, archaeological and historical data. The collapse of the Western Roman Empire (5th century AD) coincided with a progressive waterlogging of large floodplain areas. The results obtained by this research shed new light on the consequences that Post-Roman land and water management activities had on landscape evolution. In particular, the exploitation of fluvial sediments through flood management practices had the effect of reclaiming the swamps, but also altered the natural geomorphological development of the area. Even so, the Medieval human activities were more in equilibrium with the natural system than with the later Renaissance large-scale land reclamation works that profoundly modified the landscape turning the wetland environment into the arable land visible today. The analysis of fluvial palaeoenvironments and their relation with past human activities can provide valuable indications for planning more sustainable urbanized alluvial landscapes in future.

A Study on Social Awareness about Deforestation in India

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
S. Nivithra ◽  
K.S. Shoba Jasmin
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
General Public ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Forest Resources ◽  
Social Awareness ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Impact

Forests keep our climate stable, absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, and they regulate our water supply and improve its quality. Forests are vulnerable to anthropogenic activities which affect the biodiversity with adverse socio-economic and environmental impacts. Large-scale destruction of the forests began with the British who wished to utilise the timber and the natural resources for the expansion and continuation of the empire. Over recent decades, human activity has also severely impacted the habitats and natural resources that wildlife and humanity depend on such as oceans, forests, coral reefs, wetlands and mangroves. This study attempted to analyse the level of awareness among the general public about deforestation in India. The impact of deforestation is poorly understood and the rate of deforestation is alarming the environmentalists wishing to protect the wildlife and forest resources. The causes and impacts of deforestation are associated with human activities but the linkage is not clearly understood by the public and the level of awareness is poor.

scholarly journals Impacts of human activities on tidal dynamics in a sexta-diurnal tidal resonant bay

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiyun Zhang ◽  
Dehai Song ◽  
Wen Wu ◽  
Xianwen Bao
Keyword(s):  
Human Activities ◽  
Tidal Current ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Land Reclamation ◽  
Tidal Energy ◽  
Water Area ◽  
Tidal Dynamics ◽  
Tidal Elevation ◽  
Current Magnitude ◽  
The Impact

Using numerical modelling, we study changes in tidal dynamics in Daya Bay (DYB) between 1989 and 2014. During this period, a total water area of 30 km2 was reclaimed and the average water depth increased by 38 cm. As DYB is a sexta-diurnal tidal resonant bay, the sexta-diurnal tides respond differently to the coastline and bathymetry changes than other tides. Taking K1, M2, M4, and M6 as examples, model results show a decrease in tidal elevation amplitude, tidal current magnitude, and tidal energy flux for K1, M2, and M4 tides. For the M6 tide, however, the model predicted an increase in tidal elevation amplitude, tidal current magnitude in some parts of the bay, and the tidal energy flowing into the bay. Land reclamation leads to the enhancement of sexta-diurnal tidal resonance and thus the magnitude of the M6 tide. Furthermore, due to the magnification of M6, tidal duration asymmetry in DYB changed from ebb-dominance to flood-dominance, and water exchange became much more active. Therefore, owing to the sexta-diurnal tidal resonance, the impact of human activities on tidal dynamics in DYB is different from that in previously reported semi-enclosed bays where large-scale land reclamation has been carried out.

scholarly journals Impacts of Human Activities on Hydrodynamic Structures during the Dry Season in the Modaomen Estuary

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1327
Author(s):  
Changjie Liu ◽  
Ziyue Zhong ◽  
Yiqing Xiao ◽  
Xiaoqi Chen ◽  
Minghui Yu
Keyword(s):  
Human Activities ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Land Reclamation ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Hydrodynamic Characteristics ◽  
Tidal Dynamics ◽  
Modaomen Estuary ◽  
The Pearl River ◽  
The Impact

Over the past few decades, the topography and river-tide-salt dynamic characteristics of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) have undergone a myriad of changes due to the unnatural evolution process induced by diverse human activities, such as dam construction, land reclamation, sand excavation, and dredging for navigation. To investigate the impact of human activities on hydrodynamic structures in the PRD of the Modaomen Estuary (ME) during the dry season, a three-dimensional river-tide-salt dynamic model was used to simulate the hydrodynamic characteristics of the ME for different historical periods. The model results indicate that large-scale land reclamation weakened the tidal dynamics and mixing effects in the ME, promoting gravity circulation with opposite velocity directions at the surface and bottom within 15 km downstream of the estuary. Additionally, riverbed downcutting enhanced the tidal dynamics, which intensified saltwater intrusion, leading to the spatial scale-of-gravity circulation expanding 1–2 times. The enhancement of riverbed downcutting on the tidal dynamics in the ME was significantly greater than the weakening effect of land reclamation. Hence, due to the comprehensive influence of human activities between the 1970s and 2010, the hydrodynamic structures in the ME changed from a state of atypical gravity circulation, with nonobvious stratification, to a state of highly stratified and large-scale gravity circulation. The pollutant diffusion in the ME under different scenarios is also discussed in this paper. The results show that reclamation results in weakening of tidal dynamics, which is not conducive to the mixing and diffusion of pollutants in the estuary. However, the narrowed estuary due to land reclamation is conducive to the rapid entry of pollutants into the open sea.

A geomorphometric approach to estimate soil volumes stored in agricultural terrace systems

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Cucchiaro ◽  
Guido Paliaga ◽  
Daniel J. Fallu ◽  
Ben R. Pears ◽  
Kevin Walsh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Agricultural Systems ◽  
Soil Thickness ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Geomorphological Features

<p>Geomorphometric information can be exploited to study the most extensive and common landforms that humans have ever produced: agricultural terraces. An understanding of these historical ecosystems can only be determined through in-depth knowledge of their origin, evolution, and current state in the landscape. These factors can ultimately assist in the future preservation of such landforms in a world increasingly affected by anthropogenic activities. High-resolution topographic (HRT) techniques allow the mapping and characterization of geomorphological features with wide-ranging perspectives at multiple scales. From HRT surveys, it is possible to produce high-resolution Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) to extract important geomorphometric parameters such as topographic curvature, to identify terrace edges, even if abandoned or covered by uncontrolled vegetation. By using riser bases as well as terrace edges (riser tops) and through the computation of minimum curvature, it is possible to obtain environmentally useful information on these agricultural systems such as terrace soil thickness and volumes. The quantification of terrace volumes can provide new benchmarks for soil erosion models, new perspectives for land and stakeholders for terrace management in terms of natural hazard and offer a measure of the effect of these agricultural systems on soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration. This work aims to realize and test an innovative and rapid methodological workflow to estimate the minimum anthropogenic reworked and moved soil of terrace systems in different landscapes. This aspect of new technology and its application to terrace soil-systems has not been fully explored in the literature. We start with remote terrace mapping at a large scale (using Airborne Laser Scanning) and then utilize more detailed HRT surveys (i.e., Structure from Motion and Terrestrial Laser Scanning) to extract geomorphological features, from which the original theoretical slope-surface of terrace systems were derived. These last elements were compared with in-field sedimentological recording obtained from the excavations across the study sites to assess the nature of sub-surface topographies. The results of this work have produced accurate DTMs of Difference (DoD) for three terrace sites in central Europe in Italy and Belgium. The utilization of ground-truthing through field excavation and sampling has confirmed the reliability of the methodology used across a range of sites with very specific terrace morphologies, and in each case has confirmed the nature of the reconstructed, theoretical original slope. Differences between actual and theoretical terraces from DTM and excavation evidence have been used to estimate the minimum soil volumes and masses used to remould slopes. Moreover, geomorphometric analysis through indices such as sediment connectivity permitted also to quantify the volume of sediment transported downstream, with the associated and mobilized C, after a collapsed terrace. The quantification of terrace soil volumes provides extremely useful standards for further multi-disciplinary analysis on the terrace sediments themselves, aiding physical geographers, geoarchaeologists, palaeo-environmentalists, and landscape historians in the understanding of terrace systems and the impact of agricultural processes on the landscape.</p>

scholarly journals Attribution Analysis of Hydrological Drought Risk Under Climate Change and Human Activities: A Case Study on Kuye River Basin in China

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1958 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhang ◽  
Wang ◽  
Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Drought Severity ◽  
Drought Risk ◽  
Drought Duration ◽  
Recurrence Period ◽  
The Impact

This study conducted quantitative diagnosis on the impact of climate change and human activities on drought risk. Taking the Kuye river basin (KRB) in China as the research area, we used variation point diagnosis, simulation of precipitation and runoff, drought risk assessment, and attribution quantification. The results show that: (1) the annual runoff sequence of KRB changed significantly after 1979, which was consistent with the introduction of large-scale coal mining; (2) under the same drought recurrence period, the drought duration and severity in the human activity stage were significantly worse than in the natural and simulation stages, indicating that human activities changed the drought risk in this area; and (3) human activities had little impact on drought severity in the short duration and low recurrence period, but had a greater impact in the long duration and high recurrence period. These results provide scientific guidance for the management, prevention, and resistance of drought; and guarantee sustainable economic and social development in the KRB.

scholarly journals Study on the Variation of Annual Runoff and Influencing Factors in Kuye River during the Past 60 Years

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
Zhihua MA ◽  
Qiaoling GUO ◽  
Ning SU
Keyword(s):  
Human Activities ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
High Strength ◽  
Annual Runoff ◽  
Runoff Variation ◽  
Runoff Reduction ◽  
Filter Methods ◽  
Runoff Series ◽  
Concentration Degree ◽  
The Impact

In this study, observed runoff series from a hydro-station respectively named Wenjiachuan station in the Kuye river was manipulated for monthly annual variation analysis assisted by using nonuniformity coefficient and concentration degree(period).the cumulative filter methods was employed to detect the trend of inner-annual runoff. Based on meteorological and hydrological data of the Wenjiachuan hydrologic station from 1955 to 2015, the paper studied the variation tendency, the abrupt and periodic changes of annual runoff using the Mann-Kendall non-parametric test and accumulation anomaly curve. Double mass curve was used to estimate the impact of human activities and climate change on the runoff variation. The curve of seasonal runoff distribution for Wenjiachuan station appeared two peak patterns. The annual runoff declined markedly, the effect of climate on runoff decreased, the influence of human activities on runoff gradually increased the human activities are the primary factors leading to the reduction of annual runoff. In human activities, large-scale water and soil conservation measures and high-strength coal mining have produced significant effects on the annual runoff reduction in Kuye River.

scholarly journals Effect of Large-Scale Cultivated Land Expansion on the Balance of Soil Carbon and Nitrogen in the Tarim Basin

Agronomy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erqi Xu ◽  
Hongqi Zhang ◽  
Yongmei Xu
Keyword(s):  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Tarim Basin ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Land Reclamation ◽  
C:N Ratio ◽  
Carbon And Nitrogen ◽  
Cultivation Time ◽  
Soil Carbon And Nitrogen ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
The Impact

Land reclamation influences the soil carbon and nitrogen cycling, but its scale and time effects on the balance of soil carbon and nitrogen are still uncertain. Taking the Tarim Basin as the study area, the impact of land reclamation on the soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), and carbon to nitrogen (C:N) ratio was explored by the multiple temporal changes of land use and soil samples. Remote sensing detected that cropland nearly doubled in area from 1978 to 2015. Spatial analysis techniques were used to identify land changes, including the prior land uses and cultivation ages. Using land reclamation history information, a specially designed soil sampling was conducted in 2015 and compared to soil properties in ca. 1978. Results found a decoupling characteristic between the C:N ratio and SOC or TN, indicating that changes in SOC and TN do not correspond directly to changes in the C:N ratio. The land reclamation history coupled with the baseline effect has opposite impacts on the temporal rates of change in SOC, TN and C:N ratios. SOC and TN decreased during the initial stage of conversion to cropland and subsequently recovered with increasing cultivation time. By contrast, the C:N ratio for soils derived from grassland increased at the initial stage but the increase declined when cultivated longer, and the C:N ratio decreased for soils derived from forest and fluctuated with the cultivation time. Lower C:N ratios than the global average and its decreasing trend with increasing reclamation age were found in newly reclaimed croplands from grasslands. Sustainable agricultural management practices are suggested to enhance the accumulation of soil carbon and nitrogen, as well as to increase the C:N ratio to match the nitrogen deposition to a larger carbon sequestration.

Tracking mass death during the fall of Rome’s empire (I)

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 325-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael McCormick
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Roman Empire ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Roman History ◽  
Gastrointestinal Infections ◽  
Mass Graves ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health And Mortality ◽  
Over Time

This is the first part of a two-part article; the second, “A first inventory of mass graves from late antiquity”, will appear in JRA 29 (2016) as well as on the CJO website.The Roman empire was more than a system of institutions, beliefs and socio-economic structures; it was a concentration of human capital, physically located in the demographic strength of the population. Human health and mortality crucially affected, and reflected, the economy. As less optimistic interpretations of Late Roman history regain traction, it becomes important to find ways to test such interpretations, including their biological manifestations and implications. One approach would be to map over time and space large-scale violence and disease-driven surges in mortality, as well as chronic factors that may have more gradually eroded the empire’s human capital. Biomolecular archaeology and pathogen genetics are sparking novel explorations of ancient diseases, which ranged from the spectacularly acute to the chronic – malaria, leprosy or tuberculosis –, not to mention seasonal spikes in more routine gastrointestinal infections and the like. Individually and especially cumulatively, the impact of acute and chronic factors could have been of considerable magnitude. The same is true for environmental conditions; thanks to the advances of paleoclimate science, we now know that they too varied unexpectedly, and surely could affect population health.

scholarly journals Social networks influence farming practices and agrarian sustainability

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. e0244619
Author(s):  
Amaia Albizua ◽  
Elena M. Bennett ◽  
Guillaume Larocque ◽  
Robert W. Krause ◽  
Unai Pascual
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Agricultural Intensification ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Farming Community ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Impact

The social-ecological effects of agricultural intensification are complex. We explore farmers’ perceptions about the impacts of their land management and the impact of social information flows on their management through a case study in a farming community in Navarra, Spain, that is undergoing agricultural intensification due to adoption of large scale irrigation. We found that modern technology adopters are aware that their management practices often have negative social-ecological implications; by contrast, more traditional farmers tend to recognize their positive impacts on non-material benefits such as those linked with traditions and traditional knowledge, and climate regulation. We found that farmers’ awareness about nature contributions to people co-production and their land management decisions determine, in part, the structure of the social networks among the farming community. Since modern farmers are at the core of the social network, they are better able to control the information flow within the community. This has important implications, such as the fact that the traditional farmers, who are more aware of their impacts on the environment, rely on information controlled by more intensive modern farmers, potentially jeopardizing sustainable practices in this region. We suggest that this might be counteracted by helping traditional farmers obtain information tailored to their practices from outside the social network.

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