scholarly journals Hydraulic Shortcuts Increase the Connectivity of Arable Land Areas to Surface Waters

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Urs Schönenberger ◽  
Christian Stamm
Keyword(s):  
Surface Waters ◽  
Surface Runoff ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
National Level ◽  
Aerial Images ◽  
Major Pathway ◽  
Pesticide Transport ◽  
Storm Drainage ◽  
Agricultural Areas

Abstract. Surface runoff represents a major pathway for pesticide transport from agricultural areas to surface waters. The influence of man-made structures (e.g. roads, hedges, ditches) on surface runoff connectivity has been shown in various studies. In Switzerland, so-called hydraulic shortcuts (e.g. inlets and maintenance manholes of road or field storm drainage systems) have been shown to influence surface runoff connectivity and related pesticide transport. Their occurrence, and their influence on surface runoff and pesticide connectivity have however not been studied systematically. To address that deficit, we randomly selected 20 study areas (average size = 3.5 km2) throughout the Swiss plateau, representing arable cropping systems. We assessed shortcut occurrence in these study areas using three mapping methods: field mapping, drainage plans, and high-resolution aerial images. Surface runoff connectivity in the study areas was analysed using a 2 × 2 m digital elevation model and a multiple-flow algorithm. Parameter uncertainty affecting this analysis was addressed by a Monte Carlo simulation. With our approach, agricultural areas were divided into areas that are either directly connected to surface waters, indirectly (i.e. via hydraulic shortcuts), or not connected at all. Finally, the results of this connectivity analysis were scaled up to the national level using a regression model based on topographic descriptors. Inlets of the road storm drainage system were identified as the main shortcuts. On average, we found 0.84 inlets and a total of 2.0 manholes per hectare of agricultural land. In the study catchments between 43 and 74 % of the agricultural area is connected to surface waters via hydraulic shortcuts. On the national level, this fraction is similar (54 %). These numbers suggest that transport through hydraulic shortcuts is an important pesticide flow path in a landscape where many engineered structures exist to drain excess water from fields and roads. However, this transport process is currently not considered in Swiss pesticide legislation and authorisation. Therefore, current regulations may fall short to address the full extent of the pesticide problem. Overall, the findings highlight the relevance of better understanding the connectivity between fields and receiving waters and the underlying factors and physical structures in the landscape.

scholarly journals Hydraulic shortcuts increase the connectivity of arable land areas to surface waters

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 1727-1746
Author(s):  
Urs Schönenberger ◽  
Christian Stamm
Keyword(s):  
Surface Waters ◽  
Surface Runoff ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
National Level ◽  
Aerial Images ◽  
Pesticide Transport ◽  
Connectivity Model ◽  
Storm Drainage ◽  
Agricultural Areas

Abstract. Surface runoff represents a major pathway for pesticide transport from agricultural areas to surface waters. The influence of artificial structures (e.g. roads, hedges, and ditches) on surface runoff connectivity has been shown in various studies. In Switzerland, so-called hydraulic shortcuts (e.g. inlet and maintenance shafts of road or field storm drainage systems) have been shown to influence surface runoff connectivity and related pesticide transport. Their occurrence and their influence on surface runoff and pesticide connectivity have, however, not been studied systematically. To address that deficit, we randomly selected 20 study areas (average size of 3.5 km2) throughout the Swiss plateau, representing arable cropping systems. We assessed shortcut occurrence in these study areas using three mapping methods, namely field mapping, drainage plans, and high-resolution aerial images. Surface runoff connectivity in the study areas was analysed using a 2×2 m digital elevation model and a multiple-flow algorithm. Parameter uncertainty affecting this analysis was addressed by a Monte Carlo simulation. With our approach, agricultural areas were divided into areas that are either directly, indirectly (i.e. via hydraulic shortcuts), or not at all connected to surface waters. Finally, the results of this connectivity analysis were scaled up to the national level, using a regression model based on topographic descriptors, and were then compared to an existing national connectivity model. Inlet shafts of the road storm drainage system were identified as the main shortcuts. On average, we found 0.84 inlet shafts and a total of 2.0 shafts per hectare of agricultural land. In the study catchments, between 43 % and 74 % of the agricultural area is connected to surface waters via hydraulic shortcuts. On the national level, this fraction is similar and lies between 47 % and 60 %. Considering our empirical observations led to shifts in estimated fractions of connected areas compared to the previous connectivity model. The differences were most pronounced in flat areas of river valleys. These numbers suggest that transport through hydraulic shortcuts is an important pesticide flow path in a landscape where many engineered structures exist to drain excess water from fields and roads. However, this transport process is currently not considered in Swiss pesticide legislation and authorization. Therefore, current regulations may fall short in addressing the full extent of the pesticide problem. However, independent measurements of water flow and pesticide transport to quantify the contribution of shortcuts and validating the model results are lacking. Overall, the findings highlight the relevance of better understanding the connectivity between fields and receiving waters and the underlying factors and physical structures in the landscape.

scholarly journals GLOBALIZING DESERTIFICATION AND DROUGHT PROBLEM: THE VULNERABILITY OF AGRICULTURAL LANDS IN THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (50) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
International System ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Source Information ◽  
Agricultural Lands ◽  
Agricultural Areas ◽  
Food Vulnerability

This study focuses globally on the effects of desertification and drought on agricultural lands. Desertification, which shows more its effects from region to region all over the world and particularly on certain continents, contains factors that will disturb the human future. One of these negative factors is the risk of creating food vulnerability by directly damaging agricultural areas. The risk of desertification reducing the quality of human life and threatening other living plants and habitats is a very important issue that should be highlighted by the international system. In this context, the study draws attention to the negative impact of global desertification, as well as the reduction of agricultural and arable land and the risks of declining crop yields. Among other problems caused by desertification, the study emphasizes socio-economic instability due to migration and climate-related conflicts, world hunger and lack of grain and food. In the study, the literature on global desertification, drought and arable agricultural land was searched and selected source information from the literature is included in the study. In addition, the study was supported by maps, graphs, and tables, as well as desertification researches and analyzes. Due to the limitation of the pages, other factors, such as global warming triggering desertification, have not been addressed, and environmental issues, which are directly damaged by desertification other than arable agricultural areas, are excluded from the field of this study. Keywords: Desertification, drought, arable agriculture, food insecurity, hunger, vulnerability

scholarly journals Use of Disposed Agricultural Lands in LLC “Alliance-Agro” in the Sengileevsky District of the Ulyanovsk Region

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 00153
Author(s):  
Olga Tsapovskaya ◽  
Elena Provalova ◽  
Yuri Ermoshkin ◽  
Nikolay Khvostov ◽  
Oksana Khamzina
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Agricultural Crop ◽  
Unused Land ◽  
Ulyanovsk Region ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Agricultural Areas ◽  
Trees And Shrubs

The paper studies the issue of the use of disposed agricultural land through the example of LLC “Alliance-agro in Sengileevsky district of the Ulyanovsk region. The authors consider the grounds for cultural and technical work and provide the results of a survey of unused arable land on the farm. A technology for the development of disposed agricultural land is proposed. Everyone knows that agricultural land is of particular importance as a means of agricultural production and is the second largest category of land in the unified land fund of the Russian Federation in terms of area, which includes the best and fertile lands making up the heritage of the country. Despite the fact that the schemes for the use of agricultural land are developed, many questions of a theoretical, methodological and applied nature need to be improved, since this is associated with incessant changes in the legal and organizational systems of land use. As a result of irrational use of land, degradation, littering, overgrowing with trees and shrubs of agricultural areas occurs. These processes lead to the fact that fertile lands are withdrawn from circulation. Our research is aimed to solve the problems in the field of the improvement of the cadastral registration of lands, the process of the organization of rational land use, as well as the most effective use of unused lands overgrown with trees and shrubs. The solution to this problem will help the rational transformation of the agricultural land use system and increase in their efficiency. Moreover it will help to solve the problem of the involvement of unused land in agricultural production and increase the efficiency of cadastral registration of agricultural land. As a result of the land clearing proposed by the authors, the sites of this object will be put into agricultural circulation, where any zoned agricultural crop can be grown from the first year of development in case of a favorable water-air regime in the root layer and complex agrochemical cultivation.

scholarly journals Historical Arable Land Change in an Eco-Fragile Area: A Case Study in Zhenlai County, Northeastern China

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 3940 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanyuan Yang ◽  
Shuwen Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Agricultural Activity ◽  
Reconstruction Method ◽  
Land Change ◽  
Land Transformation ◽  
Mass Migration ◽  
Agricultural Areas

Long-term land changes are cumulatively a major driver of global environmental change. Historical land-cover/use change is important for assessing present landscape conditions and researching ecological environment issues, especially in eco-fragile areas. Arable land is one of the land types influenced by human agricultural activity, reflecting human effects on land-use and land-cover change. This paper selected Zhenlai County, which is part of the farming–pastoral zone of northern China, as the research region. As agricultural land transformation goes with the establishment of settlements, in this research, the historical progress of land transformation in agricultural areas was analyzed from the perspective of settlement evolution, and the historical reconstruction of arable land was established using settlement as the proxy between their inner relationships, which could be reflected by the farming radius. The results show the following. (1) There was little land transformation from nonagricultural areas into agricultural areas until the Qing government lifted the ban on cultivation and mass migration accelerated the process, which was most significant during 1907–1912; (2) The overall trend of land transformation in this region is from northeast to southwest; (3) Taking the topographic maps as references, the spatial distribution of the reconstructed arable land accounts for 47.79% of the maps. When this proxy-based reconstruction method is applied to other regions, its limitations should be noticed. It is important to explore the research of farming radius calculations based on regional characteristics. To achieve land-system sustainability, long-term historical land change trajectories and characteristics should be applied to future policy making.

What pesticide legislation forgot about: Pesticide transport through hydraulic shortcuts

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Urs Schönenberger ◽  
Christian Stamm
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Surface Waters ◽  
Flow Direction ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Tile Drainage ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Transport Pathway ◽  
Drainage Systems ◽  
Pesticide Transport

<p>Pesticides from agricultural origin may harm surface water quality and pose a risk for aquatic organisms. In Europe, the regulations on agricultural pesticide usage are currently focusing on “classical” pesticide transport pathways, such as surface runoff, spray drift into surface waters, or tile drainage flow. Recent studies have shown that in certain cases also so-called <em>hydraulic shortcuts</em> (e.g. road storm drains, or manholes of the tile drainage systems) can be of major importance for pesticide transport into surface waters. However, until now research has widely neglected this transport pathway.</p><p>In this study, we investigated the relevance of hydraulic shortcuts for the pesticide transport from arable land to surface waters in Switzerland. We selected twenty small catchments throughout the Swiss midlands as study areas by performing a weighted random selection on a nation-wide hydrological catchment stratification dataset. On average, they have an area of 3.5 km<sup>2</sup> with a fraction of 44 % of arable land. In the agricultural areas of these catchments, we mapped hydraulic shortcuts using different data sources: Field surveys, high-resolution aerial images captured by a fixed-wing drone as well as plans of the road storm drains and the tile drainage systems. Subsequently, we modelled the hydrological connectivity of arable areas to surface waters using a digital elevation model and a D-infinity flow direction algorithm. Within this model, we distinguished between areas with a direct and indirect (i.e. via shortcuts) surface water connectivity.</p><p>Our model results show that major fractions of the arable areas with surface water connectivity are not connected directly, but via hydraulic shortcuts: The fraction of indirectly connected areas ranges between 18 % and 90 %, with a median of 52 % for the 20 catchments. In order to check the model robustness we performed sensitivity analyses for different model parameters, such as sink filling depth, maximal flow length, or parameters addressing the influence of roads, forests, and hedges. In certain cases, changes of those model parameters have a strong influence on the absolute extent of directly and indirectly connected areas. However, their fractions compared to the total connected area were insensitive to changes in the model parameters.</p><p>In addition, we will present the results of a model predicting the fraction of arable land connected to shortcuts within a catchment, depending on auxiliary quantities (e.g. length of roads of a certain type, land use, slope). Using this model, we can estimate the arable land fraction per catchment on a national scale.</p>

scholarly journals Comparison of soil moisture indices and field measurements in hilly agricultural lands of SW Hungary

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-57
Author(s):  
Gábor Nagy ◽  
Dénes Lóczy ◽  
Szabolcs Czigány ◽  
Mauro Hrvatin ◽  
Rok Ciglič
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Vadose Zone ◽  
Surface Runoff ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Land Use Types ◽  
Remote Sensing Techniques ◽  
Moisture Conditions ◽  
Agricultural Areas ◽  
Moisture Dynamics

The retention of surface runoff and the preservation of soil moisture are among the most important water-related ecosystem services. In addition to field monitoring, advanced remote sensing techniques have been devised to reveal soil moisture dynamics on agricultural land. In our study we compare two soil moisture indices, TWI and SAVI, in three agricultural areas with different land use types. The SAVI has been found suitable to point out spatial variation on the moisture conditions of the vadose zone.

scholarly journals Impacts of forest cover on surface runoff quality in small catchments

BioResources ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 7830-7845
Author(s):  
Marek Trenčiansky ◽  
Martina Šterbová ◽  
Jozef Výbošťok ◽  
Martin Lieskovský
Keyword(s):  
Surface Runoff ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Chemical Compositions ◽  
Absorption Area ◽  
Agricultural Land Management ◽  
Agricultural Areas ◽  
Runoff Quality

Forest cover influences not only the amount of surface runoff, but also its quality. The concentrations of chemicals in surface runoff differ between forest catchments and non-forest catchments (agricultural areas). The authors investigated the chemical compositions of surface runoff in two small neighboring catchments (forest, non-forest), by analyzing and summarizing data over a period of 26 years from 1986 to 2012. During this period, the stock and absorption area of forest stands increased, air quality improved, the agricultural landscape was partly regenerated, and global climate change became apparent. The authors observed differences in surface runoff between forest- and non-forest catchments. However, these differences were not mainly caused by the influence of the forest cover, but by changes in agricultural land management. Since 2006, agricultural land has been managed without the use of artificial fertilizers, which reduced the contents of pollutants in surface runoff from the non-forest catchment. The existence of the forest as such excludes or noticeably eliminates the use of fertilizers and chemical substances that affect water quality.

scholarly journals Monitoring of land use and land abandonment at the municipal level: example of Samara region

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darya Vasilieva ◽  
◽  
Velta Parsova ◽  
Alexsandr Vlasov ◽  
Vladimir Tarbaev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
National Level ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Land Abandonment ◽  
Stock Management ◽  
Land Quality ◽  
Municipal Level

The article discusses modern legal regulation of land monitoring and necessary changes in appropriate legislation. Land monitoring is divided into monitoring of land use and monitoring of land quality. The problem of land abandonment or non-use of land resources on the example of Samara region, where more than 75 % of territory is agricultural land has been studied. Inverse relationship between remoteness of local municipality from centre of the Samara-Togliatti agglomeration and area of unfarmed agricultural land has been analysed. Since the start of land reform, large areas of abandoned land have appeared in Samara region. The information on unfarmed agricultural land on municipal level of Samara region has been presented and the changes in their quality conditions are characterized. At federal level the program for prevention and elimination of land abandonment has been developed and implemented, the results of this program have been analysed. However, there are significant problems in monitoring of land conditions. It is proved that absence of single authority for land management on national level and fragmentation of this function across different federal ministries leads to uncoordinated actions and lack of reliable information about land quality. As result, land quality continues to deteriorate, degradation processes are going on. At municipal level there are no possibilities and necessary investigation materials for land management and monitoring. The following measures are proposed as main recommendations for solving land use and land abandonment problems: creation of single authority for land stock management, implementation of comprehensive inventory of land on municipal level, improvement of cadastral valuation system according updated materials and technologies, as well as certification of agricultural land for soil quality and properties. The purpose of the research was the study of results of land monitoring in Samara region for analysis of dynamics of land stock and identification of main reasons for formation of unused (abandoned) agricultural land in the region. It is proved that land stock of Samara region mainly consists of agricultural lands, and most part of them (60 %) are owned by citizens. Significant problem of land use is the availability of unused arable land, which is 8 % on average in the region, but in local municipalities it ranges from 0 % to 29 %. The highest proportion of unused arable land is located in areas closer to Samara-Togliatti agglomeration, where most of the land has been privatized by individuals for conversion to other land categories and further resale, as well as problems with uncontrolled urbanization there have been observed.

scholarly journals The potential for land use change to reduce flood risk in mid-sized catchments in the Myjava region of Slovakia

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Rončák ◽  
Evelin Lisovszki ◽  
Ján Szolgay ◽  
Kamila Hlavčová ◽  
Silvia Kohnová ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Surface Runoff ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Land Use Management ◽  
Land Use Scenarios ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe effects of land use management practices on surface runoff are evident on a local scale, but evidence of their impact on the scale of a watershed is limited. This study focuses on an analysis of the impact of land use changes on the flood regime in the Myjava River basin, which is located in Western Slovakia. The Myjava River basin has an area of 641.32 km2and is typified by the formation of fast runoff processes, intensive soil erosion, and muddy floods. The main factors responsible for these problems with flooding and soil erosion are the basin’s location, geology, pedology, agricultural land use, and cropping practices. The GIS-based, spatially distributed WetSpa rainfall-runoff model was used to simulate mean daily discharges in the outlet of the basin as well as the individual components of the water balance. The model was calibrated based on the period between 1997 and 2012 with outstanding results (an NS coefficient of 0.702). Various components of runoff (e.g., surface, interflow and groundwater) and several elements of the hydrological balance (evapotranspiration and soil moisture) were simulated under various land use scenarios. Six land use scenarios (‘crop’, ‘grass’, ‘forest’, ‘slope’, ‘elevation’ and ‘optimal’) were developed. The first three scenarios exhibited the ability of the WetSpa model to simulate runoff under changed land use conditions and enabled a better adjustment of the land use parameters of the model. Three other “more realistic” land use scenarios, which were based on the distribution of land use classes (arable land, grass and forest) regarding permissible slopes in the catchment, confirmed the possibility of reducing surface runoff and maximum discharges with applicable changes in land use and land management. These scenarios represent practical, realistic and realizable land use management solutions and they could be economically implemented to mitigate soil erosion processes and enhance the flood protection measures in the Myjava River basin.

Advancing understanding of the importance of surface runoff for delivery of water, sediment, nutrients and pesticides to streams within agricultural catchments

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Kronvang ◽  
Jørgen Windolf ◽  
Henrik Tornbjerg ◽  
Sofie van't Veen ◽  
Dominik Zak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Waters ◽  
Surface Runoff ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Field Monitoring ◽  
Monitoring Site ◽  
Field Station ◽  
Sediment Nutrients ◽  
Agricultural Catchments ◽  
Stream Monitoring ◽  
Automatic Sampler

<p>Explicit knowledge of the dynamics and spatial distribution of surface runoff, leaching and preferential flow paths in landscapes and their connections with surface water is critical for protecting the aquatic environment for inputs of sediment, nutrients, pesticides and other harmful substances. Therefore, there is a need for quantifying off-site surface runoff and the resulting transport of sediment, nutrients and pesticides to surface waters at the field scale combined with simultaneous measurements in receiving watercourses to increase our knowledge about the linkages between source areas, transport pathways and the resulting impacts on water quality in receiving water bodies. The importance of surface runoff for transport of sediment, nutrients and pesticides to surface waters have only been limited studied in Denmark even though forecasts of climate change predicts that extreme weather conditions with more intense precipitation events will increase in the future with a risk of having more frequent incidents with surface runoff from agricultural land.</p><p>In a recent project soil erosion and surface runoff risks have been modelled for the entire of Denmark on a 10 m x10 m grid scale (Onnen et al., 2019). The influence of surface runoff for transport of sediment, nutrients and pesticides to streams is measured in three carefully selected agricultural mini-catchments showing high risks for having surface runoff in the national model. Within each catchment, an edge of field monitoring site and a stream monitoring station has been established. The edge of field monitoring site consists of a flow chamber collecting surface runoff from the neighbouring field and an automatic sampler initiated at the onset of surface runoff. The edge of field station is established with communication to the stream station for starting an automatic sampler at the time of surface runoff. Selected water samples collected at the edge of field and stream station is analysed for sediment, nutrients and pesticides. A first pilot study from one of the small catchments during the winter of 2015-2016 showed that surface runoff from the field amounted to 48 mm. the loss of suspended sediment, total nitrogen and total phosphorus, respectively, 56 kg sediment ha<sup>-1</sup>, 0.29 kg N ha<sup>-1 </sup>and 0.30 kg P ha<sup>-1</sup> (Zak et al., 2019). The new edge of field and stream monitoring setup in three agricultural catchments was established during autumn and winter of 2019-2020. The first pilot results from the winter of 2019-2020 with the full monitoring programme in the three catchments have shown frequent surface runoff events and relatively high concentrations of a number of pesticides both in edge of field and stream samples.</p><p> </p><p>References</p><p>Onnen, N., Heckrath, G., Stevens, A., Olsen, P., Greve, M.B., Pullens, J.W.M., Kronvang, B. and Van Oost, K. 2019. Distributed water erosion modelling at fine spatial resolution across Denmark. Geomorphology 342: 150-162.</p><p>Zak, D., Stutter, M., Jensen, H.S., egemose, S., Carstensen, M.V., Audet, J., Strand, J.A., Feuerbach, P., Hoffmann, C.C., Christen, B., Hille, S., Knudsen, M., Stockan, J., Watson, H., Heckrath, G. and Kronvang, B. 2019. An assessment of the multifuntionality of integrated buffer zones in northwestern Europe, JEQ 48: 362-375.</p>

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