Resting Subtropical Grasslands from Grazing in the Wet Season Boosts Biocrust Hotspots to Improve Soil Health

Effective grazing management in Australia’s semi-arid rangelands requires monitoring landscape conditions and identifying sustainable and productive practice through understanding the interactions of environmental factors and management of soil health. Challenges include extreme rainfall variability, intensifying drought, and inherently nutrient-poor soils. We investigated the impacts of grazing strategies on landscape function—specifically soil health—as the foundation for productive pastures, integrating the heterogenous nature of grass tussocks and the interspaces that naturally exist in between them. At Wambiana—a long-term research site in north-eastern Australia—we studied two soil types, two stocking rates (high, moderate), and resting land from grazing during wet seasons (rotational spelling). Rotational spelling had the highest biocrust (living soil cover), in interspaces and under grass tussocks. Biocrusts were dominated by cyanobacteria that binds soil particles, reduces erosion, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, and improves soil fertility. Rotational spelling with a moderate stocking rate emerged as best practice at these sites, with adjustment of stocking rates in line with rainfall and soil type recommended. In drought-prone environments, monitoring the presence and integrity of biocrusts connects landscape function and soil health. Biocrusts that protect and enrich the soil will support long-term ecosystem integrity and economic profitability of cattle production in rangelands.

Exploring Spatial Variations in the Relationships between Landscape Functions and Human Activities in Suburban Rural Communities: A Case Study in Jiangning District, China

There is a complicated and contradictory relationship between landscape functions and human activities, especially in the suburban rural communities of metropolises. Previous studies focused on human interference to landscape function, ignoring the impact of landscape functions on human activities. Hence, the present study is focused on the impact of landscape function (based on ecosystem services) on human activities in suburban rural communities of China. The study evaluated the intensity of human activities based on big data; furthermore, the authors analyzed the spatial distribution characteristics through spatial autocorrelation, and probed into the spatial variations in the relationship between human activities and landscape functions using ordinary least squares (OLS) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models. The result indicates that there are obvious spatial distribution differences in the intensity of human activities in suburban rural communities; that is, the intensity decreases from the inner to the outer suburban areas. Positive influencing factors of human activities are construction area, bus station, road network density, and leisure entertainment, among which, construction area is the principal driver; cultural heritage, hydrological regulation, and provision of aesthetics are negatively or positively correlated with human activities in various regions. The results offer insights for the sustainable development of rural environment in suburban areas and the big data-driven rural research.

PENELUSURAN KAWASAN ALUN-ALUN BUNDER KOTA MALANG SEBAGAI OPEN SPACE RANCANGAN IR KARSTEN

Title: Searching of Alun-Alun Bunder District in Malang City as Open Space which was Built by Ir Karsten Alun-Alun Bunder plays an important role for city of Malang development during Dutch collonialism. Alun-Alun Bunder was the policy for expanding the second city (Bouwplan II) which had the total size of 15.547 M2. the reason of Alun–Alun Bunder designing was to establish the new administration pivot, this main reason became the basis for the governance at that time (Gemeente) to design the second city expansion (Bouwplan II). This district was named as Gouverneur-Generaalbuurt. The design was realized in 1922. In subsequent, this area was known as „Alun-Alun Bunder”. The research purpose are to know the development pattern of Alun-Alun Bunder, identification of landscape function as the landmark which use as interaction space. Analysis technique which is used in this research, consist of ; diachronic reading, descriptive- evaluation related by linkage pattern and synchronic reading. The result shown that Alun-Alun Bunder is the best city hall model which was desired by Dutch government. The infrastructure, among them are; settlement, education and transportation are designed to follow the role of Alun- Alun Bunder as the core of Dutch administration. The strategy to strengthen the historical value in Alun-Alun Bunder is gained by strengthening the linkage towards historic object which exist inside.

EVALUASI FUNGSI EKOSISTEM DI PERTAMBANGAN NIKEL KECAMATAN POMALAA SULAWESI TENGGARA

Aktivitas penambangan menimbulkan dampak negatif terhadap lingkungan. Ekosistem di sekitar area pertambangan nikel Kecamatan Pomalaa telah mengalami pencemaran berat. Rusaknya komponen ekosistem menyebabkan terjadinya gangguan terhadap fungsi ekosistem. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengevaluasi fungsi ekosistem di lahan pasca penambangan nikel di Kecamatan Pomalaa dengan menggunakan metode EFA (Ecosystem Function Analysis) dikembangkan CSIRO, 2010) yang mencakup tiga pendekatan yaitu LFA (Landscape Function Analisys), Analisis Kompleksitas Habitat. Penelitian ini dilakukan di tiga lokasi yaitu tambang utara, tambang tengah dan tambang selatan. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa bentang alam dalam kondisi kritis dengan kandungan makronutrien yang sangat rendah di ketiga wilayah penelitian. Hasil pengukuran LFA dari ketiga wilayah masing-masing memiliki stabilitas lahan 38,40 � 1,3% (Tambang Utara), 37,43�1,3% (Tambang Tengah) dan 31,47�0,5% (Tambang Selatan). Indeks infiltrasi air 25,8 �2,3% (T.Utara), 24,63�1,8% (T.Tengah), 24,70�0,5% (Tambang Selatan) dan siklus nutrisi 16,37 � 3% (Tambang Utara), 14,3 � 0,5 (Tambang Tengah), 13,83�0,07 (Tambang Selatan). Ketiga wilayah menunjukkan indeks kompleksitas rendah masing- masing 5 (tambang utara), 4 (tambang tengah), 3 (tambang selatan) menunjukkan habitat dan tempat tinggal untuk fauna lokal di lahan tersebut belum berkembang.Dapat disimpulkan bahwa ekosistem di lokasi Pertambangan Nikel Kec.Pomalaa telah mengalami gangguan fungsi regulasi, habitat dan produksi biomassa ekosistem tidak berjalan dengan baik.