Ecosystem Services from Ecological Agroforestry in Brazil: A Systematic Map of Scientific Evidence

(1) Brazil has great potential to expand the area under agroforestry, and thereby simultaneously enhance multiple ecosystem services. However, divergent interests are currently polarized between drastic environmental deregulation and public resource allocation to chemical-intensive land use versus conservation and sustainable agriculture. This highlights an urgent need for a comprehensive overview of the evidence of the benefits to society generated by agroforestry across Brazil. (2) We present a systematic map of the scientific evidence related to the effects of agroforestry on ecosystem services in Brazil. (3) Reviewing 158 peer-reviewed articles, published in international scientific journals (database: Web of Science), we identified a disproportionate emphasis on the Atlantic Forest. Very little research has been published on the Cerrado savanna, Pampa grasslands and Pantanal wetlands. Regulating services were much more frequently studied (85%) than provisioning (13%), while cultural services represent a major gap. A consistent positive effect of agroforestry was demonstrated for soil quality, habitat and food provisioning. Trade-offs were demonstrated for soils and habitats. (4) Our analysis identifies high-priority gaps given their critical importance for human well-being which should be filled: agroforestry effects on water provision and regulation. Moreover, they should assess other ES such as erosion control, flood protection and pest control to enable a more reliable inference about trade-offs.

Integrating Satellite, UAV, and Ground-Based Remote Sensing in Archaeology: An Exploration of Pre-Modern Land Use in Northeastern Iraq

Satellite remote sensing is well demonstrated to be a powerful tool for investigating ancient land use in Southwest Asia. However, few regional studies have systematically integrated satellite-based observations with more intensive remote sensing technologies, such as drone-deployed multispectral sensors and ground-based geophysics, to explore off-site areas. Here, we integrate remote sensing data from a variety of sources and scales including historic aerial photographs, modern satellite imagery, drone-deployed sensors, and ground-based geophysics to explore pre-modern land use along the Upper Diyala/Sirwan River in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Our analysis reveals an incredible diversity of land use features, including canals, qanats, trackways, and field systems, most of which likely date to the first millennium CE, and demonstrate the potential of more intensive remote sensing methods to resolve land use features. Our results align with broader trends across ancient Southwest Asia that document the most intensive land use in the first millennium BCE through the first millennium CE. Land use features dating to the earlier Bronze Age (fourth through second millennium BCE) remain elusive and will likely require other investigative approaches.

Legacy of Intensive Agricultural History in the Health of (Sub)Tropical Landscapes

Soil health conceptualized as a measurable ecosystem property provides a powerful tool for monitoring progress in restoration projects or implementation of best management practices to promote sustainable agroecosystems. We surveyed soils collected from a range of land uses (i.e., protected native and non-native forest, managed pasture, unmanaged previously intensive agricultural lands, organic cropland, and conventional cropland) across a range of soil orders (Oxisol, Mollisol, Andisol, Inceptisol, and Vertisol) on three Hawaiian Islands. Forty-six metrics associated with soil health and encompassing biological, chemical, and physical properties were measured. In this multivariate survey, the most distinct group was the unmanaged, previously intensive agriculture lands, which was significantly different from all other land uses regardless of mineralogy. Importantly, the soil health of well-managed pastures in Hawaiʻi was not different from protected forests, suggesting that well-managed grazing lands may be as healthy and resilient as protected forests. A suite of 11 readily measured parameters emerged out of a first-principle approach to determining a holistic indication of soil health across a range of soils and systems in Hawaiʻi encompassing much of the diversity in the tropics and subtropics. Every land use may improve its soil health status within a reasonable range of expectations for a soil’s land use history, current land use, and mineralogy. Key drivers of the measures for soil health, including intensive land use history, current land use practices, and mineralogy, must be interwoven into the soil health index, which should set minimum and maximum benchmarks and weight parameters according to equitable standards.

The Natural and Socioeconomic Influences on Land-Use Intensity: Evidence from China

Intensive land use can support sustainable socioeconomic development, especially in the context of limited land resources and high population. It is measured by land-use intensity that reflects the degree of land-use efficiency. In order to support decision-making for efficient land use, we investigated the mechanism whereby natural and socioeconomic factors influence land-use intensity from the perspectives of overall, region-, and city-based analysis, respectively. This investigation was conducted in Chinese cities using the multiple linear stepwise regression method and geographic information system techniques. The results indicate that: (1) socioeconomic factors have more positive impact on land-use intensity than natural factors as nine of the top 10 indicators with the highest SRC values are in the socioeconomic category according to the overall assessment; (2) education input variously contributes to land-use intensity because of the mobility of a well-educated workforce between different cities; (3) the increase in transportation land may not promote intensive land use in remarkably expanding cities due to the defective appraisal system for governmental achievements; and that (4) in developed cities, economic structure contributes more to land-use intensity than the total economic volume, whereas the opposite is the case in less-developed cities. This study can serve as a guide for the government to prepare strategies for efficient land use, hence promoting sustainable socioeconomic development.

Analysis of plant root properties, texture and porosity that affects landslides in Tangka Sub-Watershed

Tangka Sub-Watershed in West Sinjai District is one of the sub-watersheds in South Sulawesi, which often experiences landslides. Factors causing landslides were divided into control factors and trigger factors. One of the triggering factors for landslides is the characteristics of soil and plant properties. Several previous research results stated that soil characteristics greatly affect the occurrence of landslides, while plant roots help stabilize soil bonds and slopes. This study aims to determine the triggering factors of the soil (soil texture and porosity) and the distribution of plant roots that affect the occurrence of landslides. Soil texture analysis using hydrometer method. Soil porosity and moisture content using gravimetric and pycnometer methods. The results showed that the soil texture was dominated by silty clay loam impact on low soil cohesion. Intensive land use decreases soil porosity to <50% and increases soil bulk density to 1.4 g/cm3. The soil quickly becomes saturated and could induce the rotting of plant roots. These characteristics increase the vulnerability of the soil, thereby increasing the potential for landslides.

Long-term evaluation on urban intensive land use in five fast-growing cities of northern China with GEE support

Intensive land use (ILU) is a multi-objective optimization process that aims to simultaneously improve the economic, social, and ecological benefits, as well as the carrying capacity of the land, without increasing additional land, and evaluation of the ILU over long time series has a guiding significance for rational land use. To tackle inefficient extraction of information, subjective selection of dominant factor, and lack of prediction in previous evaluation studies, this paper proposes a novel framework for evaluation and analysis of ILU by, first, using Google Earth Engine (GEE) to extract cities’ built-up land information, second, by constructing an index system that links economic, social and ecological aspects to evaluate the ILU degree, third, by applying Geodetector to identify the dominant factor on the ILU, finally, by using the S-curve to predict the degree. Based on the case study data from northern China’s five fast-growing cities (i.e., Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Jinan, Zhengzhou), the findings show that the ILU degree for all cities has increased over the past 30 years, with the highest growth rate between 2000 and 2010. Beijing had the highest degree in 2018, followed by Tianjin, Zhengzhou, Jinan, and Shijiazhuang. In terms of the time dimension, the dominant factor for all cities shifted from the output-value proportion of secondary and tertiary industries in the early stage to the economic density in the late stage. In terms of the space dimension, the dominant factor varied from cities. It is worth noting that economic density was the dominant factor in the two high-level ILU cities, Beijing and Tianjin, indicating that economic strength is the main driver of the ILU. Moreover, cities with high-level ILU at the current stage will grow slowly in the ILU degree from 2020 to 2035, while Zhengzhou and Jinan, whose ILU has been in the midstream recently, will grow the most among the cities.

Pembagian Kerja Berdasarkan Gender dalam Pengelolaan Agroforestri di Hulu DAS Citarum

This study discusses gender division of labor in agroforestry at Tarumajaya Village, upstream of Citarum Watershed. This study aims to describe the division of labor mechanism of agroforestry farmers based on the anthropology of gender perspective. The manifestation of gender can be seen from the mechanism of division labor on every kind of land-use system. Agroforestry is an intensive land-use system that combines crops, woods, and/or livestock in one intensive land to obtain economic-ecology harmonization. Agroforestry was introduced by the government through a top-down approach, by Peraturan Presiden No. 15/2018 about the Acceleration of Pollution Control and Damage to the Citarum River Basin, which is used to conserve the Citarum Watershed. Unfortunately, agroforestry had unfavorable condition due to the clash with crops habits and subsistence economic needs. This research applied ehnographic methods and the data were collected through literature study, observation, and in-depth interview. The data were analyzed using Gender Harvard Analytical Framework. This study found that the division of labor in agroforestry households is negotiable. Men and women have the opportunities to work together in the system. However, gender blind introduction of agroforestry only made women as cheap wage labor. They are being subordinated and alienated by the system. They don’t have equal access and control to the technology, information, and market. These problems occur because gender intersects with various factors such as culture and religion, demography, economy, formal law, social class, and politics. Therefore, agroforestry needs to take a gender approach to get optimum results.

Trunks of multi-stem black poplars may have different genotypes – evidence from the Oder valley in Poland

The black poplar (Populus nigra L.) is an ecologically and economically important tree species, characteristic for floodplain forests in Europe. It is now considered to be endangered in many European countries due to the loss of its natural habitat caused by the development of river engineering and intensive land use management of riverside areas. Multi-stem specimens can be found occasionally in natural black poplar populations. The percentage of such individuals is low, although in some stands it may be over a dozen percent. The origin of multi-stem trees may be different. As a consequence, trunks being part of such a tree can have the same or different genotypes. The study aimed to find out whether all trunks of multi-stem black poplars are ramets of the same genet or if their genotypes are different, in which case they increase the gene pool of the population. We used 13 microsatellite nuclear markers to analyze the genotypes of 83 trunks belonging to 34 multi-stem black poplar trees from five natural populations from the Oder river valley in Poland. We also performed the sibship analysis of all trunks. The results showed that the trunks being part of the particular individual had distinct genotypes in five trees (14.7%). This indicates that they were formed as a result of the fusion of two genetically different individuals. The sibship analysis revealed that one multi-stem tree was represented by full-sibs. In the remaining four trees the fused trunks were not related. Nevertheless, we found three pairs of half-sibs between different trees that were distant from each other. The majority of the multi-stem trees we examined developed most probably due to the damage to the apical meristem of the main shoot of a single-stem tree. Nevertheless, some of them were indeed formed from two distinct individuals. Therefore, if a particular population consists of a small number of individuals, we recommend to study the genotypic homogeneity of each multi-stem tree.

Coupling Relationship and Interactive Response between Intensive Land Use and Tourism Industry Development in China’s Major Tourist Cities

(1) Background: Exploring the interactive relationship between intensive land use (ILU) and tourism industry development (TID) is of vital significance to promote the high-quality and sustainable development of tourism and the urban economy. (2) Methods: This paper constructs an evaluation index system of ILU and TID, and comprehensively measures the coupling and interaction between ILU and TID in China’s 58 major tourist cities from 2004 to 2018 by using the entropy weight method, coupling coordination degree model, and panel vector autoregressive model. (3) Results: In terms of the coupling relationship, the coupling coordination degree of ILU and TID in China’s major tourist cities were optimized year by year, and the coupling coordination degree from 2004 to 2008 was less than 0.2, which is part of the serious imbalance recession stage. From 2009 to 2018, the coupling coordination degree was between 0.2 and 0.4, which is part of the moderate maladjustment recession stage. In terms of interactive response, ILU and TID formed a long-term interactive relationship, and the intensity effect of ILU on TID is significantly higher than that of TID on ILU. (4) Conclusions: There is a significant correlation and bidirectional process between ILU and TID, and they have an essential impact on the high-quality development of tourist cities.