WorldWideScience

Sample records for pasture-based land-use systems

  1. Modelling Pasture-based Automatic Milking System Herds: System Fitness of Grazeable Home-grown Forages, Land Areas and Walking Distances

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. R. Islam

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available To maintain a predominantly pasture-based system, the large herd milked by automatic milking rotary would be required to walk significant distances. Walking distances of greater than 1-km are associated with an increased incidence of undesirably long milking intervals and reduced milk yield. Complementary forages can be incorporated into pasture-based systems to lift total home grown feed in a given area, thus potentially ‘concentrating’ feed closer to the dairy. The aim of this modelling study was to investigate the total land area required and associated walking distance for large automatic milking system (AMS herds when incorporating complementary forage rotations (CFR into the system. Thirty-six scenarios consisting of 3 AMS herds (400, 600, 800 cows, 2 levels of pasture utilisation (current AMS utilisation of 15.0 t dry matter [DM]/ha, termed as moderate; optimum pasture utilisation of 19.7 t DM/ha, termed as high and 6 rates of replacement of each of these pastures by grazeable CFR (0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50% were investigated. Results showed that AMS cows were required to walk greater than 1-km when the farm area was greater than 86 ha. Insufficient pasture could be produced within a 1 km distance (i.e. 86 ha land with home-grown feed (HGF providing 43%, 29%, and 22% of the metabolisable energy (ME required by 400, 600, and 800 cows, respectively from pastures. Introduction of pasture (moderate: CFR in AMS at a ratio of 80:20 can feed a 400 cow AMS herd, and can supply 42% and 31% of the ME requirements for 600 and 800 cows, respectively with pasture (moderate: CFR at 50:50 levels. In contrast to moderate pasture, 400 cows can be managed on high pasture utilisation (provided 57% of the total ME requirements. However, similar to the scenarios conducted with moderate pasture, there was insufficient feed produced within 1-km distance of the dairy for 600 or 800 cows. An 800 cow herd required 140 and 130 ha on moderate and high pasture-based

  2. Modelling Pasture-based Automatic Milking System Herds: System Fitness of Grazeable Home-grown Forages, Land Areas and Walking Distances

    Science.gov (United States)

    Islam, M. R.; Garcia, S. C.; Clark, C. E. F.; Kerrisk, K. L.

    2015-01-01

    To maintain a predominantly pasture-based system, the large herd milked by automatic milking rotary would be required to walk significant distances. Walking distances of greater than 1-km are associated with an increased incidence of undesirably long milking intervals and reduced milk yield. Complementary forages can be incorporated into pasture-based systems to lift total home grown feed in a given area, thus potentially ‘concentrating’ feed closer to the dairy. The aim of this modelling study was to investigate the total land area required and associated walking distance for large automatic milking system (AMS) herds when incorporating complementary forage rotations (CFR) into the system. Thirty-six scenarios consisting of 3 AMS herds (400, 600, 800 cows), 2 levels of pasture utilisation (current AMS utilisation of 15.0 t dry matter [DM]/ha, termed as moderate; optimum pasture utilisation of 19.7 t DM/ha, termed as high) and 6 rates of replacement of each of these pastures by grazeable CFR (0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%) were investigated. Results showed that AMS cows were required to walk greater than 1-km when the farm area was greater than 86 ha. Insufficient pasture could be produced within a 1 km distance (i.e. 86 ha land) with home-grown feed (HGF) providing 43%, 29%, and 22% of the metabolisable energy (ME) required by 400, 600, and 800 cows, respectively from pastures. Introduction of pasture (moderate): CFR in AMS at a ratio of 80:20 can feed a 400 cow AMS herd, and can supply 42% and 31% of the ME requirements for 600 and 800 cows, respectively with pasture (moderate): CFR at 50:50 levels. In contrast to moderate pasture, 400 cows can be managed on high pasture utilisation (provided 57% of the total ME requirements). However, similar to the scenarios conducted with moderate pasture, there was insufficient feed produced within 1-km distance of the dairy for 600 or 800 cows. An 800 cow herd required 140 and 130 ha on moderate and high pasture-based AMS

  3. Biofuel production potentials in Europe: sustainable use of cultivated land and pastures. Part II: Land use scenarios

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fischer, G.; Prieler, S.; van Velthuizen, H.; Berndes, G.; Faaij, A.P.C.; Londo, H.M.; de Wit, M.P.

    2009-01-01

    Europe's agricultural land (including Ukraine) comprise of 164 million hectares of cultivated land and 76 million hectares of permanent pasture. A “food first” paradigm was applied in the estimations of land potentially available for the production of biofuel feedstocks, without putting at risk food

  4. Hydrological consequences of land-use change from forest to pasture in the Atlantic rain forest region

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    Luiz Antonio Martinelli

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The Atlantic rain forest is the most endangered ecosystem in Brazil. Its degradation has started since 1500 when the European settlers arrived. Despite of all land use changes that have occurred, hydrological studies carried out in this biome have been limited to hydrological functioning of rain forests only. In order to understand the hydrological consequences of land-use change from forest to pasture, we described the hydrological functioning of a pasture catchment that was previously covered by tropical rain forest. To reach this goal we measured the precipitation, soil matric potential, discharge, surface runoff and water table levels during one year. The results indicated that there is a decrease in surface soil saturated hydraulic conductivity. However, as low intensity rainfall prevails, the lower water conductivity does not necessarily leads to a substantially higher surface runoff generation. Regarding soil water matric potential, the pasture presented higher moisture levels than forest during the dry season. This increase in soil moisture implies in higher water table recharge that, in turn, explain the higher runoff ratio. This way, land-use change conversion from forest to pasture implies a higher annual streamflow in pasture catchments. Nonetheless, this increase in runoff due to forest conversion to pasture implies in losses of biological diversity as well as lower soil protection.

  5. Invited review: Genetic considerations for various pasture-based dairy systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Washburn, S P; Mullen, K A E

    2014-10-01

    Pasture-based dairy systems use grazing to supply significant percentages of the dry matter intake of cows and heifers. Such systems vary from those for which pasture is used only as a supplemental feed for cows primarily fed a total mixed ration to those for which pasture is the primary source of dry matter for the herd. Cows that are optimal in a pasture system share many general characteristics with cows that are appropriate for a nonpasture system, including feed efficiency, maintenance of body condition, reproductive fitness, udder health, longevity, and the ability to adapt to various management systems. However, in such divergent feeding systems, the relative importance of various traits can differ. In pasture systems where cow nutrient demand intentionally coincides with seasonal forage availability, the focus of selection has emphasized fertility and other fitness traits, as well as yields of milk or milk components. Breeds or strains with higher yields of protein and fat typically have advantages in grazing systems that supply milk to solids-based or cheese markets. Holstein cows with high percentages of North American ancestry can work well in grazing systems that include supplemental concentrates or partial mixed rations, particularly if calving intervals are less restrictive. Crossbred cows can be selected for use in specific grazing systems as well as for specific milk markets, with the added advantage of heterosis. Breeds and crosses with high fertility are important for seasonal breeding and calving. The ability of cattle to both milk and maintain sufficient body condition for reproduction is important for any dairy production system but is critical in a seasonal system. Dairy farms that depend on pasture for most of dry matter for cows typically have lower production per cow than nongrazing dairies but have the potential to be economically competitive because of lower operating and overhead costs. Although the principles of selection are similar

  6. Economic Pasture-Based Cow-Calf Systems for Appalachia

    OpenAIRE

    Emenheiser, Joseph Carl

    2014-01-01

    Pasture-based beef production is well-suited for the Appalachian region of the United States. This research investigated pasture, beef cattle, and economics components within the cow-calf sector of pasture beef production, and presents implications of their interplay for the vitality of the whole system. Samples of forage DM mass and CP, ADF, NDF, and ash contents in each paddock of a rotational stocking system were collected monthly for 4 grazing seasons. Effects of month, stockpiling, hay f...

  7. A Global Assessment of Long-Term Greening and Browning Trends in Pasture Lands Using the GIMMS LAI3g Dataset

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    Benjamin I. Cook

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Pasture ecosystems may be particularly vulnerable to land degradation due to the high risk of human disturbance (e.g., overgrazing, burning, etc., especially when compared with natural ecosystems (non-pasture, non-cultivated where direct human impacts are minimal. Using maximum annual leaf area index (LAImax as a proxy for standing biomass and peak annual aboveground productivity, we analyze greening and browning trends in pasture areas from 1982–2008. Inter-annual variability in pasture productivity is strongly controlled by precipitation (positive correlation and, to a lesser extent, temperature (negative correlation. Linear temporal trends are significant in 23% of pasture cells, with the vast majority of these areas showing positive LAImax trends. Spatially extensive productivity declines are only found in a few regions, most notably central Asia, southwest North America, and southeast Australia. Statistically removing the influence of precipitation reduces LAImax trends by only 13%, suggesting that precipitation trends are only a minor contributor to long-term greening and browning of pasture lands. No significant global relationship was found between LAImax and pasture intensity, although the magnitude of trends did vary between cells classified as natural versus pasture. In the tropics and Southern Hemisphere, the median rate of greening in pasture cells is significantly higher than for cells dominated by natural vegetation. In the Northern Hemisphere extra-tropics, conversely, greening of natural areas is 2–4 times the magnitude of greening in pasture areas. This analysis presents one of the first global assessments of greening and browning trends in global pasture lands, including a comparison with vegetation trends in regions dominated by natural ecosystems. Our results suggest that degradation of pasture lands is not a globally widespread phenomenon and, consistent with much of the terrestrial biosphere, there have been widespread

  8. Ecosystem services from converted land: the importance of tree cover in Amazonian pastures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barrett, Kirsten; Valentim, Judson; Turner, B. L.

    2013-01-01

    Deforestation is responsible for a substantial fraction of global carbon emissions and changes in surface energy budgets that affect climate. Deforestation losses include wildlife and human habitat, and myriad forest products on which rural and urban societies depend for food, fiber, fuel, fresh water, medicine, and recreation. Ecosystem services gained in the transition from forests to pasture and croplands, however, are often ignored in assessments of the impact of land cover change. The role of converted lands in tropical areas in terms of carbon uptake and storage is largely unknown. Pastures represent the fastest-growing form of converted land use in the tropics, even in some areas of rapid urban expansion. Tree biomass stored in these areas spans a broad range, depending on tree cover. Trees in pasture increase carbon storage, provide shade for cattle, and increase productivity of forage material. As a result, increasing fractional tree cover can provide benefits land managers as well as important ecosystem services such as reducing conversion pressure on forests adjacent to pastures. This study presents an estimation of fractional tree cover in pasture in a dynamic region on the verge of large-scale land use change. An appropriate sampling interval is established for similar studies, one that balances the need for independent samples of sufficient number to characterize a pasture in terms of fractional tree cover. This information represents a useful policy tool for government organizations and NGOs interested in encouraging ecosystem services on converted lands. Using high spatial resolution remotely sensed imagery, fractional tree cover in pasture is quantified for the municipality of Rio Branco, Brazil. A semivariogram and devolving spatial resolution are employed to determine the coarsest sampling interval that may be used, minimizing effects of spatial autocorrelation. The coarsest sampling interval that minimizes spatial dependence was about 22 m. The

  9. National-Scale Changes in Soil Profile C and N in New Zealand Pastures are Determined by Land Use

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schipper, L. A.; Parfitt, R.; Ross, C.; Baisden, W. T.; Claydon, J.; Fraser, S.

    2010-12-01

    Grazed pasture is New Zealand’s predominant agricultural land-use and has been relatively recently developed from forest and native grasslands/shrub communities. From the 1850s onwards, land was cleared and exotic pastures established. Phosphorus fertilizer was increasingly used after 1950 which accelerated N fixation by clover. In the last two decades N fertilizers have been used, and grazing intensity has increased, thus affecting soil C and N. Re-sampling of 31 New Zealand soil profiles under grazed pasture measured surprisingly large losses of C and N over the last 2-3 decades (Schipper et al., 2007 Global Change Biology 13:1138-1144). These profiles were predominantly on the most intensively grazed flat land. We extended this re-sampling to 83 profiles (to 90 cm depth), to investigate whether changes in soil C and N stocks also occurred in less intensively managed pasture. Archived soils samples were analysed for total soil C and N alongside the newly collected samples. Intact cores were collected to determine bulk density through the profile. Over an average of 27 years, soils (0-30 cm) in flat dairy pastures significantly lost 0.73±0.16 Mg C ha-1y-1 and 57±16 kg N ha-1y-1 while we observed no change in soil C or N in flat pasture grazed by “dry stock” (e.g., sheep, beef), or in grazed tussock grasslands. Grazed hill country soils (0-30 cm) gained 0.52±0.18 Mg C ha-1y-1 and 66±18 kg N ha-1y-1. The losses of C and N were strongly correlated and C:N ratio has generally declined suggesting soils are becoming N saturated. Losses and gains also occurred in soil layers below 30 cm demonstrating that organic matter throughout the profile was responding to land use. The losses under dairying may be due to greater grazing pressure, fertilizer inputs and exports of C and N. There is evidence that grazing pressure reduces inputs of C below ground, reduces soil microbial C, and that dairy cow urine can mobilise C and N. Gains in hill country pastures may be due

  10. Factors associated with profitability in pasture-based systems of milk production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanrahan, L; McHugh, N; Hennessy, T; Moran, B; Kearney, R; Wallace, M; Shalloo, L

    2018-06-01

    The global dairy industry needs to reappraise the systems of milk production that are operated at farm level with specific focus on enhancing technical efficiency and competitiveness of the sector. The objective of this study was to quantify the factors associated with costs of production, profitability, and pasture use, and the effects of pasture use on financial performance of dairy farms using an internationally recognized representative database over an 8-yr period (2008 to 2015) on pasture-based systems. To examine the associated effects of several farm system and management variables on specific performance measures, a series of multiple regression models were developed. Factors evaluated included pasture use [kg of dry matter/ha and stocking rate (livestock units/ha)], grazing season length, breeding season length, milk recording, herd size, dairy farm size (ha), farmer age, discussion group membership, proportion of purchased feed, protein %, fat %, kg of milk fat and protein per cow, kg of milk fat and protein per hectare, and capital investment in machinery, livestock, and buildings. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated costs of production per hectare differed by year, geographical location, soil type, level of pasture use, proportion of purchased feed, protein %, kg of fat and protein per cow, dairy farm size, breeding season length, and capital investment in machinery, livestock, and buildings per cow. The results of the analysis revealed that farm net profit per hectare was associated with pasture use per hectare, year, location, soil type, grazing season length, proportion of purchased feed, protein %, kg of fat and protein per cow, dairy farm size, and capital investment in machinery and buildings per cow. Pasture use per hectare was associated with year, location, soil type, stocking rate, dairy farm size, fat %, protein %, kg of fat and protein per cow, farmer age, capital investment in machinery and buildings per cow, breeding season length

  11. A Contextual Analysis of Land-Use and Vegetation Changes in Two Wooded Pastures in the Swiss Jura Mountains

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    Joël Chételat

    2013-03-01

    The most important changes in tree density occurred during World War II and resulted in a more open landscape. The intensive use of wooded pastures during the war was the consequence of a high demand for wood and food resources. Postwar protectionist regulations, agricultural subsidies, and technical improvements maintained considerable pressure on wooded pastures. Storms and drought episodes further exacerbated this process in some areas. The trend then reversed from the 1970s onwards because of the limitations put on milk production and the falling price of wood. This resulted in a more extensive use of pastures, leading to tree encroachment. However, remote sites were more impacted than pastures closer to inhabited areas, which exhibited a trend towards more segregation between grassland and densely wooded pastures. With both extensification and segregation of land use, the complex vegetation mosaic and the landscape diversity that characterize wooded pastures are threatened but still offer good economic opportunities that call for differentiated management strategies.

  12. Natural Radionuclides in Meadow and Pasture land in the Nordic countries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rosén, Klas; Villanueva, José - Luis Gutiérrez; Sundell-Bergman, Synnöve

    transfer for pasture land under the different conditions that prevail in the Nordic countries. The potential health hazards due to chronic ingestion of low concentrations of naturally occurring radionuclides are fairly unknown but the results of this study may provide valuable background information...... for assessing these radiation risks. The aim of this project has been to gain knowledge on the status of natural radionuclides in meadow and pasture land and in grassland plants in different Nordic countries and on the transfer of these radionuclides from soil/water to man via the milk/food chain (soil- meadow/pasture...... grass –cow-milk). Limited data are available on the mobility and the transfer of naturally occurring radionuclides in the ecosystems of the agricultural land. In addition, information concerning the concentrations in meat and dairy products is of interest for assessing exposures of humans to natural...

  13. Dairy farming: indoor v. pasture-based feeding

    OpenAIRE

    HOFSTETTER, P.; FREY, H.-J; GAZZARIN, C.; WYSS, U.; KUNZ, P.

    2017-01-01

    The current situation of volatile milk prices and rising costs of, e.g. grain and labour, suggests that it is worth studying productivity and efficiency in dairy farming. The objective of the current whole-system study, carried out in lowland Central Switzerland from 2007 to 2010, was to compare the performance, efficiency, land productivity and profitability of indoor-feeding (IF) dairy production with that of pasture-based feeding (PF) dairy production. An IF herd consisting of 11 Holstein-...

  14. Land Change in Eastern Mediterranean Wood-Pasture Landscapes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schaich, Harald; Kizos, Thanasis; Schneider, Stefan

    2015-01-01

    In Mediterranean Europe, wood-pasture landscapes with oak woodlands as emblematic ecosystems are undergoing rapid land-use change, which may threaten their legacy as hotspots of biodiversity, ecosystem services, and cultural heritage. The objective of this study was to quantify land cover changes...... and transitions as well as the dynamics of oak woodland patterns and densities over 50 years in two municipalities at the center and edges of Quercus macrolepis distribution in Northern Lesvos (Greece). We used aerial photographs from 1960 and WorldView-2 satellite images from 2010 to process land cover maps...... and metrics, and to calculate oak canopy cover with a point-grid sampling approach. Spatiotemporal dynamics of land cover change were generally high—especially between oak woodlands and grass- and shrub-lands, resulting in a more heterogeneous and fragmented landscape in 2010. Surprisingly, oak woodland area...

  15. Increasing milk solids production across lactation through genetic selection and intensive pasture-based feed system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coleman, J; Pierce, K M; Berry, D P; Brennan, A; Horan, B

    2010-09-01

    The objective of the study was to quantify the effect of genetic improvement using the Irish total merit index, the Economic Breeding Index (EBI), on overall performance and lactation profiles for milk, milk solids, body weight (BW), and body condition score (BCS) within 2 pasture-based systems of milk production likely to be used in the future, following abolition of the European Union's milk quota system. Three genotypes of Holstein-Friesian dairy cattle were established from within the Moorepark dairy research herd: LowNA, indicative of animals with North American origin and average or lower genetic merit at the time of the study; HighNA, North American Holstein-Friesians of high genetic merit; and HighNZ, New Zealand Holstein-Friesians of high genetic merit. Animals from within each genotype were randomly allocated to 1 of 2 possible pasture-based feeding systems (FS): 1) The Moorepark pasture (MP) system (2.64 cows/ha and 344 kg of concentrate supplement per cow per lactation) and 2) a high output per hectare (HC) system (2.85 cows/ha and 1,056 kg of concentrate supplement per cow per lactation). Pasture was allocated to achieve similar postgrazing residual sward heights for both treatments. A total of 126, 128, and 140 spring-calving dairy cows were used during the years 2006, 2007, and 2008, respectively. Each group had an individual farmlet of 17 paddocks and all groups were managed similarly throughout the study. The effects of genotype, FS, and the interaction between genotype and FS on milk production, BW, and BCS across lactation were studied using mixed models with factorial arrangements of genotype and FS accounting for the repeated cow records across years. No significant genotype by FS interaction was observed for any of the variables measured. Results show that milk solids production of the national average dairy cow can be increased across lactation through increased EBI. High EBI genotypes (HighNA and HighNZ) produced more milk solids per cow and

  16. Land-use systems affect Archaeal community structure and functional diversity in western Amazon soils

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    Acácio Aparecido Navarrete

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available The study of the ecology of soil microbial communities at relevant spatial scales is primordial in the wide Amazon region due to the current land use changes. In this study, the diversity of the Archaea domain (community structure and ammonia-oxidizing Archaea (richness and community composition were investigated using molecular biology-based techniques in different land-use systems in western Amazonia, Brazil. Soil samples were collected in two periods with high precipitation (March 2008 and January 2009 from Inceptisols under primary tropical rainforest, secondary forest (5-20 year old, agricultural systems of indigenous people and cattle pasture. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of polymerase chain reaction-amplified DNA (PCR-DGGE using the 16S rRNA gene as a biomarker showed that archaeal community structures in crops and pasture soils are different from those in primary forest soil, which is more similar to the community structure in secondary forest soil. Sequence analysis of excised DGGE bands indicated the presence of crenarchaeal and euryarchaeal organisms. Based on clone library analysis of the gene coding the subunit of the enzyme ammonia monooxygenase (amoA of Archaea (306 sequences, the Shannon-Wiener function and Simpson's index showed a greater ammonia-oxidizing archaeal diversity in primary forest soils (H' = 2.1486; D = 0.1366, followed by a lower diversity in soils under pasture (H' = 1.9629; D = 0.1715, crops (H' = 1.4613; D = 0.3309 and secondary forest (H' = 0.8633; D = 0.5405. All cloned inserts were similar to the Crenarchaeota amoA gene clones (identity > 95 % previously found in soils and sediments and distributed primarily in three major phylogenetic clusters. The findings indicate that agricultural systems of indigenous people and cattle pasture affect the archaeal community structure and diversity of ammonia-oxidizing Archaea in western Amazon soils.

  17. Strategic grazing management towards sustainable intensification at tropical pasture-based dairy systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Congio, Guilhermo F S; Batalha, Camila D A; Chiavegato, Marília B; Berndt, Alexandre; Oliveira, Patrícia P A; Frighetto, Rosa T S; Maxwell, Thomas M R; Gregorini, Pablo; Da Silva, Sila C

    2018-05-01

    Agricultural systems are responsible for environmental impacts that can be mitigated through the adoption of more sustainable principles. Our objective was to investigate the influence of two pre-grazing targets (95% and maximum canopy light interception during pasture regrowth; LI 95% and LI Max , respectively) on sward structure and herbage nutritive value of elephant grass cv. Cameroon, and dry matter intake (DMI), milk yield, stocking rate, enteric methane (CH 4 ) emissions by Holstein × Jersey dairy cows. We hypothesized that grazing strategies modifying the sward structure of elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum.) improves nutritive value of herbage, increasing DMI and reducing intensity of enteric CH 4 emissions, providing environmental and productivity benefits to tropical pasture-based dairy systems. Results indicated that pre-sward surface height was greater for LI Max (≈135 cm) than LI 95% (≈100 cm) and can be used as a reliable field guide for monitoring sward structure. Grazing management based on LI 95% criteria improved herbage nutritive value and grazing efficiency, allowing greater DMI, milk yield and stocking rate by dairy cows. Daily enteric CH 4 emission was not affected; however, cows grazing elephant grass at LI 95% were more efficient and emitted 21% less CH 4 /kg of milk yield and 18% less CH 4 /kg of DMI. The 51% increase in milk yield per hectare overcame the 29% increase in enteric CH 4 emissions per hectare in LI 95% grazing management. Thereby the same resource allocation resulted in a 16% mitigation of the main greenhouse gas from pasture-based dairy systems. Overall, strategic grazing management is an environmental friendly practice that improves use efficiency of allocated resources through optimization of processes evolving plant, ruminant and their interface, and enhances milk production efficiency of tropical pasture-based systems. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Using NDVI to estimate carbon fluxes from small rotationally grazed pastures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Satellite-based Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data have been extensively used for estimating gross primary productivity (GPP) and yield of grazing lands throughout the world. However, the usefulness of satellite-based images for monitoring rotationally-grazed pastures in the northea...

  19. Pasture establishment and fertiliser requirements on rehabilitated land after opencast coal mining in New Zealand

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Longhurst, R.D.; O`Connor, M.B.; Toxopeus, M.R.J. [Ruakura Agricultural Centre, Hamilton (New Zealand)

    1999-03-01

    Existing pasture establishment practices to rehabilitate land after opencast mining in the Waikato coal fields area of New Zealand were examined and compared with an alternative method involving different pasture mixtures, seeding rates, and lime and fertiliser requirements. Pasture establishment and production, botanical composition changes, and plant and soil nutrient status were measured during a 2-year field trial. Highly significant pasture responses were obtained to increased fertiliser inputs. An improved seed mixture, containing superior pasture cultivars, established more quickly and out-yielded the existing seed mixture by 58%. The two seed mixtures responded differently to sowing rates; the higher rate increased pasture yields of the improved pasture species but decreased the existing seed mix yields. Liming at 5 t ha{sup -1} significantly increased soil pH and clover content and reduced pasture manganese concentrations from possibly toxic levels. Nitrogen concentrations in pastures were below optimum throughout the trial and the strategic use of nitrogen fertiliser is recommended as a useful management option.

  20. Soil organic (14)C dynamics : Effects of pasture installation on arable land

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Romkens, P.F A M; Hassink, J; van der Plicht, Johannes

    1998-01-01

    In a study addressing composition and recovery of soil carbon following pasture installation on arable land, radiocarbon isotope ratios were measured in size- and density-separated soil organic matter (SOM) fractions in a pasture and maize plot. The average soil carbon age increased with depth from

  1. Soil organic 14C dynamics: effects of pasture installation on arable land

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Römkens, P.F.A.M.; Plicht, van der J.; Hassink, J.

    1998-01-01

    In a study addressing composition and recovery of soil carbon following pasture installation on arable land, radiocarbon isotope ratios were measured in size-and density-separated soil organic matter (SOM) fractions in a pasture and maize plot. The average soil carbon age increased with depth from

  2. Projecting land use changes in the Neotropics: the geography of pasture expansion into forest

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wassenaar, T.; Gerber, P.; Verburg, P.H.; Rosales, M.; Ibrahim, M.; Steinfeld, H.

    2007-01-01

    In tropical Latin America, pasture land for extensive grazing continues to expand, mostly at the expense of forest cover. Until now, scientists and policy makers tackling this issue had no geographically exhaustive information at the continental level about the spatial dynamics of this process. On

  3. Effect of inter-annual variability in pasture growth and irrigation response on farm productivity and profitability based on biophysical and farm systems modelling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vogeler, Iris; Mackay, Alec; Vibart, Ronaldo; Rendel, John; Beautrais, Josef; Dennis, Samuel

    2016-09-15

    Farm system and nutrient budget models are increasingly being used in analysis to inform on farm decision making and evaluate land use policy options at regional scales. These analyses are generally based on the use of average annual pasture yields. In New Zealand (NZ), like in many countries, there is considerable inter-annual variation in pasture growth rates, due to climate. In this study a modelling approach was used to (i) include inter-annual variability as an integral part of the analysis and (ii) test the approach in an economic analysis of irrigation in a case study within the Hawkes Bay Region of New Zealand. The Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM) was used to generate pasture dry matter yields (DMY) for 20 different years and under both dryland and irrigation. The generated DMY were linked to outputs from farm-scale modelling for both Sheep and Beef Systems (Farmaxx Pro) and Dairy Systems (Farmax® Dairy Pro) to calculate farm production over 20 different years. Variation in DMY and associated livestock production due to inter-annual variation in climate was large, with a coefficient of variations up to 20%. Irrigation decreased this inter-annual variation. On average irrigation, with unlimited available water, increased income by $831 to 1195/ha, but when irrigation was limited to 250mm/ha/year income only increased by $525 to 883/ha. Using pasture responses in individual years to capturing the inter-annual variation, rather than the pasture response averaged over 20years resulted in lower financial benefits. In the case study income from irrigation based on an average year were 10 to >20% higher compared with those obtained from individual years. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Spatial variation in spoil and vegetative characteristics of pastures on reclaimed surface mined land

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Teutsch, C.D.; Collins, M.; Ditsch, D.C.

    1999-01-01

    Kentucky has large areas of reclaimed surface mined land that could provide grazing for livestock. Research is needed to determine optimal stocking densities and to evaluate the sustainability of such grazing systems for this region. A long-term grazing study was initiated in 1997 on 151 ha of reclaimed land near Chavies, KY to determine spatial and temporal variation with stocking densities of 0, 0.28, 0.42, or 0.83 beef cow-calf units/ha. Global Positioning System and GIS technologies were used to establish pasture boundaries, locate permanent sampling markers at a density of 1 per 0.4 ha, and interpolate maps of physical, spoil, and vegetable pasture characteristics. Herbage and spoil samples were collected around the permanent markers in May of 1997. Stepwise regression was used to determine factors affecting the vegetative characteristics of the sites. Biomass density ranged from 0 to 2500 kg/ha with a mean of 570 kg/ha. Factors affecting biomass included legume and weed proportions in the sward, grazing activity, soil potassium, elevation, and potential acidity, cumulatively accounting for 32% of the variation. Ground cover ranged from 10 to 100% with an average of 74%. Soil pH, potassium, and grass in the sward accounted for 14% of the variation in ground cover. Legumes made up 0 to 61% of the sward with a mean of 13% over the pasture area. Variables affecting the amount of legume in the sward included biomass density, slope, elevation, pH, and stocking density, together accounting for 21% of the variation. Spatial variation in the physical, spoil, and vegetative characteristics of the pastures was large. Overall, regression accounted for a limited amount of the variation in the vegetative characteristics of the site indicating that other important variables exist

  5. Evaluation of a whole-farm model for pasture-based dairy systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beukes, P C; Palliser, C C; Macdonald, K A; Lancaster, J A S; Levy, G; Thorrold, B S; Wastney, M E

    2008-06-01

    In the temperate climate of New Zealand, animals can be grazed outdoors all year round. The pasture is supplemented with conserved feed, with the amount being determined by seasonal pasture growth, genetics of the herd, and stocking rate. The large number of factors that affect production makes it impractical and expensive to use field trials to explore all the farm system options. A model of an in situ-grazed pasture system has been developed to provide a tool for developing and testing novel farm systems; for example, different levels of bought-in supplements and different levels of nitrogen fertilizer application, to maintain sustainability or environmental integrity and profitability. It consists of a software framework that links climate information, on a daily basis, with dynamic, mechanistic component-models for pasture growth and animal metabolism, as well as management policies. A unique feature is that the component models were developed and published by other groups, and are retained in their original software language. The aim of this study was to compare the model, called the whole-farm model (WFM) with a farm trial that was conducted over 3 yr and in which data were collected specifically for evaluating the WFM. Data were used from the first year to develop the WFM and data from the second and third year to evaluate the model. The model predicted annual pasture production, end-of-season cow liveweight, cow body condition score, and pasture cover across season with relative prediction error pasture and supplement intake were predicted with acceptable accuracy, suggesting that the metabolic conversion of feed to fat, protein, and lactose in the mammary gland needs to be refined. Because feed growth and intake predictions were acceptable, economic predictions can be made using the WFM, with an adjustment for milk yield, to test different management policies, alterations in climate, or the use of genetically improved animals, pastures, or crops.

  6. An overview of farming system typology methodologies and its use in the study of pasture-based farming system: a review

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Madry, W.; Mena, Y.; Roszkowska, B.; Gozdowski, D.; Hryniewski, R.; Castel, J. M.

    2013-06-01

    The main objective of the paper is to do a critic study of the use of typology methodologies within pasture-based farming systems (PBFS), especially those situated in less favoured areas, showing in each case the more relevant variables or indicators determining the farming system classification. Another objective is to do an overview of the most used farming system typology methodologies in general. First some considerations about the concept of farming system and approaches to its study have been done. Next, the farming system typology methodologies have been showed in general to different farming systems, but addressed preferably to PBFS. The different tools integrated in these methodologies have been considered: sampling methods, sources of data, variables or indicators obtained from available data and techniques of analysis (statistical or not). Methods for farming system classification have been presented (expert methods, analytical methods or a combination of both types). Among the statistical methods, the multivariate analysis has been overall treated, including the principal component analysis and the cluster analysis. Finally, the use of farming system typology methodologies on different pasture-based farming systems has been presented. The most important aspects considered are following: the main objective of the typology, the main animal species, the employed methods of classification and the main variables involved in this classification. (Author) 56 refs.

  7. Modelling Pasture-based Automatic Milking System Herds: The Impact of Large Herd on Milk Yield and Economics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. R. Islam

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this modelling study was to investigate the effect of large herd size (and land areas on walking distances and milking interval (MI, and their impact on milk yield and economic penalties when 50% of the total diets were provided from home grown feed either as pasture or grazeable complementary forage rotation (CFR in an automatic milking system (AMS. Twelve scenarios consisting of 3 AMS herds (400, 600, 800 cows, 2 levels of pasture utilisation (current AMS utilisation of 15.0 t dry matter [DM]/ha, termed as ‘moderate’; optimum pasture utilisation of 19.7 t DM/ha, termed as ‘high’ and 2 rates of incorporation of grazeable complementary forage system (CFS: 0, 30%; CFS = 65% farm is CFR and 35% of farm is pasture were investigated. Walking distances, energy loss due to walking, MI, reduction in milk yield and income loss were calculated for each treatment based on information available in the literature. With moderate pasture utilisation and 0% CFR, increasing the herd size from 400 to 800 cows resulted in an increase in total walking distances between the parlour and the paddock from 3.5 to 6.3 km. Consequently, MI increased from 15.2 to 16.4 h with increased herd size from 400 to 800 cows. High pasture utilisation (allowing for an increased stocking density reduced the total walking distances up to 1 km, thus reduced the MI by up to 0.5 h compared to the moderate pasture, 800 cow herd combination. The high pasture utilisation combined with 30% of the farm in CFR in the farm reduced the total walking distances by up to 1.7 km and MI by up to 0.8 h compared to the moderate pasture and 800 cow herd combination. For moderate pasture utilisation, increasing the herd size from 400 to 800 cows resulted in more dramatic milk yield penalty as yield increasing from c.f. 2.6 and 5.1 kg/cow/d respectively, which incurred a loss of up to $AU 1.9/cow/d. Milk yield losses of 0.61 kg and 0.25 kg for every km increase in total walking distance

  8. Modelling Pasture-based Automatic Milking System Herds: The Impact of Large Herd on Milk Yield and Economics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Islam, M R; Clark, C E F; Garcia, S C; Kerrisk, K L

    2015-07-01

    The aim of this modelling study was to investigate the effect of large herd size (and land areas) on walking distances and milking interval (MI), and their impact on milk yield and economic penalties when 50% of the total diets were provided from home grown feed either as pasture or grazeable complementary forage rotation (CFR) in an automatic milking system (AMS). Twelve scenarios consisting of 3 AMS herds (400, 600, 800 cows), 2 levels of pasture utilisation (current AMS utilisation of 15.0 t dry matter [DM]/ha, termed as 'moderate'; optimum pasture utilisation of 19.7 t DM/ha, termed as 'high') and 2 rates of incorporation of grazeable complementary forage system (CFS: 0, 30%; CFS = 65% farm is CFR and 35% of farm is pasture) were investigated. Walking distances, energy loss due to walking, MI, reduction in milk yield and income loss were calculated for each treatment based on information available in the literature. With moderate pasture utilisation and 0% CFR, increasing the herd size from 400 to 800 cows resulted in an increase in total walking distances between the parlour and the paddock from 3.5 to 6.3 km. Consequently, MI increased from 15.2 to 16.4 h with increased herd size from 400 to 800 cows. High pasture utilisation (allowing for an increased stocking density) reduced the total walking distances up to 1 km, thus reduced the MI by up to 0.5 h compared to the moderate pasture, 800 cow herd combination. The high pasture utilisation combined with 30% of the farm in CFR in the farm reduced the total walking distances by up to 1.7 km and MI by up to 0.8 h compared to the moderate pasture and 800 cow herd combination. For moderate pasture utilisation, increasing the herd size from 400 to 800 cows resulted in more dramatic milk yield penalty as yield increasing from c.f. 2.6 and 5.1 kg/cow/d respectively, which incurred a loss of up to $AU 1.9/cow/d. Milk yield losses of 0.61 kg and 0.25 kg for every km increase in total walking distance (voluntary return

  9. Carbon stocks and dynamics under improved tropical pasture and silvopastoral

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mosquera Vidal, O.; Buurman, P.; Ramirez, B.L.; Amezquita, M.C.

    2012-01-01

    To evaluate the effect of land use change on soil organic carbon, the carbon contents and stocks of primary forest, degraded pasture, and four improved pasture systems in Colombian Amazonia were compared in a flat and a sloping landscape. The improved pastures were Brachiaria humidicola, and

  10. Future Expansion of Agriculture and Pasture Acts to Amplify Atmospheric CO2 Levels in Response to Fossil-Fuel and Land-Use Change Emissions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gitz, V.; Ciais, P.

    2004-01-01

    The expansion of crop and pastures to the detriment of forests results in an increase in atmospheric CO2. The first obvious cause is the loss of forest biomass and soil carbon during and after conversion. The second, generally ignored cause, is the reduction of the residence time of carbon when, for example, forests or grasslands are converted to cultivated land. This decreases the sink capacity of the global terrestrial biosphere, and thereby may amplify the atmospheric CO2 rise due to fossil and land-use carbon release. For the IPCC A2 future scenario, characterized by high fossil and high land-use emissions, we show that the land-use amplifier effect adds 61 ppm extra CO2 in the atmosphere by 2100 as compared to former treatment of land-use processes in carbon models. Investigating the individual contribution of each of the six land-use transitions (forest crop, forest pasture, grassland crop) to the amplifier effect indicates that the clearing of forest and grasslands to arable lands explains most of the CO2 amplification. The amplification effect is 50% higher than in a previous analysis by the same authors which considered neither the deforestation of pastures nor the ploughing of grasslands. Such an amplification effect is further examined in sensitivity tests where the net primary productivity is considered independent of the atmospheric CO2. We also show that the land-use changes, which have already occurred in the recent past, have a strong inertia at releasing CO2, and will contribute to about 1/3 of the amplification effect by 2100. These results suggest that there is an additional atmospheric benefit of preserving pristine ecosystems with high turnover times

  11. Soil organic matter dynamics after the conversion of arable land to pasture

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Römkens, P.F.A.M.; Plicht, van der J.; Hassink, J.

    1999-01-01

    Conversion of arable land (maize) to pasture will affect the soil organic matter (SOM) content. Changes in the SOM content were studied using a size- and density-fractionation method and 13C analysis. Twenty-six years of maize cropping had resulted in a depletion of carbon stored in the

  12. Factors associated with the financial performance of spring-calving, pasture-based dairy farms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramsbottom, G; Horan, B; Berry, D P; Roche, J R

    2015-05-01

    As land becomes a limiting resource for pasture-based dairy farming, the inclusion of purchased supplementary feeds to increase milk production per cow (through greater dry matter intake) and per hectare (through increased stocking rate) is often proposed as a strategy to increase profitability. Although a plausible proposition, virtually no analysis has been done on the effect of such intensification on the profitability of commercial pasture-based dairy farm businesses. The objective of this study was to characterize the average physical and financial performance of dairy systems differing in the proportion of the cow's diet coming from grazed pasture versus purchased supplementary feeds over 4 yr, while accounting for any interaction with geographic region. Physical, genetic, and financial performance data from 1,561 seasonal-calving, pasture-based dairy farms in Ireland were available between the years 2008 and 2011; data from some herds were available for more than 1 yr of the 4-yr study period, providing data from 2,759 dairy farm-years. The data set was divided into geographic regions, based on latitude, rainfall, and soil characteristics that relate to drainage; these factors influence the length of the pasture growth season and the timing of turnout to pasture in spring and rehousing in autumn. Farms were also categorized by the quantity of feed purchased; farms in which cows received 30% of their annual feed requirements from purchased feed were considered to be categories representative of increasing levels of system intensification. Geographic region was associated with differences in grazing days, pasture harvested per hectare, milk production per cow and per hectare, and farm profitability. Farms in regions with longer grazing seasons harvested a greater amount of pasture [an additional 19kg of dry matter (DM)/ha per grazing day per hectare], and greater pasture harvested was associated with increased milk component yield per hectare (58.4kg of fat

  13. Temporal change detection of land use/land cover using GIS and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Satellite images for the years 1972, 1989, 1999 and 2016 were used for LULC ... built-up areas, pastures and bare land, agricultural land and water bodies. For the accuracy of assessment classifications, matrix error and KAPPA ... Keywords: land use/land cover change; change detection; classification; remote sensing; GIS ...

  14. MACROFAUNA DIVERSITY AND ABUNDANCE ACROSS DIFFERENT LAND USE SYSTEMS IN EMBU, KENYA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fred Ayuke

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents data on diversity and abundance of soil macrofauna of various land use systems in Embu, Kenya (natural forest, plantation forest, fallow, coffee, tea, napier, and maize. Each was sampled for macrofauna using three sampling methods (monolith, transect and pitfall traps. Thirty four (34 genera/species of soil macrofauna were recorded, the highest number (27 being observed in napier. Majority of these genera/species being Coleoptera. Rényi diversity profile indicated that in terms of species richness (α at 0, maize the richest of all the land use systems, but plantation forest the least. It was however not possible to clearly order or rank the land use system in terms of diversity because of the bias of each of the two diversity indices as indicated by the numerous crossings observed for the diversity profiles/curves. Shannon index of diversity (α = 1 indicated that coffee was the most diverse of the land use systems followed by plantation forest > natural forest > napier > maize > tea, while fallow/pasture was the least diverse (Figure 1. On the other hand, Simpson’s diversity (α = 2 indicated that plantation forest was the most diverse followed by fallowed by coffee > natural forest > napier > maize >tea > fallow/pasture. Rényi evenness profile indicated that the plantation forest was most even in terms of species distribution followed by natural forest and coffee > napier > tea > maize but least even in the fallow/pasture. Hymenoptera were most abundant of the macrofauna groups constituting about 45% of the total followed by Isoptera (39%, Coleoptera (6%, Oligochaeta (5%, Orthoptera (3% and Arenae (2%. The other groups that comprised of Hemiptera, Diptera, Phasmidae and Blattelidae each constituted coffee (1170 > natural forest (1110 > tea (755, but lowest in plantation forest (309, although analysis of variance indicated no significant variation among the land use systems. This study however

  15. EFFECT OF FALLOW LAND, CULTIVATED PASTURE AND ABANDONED PASTURE ON SOIL FERTILITY IN TWO DEFORESTED AMAZONIAN REGIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J.A DIEZ

    1997-01-01

    Full Text Available The effect of two practices adopted by settlers (abandoned pasture and fallow land on soil fertility of two deforested Amazonian regions (Belém-Pará and Ariquemes-Rondônia was studied. Whenever possible, cultivated pasture, over similar time periods in both cases and in natural forest, were employed as soil fertility reference standards. Nutrient dynamics was studied using the electroultra-filtration technique. In general, deforestation, as practiced in these areas, has a degrading effect on soil fertility. The effect of burning normally leads to a pH rise caused by ash. This usually yields a favorable transitory effect, improving soil fertility conditions, however not sufficient for plant needs, as inferred from the low P and K levels. Cattle excrements, improved the K level for cultivated pastures. Qualitative differences related to N were observed between cultivated pasture and both, fallow land or abandoned pasture. In the first, a certain recovery of available N levels was detected, mainly affecting the EUF-Norg fraction. On the other hand, a regeneration of organic compounds, in the fallow land and the abandoned pasture, closely related to those existing in the natural forest, was verified. This is mainly due to the presence of a higher proportion of NO3-_N and, consequently, a EUF-Norg/EUF-NO3- ratio close to 1.Comparou-se o efeito de duas práticas de manejo, ou seja, o abandono da pastagem e o pousio, sobre a fertilidade do solo de duas regiões desmatadas da Amazônia (Belém-Pará e Ariquemes-Rondônia. Quando possível, pastagens cultivadas por períodos semelhantes e florestas nativas foram usadas como padrões da fertilidade do solo. A dinâmica dos nutrientes foi estuda pela técnica da eletroultrafiltração (EUF. De um modo geral, o desmatamento, como praticado nessas regiões, tem efeito degradador sobre a fertilidade do solo. A queima da biomassa vegetal normalmente leva a um aumento do pH causado pelas cinzas, resultando

  16. Transplantation of subalpine wood-pasture turfs along a natural climatic gradient reveals lower resistance of unwooded pastures to climate change compared to wooded ones.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gavazov, Konstantin; Spiegelberger, Thomas; Buttler, Alexandre

    2014-04-01

    Climate change could impact strongly on cold-adapted mountain ecosystems, but little is known about its interaction with traditional land-use practices. We used an altitudinal gradient to simulate a year-round warmer and drier climate for semi-natural subalpine grasslands across a landscape of contrasting land-use management. Turf mesocosms from three pasture-woodland land-use types-unwooded pasture, sparsely wooded pasture, and densely wooded pasture-spanning a gradient from high to low management intensity were transplanted downslope to test their resistance to two intensities of climate change. We found strong overall effects of intensive (+4 K) experimental climate change (i.e., warming and reduced precipitation) on plant community structure and function, while moderate (+2 K) climate change did not substantially affect the studied land-use types, thus indicating an ecosystem response threshold to moderate climate perturbation. The individual land-use types were affected differently under the +4 K scenario, with a 60% decrease in aboveground biomass (AGB) in unwooded pasture turfs, a 40% decrease in sparsely wooded pasture turfs, and none in densely wooded ones. Similarly, unwooded pasture turfs experienced a 30% loss of species, advanced (by 30 days) phenological development, and a mid-season senescence due to drought stress, while no such effects were recorded for the other land-use types. The observed contrasting effects of climate change across the pasture-woodland landscape have important implications for future decades. The reduced impact of climate change on wooded pastures as compared to unwooded ones should promote the sustainable land use of wooded pastures by maintaining low management intensity and a sparse forest canopy, which buffer the immediate impacts of climate change on herbaceous vegetation.

  17. Conversion from forests to pastures in the Colombian Amazon leads to differences in dead wood dynamics depending on land management practices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Navarrete, Diego; Sitch, Stephen; Aragão, Luiz E O C; Pedroni, Lucio; Duque, Alvaro

    2016-04-15

    Dead wood, composed of coarse standing and fallen woody debris (CWD), is an important carbon (C) pool in tropical forests and its accounting is needed to reduce uncertainties within the strategies to mitigate climate change by reducing deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). To date, information on CWD stocks in tropical forests is scarce and effects of land-cover conversion and land management practices on CWD dynamics remain largely unexplored. Here we present estimates on CWD stocks in primary forests in the Colombian Amazon and their dynamics along 20 years of forest-to-pasture conversion in two sub-regions with different management practices during pasture establishment: high-grazing intensity (HG) and low-grazing intensity (LG) sub-regions. Two 20-year-old chronosequences describing the forest-to-pasture conversion were identified in both sub-regions. The line-intersect and the plot-based methods were used to estimate fallen and standing CWD stocks, respectively. Total necromass in primary forests was similar between both sub-regions (35.6 ± 5.8 Mg ha(-1) in HG and 37.0 ± 7.4 Mg ha(-1) in LG). An increase of ∼124% in CWD stocks followed by a reduction to values close to those at the intact forests were registered after slash-and-burn practice was implemented in both sub-regions during the first two years of forest-to-pasture conversion. Implementation of machinery after using fire in HG pastures led to a reduction of 82% in CWD stocks during the second and fifth years of pasture establishment, compared to a decrease of 41% during the same period in LG where mechanization is not implemented. Finally, average necromass 20 years after forest-to-pasture conversion decreased to 3.5 ± 1.4 Mg ha(-1) in HG and 9.3 ± 3.5 Mg ha(-1) in LG, representing a total reduction of between 90% and 75% in each sub-region, respectively. These results highlight the importance of low-grazing intensity management practices during ranching activities in the Colombian

  18. Soil carbon under perennial pastures; benchmarking the influence of pasture age and management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orgill, Susan E.; Spoljaric, Nancy; Kelly, Georgina

    2015-07-01

    This paper reports baseline soil carbon stocks from a field survey of 19 sites; 8 pairs/triplet in the Monaro region of New South Wales. Site comparisons were selected by the Monaro Farming Systems group to demonstrate the influence of land management on soil carbon, and included: nutrient management, liming, pasture age and cropping history. Soil carbon stocks varied with parent material and with land management. The fertilised (phosphorus) native perennial pasture had a greater stock of soil carbon compared with the unfertilised site; 46.8 vs 40.4 Mg.C.ha to 0.50 m. However, the introduced perennial pasture which had been limed had a lower stock of soil carbon compared with the unlimed site; 62.8 vs 66.7 Mg.C.ha to 0.50 m. There was a greater stock of soil carbon under two of the three younger (35 yr old) pastures. Cropped sites did not have lower soil carbon stocks at all sites; however, this survey was conducted after three years of above average annual rainfall and most sites had been cropped for less than three years. At all sites more than 20% of the total carbon stock to 0.50 m was in the 0.30 to 0.50 m soil layer highlighting the importance of considering this soil layer when investigating the implications of land management on soil carbon. Our baseline data indicates that nutrient management may increase soil carbon under perennial pastures and highlights the importance of perennial pastures for soil carbon sequestration regardless of age.

  19. Spatially Explicit Analysis of Biodiversity Loss Due to Global Agriculture, Pasture and Forest Land Use from a Producer and Consumer Perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaudhary, Abhishek; Pfister, Stephan; Hellweg, Stefanie

    2016-04-05

    Anthropogenic land use to produce commodities for human consumption is the major driver of global biodiversity loss. Synergistic collaboration between producers and consumers in needed to halt this trend. In this study, we calculate species loss on 5 min × 5 min grid level and per country due to global agriculture, pasture and forestry by combining high-resolution land use data with countryside species area relationship for mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. Results show that pasture was the primary driver of biodiversity loss in Madagascar, China and Brazil, while forest land use contributed the most to species loss in DR Congo and Indonesia. Combined with the yield data, we quantified the biodiversity impacts of 1 m(3) of roundwood produced in 139 countries, concluding that tropical countries with low timber yield and a large presence of vulnerable species suffer the highest impact. We also calculated impacts per kg for 160 crops grown in different countries and linked it with FAO food trade data to assess the biodiversity impacts embodied in Swiss food imports. We found that more than 95% of Swiss consumption impacts rest abroad with cocoa, coffee and palm oil imports being responsible for majority of damage.

  20. Peripheral and gastrointestinal immune systems of healthy cattle raised outdoors at pasture or indoors on a concentrate-based ration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reilly Petrina

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Despite an increasing preference of consumers for beef produced from more extensive pasture-based production systems and potential human health benefits from the consumption of such beef, data regarding the health status of animals raised on pasture are limited. The objective of this study was to characterise specific aspects of the bovine peripheral and the gastrointestinal muscosal immune systems of cattle raised on an outdoor pasture system in comparison to animals raised on a conventional intensive indoor concentrate-based system. Results A number of in vitro functional tests of immune cells suggested subtle differences between the animals on the outdoor versus indoor production systems. There was a decrease in the number of neutrophils and monocytes engaged in phagocytosis in outdoor cattle (P P P P P P P Conclusion Despite distinctly contrasting production systems, only subtle differences were identified in the peripheral immune parameters measured between cattle raised at pasture in comparison to animals raised on a conventional intensive indoor concentrate-based production system.

  1. FORAGES AND PASTURES SYMPOSIUM: Improving efficiency of production in pasture- and range-based beef and dairy systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mulliniks, J T; Rius, A G; Edwards, M A; Edwards, S R; Hobbs, J D; Nave, R L G

    2015-06-01

    Despite overall increased production in the last century, it is critical that grazing production systems focus on improving beef and dairy efficiency to meet current and future global food demands. For livestock producers, production efficiency is essential to maintain long-term profitability and sustainability. This continued viability of production systems using pasture- and range-based grazing systems requires more rapid adoption of innovative management practices and selection tools that increase profitability by optimizing grazing management and increasing reproductive performance. Understanding the genetic variation in cow herds will provide the ability to select cows that require less energy for maintenance, which can potentially reduce total energy utilization or energy required for production, consequently improving production efficiency and profitability. In the United States, pasture- and range-based grazing systems vary tremendously across various unique environments that differ in climate, topography, and forage production. This variation in environmental conditions contributes to the challenges of developing or targeting specific genetic components and grazing systems that lead to increased production efficiency. However, across these various environments and grazing management systems, grazable forage remains the least expensive nutrient source to maintain productivity of the cow herd. Beef and dairy cattle can capitalize on their ability to utilize these feed resources that are not usable for other production industries. Therefore, lower-cost alternatives to feeding harvested and stored feedstuffs have the opportunity to provide to livestock producers a sustainable and efficient forage production system. However, increasing production efficiency within a given production environment would vary according to genetic potential (i.e., growth and milk potential), how that genetic potential fits the respective production environment, and how the grazing

  2. Natural radionuclides in meadow and pasture land in the Nordic countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rosen, K.; Gutierrez Villanueva, J.-L.; Sundell-Bergman, S.

    2012-06-01

    The amount of natural radionuclides in the environment differs between the Nordic countries as shown by previous investigations and also by this study. Agricultural areas of high natural background are predominantly found in Sweden, Southern Finland and Norway while low background areas are typical for Iceland and Denmark. Thus, this study offers possibilities for studying behaviour of natural radionuclides under different conditions such as the influence of different soil types as well as the husbandry. Furthermore the areas also enable studying environmental behaviour of radium and other natural radionuclides under seemingly steady state conditions. However, migration and accumulation of natural radionuclides in cultivated soil is complex involving various processes. Thus, a long term goal of this study was to identify the implications of some of these processes by determining the soil to plant transfer for pasture land under the different conditions that prevail in the Nordic countries. The potential health hazards due to chronic ingestion of low concentrations of naturally occurring radionuclides are fairly unknown but the results of this study may provide valuable background information for assessing these radiation risks. The aim of this project has been to gain knowledge on the status of natural radionuclides in meadow and pasture land and in grassland plants in different Nordic countries and on the transfer of these radionuclides from soil/water to man via the milk/food chain (soil- meadow/pasture grass -cow-milk). Limited data are available on the mobility and the transfer of naturally occurring radionuclides in the ecosystems of the agricultural land. In addition, information concerning the concentrations in meat and dairy products is of interest for assessing exposures of humans to natural radionuclides. Soil characteristics are known to have significant impact on the mobility and uptake of natural radionuclides. Therefore, the uptake in relation to

  3. Natural radionuclides in meadow and pasture land in the Nordic countries

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rosen, K.; Gutierrez Villanueva, J.-L.; Sundell-Bergman, S. [Swedish Univ. of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) (Sweden)] [and others

    2012-06-15

    The amount of natural radionuclides in the environment differs between the Nordic countries as shown by previous investigations and also by this study. Agricultural areas of high natural background are predominantly found in Sweden, Southern Finland and Norway while low background areas are typical for Iceland and Denmark. Thus, this study offers possibilities for studying behaviour of natural radionuclides under different conditions such as the influence of different soil types as well as the husbandry. Furthermore the areas also enable studying environmental behaviour of radium and other natural radionuclides under seemingly steady state conditions. However, migration and accumulation of natural radionuclides in cultivated soil is complex involving various processes. Thus, a long term goal of this study was to identify the implications of some of these processes by determining the soil to plant transfer for pasture land under the different conditions that prevail in the Nordic countries. The potential health hazards due to chronic ingestion of low concentrations of naturally occurring radionuclides are fairly unknown but the results of this study may provide valuable background information for assessing these radiation risks. The aim of this project has been to gain knowledge on the status of natural radionuclides in meadow and pasture land and in grassland plants in different Nordic countries and on the transfer of these radionuclides from soil/water to man via the milk/food chain (soil- meadow/pasture grass -cow-milk). Limited data are available on the mobility and the transfer of naturally occurring radionuclides in the ecosystems of the agricultural land. In addition, information concerning the concentrations in meat and dairy products is of interest for assessing exposures of humans to natural radionuclides. Soil characteristics are known to have significant impact on the mobility and uptake of natural radionuclides. Therefore, the uptake in relation to

  4. Nutritional management to optimize fertility of dairy cows in pasture-based systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Butler, S T

    2014-05-01

    The efficiency of milk production in pasture-based systems is heavily influenced by calving pattern, necessitating excellent reproductive performance in a short-breeding season. Where grazed pasture is the major component of the diet, cows are underfed relative to their intake potential. The cow responds by reducing milk output, but fertility is generally better than high intake confinement systems that achieve greater milk production per cow. A number of studies have identified body condition score (BCS) measurements that are related to likelihood of both submission and conception. Blood metabolites and metabolic hormones linked to fertility outcomes are now well characterized. In general, fertility variables have favourable associations with circulating concentrations of glucose, insulin and IGF-1 and unfavourable associations with non-esterified fatty acids, β-hydroxybutyrate and endogenous growth hormone. Nutritional strategies to impact these metabolic indicators have been utilized, but effects on herd fertility are inconsistent. Simply supplementing cows with additional energy in the form of standard concentrates does not appear to have a pronounced effect on fertility. Energy from additional concentrates fed during lactation is preferentially partitioned towards extra milk production rather than BCS repletion. The higher the genetic merit for milk production, the greater the partitioning of additional nutrients to the mammary gland. This review outlines the unique nutritional challenges of pasture-based systems, the role of specific metabolic hormones and metabolites in regulating reproductive function, and nutritional strategies to improve herd fertility.

  5. Grazing Soybean to Increase Voluntary Cow Traffic in a Pasture-based Automatic Milking System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. E. F. Clark

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Pasture-based automatic milking systems (AMS require cow traffic to enable cows to be milked. The interval between milkings can be manipulated by strategically allocating pasture. The current experiment investigated the effect of replacing an allocation of grazed pasture with grazed soybean (Glycine max with the hypothesis that incorporating soybean would increase voluntary cow traffic and milk production. One hundred and eighty mixed age, primiparous and multiparous Holstein-Friesian/Illawarra cows were randomly assigned to two treatment groups (n = 90/group with a 2×2 Latin square design. Each group was either offered treatments of kikuyu grass (Pennisetum clandestinum Hoach ex Chiov. pasture (pasture or soybean from 0900 h to 1500 h during the experimental period which consisted of 2 periods of 3 days following 5 days of training and adaptation in each period with groups crossing over treatments after the first period. The number of cows trafficking to each treatment was similar together with milk yield (mean ≈18 L/cow/d in this experiment. For the cows that arrived at soybean or pasture there were significant differences in their behaviour and consequently the number of cows exiting each treatment paddock. There was greater cow traffic (more cows and sooner exiting pasture allocations. Cows that arrived at soybean stayed on the allocation for 25% more time and ate more forage (8.5 kg/cow/d/allocation relative to pasture (4.7 kg/cow/d/allocation. Pasture cows predominantly replaced eating time with rumination. These findings suggest that replacing pasture with alternative grazeable forages provides no additional incentive to increase voluntary cow traffic to an allocation of feed in AMS. This work highlights the opportunity to increase forage intakes in AMS through the incorporation of alternative forages.

  6. Adapting the Biome-BGC Model to New Zealand Pastoral Agriculture: Climate Change and Land-Use Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keller, E. D.; Baisden, W. T.; Timar, L.

    2011-12-01

    We have adapted the Biome-BGC model to make climate change and land-use scenario estimates of New Zealand's pasture production in 2020 and 2050, with comparison to a 2005 baseline. We take an integrated modelling approach with the aim of enabling the model's use for policy assessments across broadly related issues such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, land-use change, and greenhouse gas projections. The Biome-BGC model is a biogeochemical model that simulates carbon, water, and nitrogen cycles in terrestrial ecosystems. We introduce two new 'ecosystems', sheep/beef and dairy pasture, within the existing structure of the Biome-BGC model and calibrate its ecophysiological parameters against pasture clipping data from diverse sites around New Zealand to form a baseline estimate of total New Zealand pasture production. Using downscaled AR4 climate projections, we construct mid- and upper-range climate change scenarios in 2020 and 2050. We produce land-use change scenarios in the same years by combining the Biome-BGC model with the Land Use in Rural New Zealand (LURNZ) model. The LURNZ model uses econometric approaches to predict future land-use change driven by changes in net profits driven by expected pricing, including the introduction of an emission trading system. We estimate the relative change in national pasture production from our 2005 baseline levels for both sheep/beef and dairy systems under each scenario.

  7. Hydrology and Soil Erosion in Tropical Rainforests and Pasture Lands on the Atherton Tablelands, North Queensland, Australia - a rainfall simulator study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joanne, Joanne; Ciesiolka, Cyril

    2010-05-01

    The Barron and Johnstone Rivers rise in the basaltic Atherton Tableland, North Queensland, Australia, and flow into the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA). Natural rainforest in this region was cleared for settlement in the early 20th century. Rapid decline in soil fertility during the 1940's and 50's forced landholders to turn to pasture based industries from row crop agriculture. Since then, these pasture based industries have intensified. The intensified land use has been linked to increases in sediment and nutrient levels in terrestrial runoff and identified as a major environmental threat to the GBRWHA, which has raised alarm for the tourist industry and resource managers. Studies linking land-use to pollutant discharge are often based on measurements and modelling of end of catchment measurements of water quality. Whilst such measurements can be a reasonable indicator of the effects of land use on pollutant discharge to waterways, they are often a gross assessment. This project used rainfall simulations to investigate the relationship between land use and management with sources and sinks of runoff and soil erosion within the Barron and Johnstone Rivers catchments. Rainfall simulations were conducted and pollutant loads measured in natural rainforest, as well as dairy and beef farming systems. The dairy farming systems included an effluent fed pasture, a high mineral fertilizer and supplementary irrigation farm, and a rainfed organic pasture that relied on tropical legumes and introduced grasses and returned organic material to the soil. One of the beef farming systems used a 7-10 day rotation with a low fertilizer regime (kikuyu mostly), while the other, used a long period- two paddock-rotation with no fertiliser and paspalum pastures. The rainforests were generally small isolated enclaves with a well developed shrub layer (1-3 m), and a presence of scattered, deciduous trees. Simulations were carried out on sites which were

  8. Perspectives on pasture versus indoor feeding of dairy cows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knaus, Wilhelm

    2016-01-15

    The dairy industry in many regions of the world has moved towards a high-input/high-output system maximising annual milk production per cow, primarily through increasing concentrate-based total mixed rations fed indoors year round, as opposed to allowing cows to feed on pasture. Pasture-based dairy systems in regions like New Zealand and Ireland are oriented towards maximum milk yield per unit of pasture, which has led to Holstein strains that are 50 to 100 kg lighter, exhibit a higher body condition score, and produce roughly half the annual amount of milk as compared to their Holstein counterparts kept in confinement in North America and Europe. Freedom from hunger might not be guaranteed when high-yielding dairy cows are kept on pasture without any supplemental feed, but at the same time no access to pasture can be considered an animal welfare concern, because pasturing is generally beneficial to the animals' health. On pasture, lighter-weight dairy cows with a medium milk production potential have proven to be superior with regard to feed efficiency and fertility. The year-round indoor feeding of high-yielding dairy cows with total mixed rations containing substantial amounts of human-edible crops from arable land puts global food security at risk and fails to utilise the evolutionary advantages of ruminants. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

  9. Analysis of land stability and land-use change processes in the 19–20th centuries: a case study in Gödöllő Hillside, Hungary

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Demény Krisztina

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The manuscript presents land-use change processes based on former military map analyses. Military maps were derived from the 1770s until the 1890s and later from the CORINE Land Cover map. I observed the transition direction of areal distribution of various land uses. Digitalized maps showed 19-20th century land-use conditions; besides them, we created a grouping system which is based on the intensity of land use. We distinguished six land-use types, ranking them according to the anthropogenic influence (1. built-up areas; 2. arable fields; 3. orchards and vineyards; 4. meadows and pastures; 5. forests; 6. wetlands.

  10. Assessment of Land Use Efficiency in Ezine District of Çanakkale

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Timuçin EVEREST

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available In this study land use efficiency on Ezine District of Çanakkale Province which covers approximately 721 km² was determined with geographical information systems (GIS and remote sensing techniques. In the study, 1982 year data of the Canakkale Provincial Inventory report and 2012 ASTER satellite image were used. To determine the land use efficiency, basic land use types (agriculture, pasture, forest, water surface and non-agricultural areas of 1982 and 2012 images were compared with land use capability classes converted to raster format. With this comparison, it was determined in which land use capability class the land use classes were included. According to results, it was detected that agriculture, pasture, wat er surfaces and non-agricultural areas were increased and forest areas were decreased in 30 years’ period. While nonagricultural uses in I., II., III. and IV. class lands were 665 ha, it was increased approximately by 30% and reached to 865.15 ha in 2012. Non-agricultural uses in VI., VII. and VIII. class lands were 1683 ha in 1982 and it has increased about 5 .03% and reached to 1767.5 ha in 2012. The decline of forest areas in VI and VII class land has led to increases especially in agriculture and pasture use. This increase is thought to lead to increased soil loss due to erosion.

  11. Peripheral and gastrointestinal immune systems of healthy cattle raised outdoors at pasture or indoors on a concentrate-based ration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lejeune, Alexandre; Monahan, Frank J; Moloney, Aidan P; Earley, Bernadette; Black, Alistair D; Campion, Deirdre P; Englishby, Tanya; Reilly, Petrina; O'Doherty, John; Sweeney, Torres

    2010-03-31

    Despite an increasing preference of consumers for beef produced from more extensive pasture-based production systems and potential human health benefits from the consumption of such beef, data regarding the health status of animals raised on pasture are limited. The objective of this study was to characterise specific aspects of the bovine peripheral and the gastrointestinal muscosal immune systems of cattle raised on an outdoor pasture system in comparison to animals raised on a conventional intensive indoor concentrate-based system. A number of in vitro functional tests of immune cells suggested subtle differences between the animals on the outdoor versus indoor production systems. There was a decrease in the number of neutrophils and monocytes engaged in phagocytosis in outdoor cattle (P outdoor animals (P outdoor animals with elevated levels of serum pepsinogen (P outdoor animals in comparison to the indoor animals. Lower levels of copper and iodine were measured in the outdoor animals in comparison to indoor animals (P < 0.001). Despite distinctly contrasting production systems, only subtle differences were identified in the peripheral immune parameters measured between cattle raised at pasture in comparison to animals raised on a conventional intensive indoor concentrate-based production system.

  12. The Effects of Modern-Day Cropland and Pasture Management on Vegetation Fire: An Earth System Modeling Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rabin, S. S.; Malyshev, S.; Shevliakova, E.; Pacala, S. W.

    2014-12-01

    Fire is a major component of the global carbon cycle, with some estimates of the associated emissions reaching 2.5 PgC/yr. This and the other impacts of biomass burning have driven efforts to improve its simulation in Earth system models. Recent global fire models usually include both bioclimatic and anthropogenic drivers of fire, with the latter (via population density and sometimes economic status) serving to increase or suppress burned area. Some models have added the representation of fire used in deforestation and cropland management, the extent and seasonal timing of which may not be accounted for by the usual approach to anthropogenic influence. Human land use can also limit fire by fragmenting landscapes, but this process is not included in most global models. Moreover, although people often use fire to manage grazing lands for livestock, these practices have not been explicitly modeled (except as performed by pre-industrial societies). This could be important for regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, where the seasonality of pasture burning tends to differ from that of other lands, potentially influencing savanna-forest dynamics. Recent efforts elucidating the effects of cropland and pasture on fire regimes at regional scales provide insight into these processes. Using this new understanding, we have developed a fire model with structurally distinct modules for burning of croplands, pasture, and primary and secondary lands, as well as fire use for deforestation. Parameters for each are rigorously constrained using remote-sensing observations of burned area. This structure allows us to disentangle agricultural practices and fragmentation effects from the endogenous processes driving fire on non-agricultural land, resulting in a better ability to simulate how fire works at large scales. This is critical for modeling the future of fire and all the parts of the Earth system that it affects, including vegetation distributions, nutrient cycling, and biosphere

  13. EFFECTS OF FARMING SYSTEMS ON SPECIES COMPOSITION, NUTRIENT CONTENT AND DIGESTIBILTY OF FORAGES OF THE NATURAL PASTURE OF ASSOSA ZONE (WESTERN ETHIOPIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Beyene Teklu

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Forage species of the natural pasture of Assosa Zone of Benshangule-Gumuz (Western Ethiopia were identified and their chemical composition and in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD determined. Data were collected from two farming systems (shifting cultivation: SC and permanent farming system: PFS and two grazing types (communal grazing land: CGL, riverside grazing land: RSGL. 18 grasses, 2 legumes, sedge, 2 forbs and 17 trees/shrubs were identified from the natural pasture of both farming systems. Hyparrhenia rufa had significantly lower (P

  14. Farm Management in Organic and Conventional Dairy Production Systems Based on Pasture in Southern Brazil and Its Consequences on Production and Milk Quality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuhnen, Shirley; Stibuski, Rudinei Butka; Honorato, Luciana Aparecida; Pinheiro Machado Filho, Luiz Carlos

    2015-01-01

    Simple Summary This study provides the characteristics of the conventional high input (C-HI), conventional low input (C-LI), and organic low input (O-LI) pasture-based production systems used in Southern Brazil, and its consequences on production and milk quality. C-HI farms had larger farms and herds, annual pasture with higher inputs and milk yield, whereas O-LI had smaller farms and herds, perennial pastures with lowest input and milk yields; C-LI was in between. O-LI farms may contribute to eco-system services, but low milk yield is a major concern. Hygienic and microbiological milk quality was poor for all farms and needs to be improved. Abstract Pasture-based dairy production is used widely on family dairy farms in Southern Brazil. This study investigates conventional high input (C-HI), conventional low input (C-LI), and organic low input (O-LI) pasture-based systems and their effects on quantity and quality of the milk produced. We conducted technical site visits and interviews monthly over one year on 24 family farms (n = 8 per type). C-HI farms had the greatest total area (28.9 ha), greatest percentage of area with annual pasture (38.7%), largest number of lactating animals (26.2) and greatest milk yield per cow (22.8 kg·day−1). O-LI farms had the largest perennial pasture area (52.3%), with the greatest botanical richness during all seasons. Area of perennial pasture was positively correlated with number of species consumed by the animals (R2 = 0.74). Milk from O-LI farms had higher levels of fat and total solids only during the winter. Hygienic and microbiological quality of the milk was poor for all farms and need to be improved. C-HI farms had high milk yield related to high input, C-LI had intermediate characteristics and O-LI utilized a year round perennial pasture as a strategy to diminish the use of supplements in animal diets, which is an important aspect in ensuring production sustainability. PMID:26479369

  15. Productivity and nutritive quality of three brassica varieties for use in pasture-based systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brassicas are gaining popularity among pasture-based livestock producers to extend grazing during the ‘summer slump’ and throughout the fall. A 2-yr study was conducted to compare biomass production and nutrient composition of ‘Barisca’ rapeseed (RAP; Brassica napus L.), ‘Inspiration’ canola (CAN; B...

  16. Data to calculate emissions intensity for individual beef cattle reared on pasture-based production systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G.A. McAuliffe

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available With increasing concern about environmental burdens originating from livestock production, the importance of farming system evaluation has never been greater. In order to form a basis for trade-off analysis of pasture-based cattle production systems, liveweight data from 90 Charolais × Hereford-Friesian calves were collected at a high temporal resolution at the North Wyke Farm Platform (NWFP in Devon, UK. These data were then applied to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC modelling framework to estimate on-farm methane emissions under three different pasture management strategies, completing a foreground dataset required to calculate emissions intensity of individual beef cattle.

  17. Soil carbon pools in different pasture systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco M. Cardozo, Jr.

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to assess the carbon pools of a tropical soil where the native forest was replaced with different pasture systems. We studied five pasture production systems, including four monoculture systems with forage grasses such as Andropogon, Brachiaria, Panicum, and Cynodon, and an agroforestry system as well as a native vegetation plot. Greater availability of fulvic acid was detected in the agroforestry system as compared with that in the other systems. Higher lability of C was detected in the Andropogon system during the dry and rainy seasons and during the dry season in Cynodon. During the dry season, all pastures systems showed deficits in the net removal of atmospheric CO2. The structure and practices of the agroforestry system enables more carbon to be sequestered in the soil as compared with the monoculture pasture, suggesting that it is an important practice to mitigate climatic change and to improve soil quality.

  18. European wood-pastures in transition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wood-pastures are important elements of European cultural identity and have an exceptional ecological value, yet they are in decline all over Europe. The structure of wood-pastures is strongly influenced by grazing and multiple other land uses and by local and regional environmental conditions....... This book examines the diverse expressions of wood-pastures across Europe. It provides a new perspective, using a social-ecological framework to explore social and ecological values, governing institutions, threats and conservation approaches. It explores the major drivers of decline, which are shown...

  19. Land Data Assimilation of Satellite-Based Soil Moisture Products Using the Land Information System Over the NLDAS Domain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mocko, David M.; Kumar, S. V.; Peters-Lidard, C. D.; Tian, Y.

    2011-01-01

    This presentation will include results from data assimilation simulations using the NASA-developed Land Information System (LIS). Using the ensemble Kalman filter in LIS, two satellite-based soil moisture products from the AMSR-E instrument were assimilated, one a NASA-based product and the other from the Land Parameter Retrieval Model (LPRM). The domain and land-surface forcing data from these simulations were from the North American Land Data Assimilation System Phase-2, over the period 2002-2008. The Noah land-surface model, version 3.2, was used during the simulations. Changes to estimates of land surface states, such as soil moisture, as well as changes to simulated runoff/streamflow will be presented. Comparisons over the NLDAS domain will also be made to two global reference evapotranspiration (ET) products, one an interpolated product based on FLUXNET tower data and the other a satellite- based algorithm from the MODIS instrument. Results of an improvement metric show that assimilating the LPRM product improved simulated ET estimates while the NASA-based soil moisture product did not.

  20. Scale-dependence of land use effects on water quality of streams in agricultural catchments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buck, Oliver; Niyogi, Dev K.; Townsend, Colin R.

    2004-01-01

    The influence of land use on water quality in streams is scale-dependent and varies in time and space. In this study, land cover patterns and stocking rates were used as measures of agricultural development in two pasture and one native grassland catchment in New Zealand and were related to water quality in streams of various orders. The amount of pasture per subcatchment correlated well to total nitrogen and nitrate in one catchment and turbidity and total phosphorous in the other catchment. Stocking rates were only correlated to total phosphorous in one pasture catchment but showed stronger correlations to ammonium, total phosphorous and total nitrogen in the other pasture catchment. Winter and spring floods were significant sources of nutrients and faecal coliforms from one of the pasture catchments into a wetland complex. Nutrient and faecal coliform concentrations were better predicted by pastural land cover in fourth-order than in second-order streams. This suggests that upstream land use is more influential in larger streams, while local land use and other factors may be more important in smaller streams. These temporal and spatial scale effects indicate that water-monitoring schemes need to be scale-sensitive. - Land use influences water quality of streams at various spatial scales

  1. Scale-dependence of land use effects on water quality of streams in agricultural catchments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Buck, Oliver; Niyogi, Dev K.; Townsend, Colin R

    2004-07-01

    The influence of land use on water quality in streams is scale-dependent and varies in time and space. In this study, land cover patterns and stocking rates were used as measures of agricultural development in two pasture and one native grassland catchment in New Zealand and were related to water quality in streams of various orders. The amount of pasture per subcatchment correlated well to total nitrogen and nitrate in one catchment and turbidity and total phosphorous in the other catchment. Stocking rates were only correlated to total phosphorous in one pasture catchment but showed stronger correlations to ammonium, total phosphorous and total nitrogen in the other pasture catchment. Winter and spring floods were significant sources of nutrients and faecal coliforms from one of the pasture catchments into a wetland complex. Nutrient and faecal coliform concentrations were better predicted by pastural land cover in fourth-order than in second-order streams. This suggests that upstream land use is more influential in larger streams, while local land use and other factors may be more important in smaller streams. These temporal and spatial scale effects indicate that water-monitoring schemes need to be scale-sensitive. - Land use influences water quality of streams at various spatial scales.

  2. Soil carbon storage in silvopasture and related land-use systems in the brazilian cerrado.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tonucci, Rafael G; Nair, P K Ramachandran; Nair, Vimala D; Garcia, Rasmo; Bernardino, Fernando S

    2011-01-01

    Silvopastoral management of fast-growing tree plantations is becoming popular in the Brazilian Cerrado (savanna). To understand the influence of such systems on soil carbon (C) storage, we studied C content in three aggregate size classes in six land-use systems (LUS) on Oxisols in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The systems were a native forest, a treeless pasture, 24- and 4-yr-old eucalyptus ( sp.) plantations, and 15- and 4-yr-old silvopastures of fodder grass plus animals under eucalyptus. From each system, replicated soil samples were collected from four depths (0-10, 10-20, 20-50, and 50-100 cm), fractionated into 2000- to 250-, 250- to 53-, and <53-μm size classes representing macroaggregates, microaggregates, and silt + clay, respectively, and their C contents determined. Macroaggregate was the predominant size fraction under all LUS, especially in the surface soil layers of tree-based systems. In general, C concentrations (g kg soil) in the different aggregate size fractions did not vary within the same depth. The soil organic carbon (SOC) stock (Mg C ha) to 1-m depth was highest under pasture compared with other LUS owing to its higher soil bulk density. The soils under all LUS had higher C stock compared with other reported values for managed tropical ecosystems: down to 1 m, total SOC stock values ranged from 461 Mg ha under pasture to 393 Mg ha under old eucalyptus. Considering the possibility for formation and retention of microaggregates within macroggregates in low management-intensive systems such as silvopasture, the macroaggregate dynamics in the soil seem to be a good indicator of its C storage potential. American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.

  3. Analyzing Land Use/Land Cover Changes Using Remote Sensing and GIS in Rize, North-East Turkey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reis, Selçuk

    2008-10-01

    Mapping land use/land cover (LULC) changes at regional scales is essential for a wide range of applications, including landslide, erosion, land planning, global warming etc. LULC alterations (based especially on human activities), negatively effect the patterns of climate, the patterns of natural hazard and socio-economic dynamics in global and local scale. In this study, LULC changes are investigated by using of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Rize, North-East Turkey. For this purpose, firstly supervised classification technique is applied to Landsat images acquired in 1976 and 2000. Image Classification of six reflective bands of two Landsat images is carried out by using maximum likelihood method with the aid of ground truth data obtained from aerial images dated 1973 and 2002. The second part focused on land use land cover changes by using change detection comparison (pixel by pixel). In third part of the study, the land cover changes are analyzed according to the topographic structure (slope and altitude) by using GIS functions. The results indicate that severe land cover changes have occurred in agricultural (36.2%) (especially in tea gardens), urban (117%), pasture (-72.8%) and forestry (-12.8%) areas has been experienced in the region between 1976 and 2000. It was seen that the LULC changes were mostly occurred in coastal areas and in areas having low slope values.

  4. Analyzing Land Use/Land Cover Changes Using Remote Sensing and GIS in Rize, North-East Turkey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Selçuk Reis

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Mapping land use/land cover (LULC changes at regional scales is essential for a wide range of applications, including landslide, erosion, land planning, global warming etc. LULC alterations (based especially on human activities, negatively effect the patterns of climate, the patterns of natural hazard and socio-economic dynamics in global and local scale. In this study, LULC changes are investigated by using of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS in Rize, North-East Turkey. For this purpose, firstly supervised classification technique is applied to Landsat images acquired in 1976 and 2000. Image Classification of six reflective bands of two Landsat images is carried out by using maximum likelihood method with the aid of ground truth data obtained from aerial images dated 1973 and 2002. The second part focused on land use land cover changes by using change detection comparison (pixel by pixel. In third part of the study, the land cover changes are analyzed according to the topographic structure (slope and altitude by using GIS functions. The results indicate that severe land cover changes have occurred in agricultural (36.2% (especially in tea gardens, urban (117%, pasture (-72.8% and forestry (-12.8% areas has been experienced in the region between 1976 and 2000. It was seen that the LULC changes were mostly occurred in coastal areas and in areas having low slope values.

  5. Atributos físicos e carbono orgânico em solo sob cerrado convertido para pastagem e sistema misto / Physical attributes and organic carbon in soil under brazilian Savannah converted to pasture and mixed system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thalita Mendes Resende

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The pasture is an important economic activity in the brazilian Savannah. From the 1970s and 1980s, the implementation of the programs to improve the productivity of pastures, was introduced grasses, especially Brachiaria. When handled properly, the pasture is an efficient method to contribute to carbon sequestration and to the mitigation of concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which are dependent to the time of the land-use and the properties of each soil type. The microregion of Uberlandia in Triangulo Mineiro (MG is traditionally linked to the pasture. However, the geological and natural soil conditions and climate are factors that can accelerate soil degradation when pasture is not handled properly. The objective of this article was to compare the changes of soil properties and the incorporation of C in covered areas [1] natural brazilian Savannah, [2] mixed system initially converted to agricultural use and the last 15 years of pasture, and [3] pasture cultivated with 30 years of implantation. The results show the influence of the land use on organic matter dynamics, and evaluate the potential degradation of soil by the activity, management and time of land use.

  6. Indicators for Alpine Pastures Multifunctional Use. The Case of Estates of the Regional Agricultural and Forestry Services Board of Lombardy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michele Corti

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available 18 Alpine pastures (AP, in the alpine provinces of Lombardy managed by ERSAF (Regional Agricultural and Forestry Services Board of the Lombardy Region were investigated to understand how to plan their future. In order to assess their potential multifunctional use three macro functions were considered: 1 agricultural economy (dairy and meat products and agritourism services; 2 leisure and education (direct use of the land; 3 public goods conservation and production (rural heritage, social values, landscape and nature. For each macro function several aspects (three to four were identified. They were evaluated through operational criteria (three to nine based on quantitative or qualitative estimates, the former based on linear measures the latter on synthetic evaluations by a panel of experts. By summing up operational criteria scores and applying weighting coefficients an index was calculated for each pasture aspect. These indicators were then used for statistical analysis. Clusters and principal components analysis grouped the pastures into categories suitable for various functions (agritourism and/or agricultural production, ecotourism. Furthermore they highlighted weaknesses and opportunities of individual estates. Results show that multifunctional use indicators could help the management planning of AP pertaining to public land .

  7. Estimating the potential intensification of global grazing systems based on climate adjusted yield gap analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheehan, J. J.

    2016-12-01

    We report here a first-of-its-kind analysis of the potential for intensification of global grazing systems. Intensification is calculated using the statistical yield gap methodology developed previously by others (Mueller et al 2012 and Licker et al 2010) for global crop systems. Yield gaps are estimated by binning global pasture land area into 100 equal area sized bins of similar climate (defined by ranges of rainfall and growing degree days). Within each bin, grid cells of pastureland are ranked from lowest to highest productivity. The global intensification potential is defined as the sum of global production across all bins at a given percentile ranking (e.g. performance at the 90th percentile) divided by the total current global production. The previous yield gap studies focused on crop systems because productivity data on these systems is readily available. Nevertheless, global crop land represents only one-third of total global agricultural land, while pasture systems account for the remaining two-thirds. Thus, it is critical to conduct the same kind of analysis on what is the largest human use of land on the planet—pasture systems. In 2013, Herrero et al announced the completion of a geospatial data set that augmented the animal census data with data and modeling about production systems and overall food productivity (Herrero et al, PNAS 2013). With this data set, it is now possible to apply yield gap analysis to global pasture systems. We used the Herrero et al data set to evaluate yield gaps for meat and milk production from pasture based systems for cattle, sheep and goats. The figure included with this abstract shows the intensification potential for kcal per hectare per year of meat and milk from global cattle, sheep and goats as a function of increasing levels of performance. Performance is measured as the productivity achieved at a given ranked percentile within each bin.We find that if all pasture land were raised to their 90th percentile of

  8. The Nexus Land-Use model version 1.0, an approach articulating biophysical potentials and economic dynamics to model competition for land-use

    Science.gov (United States)

    Souty, F.; Brunelle, T.; Dumas, P.; Dorin, B.; Ciais, P.; Crassous, R.; Müller, C.; Bondeau, A.

    2012-10-01

    Interactions between food demand, biomass energy and forest preservation are driving both food prices and land-use changes, regionally and globally. This study presents a new model called Nexus Land-Use version 1.0 which describes these interactions through a generic representation of agricultural intensification mechanisms within agricultural lands. The Nexus Land-Use model equations combine biophysics and economics into a single coherent framework to calculate crop yields, food prices, and resulting pasture and cropland areas within 12 regions inter-connected with each other by international trade. The representation of cropland and livestock production systems in each region relies on three components: (i) a biomass production function derived from the crop yield response function to inputs such as industrial fertilisers; (ii) a detailed representation of the livestock production system subdivided into an intensive and an extensive component, and (iii) a spatially explicit distribution of potential (maximal) crop yields prescribed from the Lund-Postdam-Jena global vegetation model for managed Land (LPJmL). The economic principles governing decisions about land-use and intensification are adapted from the Ricardian rent theory, assuming cost minimisation for farmers. In contrast to the other land-use models linking economy and biophysics, crops are aggregated as a representative product in calories and intensification for the representative crop is a non-linear function of chemical inputs. The model equations and parameter values are first described in details. Then, idealised scenarios exploring the impact of forest preservation policies or rising energy price on agricultural intensification are described, and their impacts on pasture and cropland areas are investigated.

  9. The Nexus Land-Use model version 1.0, an approach articulating biophysical potentials and economic dynamics to model competition for land-use

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    F. Souty

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Interactions between food demand, biomass energy and forest preservation are driving both food prices and land-use changes, regionally and globally. This study presents a new model called Nexus Land-Use version 1.0 which describes these interactions through a generic representation of agricultural intensification mechanisms within agricultural lands. The Nexus Land-Use model equations combine biophysics and economics into a single coherent framework to calculate crop yields, food prices, and resulting pasture and cropland areas within 12 regions inter-connected with each other by international trade. The representation of cropland and livestock production systems in each region relies on three components: (i a biomass production function derived from the crop yield response function to inputs such as industrial fertilisers; (ii a detailed representation of the livestock production system subdivided into an intensive and an extensive component, and (iii a spatially explicit distribution of potential (maximal crop yields prescribed from the Lund-Postdam-Jena global vegetation model for managed Land (LPJmL. The economic principles governing decisions about land-use and intensification are adapted from the Ricardian rent theory, assuming cost minimisation for farmers. In contrast to the other land-use models linking economy and biophysics, crops are aggregated as a representative product in calories and intensification for the representative crop is a non-linear function of chemical inputs. The model equations and parameter values are first described in details. Then, idealised scenarios exploring the impact of forest preservation policies or rising energy price on agricultural intensification are described, and their impacts on pasture and cropland areas are investigated.

  10. The Challenges of Bottom-up Approach of Natural-Social Integration in China Highland Pasture Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ai, Likun

    2017-04-01

    The pasture land covers two fifth of total Chinese land area, which is mainly distributed in western highland of Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan Provinces. China pasture land is not only in charge of providing food resource to regional people, but also plays important role in highland ecosystem services and biodiversity. Along with global warming and enhanced grazing activity, 90% of China pasture land is facing the threat of land degradation. From middle 1990's, Chinese government has released a series of pasture land conservation policies to prevent further environmental degradation. In the same time, lots of pasture ecosystem and environment change researches are supported by national and regional funding agencies. In this study, by monitoring and investigating this top-down approach of pasture land research and policy making processes, we would like to find out the gaps and problems of current research and policy making on China pasture land conservation, especially focusing on the possibility of establishing the bottom-up approach of natural-social sciences integration to support the pasture land conservation and sustainable pasture land management in highland China.

  11. Environmental impacts of alternative agricultural uses of poorly drained farm land in Ireland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharma, Pooja; Humphreys, James; Holden, Nicholas M

    2018-05-07

    Abolition of the milk quota in the European Union and favourable market conditions have stimulated the expansion of the dairy sector in Ireland, causing more milk to be produced from poorly drained land. This work evaluated the environmental impacts of alternative agricultural uses for poorly drained farm land in Ireland using life cycle assessment (LCA). The avoided burden of the displaced product was used to calculate the net environmental consequences in the context of regional or global markets. The impact categories evaluated were climate change, eutrophication and acidification, all expressed per hectare of land for the alternative land uses, which were pasture-based milk, suckler beef and lowland sheep production and coniferous forestry. Beef had the lowest net climate change impact with global marginal and average product substitution while sheep had the lowest net climate change impact with European displaced product. For net eutrophication and acidification, dairy had the lowest impacts with European and global average displaced product. With global marginal displaced product, forestry had the lowest net eutrophication impact and sheep had the lowest net acidification impact. From an Irish perspective, forestry would generate the lowest environmental impacts and would also increase soil carbon stock, but this was not the best land use option from global perspective. Overall it can be concluded that a pasture based dairy or sheep system would have the greatest net global impact reduction (i.e. greatest global benefit) as land use options for farms with poorly drained soils. Prioritizing climate change, suckler beef system would perhaps be more favourable. It is clear that the choice of the displaced regional or global co-product from the market has a great influence on the results and there is a need to consider more detailed consumption modelling to better understand the substitution process. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Detecting Dewatering of Peatland Pastures Using Sentinel-1 Satellite Radar Interferometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heuff, F.; Samiei-Esfahany, S.; van Leijen, F. J.; Hanssen, R. F.

    2017-12-01

    The Netherlands are famous for their polders and the draining of soils to be used as pastures. Around 30% of the pastures are situated on peat soils, mostly in the western part of the Netherlands. Peat is composed of organic materials that oxidize and emit greenhouse gases when exposed to air. Oxidation of peat soils results in volume reduction and subsequent subsidence. As a result, the groundwater level rises relative to the surface. Consequently, the soil needs to be dewatered to keep it sufficiently dry for farming, resulting in more oxidation, and therefore more subsidence. This process is bound to continue until the peat soils have disappeared completely. The societal cost of land subsidence due to peat soils are estimated to be 5200 million euro for urban areas and 200 million euro for peatland pastures, for a period until 2050. Measuring the subsidence is not straightforward, if not impossible, with conventional geodetic means as soft soils make it impossible to install fixed benchmarks for repeated surveying. Also, due to the very fast temporal decorrelation over pastures, conventional InSAR approaches cannot measure a signal due to loss of coherence. Here we deploy a complete set of available SAR data from Sentinel-1, Radarsat-2 and TerraSAR-X to estimate the spatio-temporally varying subsidence signal due to the dewatering of peatland pastures over the western part of the Netherlands. We compute the InSAR coherence matrix for all possible interferometric combination, and compute an equivalent single-master stack to estimate the subsidence. Using terrain and land-use defined coherence estimation areas we optimize the phase estimation over areas severely affected by temporal decorrelation. This leads to a first estimate of deformation signals correlated with ancient shallow soil structures due to fluviatile structures. We use the methodology to investigate the effect of advanced local drainage schemes to slow down the subsidence phenomena.

  13. Pasture improvement in Spanish Dehesas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murillo Vilanova, M.; González López, F.

    2009-04-01

    In the south-west of the Iberian Peninsula, the dehesa is a widespread agro-silvo-pastoral land use system, characterized by a grassland with a disperse cover of oak trees and shrubs, where the main production is extensive livestock combined with agriculture and forestry. Many years of inappropriate management of dehesas (deforestation, overgrazing, excessive agricultural activities, etc.) has led to the degradation of vegetation and soils in extensive areas, causing reductions in biomass and biodiversity, affecting the permanence of plants and causing important losses of palatable species. As there is growing interest in these wooded rangeland ecosystems due to their economic importance and high environmental value, the recovery of the original pasture biodiversity and the increase of productivity, together with the conservation of the environment, are the main goals in these areas of low productive potential, degraded and subject to soil erosion. Soil and climate conditions have a great influence on grassland production, with rainfall producing strong seasonal and interannual variations. These natural pastures, mainly composed of summer withering annual species, reach maximum productions in spring and register low values in autumn, slowing down in winter. During the summer dry season, the wilting pastures can offer a good forage for animals. Autochthonous annual legumes play an important role because they are well adapted to local edaphic and climatic conditions and produce hard seeds which germinate in autumn. This helps them to survive the frequent droughts and offer a high quality forage, which is a valuable complement to other pasture plants with lower protein content. Therefore, for several decades, legume seeding combined with the application of phosphate fertilizer has been the most common strategy used to improve pastures in SW Spain, where dehesas cover an area of about four million hectares. This paper examines the whole process of pasture improvement

  14. Economic and environmental issues associated with confinement and pasture-based dairy systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milk is produced in a continuum of dairy systems from full confinement to full pasture grazing. Climate, available feeds, and milk price: feed cost ratio influence the preferred system. All dairy systems have an environmental impact and inputs to maximise profit may lead to pollution levels unacce...

  15. Short Communication: Soil carbon pools in different pasture systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cardozo, F.M. Jr.; Carneiro, R.F.V.; Leite, L.F.C.; Araujo, A.S.F.

    2016-11-01

    The aim of this study was to assess the carbon pools of a tropical soil where the native forest was replaced with different pasture systems. We studied five pasture production systems, including four monoculture systems with forage grasses such as Andropogon, Brachiaria, Panicum, and Cynodon, and an agroforestry system as well as a native vegetation plot. Greater availability of fulvic acid was detected in the agroforestry system as compared with that in the other systems. Higher lability of C was detected in the Andropogon system during the dry and rainy seasons and during the dry season in Cynodon. During the dry season, all pastures systems showed deficits in the net removal of atmospheric CO2. The structure and practices of the agroforestry system enables more carbon to be sequestered in the soil as compared with the monoculture pasture, suggesting that it is an important practice to mitigate climatic change and to improve soil quality. (Author)

  16. Changes in Carbon Emissions in Colombian Savannas Derived From Recent Land use and Land Cover Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Etter, A.; Sarmiento, A.

    2007-12-01

    The global contribution of carbon emissions from land use dynamics and change to the global carbon (C) cycle is still uncertain, a major concern in global change modeling. Carbon emission from fires in the tropics is significant and represents 9% of the net primary production, and 50% of worldwide C emissions from fires are attributable to savanna fires. Such emissions may vary significantly due to differences in ecosystem types. Most savanna areas are devoted to grazing land uses making methane emissions also important in savanna ecosystems. Land use change driven by intensification of grazing and cropping has become a major factor affecting C emission dynamics from savanna regions. Colombia has some 17 MHa of mesic savannas which have been historically burned. Due to changes in market demands and improved accessibility during the last 20 years, important areas of savannas changed land use from predominantly extensive grazing to crops and intensive grazing systems. This research models and evaluates the impacts of such land use changes on the spatial and temporal burning patterns and C emissions in the Orinoco savannas of Colombia. We address the effects of land use change patterns using remote sensing data from MODIS and Landsat, ecosystem mapping products, and spatial GIS analysis. First we map the expansion of the agricultural frontier from the 1980s-2000s. We then model the changes in land use from the 1980s using a statistical modeling approach to analyze and quantify the impact of accessibility, ecosystem type and land tenure. We calculate the effects on C emissions from fire regimes and other sources of C based on patterns and extent of burned areas in the 2000s for different savanna ecosystem types and land uses. In the Llanos the fire regime exhibits a marked seasonal variability with most fire events occurring during the dry season between December-March. Our analysis shows that fire frequencies vary consistently between 0.6 and 2.8 fires.yr-1 per 2

  17. Soil losses in rural watersheds with environmental land use conflicts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pacheco, F A L; Varandas, S G P; Sanches Fernandes, L F; Valle Junior, R F

    2014-07-01

    Soil losses were calculated in a rural watershed where environmental land use conflicts developed in the course of a progressive invasion of forest and pasture/forest lands by agriculture, especially vineyards. The hydrographic basin is located in the Douro region where the famous Port wine is produced (northern Portugal) and the soil losses were estimated by the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) in combination with a Geographic Information System (GIS). Environmental land use conflicts were set up on the basis of land use and land capability maps, coded as follows: 1-agriculture, 2-pasture, 3-pasture/forest, and 4-forest. The difference between the codes of capability and use defines a conflict class, where a negative or nil value means no conflict and a positive i value means class i conflict. The reliability of soil loss estimates was tested by a check of these values against the frequency of stone wall instabilities in vineyard terraces, with good results. Using the USLE, the average soil loss (A) was estimated in A=12.2 t·ha(-1)·yr(-1) and potential erosion risk areas were found to occupy 28.3% of the basin, defined where soil losses are larger than soil loss tolerances. Soil losses in no conflict regions (11.2 t·ha(-1)·yr(-1)) were significantly different from those in class 2 (6.8 t·ha(-1)·yr(-1)) and class 3 regions (21.3 t·ha(-1)·yr(-1)) that in total occupy 2.62 km(2) (14.3% of the basin). When simulating a scenario of no conflict across the entire basin, whereby land use in class 2 conflict regions is set up to permanent pastures and in class 3 conflict regions to pine forests, it was concluded that A=0.95 t·ha(-1)·yr(-1) (class 2) or A=9.8 t·ha(-1)·yr(-1) (class 3), which correspond to drops of 86% and 54% in soil loss relative to the actual values. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. From land use to land cover: Restoring the afforestation signal in a coupled integrated assessment - earth system model and the implications for CMIP5 RCP simulations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Di Vittorio, Alan V. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Chini, Louise M. [Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States); Bond-Lamberty, Benjamin [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Mao, Jiafu [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Shi, Xiaoying [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Truesdale, John E. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Craig, Anthony P. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Calvin, Katherine V. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Jones, Andrew D. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Collins, William D. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Edmonds, James A. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Hurtt, George [Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States); Thornton, Peter E. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Thomson, Allison M. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

    2014-11-27

    Climate projections depend on scenarios of fossil fuel emissions and land use change, and the IPCC AR5 parallel process assumes consistent climate scenarios across Integrated Assessment and Earth System Models (IAMs and ESMs). To facilitate consistency, CMIP5 used a novel land use harmonization to provide ESMs with seamless, 1500-2100 land use trajectories generated by historical data and four IAMs. However, we have identified and partially addressed a major gap in the CMIP5 land coupling design. The CMIP5 Community ESM (CESM) global afforestation is only 22% of RCP4.5 afforestation from 2005 to 2100. Likewise, only 17% of the Global Change Assessment Model’s (GCAM’s) 2040 RCP4.5 afforestation signal, and none of the pasture loss, were transmitted to CESM within a newly integrated model. This is a critical problem because afforestation is necessary for achieving the RCP4.5 climate stabilization. We attempted to rectify this problem by modifying only the ESM component of the integrated model, enabling CESM to simulate 66% of GCAM’s afforestation in 2040, and 94% of GCAM’s pasture loss as grassland and shrubland losses. This additional afforestation increases vegetation carbon gain by 19 PgC and decreases atmospheric CO2 gain by 8 ppmv from 2005 to 2040, implying different climate scenarios between CMIP5 GCAM and CESM. Similar inconsistencies likely exist in other CMIP5 model results, primarily because land cover information is not shared between models, with possible contributions from afforestation exceeding model-specific, potentially viable forest area. Further work to harmonize land cover among models will be required to adequately rectify this problem.

  19. Distributions of emissions intensity for individual beef cattle reared on pasture-based production systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McAuliffe, G A; Takahashi, T; Orr, R J; Harris, P; Lee, M R F

    2018-01-10

    Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of livestock production systems is often based on inventory data for farms typical of a study region. As information on individual animals is often unavailable, livestock data may already be aggregated at the time of inventory analysis, both across individual animals and across seasons. Even though various computational tools exist to consider the effect of genetic and seasonal variabilities in livestock-originated emissions intensity, the degree to which these methods can address the bias suffered by representative animal approaches is not well-understood. Using detailed on-farm data collected on the North Wyke Farm Platform (NWFP) in Devon, UK, this paper proposes a novel approach of life cycle impact assessment that complements the existing LCA methodology. Field data, such as forage quality and animal performance, were measured at high spatial and temporal resolutions and directly transferred into LCA processes. This approach has enabled derivation of emissions intensity for each individual animal and, by extension, its intra-farm distribution, providing a step towards reducing uncertainty related to agricultural production inherent in LCA studies for food. Depending on pasture management strategies, the total emissions intensity estimated by the proposed method was higher than the equivalent value recalculated using a representative animal approach by 0.9-1.7 kg CO 2 -eq/kg liveweight gain, or up to 10% of system-wide emissions. This finding suggests that emissions intensity values derived by the latter technique may be underestimated due to insufficient consideration given to poorly performing animals, whose emissions becomes exponentially greater as average daily gain decreases. Strategies to mitigate life-cycle environmental impacts of pasture-based beef productions systems are also discussed.

  20. Multisource Data Fusion Framework for Land Use/Land Cover Classification Using Machine Vision

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Salman Qadri

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Data fusion is a powerful tool for the merging of multiple sources of information to produce a better output as compared to individual source. This study describes the data fusion of five land use/cover types, that is, bare land, fertile cultivated land, desert rangeland, green pasture, and Sutlej basin river land derived from remote sensing. A novel framework for multispectral and texture feature based data fusion is designed to identify the land use/land cover data types correctly. Multispectral data is obtained using a multispectral radiometer, while digital camera is used for image dataset. It has been observed that each image contained 229 texture features, while 30 optimized texture features data for each image has been obtained by joining together three features selection techniques, that is, Fisher, Probability of Error plus Average Correlation, and Mutual Information. This 30-optimized-texture-feature dataset is merged with five-spectral-feature dataset to build the fused dataset. A comparison is performed among texture, multispectral, and fused dataset using machine vision classifiers. It has been observed that fused dataset outperformed individually both datasets. The overall accuracy acquired using multilayer perceptron for texture data, multispectral data, and fused data was 96.67%, 97.60%, and 99.60%, respectively.

  1. Ecosystem service impacts of future changes in CO2, climate, and land use as simulated by a coupled vegetation/land-use model system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rabin, S. S.; Alexander, P.; Henry, R.; Anthoni, P.; Pugh, T.; Rounsevell, M.; Arneth, A.

    2017-12-01

    In a future of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations, changing climate, increasing human populations, and changing socioeconomic dynamics, the global agricultural system will need to adapt in order to feed the world. Global modeling can help to explore what these adaptations will look like, and their potential impacts on ecosystem services. To do so, however, the complex interconnections among the atmosphere, terrestrial ecosystems, and society mean that these various parts of the Earth system must be examined as an interconnected whole. With the goal of answering these questions, a model system has been developed that couples a biologically-representative global vegetation model, LPJ-GUESS, with the PLUMv2 land use model. LPJ-GUESS first simulates—at 0.5º resolution across the world—the potential yield of various crops and pasture under a range of management intensities for a time step given its atmospheric CO2 level and climatic forcings. These potential yield simulations are fed into PLUMv2, which uses them in conjunction with endogenous agricultural commodity demand and prices to produce land use and management inputs (fertilizer and irrigation water) at a sub-national level for the next time step. This process is performed through 2100 for a range of future climate and societal scenarios—the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) and the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs), respectively—providing a thorough exploration of possible trajectories of land use and land cover change. The land use projections produced by PLUMv2 are fed back into LPJ-GUESS to simulate the future impacts of land use change, along with increasing CO2 and climate change, on terrestrial ecosystems. This integrated analysis examines the resulting impacts on regulating and provisioning ecosystem services affecting biophysics (albedo); carbon, nitrogen, and water cycling; and the emission of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs).

  2. Spatio-temporal modelling of biomass of intensively grazed perennial dairy pastures using multispectral remote sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edirisinghe, Asoka; Clark, Dave; Waugh, Deanne

    2012-06-01

    Pasture biomass is a vital input for management of dairy systems in New Zealand. An accurate estimate of pasture biomass information is required for the calculation of feed budget, on which decisions are made for farm practices such as conservation, nitrogen use, rotational lengths and supplementary feeding leading to profitability and sustainable use of pasture resources. The traditional field based methods of measuring pasture biomass such as using rising plate metres (RPM) are largely inefficient in providing the timely information at the spatial extent and temporal frequency demanded by commercial environments. In recent times remote sensing has emerged as an alternative tool. In this paper we have examined the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) derived from medium resolution imagery of SPOT-4 and SPOT-5 satellite sensors to predict pasture biomass of intensively grazed dairy pastures. In the space and time domain analysis we have found a significant dependency of time over the season and no dependency of space across the scene at a given time for the relationship between NDVI and field based pasture biomass. We have established a positive correlation (81%) between the two variables in a pixel scale analysis. The application of the model on 2 selected farms over 3 images and aggregation of the predicted biomass to paddock scale has produced paddock average pasture biomass values with a coefficient of determination of 0.71 and a standard error of 260 kg DM ha-1 in the field observed range between 1500 and 3500 kg DM ha-1. This result indicates a high potential for operational use of remotely sensed data to predict pasture biomass of intensively grazed dairy pastures.

  3. Land-use induced dynamics of C, N and P in mountain soils of South Ecuador

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamer, U.; Potthast, K.; Makeschin, F.

    2009-04-01

    The mountain rainforest region in South Ecuador is characterised by sites subjected to forest clearing by slash burn for pasture production. Repeated burning of pastures is a common management practice in South Ecuador. With ongoing pasture age bracken (Pteridium arachnoideum) outcompetes the pasture grass (Setaria sphacelata), pastures are abandoned and a vegetation succession develops. Along a land-use gradient (natural forest, young and old pasture, abandoned pasture with successional vegetation) the dynamics of C, N and P in the mountain soils were investigated. The study sites were located close to the "Estacion Científica San Francisco", about halfway between the province capitals Loja and Zamora, in the Cordillera Real, an eastern range of the South Ecuadorian Andes at about 2000 m above sea level. The mean annual air temperature is 15.3°C with an average annual rainfall of 2176 mm. The land-use change induced an increase of total P in the top soil (0-30 cm) of young and old pastures. An increase in SOC stocks in the top soil of the old pasture was combined with an increase in the proportion of NaOH extractable organic P. In the young pasture soil the mineralization of SOC and the amounts of microbial biomass C, N and P were highest. In 0-5 cm depth gross N mineralization and gross NH4 consumption rates were significantly higher in the young pasture compared to forest and abandoned pasture. Thus, the initial increase in microbial activity after forest to pasture conversion seems to slow down with increasing pasture age. Burning on the abandoned pasture site induced a short-term and short-lived increase in gross N mineralization rates. First results indicate that the land-use induced changes in mineralization rates were connected with changes in the microbial community structure.

  4. Human-Nature Interaction in the Eastern Pamirs of Tajikistan - Ecosystem services against the background of pasture use and energy consumption

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vanselow, K. A.; Samimi, C.; Kraudzun, T.; Kreutzmann, H.

    2012-04-01

    Mountains play an important role in the world's sustainable development. Despite the acquired knowledge about their importance the Global Environment Outlook 3 (UNEP 2002) states that most "mountain commons are ecologically under-managed and suffer from the classic 'commons syndrome': while all seek to benefit, stakeholders lack coordination, incentives and instruments for joint care." For the Eastern Pamirs, a dry (economic methods. To assess the pasture potential information about land cover, phytomass availability, and forage quality were collected. Vegetation classes were modeled with a Random Forest (Breiman 2001), based on land cover information of 262 test plots, and explanatory variables derived from remotely sensed data. Phytomass availability was estimated using a point-intercept method (Mueller-Dombois & Ellenberg 1974). Forage quality of the most important fodder plants was analyzed according to van Soest (1994). By combining the results the availability of metabolizable energy throughout the study area was estimated. Spatiotemporal variations of pasture use were mapped by repeatedly visiting all pasture camps from 2007 until 2009 and 280 pastoralist were interviewed. Furthermore, the development of usage rights, and the size and ownership of the herds since the Soviet era were assessed through archive work and topic-specific expert interviews. It could be shown that the mono-seasonal pasture utilization on the state farms contrasts with a distinct multi-seasonal present-day use. Consequently, pastures close to villages are permanently used, particularly in winter, and are heavily overgrazed. In contrast, grazing pressure on summer pastures is much less. However, also several distant summer pastures show high livestock numbers, which indicates that they are not underused, as it is often argued. Furthermore, it could be demonstrated that the actual degradation of dwarf shrub vegetation is not yet as severe as stated in reports and literature. These

  5. Change in agricultural land use constrains adaptation of national wildlife refuges to climate change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamilton, Christopher M.; Thogmartin, Wayne E.; Radeloff, Volker C.; Plantinga, Andrew J.; Heglund, Patricia J.; Martinuzzi, Sebastian; Pidgeon, Anna M.

    2015-01-01

    Land-use change around protected areas limits their ability to conserve biodiversity by altering ecological processes such as natural hydrologic and disturbance regimes, facilitating species invasions, and interfering with dispersal of organisms. This paper informs USA National Wildlife Refuge System conservation planning by predicting future land-use change on lands within 25 km distance of 461 refuges in the USA using an econometric model. The model contained two differing policy scenarios, namely a ‘business-as-usual’ scenario and a ‘pro-agriculture’ scenario. Regardless of scenario, by 2051, forest cover and urban land use were predicted to increase around refuges, while the extent of range and pasture was predicted to decrease; cropland use decreased under the business-as-usual scenario, but increased under the pro-agriculture scenario. Increasing agricultural land value under the pro-agriculture scenario slowed an expected increase in forest around refuges, and doubled the rate of range and pasture loss. Intensity of land-use change on lands surrounding refuges differed by regions. Regional differences among scenarios revealed that an understanding of regional and local land-use dynamics and management options was an essential requirement to effectively manage these conserved lands. Such knowledge is particularly important given the predicted need to adapt to a changing global climate.

  6. Cross-site comparison of land-use decision-making and its consequences across land systems with a generalized agent-based model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magliocca, Nicholas R; Brown, Daniel G; Ellis, Erle C

    2014-01-01

    Local changes in land use result from the decisions and actions of land-users within land systems, which are structured by local and global environmental, economic, political, and cultural contexts. Such cross-scale causation presents a major challenge for developing a general understanding of how local decision-making shapes land-use changes at the global scale. This paper implements a generalized agent-based model (ABM) as a virtual laboratory to explore how global and local processes influence the land-use and livelihood decisions of local land-users, operationalized as settlement-level agents, across the landscapes of six real-world test sites. Test sites were chosen in USA, Laos, and China to capture globally-significant variation in population density, market influence, and environmental conditions, with land systems ranging from swidden to commercial agriculture. Publicly available global data were integrated into the ABM to model cross-scale effects of economic globalization on local land-use decisions. A suite of statistics was developed to assess the accuracy of model-predicted land-use outcomes relative to observed and random (i.e. null model) landscapes. At four of six sites, where environmental and demographic forces were important constraints on land-use choices, modeled land-use outcomes were more similar to those observed across sites than the null model. At the two sites in which market forces significantly influenced land-use and livelihood decisions, the model was a poorer predictor of land-use outcomes than the null model. Model successes and failures in simulating real-world land-use patterns enabled the testing of hypotheses on land-use decision-making and yielded insights on the importance of missing mechanisms. The virtual laboratory approach provides a practical framework for systematic improvement of both theory and predictive skill in land change science based on a continual process of experimentation and model enhancement.

  7. Cross-site comparison of land-use decision-making and its consequences across land systems with a generalized agent-based model.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicholas R Magliocca

    Full Text Available Local changes in land use result from the decisions and actions of land-users within land systems, which are structured by local and global environmental, economic, political, and cultural contexts. Such cross-scale causation presents a major challenge for developing a general understanding of how local decision-making shapes land-use changes at the global scale. This paper implements a generalized agent-based model (ABM as a virtual laboratory to explore how global and local processes influence the land-use and livelihood decisions of local land-users, operationalized as settlement-level agents, across the landscapes of six real-world test sites. Test sites were chosen in USA, Laos, and China to capture globally-significant variation in population density, market influence, and environmental conditions, with land systems ranging from swidden to commercial agriculture. Publicly available global data were integrated into the ABM to model cross-scale effects of economic globalization on local land-use decisions. A suite of statistics was developed to assess the accuracy of model-predicted land-use outcomes relative to observed and random (i.e. null model landscapes. At four of six sites, where environmental and demographic forces were important constraints on land-use choices, modeled land-use outcomes were more similar to those observed across sites than the null model. At the two sites in which market forces significantly influenced land-use and livelihood decisions, the model was a poorer predictor of land-use outcomes than the null model. Model successes and failures in simulating real-world land-use patterns enabled the testing of hypotheses on land-use decision-making and yielded insights on the importance of missing mechanisms. The virtual laboratory approach provides a practical framework for systematic improvement of both theory and predictive skill in land change science based on a continual process of experimentation and model

  8. Restricting daily time at pasture at low and high pasture allowance: effects on pasture intake and behavioral adaptation of lactating dairy cows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pérez-Ramírez, E; Peyraud, J L; Delagarde, R

    2009-07-01

    In pasture-based dairy systems, daily time at pasture is restricted during several periods of the year. The aim of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of restricting time at pasture on milk yield, pasture dry matter (DM) intake, and grazing behavior of dairy cows according to pasture allowance (PA), which partly defines pasture availability. The experiment was carried out in spring on strip-grazed perennial ryegrass pastures. The 6 treatments consisted of 3 durations of daily time at pasture [U: unrestricted day and night grazing (22 h at pasture); R9: 1 grazing session restricted to 9 h between the 2 milkings; R5: 2 grazing sessions of 2.75 h after each milking) compared at low and high PA (13 and 24 kg of DM/d per cow >5 cm, respectively). Eighteen mid-lactation Holstein dairy cows were used according to a 6 x 4 incomplete Latin square design replicated 3 times with four 14-d periods. Pasture DM intake was measured by the ytterbium-fecal index method and grazing behavior from portable devices. On average, restricting time at pasture from U to R (mean of R5 + R9) decreased pasture intake by 2.9 kg of DM, milk yield by 1.3 kg, and milk protein concentration by 0.11%, and increased milk fat concentration by 0.20%. Pasture intake and milk yield did not differ significantly between R9 and R5. The reduction of pasture intake and milk yield with decreasing time at pasture was greater at high compared with low PA. Grazing times were 536, 414, and 305 min, representing proportions of time spent grazing of 0.40, 0.77, and 0.93 for treatments U, R9, and R5, respectively. The reduction of grazing time with decreasing time at pasture was greater at high compared with low PA. Pasture intake rate greatly increased with decreasing time at pasture, but mainly on R5 (29.8, 31.6, and 42.1 g of DM/min for U, R9, and R5, respectively). The effect of time at pasture on pasture intake rate was unaffected by PA. In conclusion, the effect of restriction of time at pasture on

  9. Upscaling Empirically Based Conceptualisations to Model Tropical Dominant Hydrological Processes for Historical Land Use Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toohey, R.; Boll, J.; Brooks, E.; Jones, J.

    2009-12-01

    Surface runoff and percolation to ground water are two hydrological processes of concern to the Atlantic slope of Costa Rica because of their impacts on flooding and drinking water contamination. As per legislation, the Costa Rican Government funds land use management from the farm to the regional scale to improve or conserve hydrological ecosystem services. In this study, we examined how land use (e.g., forest, coffee, sugar cane, and pasture) affects hydrological response at the point, plot (1 m2), and the field scale (1-6ha) to empirically conceptualize the dominant hydrological processes in each land use. Using our field data, we upscaled these conceptual processes into a physically-based distributed hydrological model at the field, watershed (130 km2), and regional (1500 km2) scales. At the point and plot scales, the presence of macropores and large roots promoted greater vertical percolation and subsurface connectivity in the forest and coffee field sites. The lack of macropores and large roots, plus the addition of management artifacts (e.g., surface compaction and a plough layer), altered the dominant hydrological processes by increasing lateral flow and surface runoff in the pasture and sugar cane field sites. Macropores and topography were major influences on runoff generation at the field scale. Also at the field scale, antecedent moisture conditions suggest a threshold behavior as a temporal control on surface runoff generation. However, in this tropical climate with very intense rainstorms, annual surface runoff was less than 10% of annual precipitation at the field scale. Significant differences in soil and hydrological characteristics observed at the point and plot scales appear to have less significance when upscaled to the field scale. At the point and plot scales, percolation acted as the dominant hydrological process in this tropical environment. However, at the field scale for sugar cane and pasture sites, saturation-excess runoff increased as

  10. Impact of soil characteristics and land use on pipe erosion in a temperate humid climate: Field studies in Belgium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verachtert, E.; Van Den Eeckhaut, M.; Martínez-Murillo, J. F.; Nadal-Romero, E.; Poesen, J.; Devoldere, S.; Wijnants, N.; Deckers, J.

    2013-06-01

    This study investigates the role of soil characteristics and land use in the development of soil pipes in the loess belt of Belgium. First, we tested the hypothesis that discontinuities in the soil profile enhance lateral flow and piping by impeding vertical infiltration. We focus on discontinuities in soil characteristics that can vary with soil depth, including texture, saturated hydraulic conductivity, penetration resistance, and bulk density. These characteristics as well as soil biological activity were studied in detail on 12 representative soil profiles for different land use types. Twelve sites were selected in the Flemish Ardennes (Belgium): four pastures with collapsed pipes (CP), four pastures without CP, two sites under arable land without CP and two sites under forest without CP. Secondly, this study aimed at evaluating the interaction of groundwater table positions (through soil augerings) and CP in a larger area, with a focus on pastures. Pasture is the land use where almost all CP in the study area are observed. Therefore, the position of the groundwater table was compared for 15 pastures with CP and 14 pastures without CP, having comparable topographical characteristics in terms of slope gradient and contributing area. Finally, the effect of land use history on the occurrence of pipe collapse was evaluated for a database of 84 parcels with CP and 84 parcels without CP, currently under pasture. As to the first hypothesis, no clear discontinuities for abiotic soil characteristics in soil profiles were observed at the depth where pipes occur, but pastures with CP had significantly more earthworm channels and mole burrows at larger depths (> 120 cm: mean of > 200 earthworm channels per m2) than pastures without CP, arable land or forest (> 120 cm depth, a few or no earthworm channels left). The land use history appeared to be similar for the pastures with and without CP. Combining all results from soil profiles and soil augering indicates that intense

  11. Land Use Influences Niche Size and the Assimilation of Resources by Benthic Macroinvertebrates in Tropical Headwater Streams.

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    Diego Marcel Parreira de Castro

    Full Text Available It is well recognized that assemblage structure of stream macroinvertebrates changes with alterations in catchment or local land use. Our objective was to understand how the trophic ecology of benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages responds to land use changes in tropical streams. We used the isotope methodology to assess how energy flow and trophic relations among macroinvertebrates were affected in environments affected by different land uses (natural cover, pasture, sugar cane plantation. Macroinvertebrates were sampled and categorized into functional feeding groups, and available trophic resources were sampled and evaluated for the isotopic composition of 13C and 15N along streams located in the Cerrado (neotropical savanna. Streams altered by pasture or sugar cane had wider and more overlapped trophic niches, which corresponded to more generalist feeding habits. In contrast, trophic groups in streams with native vegetation had narrower trophic niches with smaller overlaps, suggesting greater specialization. Pasture sites had greater ranges of resources exploited, indicating higher trophic diversity than sites with natural cover and sugar cane plantation. We conclude that agricultural land uses appears to alter the food base and shift macroinvertebrate assemblages towards more generalist feeding behaviors and greater overlap of the trophic niches.

  12. Temporal and spatial water use on irrigated and nonirrigated pasture-based dairy farms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Higham, C D; Horne, D; Singh, R; Kuhn-Sherlock, B; Scarsbrook, M R

    2017-08-01

    Robust information for water use on pasture-based dairy farms is critical to farmers' attempts to use water more efficiently and the improved allocation of freshwater resources to dairy farmers. To quantify the water requirements of dairy farms across regions in a practicable manner, it will be necessary to develop predictive models. The objectives of this study were to compare water use on a group of irrigated and nonirrigated farms, validate existing water use models using the data measured on the group of nonirrigated farms, and modify the model so that it can be used to predict water use on irrigated dairy farms. Water use data were collected on a group of irrigated dairy farms located in the Canterbury, New Zealand, region with the largest area under irrigation. The nonirrigated farms were located in the Manawatu region. The amount of water used for irrigation was almost 52-fold greater than the amount of all other forms of water use combined. There were large differences in measured milking parlor water use, stock drinking water, and leakage rates between the irrigated and nonirrigated farms. As expected, stock drinking water was lower on irrigated dairy farms. Irrigation lowers the dry matter percentage of pasture, ensuring that the amount of water ingested from pasture remains high throughout the year, thereby reducing the demand for drinking water. Leakage rates were different between the 2 groups of farms; 47% of stock drinking water was lost as leakage on nonirrigated farms, whereas leakage on the irrigated farms equated to only 13% of stock drinking water. These differences in leakage were thought to be related to regional differences rather than differences in irrigated versus nonirrigated farms. Existing models developed to predict milking parlor, corrected stock drinking water, and total water use on nonirrigated pasture-based dairy farms in a previous related study were tested on the data measured in the present research. As expected, these models

  13. The influence of genetic selection and feed system on the reproductive performance of spring-calving dairy cows within future pasture-based production systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coleman, J; Pierce, K M; Berry, D P; Brennan, A; Horan, B

    2009-10-01

    Three genetic groups of Holstein-Friesian dairy cows were established from within the Moorepark (Teagasc, Ireland) dairy research herd: LowNA, indicative of the Irish national average-genetic-merit North American Holstein-Friesian; HighNA, high-genetic-merit North American Holstein-Friesian; HighNZ, high-genetic-merit New Zealand Holstein-Friesian. Genetic merit in this study was based on the Irish total merit index, the Economic Breeding Index. Animals from within each genetic group were randomly allocated to 1 of 2 possible post-European Union-milk-quota pasture-based feeding systems (FS): 1) The Moorepark (MP) pasture system (2.64 cows/ha and 500 kg of concentrate supplement per cow per lactation) and 2) a high output per hectare (HC) pasture system (2.85 cows/ha and 1,200 kg of concentrate supplement per cow per lactation). A total of 126, 128, and 140 spring-calving dairy cows were used during the years 2006, 2007, and 2008, respectively. Each group had an individual farmlet of 17 paddocks, and all groups were managed similarly throughout the study. The effects of genetic group, FS, and the interaction between genetic group and FS on reproductive performance, body weight, body condition score, and blood metabolite concentrations were studied using mixed models with factorial arrangements of genetic groups and FS. Odds ratios were used in the analysis of binary fertility traits, and survival analysis was used in the analysis of survival after first calving. When treatment means were compared, the HighNA and HighNZ genotypes (with greater genetic merit for fertility performance) had greater first-service pregnancy rates and had a greater proportion of cows pregnant after 42 d of the breeding season than the LowNA group. Both HighNA and HighNZ genotypes were submitted for artificial insemination earlier in the breeding season and had greater survival than the LowNA genotype. There was no significant FS or genotype by FS interactions for any of the reproductive

  14. Using a whole farm model to determine the impacts of mating management on the profitability of pasture-based dairy farms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beukes, P C; Burke, C R; Levy, G; Tiddy, R M

    2010-08-01

    An approach to assessing likely impacts of altering reproductive performance on productivity and profitability in pasture-based dairy farms is described. The basis is the development of a whole farm model (WFM) that simulates the entire farm system and holistically links multiple physical performance factors to profitability. The WFM consists of a framework that links a mechanistic cow model, a pasture model, a crop model, management policies and climate. It simulates individual cows and paddocks, and runs on a day time-step. The WFM was upgraded to include reproductive modeling capability using reference tables and empirical equations describing published relationships between cow factors, physiology and mating management. It predicts reproductive status at any time point for individual cows within a modeled herd. The performance of six commercial pasture-based dairy farms was simulated for the period of 12 months beginning 1 June 2005 (05/06 year) to evaluate the accuracy of the model by comparison with actual outcomes. The model predicted most key performance indicators within an acceptable range of error (residualprofitability of changes in farm "set-up" (farm conditions at the start of the farming year on 1 June) and mating management from 05/06 to 06/07 year. Among the six farms simulated, the 4-week calving rate emerged as an important set-up factor influencing profitability, while reproductive performance during natural bull mating was identified as an area with the greatest opportunity for improvement. The WFM presents utility to explore alternative management strategies to predict likely outcomes to proposed changes to a pasture-based farm system. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. [Soil mesofauna in differents systems of land use soil in Upper River Solimões, AM, Brazil].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morais, José W De; Oliveira, Viviane Dos S; Dambros, Cristian De S; Tapia-Coral, Sandra C; Acioli, Agno N S

    2010-01-01

    The mesofauna has an important function in the soil and it is represented mainly by Acari Oribatida and Collembola. We report the first data on the density and diversity of the soil mesofauna in Benjamin Constant, Amazonas State, Brazil. The following systems were evaluated: primary forest, secondary forest, agroforestry system, cultivated areas and pastures. A total of 101 samples were collected 100 m apart from each other and specimens were collected by using Berlese-Tullgren method. The highest density was registered in secondary forest (29,776 specimens.m-2). Acari Oribatida was the dominant group (7.072 specimens.m-2) in the pasture, suggesting that mites show higher capacity of adaptation to disturbed environments and/or due to the presence of gregarious species. The density of Collembola (5,632 specimens.m-2) was higher in secondary forest. Formicidae was the dominant group (27,824 specimens.m-2) and its highest density occurred in the secondary forest (12,336 specimens.m-2). Seven species and ten morphospecies of Isoptera and three species of Symphyla were identified. The highest density and diversity were found in secondary forest. One supposes that the low density of mesofauna found in all of the studied systems is being influenced by soil structure and composition as well as litter volume. For SUT, the composition of taxonomic groups in the cultivated areas is similar to the one found in primary forest, while the groups found in the agroforestry system are similar to those in the pasture, which may help to decide on land use strategies.

  16. Tropical land use land cover mapping in Pará (Brazil) using discriminative Markov random fields and multi-temporal TerraSAR-X data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hagensieker, Ron; Roscher, Ribana; Rosentreter, Johannes; Jakimow, Benjamin; Waske, Björn

    2017-12-01

    Remote sensing satellite data offer the unique possibility to map land use land cover transformations by providing spatially explicit information. However, detection of short-term processes and land use patterns of high spatial-temporal variability is a challenging task. We present a novel framework using multi-temporal TerraSAR-X data and machine learning techniques, namely discriminative Markov random fields with spatio-temporal priors, and import vector machines, in order to advance the mapping of land cover characterized by short-term changes. Our study region covers a current deforestation frontier in the Brazilian state Pará with land cover dominated by primary forests, different types of pasture land and secondary vegetation, and land use dominated by short-term processes such as slash-and-burn activities. The data set comprises multi-temporal TerraSAR-X imagery acquired over the course of the 2014 dry season, as well as optical data (RapidEye, Landsat) for reference. Results show that land use land cover is reliably mapped, resulting in spatially adjusted overall accuracies of up to 79% in a five class setting, yet limitations for the differentiation of different pasture types remain. The proposed method is applicable on multi-temporal data sets, and constitutes a feasible approach to map land use land cover in regions that are affected by high-frequent temporal changes.

  17. Modelling Pasture-based Automatic Milking System Herds: Grazeable Forage Options

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. R. Islam

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available One of the challenges to increase milk production in a large pasture-based herd with an automatic milking system (AMS is to grow forages within a 1-km radius, as increases in walking distance increases milking interval and reduces yield. The main objective of this study was to explore sustainable forage option technologies that can supply high amount of grazeable forages for AMS herds using the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM model. Three different basic simulation scenarios (with irrigation were carried out using forage crops (namely maize, soybean and sorghum for the spring-summer period. Subsequent crops in the three scenarios were forage rape over-sown with ryegrass. Each individual simulation was run using actual climatic records for the period from 1900 to 2010. Simulated highest forage yields in maize, soybean and sorghum- (each followed by forage rape-ryegrass based rotations were 28.2, 22.9, and 19.3 t dry matter/ha, respectively. The simulations suggested that the irrigation requirement could increase by up to 18%, 16%, and 17% respectively in those rotations in El-Niño years compared to neutral years. On the other hand, irrigation requirement could increase by up to 25%, 23%, and 32% in maize, soybean and sorghum based rotations in El-Nino years compared to La-Nina years. However, irrigation requirement could decrease by up to 8%, 7%, and 13% in maize, soybean and sorghum based rotations in La-Nina years compared to neutral years. The major implication of this study is that APSIM models have potentials in devising preferred forage options to maximise grazeable forage yield which may create the opportunity to grow more forage in small areas around the AMS which in turn will minimise walking distance and milking interval and thus increase milk production. Our analyses also suggest that simulation analysis may provide decision support during climatic uncertainty.

  18. Modelling Pasture-based Automatic Milking System Herds: Grazeable Forage Options.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Islam, M R; Garcia, S C; Clark, C E F; Kerrisk, K L

    2015-05-01

    One of the challenges to increase milk production in a large pasture-based herd with an automatic milking system (AMS) is to grow forages within a 1-km radius, as increases in walking distance increases milking interval and reduces yield. The main objective of this study was to explore sustainable forage option technologies that can supply high amount of grazeable forages for AMS herds using the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM) model. Three different basic simulation scenarios (with irrigation) were carried out using forage crops (namely maize, soybean and sorghum) for the spring-summer period. Subsequent crops in the three scenarios were forage rape over-sown with ryegrass. Each individual simulation was run using actual climatic records for the period from 1900 to 2010. Simulated highest forage yields in maize, soybean and sorghum- (each followed by forage rape-ryegrass) based rotations were 28.2, 22.9, and 19.3 t dry matter/ha, respectively. The simulations suggested that the irrigation requirement could increase by up to 18%, 16%, and 17% respectively in those rotations in El-Niño years compared to neutral years. On the other hand, irrigation requirement could increase by up to 25%, 23%, and 32% in maize, soybean and sorghum based rotations in El-Nino years compared to La-Nina years. However, irrigation requirement could decrease by up to 8%, 7%, and 13% in maize, soybean and sorghum based rotations in La-Nina years compared to neutral years. The major implication of this study is that APSIM models have potentials in devising preferred forage options to maximise grazeable forage yield which may create the opportunity to grow more forage in small areas around the AMS which in turn will minimise walking distance and milking interval and thus increase milk production. Our analyses also suggest that simulation analysis may provide decision support during climatic uncertainty.

  19. Using VEGETATION satellite data and the crop model STICS-Prairie to estimate pasture production at the national level in France

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Bella, C.; Faivre, R.; Ruget, F.; Seguin, B.

    In France, pastures constitute an important land cover type, sustaining principally husbandry production. The absence of low-cost methods applicable to large regions has conducted to the use of simulation models, as in the ISOP system. Remote sensing data may be considered as a potential tool to improve a correct diagnosis in a real time framework. Thirteen forage regions (FR) of France, differing in their soil, climatic and productive characteristics were selected for this purpose. SPOT4-VEGETATION images have been used to provide, using subpixel estimation models, the spectral signature corresponding to pure pasture conditions. This information has been related with some growth variables estimated by STICS-Prairie model (inside ISOP system). Beyond the good general agreement between the two types of data, we found that the best relations were observed between NDVI middle infrared based index (SWVI) and leaf area index. The results confirm the capacities of the satellite data to provide complementary productive variables and help to identify the spatial and temporal differences between satellite and model information, mainly during the harvesting periods. This could contribute to improve the evaluations of the model on a regional scale.

  20. Ingestive behavior, performance and forage intake by beef heifers on tropical pasture systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Renato Alves de Oliveira Neto

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available The experiment was carried out to evaluate forage intake, performance and ingestive behavior of beef heifers. Productive, structural and chemical characteristics of the pasture were also evaluated. The experimental design was completely randomized in a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement, with three pasture systems (Alexandergrass [Urochloa plantaginea Link.] with and without supplement to heifers and Coastcross [Cynodon dactylon (L. Pers.] and two phenological stages: vegetative and flowering. The grazing method was put-and-take stocking. Grazing, ruminating and idle activities, feeding stations, displacement patterns, bite mass and bite rate were evaluated. The forage intake was estimated using chromic oxide as an indicator of fecal output. The heifers modified the use of feeding stations and displacement patterns between phenological stages and pasture systems. Heifers consumed more forage in the vegetative stage (2.81% of body weight in dry matter than in the flowering stage (1.92% of body weight in dry matter. Average daily gain, body condition and stocking rate were similar for heifers in the evaluated systems. Beef heifers receiving protein supplement on Alexandergrass pasture consumed more forage than heifers fed Coastcross exclusively. Regardless of the species, no difference was observed when the heifers were exclusively on pasture. Pasture systems on Alexandergrass or Coastcross provide suitable nutrient intake for heifers to be mated at 18 months of age.

  1. Assess the potential of solar irrigation systems for sustaining pasture lands in arid regions - A case study in Northwestern China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu, Yingdong; Liu, Jiahong; Wang, Hao; Liu, Miao

    2011-01-01

    Highlights: → We figured out the appropriate indicators for solar irrigation. → We analyzed the economic benefits of solar irrigation system. → The geographic allocation of grasslands suitable for solar irrigation in Qinghai province is presented. → The appropriate region for solar irrigation is also discussed. → The problems and countermeasures of PV pumping irrigation are considered. - Abstract: The combined impact of global climate change and increasing human activities has led to the severe deterioration of grasslands in China. Using the solar irrigation systems is an effective way for sustaining pasture lands in arid regions. A solar irrigation system is the device that uses the solar cell from the sun's radiation to generate electricity for driving the pump. And photovoltaic pump consists of an array of photovoltaic cells and pumps water from a well or reservoir for irrigation. Although ecologists and organizations constantly work and find ways to conserve grasslands through irrigation systems that use solar energy, issues on water resources are not yet thoroughly discussed. This paper takes into account the main factors in the study of water resources, including precipitation and groundwater, to analyze the feasibility of using a photovoltaic (PV) pumping irrigation. The appropriate area for such a PV pumping irrigation in Qinghai Province is also presented. The results show that the grasslands appropriate for PV pumping cover about 8.145 million ha, accounting for 22.3% of the grasslands in the entire province. Finally, the problems and countermeasures of PV pumping irrigation, including the impact on regional water balance, groundwater level and highland permafrost, are also considered.

  2. Dry matter intake and feed efficiency profiles of 3 genotypes of Holstein-Friesian within pasture-based systems of milk production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coleman, J; Berry, D P; Pierce, K M; Brennan, A; Horan, B

    2010-09-01

    The primary objective of the study was to quantify the effect of genetic improvement using the Irish total merit index (Economic Breeding Index) on dry matter intake and feed efficiency across lactation and to quantify the variation in performance among alternative definitions of feed efficiency. Three genotypes of Holstein-Friesian dairy cattle were established from within the Moorepark dairy research herd: 1) low Economic Breeding Index North American Holstein-Friesian representative of the Irish national average dairy cow, 2) high genetic merit North American Holstein-Friesian, and 3) high genetic merit New Zealand Holstein-Friesian. Animals from within each genotype were randomly allocated to 1 of 2 possible intensive pasture-based feed systems: 1) the Moorepark pasture system (2.64 cows/ha and 500 kg of concentrate supplement per cow per lactation) and 2) a high output per hectare pasture system (2.85 cows/ha and 1,200 kg of concentrate supplement per cow per lactation). A total of 128 and 140 spring-calving dairy cows were used during the years 2007 and 2008, respectively. Each group had an individual farmlet of 17 paddocks, and all groups were managed similarly throughout the study. The effects of genotype, feed system, and the interaction between genotype and feed system on dry matter intake, milk production, body weight, body condition score, and different definitions of feed efficiency were studied using mixed models with factorial arrangements of genotypes and feed systems accounting for the repeated cow records across years. No significant genotype-by-feed-system interactions were observed for any of the variables measured. Results showed that aggressive selection using the Irish Economic Breeding Index had no effect on dry matter intake across lactation when managed on intensive pasture-based systems of milk production, although the ranking of genotypes for feed efficiency differed depending on the definition of feed efficiency used. Performance of

  3. FACTORS TO CONSIDER ABOUT MILK PRODUCTION ON PASTURE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haroldo Wilson da Silva

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available In this review, we addressed issues that permeate discussions related to some factors to consider about milk production on pasture, since the viability of milk production on pasture until the nutritional value of pasture for dairy cows. Analyze the theme of milk production on pasture and how it is inserted within the perspective of the viability of exploiting the cattle dairy pastures in Brazil is the objective of this work. In general, it was observed that the responses of production with grazing animals are conditioned on the rational use of pasture, so this factor of production represents an economical feed source for livestock destined for milk production. For that, it is evident the need to use land intensively, in order to obtain forage quantity and quality necessary to fully meet the nutritional needs of cows, lactating or not. It was observed in this study the great demand for information on pasture as a resource for the production of milk, which justifies this work. It was concluded that grazing managed properly represent a viable, low cost, animal nutrition in the production of bovine milk.

  4. Adverse impacts of pasture abandonment in Himalayan protected areas: Testing the efficiency of a Natural Resource Management Plan (NRMP)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nautiyal, Sunil; Kaechele, Harald

    2007-01-01

    The high elevational areas in the Himalayas of India are dominated by forests and alpine pastures. There are many protected areas in the region, including Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR) and Valley of Flowers (VOF) where natural resource management plan (NRMP) has been implemented for the conservation of biodiversity. This has affected the traditional animal husbandry system, as well as the vegetation dynamics of alpine pastures. An integrated approach to studying the impact of NRMP in the region has been applied by us. First, a survey was conducted regarding livestock management, data pertaining the livestock husbandry, the role of animal husbandry in economics of rural household, and socioeconomics. Second, field based study on phytosociology of some important alpine herbs was done to enumerate the density and species richness in different land mark of the region. Thereafter, satellite data and Geographic Information System (GIS) were used to develop a land cover map of the area and to note changes in the landscape over time after implementation of NRMP. From an economic point of view the implementation of such plan is a setback to the rural economy. However, the ecological perspective of such models is a threat to the diversity of alpine pastures. The invasion of bushes/thorny bushes/shrubs and weeds with their luxuriant growth is changing the vegetation index and dynamics. Consequently, the diversity of herbs in alpine pastures of the Himalayan Mountains is in jeopardy. Overall, the situation is leading to landscape change in the region. This study is helpful for generating useful outcomes and strategies considering the question or debate 'is grazing good or bad for pasture ecosystems in the Himalayas?'

  5. Determination of Temporal Change Land Use / Land Cover Using Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System Techniques the Central District of Samsun (1984-2011

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Orhan DENGİZ

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available In our day natural resources fall short against endless human needs and increasing population. It is required for lands which are the leading natural resources to be used and planned according to natural environment potential. This study was conducted in Central district of Samsun province covered about 341 km2 and located between the latitudes 41° 25‟ 52”- 41° 12‟ 22” to 41° 42‟ 34” to north and longitudes 36° 09‟ 52”-36° 24‟ 31” east. Determination of land use efficiency of district selected for this study using satellite image and GIS was aimed. For this purpose the data of General Directorate of Rural Services which belongs to 1984 year, ASTER satellite images which belongs to 2005 and 2011 years and topographic maps were used. For performing calculations in ENVI 5.0v software unclassified classification applied and four main classes were formed. For determining the unclassified classes as classified the field work applied. The result of the classification forest, pasture, farm lands and non agricultural areas were determined as land use-land covers. For determining land use efficiency analog data were digitized and transferred to GIS database. Land use types and land use capability classes of 1984 year converted raster data by using GIS. Land use types of 1993, land use types of 2005 and 2011 and land use capability classes were compared. As the result of the comparison urbanization and unintended use increased in I., II. and III. class lands. In 1984 agricultural land has 24313.76 ha while, this amount decreased to 10120.96 ha in 2005 and 6960.69 ha in 2011. On the other hand, while non-agricultural area was 1893.36 in 1984, this area increased to 6301.66 ha in 2005 and 7917.73 ha in 2011. In addition, this study showed that to determine and to monitory for large areas‟ land cover and land use trend, remote sensing and geographic information system techniques have important role to generate accoriance and fast

  6. Characterizing commercial oil palm expansion in Latin America: land use change and trade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Furumo, Paul Richard; Aide, T. Mitchell

    2017-02-01

    Commodity crop expansion has increased with the globalization of production systems and consumer demand, linking distant socio-ecological systems. Oil palm plantations are expanding in the tropics to satisfy growing oilseed and biofuel markets, and much of this expansion has caused extensive deforestation, especially in Asia. In Latin America, palm oil output has doubled since 2001, and the majority of expansion seems to be occurring on non-forested lands. We used MODIS satellite imagery (250 m resolution) to map current oil palm plantations in Latin America and determined prior land use and land cover (LULC) using high-resolution images in Google Earth. In addition, we compiled trade data to determine where Latin American palm oil flows, in order to better understand the underlying drivers of expansion in the region. Based on a sample of 342 032 ha of oil palm plantations across Latin America, we found that 79% replaced previously intervened lands (e.g. pastures, croplands, bananas), primarily cattle pastures (56%). The remaining 21% came from areas that were classified as woody vegetation (e.g. forests), most notably in the Amazon and the Petén region in northern Guatemala. Latin America is a net exporter of palm oil but the majority of palm oil exports (70%) stayed within the region, with Mexico importing about half. Growth of the oil palm sector may be driven by global factors, but environmental and economic outcomes vary between regions (i.e. Asia and Latin America), within regions (i.e. Colombia and Peru), and within single countries (i.e. Guatemala), suggesting that local conditions are influential. The present trend of oil palm expanding onto previously cleared lands, guided by roundtable certifications programs, provides an opportunity for more sustainable development of the oil palm sector in Latin America.

  7. Does body size of dairy cows, at constant ratio of maintenance to production requirements, affect productivity in a pasture-based production system?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hofstetter, P; Steiger Burgos, M; Petermann, R; Münger, A; Blum, J W; Thomet, P; Menzi, H; Kohler, S; Kunz, P

    2011-12-01

    This study compared productivity of dairy cows with different body weight (BW), but a constant ratio of maintenance to production requirements in their first lactation, in a pasture-based production system with spring calving. Two herds, Herd L (13 and 14 large cows in 2003 and 2004 respectively; average BW after calving, 721 kg) and Herd S (16 small cows in both years; 606 kg) [Correction added after online publication 14 January 2011: 16 small cows in both years; 621 kg was changed to 16 small cows in both years; 606 kg], all in their second or following lactations, were each allocated 6 ha of pasture and rotationally grazed on 10 parallel paddocks with equal herbage offer and nutritional values. Winter hay, harvested from the same pastures, was offered ad libitum in the indoor periods in a tied stall barn. Each herd received, per lactation and year, approximately 2000 kg dry matter (DM) of concentrates and of fodder beets, equally distributed to every individual. Indoors, the L-cows ingested more DM than the S-cows (18.7 vs. 16.3 kg DM/cow per day; p pasture (17.9 vs. 15.5 kg DM/cow per day; p dairy cow types were equally efficient in utilising pasture-based forage. © 2010 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

  8. Out-migration and land-use change in agricultural frontiers: insights from Altamira settlement project

    Science.gov (United States)

    D’Antona, Álvaro O.

    2012-01-01

    One of Daniel Hogan’s lasting impacts on international demography community comes through his advocacy for studying bidirectional relationships between environment and demography, particularly migration. We build on his holistic approach to mobility and examine dynamic changes in land use and migration among small farm families in Altamira, Pará, Brazil. We find that prior area in either pasture or perennials promotes out-migration of adult children, but that out-migration is not directly associated with land-use change. In contrast to early formulations of household life cycle models that argued that aging parents would decrease productive land use as children left the farm, we find no effect of out-migration of adult children on land-use change. Instead, remittances facilitate increases in area in perennials, a slower to pay off investment that requires scarce capital, but in pasture. While remittances are rare, they appear to permit sound investments in the rural milieu and thus to slow rural exodus and the potential consolidation of land into large holdings. We would do well to promote the conditions that allow them to be sent and to be used productively to keep families on the land to avoid the specter of extensive deforestation for pasture followed by land consolidation. PMID:23129878

  9. Biofuels and Land Use Change: Applying Recent Evidence to Model Estimates

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wallace E. Tyner

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Biofuels impact on global land use has been a controversial yet important topic. Up until recently, there has not been enough biofuels to have caused major land use change, so the evidence from actual global land use data has been scant. However, in the past decade, there have been 72 million hectares added to global crop cover. In this research we take advantage of this new data to calibrate the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP model and parameters. We make two major changes. First, we calibrate the land transformation parameters (called constant elasticity of transformation, CET to global regions so that the parameters better reflect the actual land cover change that has occurred. Second, we alter the land cover nesting structure. In the old GTAP model, cropland, pasture, and forest were all in the same nest suggesting, everything else being equal, that pasture or forest convert to cropland with equal ease and cost. However, we now take advantage of the fact that pasture converts to cropland at lower cost than forest. The paper provides the theoretical and empirical justification for these two model improvements. Then it re-evaluates the global land use impacts due to the USA ethanol program using the improved model tuned with actual observations. Finally, it shows that compared to the old model, the new model projects: (1 less expansion in global cropland due to ethanol expansion; (2 lower U.S. share in global cropland expansion; (3 and lower forest share in global cropland expansion.

  10. Reclamation status of a degraded pasture based on soil health indicators

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristiane Alcantara dos Santos

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Pasture degradation is a concern, especially in susceptible sandy soils for which strategies to recover them must be developed. Microbiological and biochemical soil health indicators are useful in the guindace of soil management practices and sustainable soil use. We assessed the success of threePanicum maximum Jacq. cultivars in the reclamation of a pasture in a sandy Typic Acrudox in the northwest of the state of Paraná, Brazil, based on soil health indicators. On a formerly degraded pasture withUrochloa brizantha (Hochst. ex A. Rich. R.D. Webster, a trial with threeP. maximum (cv. Massai, Tanzânia, or Mombaça was conducted. Lime and phosphate were applied at set-up, and mineral N and K as topdressing. A remnant of degraded pasture adjacent to the trial was used as control. Twenty-three chemical, physical, microbiological and biochemical attributes were assessed for the 0-10 cm topsoil. The procedures for reclamation improved most of the indicators of soil health in relation to the degraded pasture, such as soil P, mineral N, microbial biomass C, ammonification rate, dehydrogenase activity and acid phosphatase. CO2 evolution decreased, whereas microbial biomass C increased in the pasture under reclamation, resulting in a lower metabolic quotient (qCO2 that points to a decrease in metabolic stress of the microbial community. The reclamation of the pasture withP. maximum, especially cv. Mombaça, were evidenced by improvements in the microbiological and biochemical soil health indicators, showing a recovery of processes related to C, N and P cycling in the soil.

  11. Forage mass and the nutritive value of pastures mixed with forage peanut and red clover

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ricardo Lima de Azevedo Junior

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this research was to estimate three pasture-based systems mixed with elephantgrass + spontaneous growth species, annual ryegrass, for pasture-based system 1; elephantgrass + spontaneous growth species + forage peanut, for pasture-based system 2; and elephantgrass + spontaneous growth species + annual ryegrass + red clover, for pasture-based system 3. Elephantgrass was planted in rows 4 m apart from each other. During the cool-season, annual ryegrass was sown in the alleys between the rows of elephantgrass; forage peanut and red clover were sown in the alleys between the elephantgrass according to the respective treatment. The experimental design was totally randomized in the three treatments (pasture-based systems, two replicates (paddocks in completely split-plot time (grazing cycles. Holstein cows receiving 5.5 kg-daily complementary concentrate feed were used in the evaluation. Pre-grazing forage mass, botanical composition and stocking rate were evaluated. Samples of simulated grazing were collected to analyze organic matter (OM, neutral detergent fiber (NDF, crude protein (CP and organic matter in situ digestibility (OMISD. Nine grazing cycles were performed during the experimental period (341 days. The average dry matter values for pre-grazing and stocking rate were 3.34; 3.46; 3.79 t/ha, and 3.28; 3.34; 3.60 AU/ha for each respective pasture-based system. Similar results were observed between the pasture-based systems for OM, NDF, CP and OMISD. Considering forage mass, stocking rate and nutritive value, the pasture-based system intercropped with forage legumes presented better performance.

  12. Multifractal analyis of soil invertebrates along a transect under different land uses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Machado Siqueira, Glécio; Alves Silva, Raimunda; Vidal-Vázquez, Eva; Paz-González, Antonio

    2017-04-01

    Soil fauna play a central role in many essential ecosystem processes. Land use and management can have a dramatic effect upon soil invertebrate community. Indices based on soil invertebrates abundance and diversity are fundamental for soil quality assessment. Many soil properties and attributes have been shown to exhibit spatial variabilityThe aim of this study was to analyze the scaling heterogeneity of the soil invertebrate community sampled using pitfall traps across a transect. The field study was conducted at Mata Roma municipality, Maranhão State, Brazil. Transects were marked under seven different agricultural/forestry land uses (millet, soybean, maize, eucalyptus, pasture, secondary savannah and native savannah). Native vegetation was considered as a reference, whereas the agricultural fields showed a range of soil use intensities. Along these transects 130 pitfall per land use were installed. First, differences in community assemblages and composition under different land use systems were evaluated using classical indices. Then, the spatial distribution of soil fauna trapped by pitfall techniques, characterized through generalized dimension, Dq, and singularity spectra, f(α) - α, showed a well-defined multifractal structure. Differences in scaling heterogeneity and other multifractal characteristics were examined in relation to land use intensification.

  13. Biomass requirements from natural pastures for livestock grazing ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The problem of seasonal shortages of herbage production from natural pastures in the Ethiopian highlands was investigated. This was done by comparing the available biomass amounts on the pastures with biomass amounts required for livestock grazing and for protecting land slope from soil erosion within a given slope ...

  14. Extreme phosphorus losses in drainage from grazed dairy pastures on marginal land.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDowell, Richard W; Monaghan, Ross M

    2015-03-01

    With the installation of artificial drainage and large inputs of lime and fertilizer, dairy farming can be profitable on marginal land. We hypothesized that this will lead to large phosphorus (P) losses and potential surface water impairment if the soil has little capacity to sorb added P. Phosphorous was measured in drainage from three "marginal" soils used for dairying: an Organic soil that had been developed out of scrub for 2 yr and used for winter forage cropping, a Podzol that had been developed into pasture for 10 yr, and an intergrade soil that had been in pasture for 2 yr. Over 18 mo, drainage was similar among all sites (521-574 mm), but the load leached to 35-cm depth from the Organic soil was 87 kg P ha (∼89% of fertilizer-P added); loads were 1.7 and 9.0 kg ha from the Podzol and intergrade soils, respectively. Soil sampling to 100 cm showed that added P leached throughout the Organic soil profile but was stratified and enriched in the top 15 cm of the Podzol. Poor P sorption capacity (<5%) in the Organic soil, measured as anion storage capacity, and tillage (causing mineralization and P release) in the Organic and intergrade soils were thought to be the main causes of high P loss. It is doubtful that strategies would successfully mitigate these losses to an environmentally acceptable level. However, anion storage capacity could be used to identify marginal soils with high potential for P loss for the purpose of managing risk. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  15. Information System for Land-Use Planning and Management

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    YU Xiao; MIAO Fang

    2008-01-01

    In order to maintain the overall social interest in land use and improve the level of land administration, an information system for land-use planning and management (ISLUPM) was established, which is composed of presentation layer, business logic layer and data layer in the general structure. The application support platform of the ISLUPM, built based on COM, COM+ and .NET standard components, includes data engine, data management, assemblies, components management, operation management, and interface. Then, an elaboration was made on major functions of the ISLUPM, such as planning revision scheme, planning operation flow, digital processing, thematic analysis and inquiry, and preparation of the chart of reserved land resources. The developed system has been successfully applied to the land-use planning and management work of Longquanyi District, Chengdu, China. It may provide a reference for development of geographic information system (GIS) for land and resources.

  16. Land-use effect on hydropedology in a mountainous region of Southeastern Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leandro Campos Pinto

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT In Brazil, the Mantiqueira Range, southeastern region, shelters the last remnants of the ecologically important Upper Montane Tropical Forest. since extensive exploration that has been taking place in this biome for decades, the influence of land-use changes on hydropedology in these areas must be investigated once major land-use changes have been observed. This study aims to evaluate the land-use influence on soil drainable porosity (SDP in a headwater watershed located in the Mantiqueira Range region, and to validate the proposed methods based on micromorphological and hydrological indicators. The native vegetation of the study area is Atlantic forest that occupies 62% of the area, and the remaining 38% has been used for pasture. Thirty nine combinations of environmental variables were tested, each one generating a map for predicting SDP. The performance of the spatial prediction of SDP was assessed using 20% of the data from the total number of samples collected throughout the watershed. The least values of SDP are due to the process of removal of native forest and replacement by pasture. Areas with high to moderate SDP are associated with native forest fragments demonstrating the effects of the Atlantic Forest on the water infiltration and groundwater recharge processes, given by the greater contribution of baseflow in a forested catchment located within the studied watershed. The analysis of soil micromorphological images provided useful supporting information on the soil porosity system and along with hydrological properties of the watershed helped understand the SDP behavior on subsurface and groundwater storage capacity.

  17. The GEOGLAM Rangelands and Pasture Productivity Activity: Recent Progress and Future Directions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guerschman, J. P.; Held, A. A.; Donohue, R. J.; Renzullo, L. J.; Sims, N.; Kerblat, F.; Grundy, M.

    2015-12-01

    Rangelands and pastures cover about a third of the world's land area and support livestock production which represents ~40% of global agricultural gross domestic product. The global consumption of animal protein shows a clear increasing trend, driven by both total population and per capita income increases, putting a growing pressure on the sustainability of grazing lands worldwide. Despite their relevance, rangelands have received less attention than croplands regarding global monitoring of the resource productivity and condition. The Rangelands and Pasture Productivity (RaPP) activity is a component within the Global Agricultural Monitoring initiative established under the Group on Earth Observations (GEOGLAM) in 2013. GEOGLAM RaPP is aimed at providing the global community with the means to monitor the world's rangelands and pastures on a routine basis, and the capacity to produce animal protein in real-time, at global, regional and national levels. Since its launch two years ago GEOGLAM RAPP has made progress in the four implementation elements. These include: 1- the establishment of community of practice; 2- the development of a global monitoring system for rangeland condition; 3- the establishment of pilot sites in main rangeland systems for satellite data products validation and model testing; and 4- integration with livestock production models. Three international workshops have been held building the community of practice. A prototype monitoring system that provides global visualisations and querying capability of vegetation cover data and anomalies has been established. Pilot sites, mostly in areas with long records of field measurements of rangeland condition and productivity have been proposed for nine countries. The link to global livestock models, including physical and economic components, have been established. Future challenges for GEOGLAM RaPP have also been identified and include: better representation of the areas occupied by rangelands

  18. Take-off and Landing Using Ground Based Power - Landing Simulations Using Multibody Dynamics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wu, P.; Voskuijl, M.; Van Tooren, M.J.L.

    2014-01-01

    A novel take-off and landing system using ground based power is proposed in the EUFP7 project GABRIEL. The proposed system has the potential benefit to reduce aircraft weight, emissions and noise. A preliminary investigation of the feasibility of the structural design of the connection mechanism

  19. Land availability for biofuel production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cai, Ximing; Zhang, Xiao; Wang, Dingbao

    2011-01-01

    Marginal agricultural land is estimated for biofuel production in Africa, China, Europe, India, South America, and the continental United States, which have major agricultural production capacities. These countries/regions can have 320-702 million hectares of land available if only abandoned and degraded cropland and mixed crop and vegetation land, which are usually of low quality, are accounted. If grassland, savanna, and shrubland with marginal productivity are considered for planting low-input high-diversity (LIHD) mixtures of native perennials as energy crops, the total land availability can increase from 1107-1411 million hectares, depending on if the pasture land is discounted. Planting the second generation of biofuel feedstocks on abandoned and degraded cropland and LIHD perennials on grassland with marginal productivity may fulfill 26-55% of the current world liquid fuel consumption, without affecting the use of land with regular productivity for conventional crops and without affecting the current pasture land. Under the various land use scenarios, Africa may have more than one-third, and Africa and Brazil, together, may have more than half of the total land available for biofuel production. These estimations are based on physical conditions such as soil productivity, land slope, and climate.

  20. Livestock and human use of land: Productivity trends and dietary choices as drivers of future land and carbon dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weindl, Isabelle; Popp, Alexander; Bodirsky, Benjamin Leon; Rolinski, Susanne; Lotze-Campen, Hermann; Biewald, Anne; Humpenöder, Florian; Dietrich, Jan Philipp; Stevanović, Miodrag

    2017-12-01

    Land use change has been the primary driving force of human alteration of terrestrial ecosystems. With 80% of agricultural land dedicated to livestock production, the sector is an important lever to attenuate land requirements for food production and carbon emissions from land use change. In this study, we quantify impacts of changing human diets and livestock productivity on land dynamics and depletion of carbon stored in vegetation, litter and soils. Across all investigated productivity pathways, lower consumption of livestock products can substantially reduce deforestation (47-55%) and cumulative carbon losses (34-57%). On the supply side, already minor productivity growth in extensive livestock production systems leads to substantial CO2 emission abatement, but the emission saving potential of productivity gains in intensive systems is limited, also involving trade-offs with soil carbon stocks. If accounting for uncertainties related to future trade restrictions, crop yields and pasture productivity, the range of projected carbon savings from changing diets increases to 23-78%. Highest abatement of carbon emissions (63-78%) can be achieved if reduced consumption of animal-based products is combined with sustained investments into productivity increases in plant production. Our analysis emphasizes the importance to integrate demand- and supply-side oriented mitigation strategies and to combine efforts in the crop and livestock sector to enable synergies for climate protection.

  1. Reclamation status of a degraded pasture based on soil health indicators.

    OpenAIRE

    SANTOS, C. A. dos; KRAWULSKI, C. C.; BINI, D.; GOULART FILHO, T.; KNOB, A.; MEDINA, C. C.; ANDRADE FILHO, G.; NOGUEIRA, M. A.

    2015-01-01

    Pasture degradation is a concern, especially in susceptible sandy soils for which strategies to recover them must be developed. Microbiological and biochemical soil health indicators are useful in the guindace of soil management practices and sustainable soil use. We assessed the success of threePanicum maximum Jacq. cultivars in the reclamation of a pasture in a sandy Typic Acrudox in the northwest of the state of Paraná, Brazil, based on soil health indicators. On a formerly degraded p...

  2. Community-based management: under what conditions do Sami pastoralists manage pastures sustainably?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vera H Hausner

    Full Text Available Community-based management (CBM has been implemented in socio-ecological systems (SES worldwide. CBM has also been the prevailing policy in Sámi pastoral SES in Norway, but the outcomes tend to vary extensively among resource groups ("siidas". We asked why do some siidas self-organize to manage common pool resources sustainably and others do not? To answer this question we used a mixed methods approach. First, in the statistical analyses we analyzed the relationship between sustainability indicators and structural variables. We found that small winter pastures that are shared by few siidas were managed more sustainably than larger pastures. Seasonal siida stability, i.e., a low turnover of pastoralists working together throughout the year, and equality among herders, also contributed to more sustainable outcomes. Second, interviews were conducted in the five largest pastures to explain the relationships between the structural variables and sustainability. The pastoralists expressed a high level of agreement with respect to sustainable policies, but reported a low level of trust and cooperation among the siidas. The pastoralists requested siida tenures or clear rules and sanctioning mechanisms by an impartial authority rather than flexible organization or more autonomy for the siidas. The lack of nestedness in self-organization for managing pastures on larger scales, combined with the past economic policies, could explain why CBM is less sustainable on the largest winter pastures. We conclude that the scale mis-match between self-organization and the formal governance is a key condition for sustainability.

  3. Projecting optimal land-use and -management strategies under population growth and climate change using a coupled ecosystem & land use model framework

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rabin, Sam; Alexander, Peter; Anthoni, Peter; Henry, Roslyn; Huntingford, Chris; Pugh, Thomas; Rounsevell, Mark; Arneth, Almut

    2017-04-01

    A major question facing humanity is how well agricultural production systems will be able to feed the world in a future of rapid climate change, population growth, and demand shifts—all while minimizing our impact on the natural world. Global modeling has frequently been used to investigate certain aspects of this question, but in order to properly address the challenge, no one part of the human-environmental system can be assessed in isolation. It is especially critical that the effect on agricultural yields of changing temperature and precipitation regimes (including seasonal timing and frequency and intensity of extreme events), as well as rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, be taken into account when planning for future food security. Coupled modeling efforts, where changes in various parts of the Earth system are allowed to feed back onto one another, represent a powerful strategy in this regard. This presentation describes the structure and initial results of an effort to couple a biologically-representative vegetation and crop production simulator, LPJ-GUESS, with the climate emulator IMOGEN and the land-use model PLUMv2. With IMOGEN providing detailed future weather simulations, LPJ-GUESS simulates natural vegetation as well as cropland and pasture/rangeland; the simulated exchange of greenhouse gases between the land and atmosphere feeds back into IMOGEN's predictions. LPJ-GUESS also produces potential vegetation yields for irrigated vs. rainfed crops under three levels of nitrogen fertilizer addition. PLUMv2 combines these potential yields with endogenous demand and agricultural commodity price to calculate an optimal set of land use distributions and management strategies across the world for the next five years of simulation, based on socio-economic scenario data. These land uses are then fed back into LPJ-GUESS, and the cycle of climate, greenhouse gas emissions, crop yields, and land-use change continues. The globally gridded nature of the

  4. Characterization of plant diversity of pastures and volatile organic compound analysis in ewe’s milk from a typical farm system in the Alta Murgia national park (southern Italy: opportunities for a sustainable land use

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena Ciani

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, there has been an increasing interest of consumers in traditional dairy products whose origin from defined geographical areas is guaranteed. These products are appreciated for the distinctive sensorial characteristics, derived by extensive grazing system on natural and artificial pastures and traditional cheese-making techniques. Moreover, a considerable public interest is also attributed to typical dairy products for their role in stimulating the economy of rural areas and in preserving environment and biodiversity. Here we present the results of a survey on the botanical composition of Alta Murgia pastures, together with the analysis of VOCs (volatile organic compounds in milk from ewes reared under a typical farm system in the Alta Murgia National Park (Apulia region, southern Italy. Data from two less ordinary farm systems are also reported as external reference. The botanical composition of pastures was estimated by three modified Whittaker plots placed in the prevailing habitat types. Milk samples were analyzed for VOC compounds by head-space SPME/GC-MS. Consumer acceptance of cheese, made from each milk sample using homogeneous traditional cheese-making techniques, was evaluated. The study provides interesting insights on the floral composition of Alta Murgia pastures and the first characterization of VOC profiles in ewe’s raw milk from Alta Murgia.

  5. Sensitivity analysis of land unit suitability for conservation using a knowledge-based system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Humphries, Hope C; Bourgeron, Patrick S; Reynolds, Keith M

    2010-08-01

    The availability of spatially continuous data layers can have a strong impact on selection of land units for conservation purposes. The suitability of ecological conditions for sustaining the targets of conservation is an important consideration in evaluating candidate conservation sites. We constructed two fuzzy logic-based knowledge bases to determine the conservation suitability of land units in the interior Columbia River basin using NetWeaver software in the Ecosystem Management Decision Support application framework. Our objective was to assess the sensitivity of suitability ratings, derived from evaluating the knowledge bases, to fuzzy logic function parameters and to the removal of data layers (land use condition, road density, disturbance regime change index, vegetation change index, land unit size, cover type size, and cover type change index). The amount and geographic distribution of suitable land polygons was most strongly altered by the removal of land use condition, road density, and land polygon size. Removal of land use condition changed suitability primarily on private or intensively-used public land. Removal of either road density or land polygon size most strongly affected suitability on higher-elevation US Forest Service land containing small-area biophysical environments. Data layers with the greatest influence differed in rank between the two knowledge bases. Our results reinforce the importance of including both biophysical and socio-economic attributes to determine the suitability of land units for conservation. The sensitivity tests provided information about knowledge base structuring and parameterization as well as prioritization for future data needs.

  6. Carbon sequestration in pastures, silvo-pastoral systems and forests in four regions of the latin American Tropics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Amezquita, M.C.; Ibrahim, M.; Llanderal, T.; Buurman, P.; Amezquita, E.

    2005-01-01

    Tropical America (TA) holds 8% of the world's population, 11% of the world's continental area, 23% and 22%, respectively, of the world's forest and water resources, and 13% of the world's pasture and agro-pastoral land, this representing 77% of TA's agricultural land. Recent interest in carbon

  7. A stochastic analysis of the impact of input parameters on profit of Australian pasture-based dairy farms under variable carbon price scenarios

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Özkan, Şeyda; Farquharson, Robert J.; Hill, Julian; Malcolm, Bill

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Two different pasture-based dairy feeding systems were evaluated. • The home-grown forage system outperformed the traditional pasture-based system. • Probability of achieving $200,000 income was reduced by imposition of a carbon tax. • Different farming systems will respond to change differently. • The ‘best choice’ for each individual farm is subjective. - Abstract: The imposition of a carbon tax in the economy will have indirect impacts on dairy farmers in Australia. Although there is a great deal of information available regarding mitigation strategies both in Australia and internationally, there seems to be a lack of research investigating the variable prices of carbon-based emissions on dairy farm operating profits in Australia. In this study, a stochastic analysis comparing the uncertainty in income in response to different prices on carbon-based emissions was conducted. The impact of variability in pasture consumption and variable prices of concentrates and hay on farm profitability was also investigated. The two different feeding systems examined were a ryegrass pasture-based system (RM) and a complementary forage-based system (CF). Imposing a carbon price ($20–$60) and not changing the systems reduced the farm operating profits by 28.4% and 25.6% in the RM and CF systems, respectively compared to a scenario where no carbon price was imposed. Different farming businesses will respond to variability in the rapidly changing operating environment such as fluctuations in pasture availability, price of purchased feeds and price of milk or carbon emissions differently. Further, in case there is a carbon price imposed for GHG emissions emanated from dairy farming systems, changing from pasture-based to more complex feeding systems incorporating home-grown double crops may reduce the reductions in farm operating profits. There is opportunity for future studies to focus on the impacts of different mitigation strategies and policy

  8. PASTURE SHADING STRATEGIES: CASE STUDY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nomaiací de Andrade

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Climate changes affect animals’ metabolism in a general way, resulting in an increase of heat stress and productivity decrease. Among viable alternatives to ameliote this situation, the most indicated is reforestation of pasture areas due to the great ecological benefit given to animals and the environment as a whole. The intercropping between trees and animals is called silvopastoral system, and represents a promising alternative to current means of production. For a correct deployment of this system it is necessary to consider some characteristics of the land and the environment concerned, to avoid loss and competition between members of the system, in other words, between tree and fodder species.

  9. Nitrous oxide and methane fluxes in six different land use systems in the Peruvian Amazon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palm, C. A.; Alegre, J. C.; Arevalo, L.; Mutuo, P. K.; Mosier, A. R.; Coe, R.

    2002-12-01

    The contribution of different land-use systems in the humid tropics to increasing atmospheric trace gases has focused on forests, pastures, and crops with few measurements from managed, tree-based systems that dominate much of the landscape. This study from the Peruvian Amazon includes monthly nitrous oxide and methane fluxes from two cropping systems, three tree-based systems, and a 23-year secondary forest control. Average N2O fluxes from the cropping systems were two to three times higher than the secondary forest control (9.1 μg N m-2 h-1), while those of the tree-based systems were similar to the secondary forest. Increased fluxes in the cropping systems were attributed to N fertilization, while fluxes from the tree-based systems were related to litterfall N. Average CH4 consumption was reduced by up to half that of the secondary forest (-30.0 μg C m-2 h-1) in the tree-based and low-input cropping systems. There was net CH4 production in the high-input cropping system. This switch to net production was a result of increased bulk density and increased soil respiration resulting in anaerobic conditions. Reduced rates of N2O emissions, similar CH4 consumption, and high C sequestration rates in these tree-based systems compared with mature forests, coupled with the large area of these systems in the humid tropics, may partially offset the past effects of deforestation on increased atmospheric trace gas concentrations. In contrast, cropping systems with higher N2O emissions, substantially reduced CH4 consumption or even net CH4 emissions, and little C sequestration exacerbate those effects.

  10. The pasture-type approach for mountain pasture description and management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giovanni Argenti

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available The study of pastoral resources can take different approaches with the main goal of characterizing pasture vegetation and its potential carrying capacity. In recent times, the pasture-type approach has been developed in several Alpine areas – on a regional and on a district scale – starting from sward surveys carried out taking the approach formerly developed by the French pastoral school. The pasture-type approach may play an important role in defining the management of mountain and marginal environments where grazing pressure reduction remarkably affects the agro-ecosystems functions (production, landscape, wildlife, recreation, etc.. This approach is based on the concept of pasture type, which could be defined as a semi-natural vegetation (mainly exploited by grazing animals, rather homogeneous in terms of botanic composition and influenced by environmental factors and agro-pastoral management. This paper presents the pasture-type approach by discussing the results of two large studies carried out in two areas of the south side of the Alps (Piedmont and Veneto. In order to identify pasture types, the vegetation composition was assessed with a point quadrat method. It allowed the computation of species-specific contribution, and of sward forage value and carrying capacity, after a multivariate statistical procedure for type classification and ordination. The site conditions (altitude, slope, aspect and other environmental variables were surveyed. Moreover, to characterize the pasture types from the point of view of the ecological and management factors affecting vegetation composition, the Landolt indicators were used. The results achieved in the two areas were synthesised and organised into reference technical tools with the aim of using the pasture-type approach for pastoral planning. For each study area an identification key to recognize pasture types was drafted, and a handbook containing the technical sheets for pasture type

  11. Investment appraisal of automatic milking and conventional milking technologies in a pasture-based dairy system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shortall, J; Shalloo, L; Foley, C; Sleator, R D; O'Brien, B

    2016-09-01

    The successful integration of automatic milking (AM) systems and grazing has resulted in AM becoming a feasible alternative to conventional milking (CM) in pasture-based systems. The objective of this study was to identify the profitability of AM in a pasture-based system, relative to CM herringbone parlors with 2 different levels of automation, across 2 farm sizes, over a 10-yr period following initial investment. The scenarios which were evaluated were (1) a medium farm milking 70 cows twice daily, with 1 AM unit, a 12-unit CM medium-specification (MS) parlor and a 12-unit CM high-specification (HS) parlor, and (2) a large farm milking 140 cows twice daily with 2 AM units, a 20-unit CM MS parlor and a 20-unit CM HS parlor. A stochastic whole-farm budgetary simulation model combined capital investment costs and annual labor and maintenance costs for each investment scenario, with each scenario evaluated using multiple financial metrics, such as annual net profit, annual net cash flow, total discounted net profitability, total discounted net cash flow, and return on investment. The capital required for each investment was financed from borrowings at an interest rate of 5% and repaid over 10-yr, whereas milking equipment and building infrastructure were depreciated over 10 and 20 yr, respectively. A supporting labor audit (conducted on both AM and CM farms) showed a 36% reduction in labor demand associated with AM. However, despite this reduction in labor, MS CM technologies consistently achieved greater profitability, irrespective of farm size. The AM system achieved intermediate profitability at medium farm size; it was 0.5% less profitable than HS technology at the large farm size. The difference in profitability was greatest in the years after the initial investment. This study indicated that although milking with AM was less profitable than MS technologies, it was competitive when compared with a CM parlor of similar technology. Copyright © 2016 American Dairy

  12. Environmental determinants of the old oaks in wood-pastures from a changing traditional social-ecological system of Romania.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moga, Cosmin Ioan; Samoilă, Ciprian; Öllerer, Kinga; Băncilă, Raluca I; Réti, Kinga-Olga; Craioveanu, Cristina; Poszet, Szilárd; Rákosy, László; Hartel, Tibor

    2016-05-01

    Large, old trees are keystone ecological structures, their decline having disproportional ecological consequences. There is virtually no information available regarding the status and occurrence of old trees in traditional cultural landscapes from Eastern Europe. In this study, we explore the environmental determinants of the old oaks found in wood-pastures from a changing traditional rural landscape from Central Romania. Both the old oaks and the wood-pastures harboring them have exceptional cultural, historical, and ecological values, yet are vulnerable to land-use change. We surveyed 41 wood-pastures from Southern Transylvania and counted the old oaks in them. We then related the number of old oaks from these wood-pastures to a set of local and landscape level variables related to wood-pastures. We found 490 old oaks in 25 wood-pastures. The number of old oaks was positively related to the size of the wood-pasture and the amount of pasture and forest around it (500 m buffer), and negatively related to the proximity of the village. Furthermore, we found a significant interaction between the effects of sheepfolds in the wood-pasture and the size of the wood-pasture on the number of old trees, indicating a negative influence of sheepfolds on the number of old trees in smaller sized wood-pastures. There is an increasing risk for losing old trees in the traditional cultural landscapes due to the lack of formal recognition of these trees. Therefore, while presenting the positive example of local initiatives and citizen science, we argue for an urgent development and implementation of conservation policies along with education strategies targeting the old trees and rural communities from the changing traditional cultural landscapes of Eastern Europe.

  13. The impact of anthropogenic land use and land cover change on regional climate extremes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Findell, Kirsten L; Berg, Alexis; Gentine, Pierre; Krasting, John P; Lintner, Benjamin R; Malyshev, Sergey; Santanello, Joseph A; Shevliakova, Elena

    2017-10-20

    Land surface processes modulate the severity of heat waves, droughts, and other extreme events. However, models show contrasting effects of land surface changes on extreme temperatures. Here, we use an earth system model from the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory to investigate regional impacts of land use and land cover change on combined extremes of temperature and humidity, namely aridity and moist enthalpy, quantities central to human physiological experience of near-surface climate. The model's near-surface temperature response to deforestation is consistent with recent observations, and conversion of mid-latitude natural forests to cropland and pastures is accompanied by an increase in the occurrence of hot-dry summers from once-in-a-decade to every 2-3 years. In the tropics, long time-scale oceanic variability precludes determination of how much of a small, but significant, increase in moist enthalpy throughout the year stems from the model's novel representation of historical patterns of wood harvesting, shifting cultivation, and regrowth of secondary vegetation and how much is forced by internal variability within the tropical oceans.

  14. Water and nitrogen in crop and pasture systems in southern Australia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Angus, J.F.; Peoples, M.B.; Herwaarden, A.F. van

    1998-01-01

    Recent research on water and N for dryland crops in southern Australia has addressed the need for more efficient and sustainable production. Water-use efficiency is well below the potential and N-use efficiency well below optimum on farms. Excess water and N cause on-site and off-site environmental damage. The most effective means of illustrating these inefficiencies to growers is to present simple benchmarks of water and N-use efficiencies with which farmers can assess and improve the performance of their own crops. The practices shown by our recent research that best support the goals of more efficient and sustainable production are those that maximize extraction of soil water and mineral N, and increase biological N 2 fixation. Wheat growing after a brassica break-crop extract more water and mineral N from the soil than when grown as a continuous cereal, apparently because of a 'biofumigation' effect that reduces the numbers of soil-borne pathogens of wheat and produces a stronger root system. In the case of phased pasture-crop systems, annual pastures do not fully extract subsoil water or mineral N. However, when the grasses are removed from annual pastures with a selective herbicide, the remaining pure clover rapidly decomposes after maturity, leaving a large amount of mineral N for the following crop. Perennial pastures containing lucerne produce more forage and fix more N 2 than do annual pastures, but they dry the soil profile. After removal of the lucerne, the soil may be so dry that mineralization is slow, with the risk of water deficit for the subsequent crop. (author)

  15. A reconstruction of global agricultural areas and land cover for the last millennium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pongratz, J.; Reick, C.; Raddatz, T.; Claussen, M.

    2008-09-01

    Humans have substantially modified the Earth's land cover, especially by transforming natural ecosystems to agricultural areas. In preindustrial times, the expansion of agriculture was probably the dominant process by which humankind altered the Earth system, but little is known about its extent, timing, and spatial pattern. This study presents an approach to reconstruct spatially explicit changes in global agricultural areas (cropland and pasture) and the resulting changes in land cover over the last millennium. The reconstruction is based on published maps of agricultural areas for the last three centuries. For earlier times, a country-based method is developed that uses population data as a proxy for agricultural activity. With this approach, the extent of cropland and pasture is consistently estimated since AD 800. The resulting reconstruction of agricultural areas is combined with a map of potential vegetation to estimate the resulting historical changes in land cover. Uncertainties associated with this approach, in particular owing to technological progress in agriculture and uncertainties in population estimates, are quantified. About 5 million km2 of natural vegetation are found to be transformed to agriculture between AD 800 and 1700, slightly more to cropland (mainly at the expense of forested area) than to pasture (mainly at the expense of natural grasslands). Historical events such as the Black Death in Europe led to considerable dynamics in land cover change on a regional scale. The reconstruction can be used with global climate and ecosystem models to assess the impact of human activities on the Earth system in preindustrial times.

  16. Economic and Biological Values for Pasture-Based Dairy Cattle Porduction Systems and their Application in Genetic Improvement in the Tropics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wahinya, P K; Otieno, Tobias Okeno; Kosgey, I S

    2015-01-01

    estimated under fixed herd (FH) and pasture (FP) production circumstances assuming milk marketing based on volume, and volume and butter fat. Further, economic values were estimated involving risk using the Arrow Pratt coefficients at two levels. For the former economic values for the traits ranged from KSh...... during the estimation of economic values. Genetic improvements targeting MY and growth traits would be recommended to production system with unlimited feed supply for profit maximization. However, since dairy production systems in the tropics are characterised by feed scarcity, fixing the herd...

  17. Using Land Surface Phenology to Detect Land Use Change in the Northern Great Plains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nguyen, L. H.; Henebry, G. M.

    2017-12-01

    The Northern Great Plains of the US have been undergoing many types of land cover / land use change over the past two decades, including expansion of irrigation, conversion of grassland to cropland, biofuels production, urbanization, and fossil fuel mining. Much of the literature on these changes has relied on post-classification change detection based on a limited number of observations per year. Here we demonstrate an approach to characterize land dynamics through land surface phenology (LSP) by synergistic use of image time series at two scales. Our study areas include regions of interest (ROIs) across the Northern Great Plains located within Landsat path overlap zones to boost the number of valid observations (free of clouds or snow) each year. We first compute accumulated growing degree-days (AGDD) from MODIS 8-day composites of land surface temperature (MOD11A2 and MYD11A2). Using Landsat Collection 1 surface reflectance-derived vegetation indices (NDVI, EVI), we then fit at each pixel a downward convex quadratic model linking the vegetation index to each year's progression of AGDD. This quadratic equation exhibits linearity in a mathematical sense; thus, the fitted models can be linearly mixed and unmixed using a set of LSP endmembers (defined by the fitted parameter coefficients of the quadratic model) that represent "pure" land cover types with distinct seasonal patterns found within the region, such as winter wheat, spring wheat, maize, soybean, sunflower, hay/pasture/grassland, developed/built-up, among others. Information about land cover corresponding to each endmember are provided by the NLCD (National Land Cover Dataset) and CDL (Cropland Data Layer). We use linear unmixing to estimate the likely proportion of each LSP endmember within particular areas stratified by latitude. By tracking the proportions over the 2001-2011 period, we can quantify various types of land transitions in the Northern Great Plains.

  18. Different land use intensities in grassland ecosystems drive ecology of microbial communities involved in nitrogen turnover in soil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyer, Annabel; Focks, Andreas; Radl, Viviane; Keil, Daniel; Welzl, Gerhard; Schöning, Ingo; Boch, Steffen; Marhan, Sven; Kandeler, Ellen; Schloter, Michael

    2013-01-01

    Understanding factors driving the ecology of N cycling microbial communities is of central importance for sustainable land use. In this study we report changes of abundance of denitrifiers, nitrifiers and nitrogen-fixing microorganisms (based on qPCR data for selected functional genes) in response to different land use intensity levels and the consequences for potential turnover rates. We investigated selected grassland sites being comparable with respect to soil type and climatic conditions, which have been continuously treated for many years as intensely used meadows (IM), intensely used mown pastures (IP) and extensively used pastures (EP), respectively. The obtained data were linked to above ground biodiversity pattern as well as water extractable fractions of nitrogen and carbon in soil. Shifts in land use intensity changed plant community composition from systems dominated by s-strategists in extensive managed grasslands to c-strategist dominated communities in intensive managed grasslands. Along the different types of land use intensity, the availability of inorganic nitrogen regulated the abundance of bacterial and archaeal ammonia oxidizers. In contrast, the amount of dissolved organic nitrogen determined the abundance of denitrifiers (nirS and nirK). The high abundance of nifH carrying bacteria at intensive managed sites gave evidence that the amounts of substrates as energy source outcompete the high availability of inorganic nitrogen in these sites. Overall, we revealed that abundance and function of microorganisms involved in key processes of inorganic N cycling (nitrification, denitrification and N fixation) might be independently regulated by different abiotic and biotic factors in response to land use intensity.

  19. Different land use intensities in grassland ecosystems drive ecology of microbial communities involved in nitrogen turnover in soil.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Annabel Meyer

    Full Text Available Understanding factors driving the ecology of N cycling microbial communities is of central importance for sustainable land use. In this study we report changes of abundance of denitrifiers, nitrifiers and nitrogen-fixing microorganisms (based on qPCR data for selected functional genes in response to different land use intensity levels and the consequences for potential turnover rates. We investigated selected grassland sites being comparable with respect to soil type and climatic conditions, which have been continuously treated for many years as intensely used meadows (IM, intensely used mown pastures (IP and extensively used pastures (EP, respectively. The obtained data were linked to above ground biodiversity pattern as well as water extractable fractions of nitrogen and carbon in soil. Shifts in land use intensity changed plant community composition from systems dominated by s-strategists in extensive managed grasslands to c-strategist dominated communities in intensive managed grasslands. Along the different types of land use intensity, the availability of inorganic nitrogen regulated the abundance of bacterial and archaeal ammonia oxidizers. In contrast, the amount of dissolved organic nitrogen determined the abundance of denitrifiers (nirS and nirK. The high abundance of nifH carrying bacteria at intensive managed sites gave evidence that the amounts of substrates as energy source outcompete the high availability of inorganic nitrogen in these sites. Overall, we revealed that abundance and function of microorganisms involved in key processes of inorganic N cycling (nitrification, denitrification and N fixation might be independently regulated by different abiotic and biotic factors in response to land use intensity.

  20. Different Land Use Intensities in Grassland Ecosystems Drive Ecology of Microbial Communities Involved in Nitrogen Turnover in Soil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyer, Annabel; Focks, Andreas; Radl, Viviane; Keil, Daniel; Welzl, Gerhard; Schöning, Ingo; Boch, Steffen; Marhan, Sven; Kandeler, Ellen; Schloter, Michael

    2013-01-01

    Understanding factors driving the ecology of N cycling microbial communities is of central importance for sustainable land use. In this study we report changes of abundance of denitrifiers, nitrifiers and nitrogen-fixing microorganisms (based on qPCR data for selected functional genes) in response to different land use intensity levels and the consequences for potential turnover rates. We investigated selected grassland sites being comparable with respect to soil type and climatic conditions, which have been continuously treated for many years as intensely used meadows (IM), intensely used mown pastures (IP) and extensively used pastures (EP), respectively. The obtained data were linked to above ground biodiversity pattern as well as water extractable fractions of nitrogen and carbon in soil. Shifts in land use intensity changed plant community composition from systems dominated by s-strategists in extensive managed grasslands to c-strategist dominated communities in intensive managed grasslands. Along the different types of land use intensity, the availability of inorganic nitrogen regulated the abundance of bacterial and archaeal ammonia oxidizers. In contrast, the amount of dissolved organic nitrogen determined the abundance of denitrifiers (nirS and nirK). The high abundance of nifH carrying bacteria at intensive managed sites gave evidence that the amounts of substrates as energy source outcompete the high availability of inorganic nitrogen in these sites. Overall, we revealed that abundance and function of microorganisms involved in key processes of inorganic N cycling (nitrification, denitrification and N fixation) might be independently regulated by different abiotic and biotic factors in response to land use intensity. PMID:24039974

  1. A Remote Sensing Approach for Regional-Scale Mapping of Agricultural Land-Use Systems Based on NDVI Time Series

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Beatriz Bellón

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available In response to the need for generic remote sensing tools to support large-scale agricultural monitoring, we present a new approach for regional-scale mapping of agricultural land-use systems (ALUS based on object-based Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI time series analysis. The approach consists of two main steps. First, to obtain relatively homogeneous land units in terms of phenological patterns, a principal component analysis (PCA is applied to an annual MODIS NDVI time series, and an automatic segmentation is performed on the resulting high-order principal component images. Second, the resulting land units are classified into the crop agriculture domain or the livestock domain based on their land-cover characteristics. The crop agriculture domain land units are further classified into different cropping systems based on the correspondence of their NDVI temporal profiles with the phenological patterns associated with the cropping systems of the study area. A map of the main ALUS of the Brazilian state of Tocantins was produced for the 2013–2014 growing season with the new approach, and a significant coherence was observed between the spatial distribution of the cropping systems in the final ALUS map and in a reference map extracted from the official agricultural statistics of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE. This study shows the potential of remote sensing techniques to provide valuable baseline spatial information for supporting agricultural monitoring and for large-scale land-use systems analysis.

  2. The role of pasture and soybean in deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barona, Elizabeth; Ramankutty, Navin; Coomes, Oliver T; Hyman, Glenn

    2010-01-01

    The dynamics of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon are complex. A growing debate considers the extent to which deforestation is a result of the expansion of the Brazilian soy industry. Most recent analyses suggest that deforestation is driven by the expansion of cattle ranching, rather than soy. Soy seems to be replacing previously deforested land and/or land previously under pasture. In this study, we use municipality-level statistics on agricultural and deforested areas across the Legal Amazon from 2000 to 2006 to examine the spatial patterns and statistical relationships between deforestation and changes in pasture and soybean areas. Our results support previous studies that showed that deforestation is predominantly a result of pasture expansion. However, we also find support for the hypothesis that an increase of soy in Mato Grosso has displaced pasture further north, leading to deforestation elsewhere. Although not conclusive, our findings suggest that the debate surrounding the drivers of Amazon deforestation is not over, and that indirect causal links between soy and deforestation may exist that need further exploration. Future research should examine more closely how interlinkages between land area, prices, and policies influence the relationship between soy and deforestation, in order to make a conclusive case for 'displacement deforestation'.

  3. Spatiotemporal analysis of land use and land cover change in the Brazilian Amazon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Dengsheng; Li, Guiying; Moran, Emilio; Hetrick, Scott

    2013-01-01

    This paper provides a comparative analysis of land use and land cover (LULC) changes among three study areas with different biophysical environments in the Brazilian Amazon at multiple scales, from per-pixel, polygon, census sector, to study area. Landsat images acquired in the years of 1990/1991, 1999/2000, and 2008/2010 were used to examine LULC change trajectories with the post-classification comparison approach. A classification system composed of six classes - forest, savanna, other-vegetation (secondary succession and plantations), agro-pasture, impervious surface, and water, was designed for this study. A hierarchical-based classification method was used to classify Landsat images into thematic maps. This research shows different spatiotemporal change patterns, composition and rates among the three study areas and indicates the importance of analyzing LULC change at multiple scales. The LULC change analysis over time for entire study areas provides an overall picture of change trends, but detailed change trajectories and their spatial distributions can be better examined at a per-pixel scale. The LULC change at the polygon scale provides the information of the changes in patch sizes over time, while the LULC change at census sector scale gives new insights on how human-induced activities (e.g., urban expansion, roads, and land use history) affect LULC change patterns and rates. This research indicates the necessity to implement change detection at multiple scales for better understanding the mechanisms of LULC change patterns and rates.

  4. MODIS Time Series to Detect Anthropogenic Interventions and Degradation Processes in Tropical Pasture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Alves Aguiar

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The unavoidable diet change in emerging countries, projected for the coming years, will significantly increase the global consumption of animal protein. It is expected that Brazilian livestock production, responsible for close to 15% of global production, be prepared to answer to the increasing demand of beef. Consequently, the evaluation of pasture quality at regional scale is important to inform public policies towards a rational land use strategy directed to improve livestock productivity in the country. Our hypothesis is that MODIS images can be used to evaluate the processes of degradation, restoration and renovation of tropical pastures. To test this hypothesis, two field campaigns were performed covering a route of approximately 40,000 km through nine Brazilian states. To characterize the sampled pastures, biophysical parameters were measured and observations about the pastures, the adopted management and the landscape were collected. Each sampled pasture was evaluated using a time series of MODIS EVI2 images from 2000–2012, according to a new protocol based on seven phenological metrics, 14 Boolean criteria and two numerical criteria. The theoretical basis of this protocol was derived from interviews with producers and livestock experts during a third field campaign. The analysis of the MODIS EVI2 time series provided valuable historical information on the type of intervention and on the biological degradation process of the sampled pastures. Of the 782 pastures sampled, 26.6% experienced some type of intervention, 19.1% were under biological degradation, and 54.3% presented neither intervention nor trend of biomass decrease during the period analyzed.

  5. Quantifying phosphorus levels in soils, plants, surface water, and shallow groundwater associated with bahiagrass-based pastures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sigua, Gilbert C; Hubbard, Robert K; Coleman, Samuel W

    2010-01-01

    Recent assessments of water quality status have identified eutrophication as one of the major causes of water quality 'impairment' not only in the USA but also around the world. In most cases, eutrophication has accelerated by increased inputs of phosphorus due to intensification of crop and animal production systems since the early 1990 s. Despite substantial measurements using both laboratory and field techniques, little is known about the spatial and temporal variability of phosphorus dynamics across landscapes, especially in agricultural landscapes with cow-calf operations. Critical to determining environmental balance and accountability is an understanding of phosphorus excreted by animals, phosphorus removal by plants, acceptable losses of phosphorus within the manure management and crop production systems into soil and waters, and export of phosphorus off-farm. Further research effort on optimizing forage-based cow-calf operations to improve pasture sustainability and protect water quality is therefore warranted. We hypothesized that properly managed cow-calf operations in subtropical agroecosystem would not be major contributors to excess loads of phosphorus in surface and ground water. To verify our hypothesis, we examined the comparative concentrations of total phosphorus among soils, forage, surface water, and groundwater beneath bahiagrass-based pastures with cow-calf operations in central Florida, USA. Soil samples were collected at 0-20; 20-40, 40-60, and 60-100 cm across the landscape (top slope, middle slope, and bottom slope) of 8 ha pasture in the fall and spring of 2004 to 2006. Forage availability and phosphorus uptake of bahiagrass were also measured from the top slope, middle slope, and bottom slope. Bi-weekly (2004-2006) groundwater and surface water samples were taken from wells located at top slope, middle slope, and bottom slope, and from the runoff/seepage area. Concentrations of phosphorus in soils, forage, surface water, and shallow

  6. Tropical Land Use Conversion Effects on Soil Microbial Community Structure and Function: Emerging Patterns and Knowledge Gaps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seeley, M.; Marin-Spiotta, E.

    2016-12-01

    Modifications in vegetation due to land use conversions (LUC) between primary forests, pasture, cropping systems, tree plantations, and secondary forests drive shifts in soil microbial communities. These microbial community alterations affect carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, aboveground biomass, and numerous other soil processes. Despite their importance, little is known about soil microbial organisms' response to LUC, especially in tropical regions where LUC rates are greatest. This project identifies current trends and uncertainties in tropical soil microbiology by comparing 56 published studies on LUC in tropical regions. This review indicates that microbial biomass and functional groups shifted in response to LUC, supporting demonstrated trends in changing soil carbon stocks due to LUC. Microbial biomass was greatest in primary forests when compared to secondary forests and in all forests when compared to both cropping systems and tree plantations. No trend existed when comparing pasture systems and forests, likely due to variations in pasture fertilizer use. Cropping system soils had greater gram positive and less gram negative bacteria than forest soils, potentially resulting in greater respiration of older carbon stocks in agricultural soils. Bacteria dominated primary forests while fungal populations were greatest in secondary forests. To characterize changes in microbial communities resulting from land use change, research must reflect the biophysical variation across the tropics. A chi-squared test revealed that the literature sites represented mean annual temperature variation across the tropics (p-value=0.66).

  7. Quantifying the contributions of sediment, sediment-P and fertiliser-P from forested, cultivated and pasture areas at the landuse and catchment scale using fallout radionuclides and geochemistry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wallbrink, P.J.; Martin, C.E.; Wilson, C.J.

    2003-01-01

    In this paper we use a combination of fallout nuclides and geochemistry to determine the contributions of sediment and sediment bound phosphorus (sed-P) from the major diffuse sources in the Bundella Creek catchment (8700 ha), NSW, Australia. Sources include surface erosion from cultivated, pasture and steep forested land as well as subsoil erosion from channels and gullies. We determine these contributions to the <10 μm fraction of deposited sediments. Concentrations of P were higher in the surface soils of each landuse than the underlying subsoils, and erosion from these contributed more to offsite sediment-P (∼60%) than did subsoil erosion at the individual landuse scale. At the catchment outlet, the amount of surface sediment eroded from cultivated lands was a factor of ∼84 higher than from pastures; the steep forested lands contributed ∼9 times more than pastures. Sed-P eroded from cultivated land was ∼42 times higher than from pasturelands; the forests were ∼8 times greater than from pastures. At the catchment outlet the largest contribution of sediment (∼70%) and sed-P (∼62%) was from subsoil erosion of gullies and channels within and between the different landuse areas. There was little contribution of sediment or sed-P at the catchment scale from surface erosion of pastures. Concentrations of P were highest in 'storm event' suspended sediment samples taken from the pasture and cultivated areas without gullies. In a suite of samples selected for their high P contents, fertiliser P was detected in two storm event suspended sediment samples and one deposited sediment sample, using the ratio of Nd/P. This suggests fertiliser P may be transported-off land surfaces with sediments and contribute to offsite sediment-P concentrations in some situations. However, the fertiliser contributions were episodic and variable; and probably influenced by particle size selectivity as well as timing of fertiliser application with respect to size and occurrence

  8. Land change in eastern Mediterranean wood-pasture landscapes: the case of deciduous oak woodlands in Lesvos (Greece).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaich, Harald; Kizos, Thanasis; Schneider, Stefan; Plieninger, Tobias

    2015-07-01

    In Mediterranean Europe, wood-pasture landscapes with oak woodlands as emblematic ecosystems are undergoing rapid land-use change, which may threaten their legacy as hotspots of biodiversity, ecosystem services, and cultural heritage. The objective of this study was to quantify land cover changes and transitions as well as the dynamics of oak woodland patterns and densities over 50 years in two municipalities at the center and edges of Quercus macrolepis distribution in Northern Lesvos (Greece). We used aerial photographs from 1960 and WorldView-2 satellite images from 2010 to process land cover maps and metrics, and to calculate oak canopy cover with a point-grid sampling approach. Spatiotemporal dynamics of land cover change were generally high--especially between oak woodlands and grass- and shrub-lands, resulting in a more heterogeneous and fragmented landscape in 2010. Surprisingly, oak woodland area remained stable with marginal losses in one study site and gains in the other one. Oak canopy cover increased by 8 and 9%. Spatial hotspots of change were mountainous and peripheral phrygana areas with expanding oak stands, as well as river valleys and near urban areas with expanding olive groves and grass- and shrublands in former complex cultivation and oak stands. We conclude that the parallel processes of abandonment of crop cultivation and intensification of livestock grazing have been less detrimental to oak woodlands than supposed. To ensure long-term persistence of oak woodlands in the face of ongoing rural depopulation and land-use intensification, environmental and agricultural policies should better address their specificities as anthropogenic habitats.

  9. Land Change in Eastern Mediterranean Wood-Pasture Landscapes: The Case of Deciduous Oak Woodlands in Lesvos (Greece)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaich, Harald; Kizos, Thanasis; Schneider, Stefan; Plieninger, Tobias

    2015-07-01

    In Mediterranean Europe, wood-pasture landscapes with oak woodlands as emblematic ecosystems are undergoing rapid land-use change, which may threaten their legacy as hotspots of biodiversity, ecosystem services, and cultural heritage. The objective of this study was to quantify land cover changes and transitions as well as the dynamics of oak woodland patterns and densities over 50 years in two municipalities at the center and edges of Quercus macrolepis distribution in Northern Lesvos (Greece). We used aerial photographs from 1960 and WorldView-2 satellite images from 2010 to process land cover maps and metrics, and to calculate oak canopy cover with a point-grid sampling approach. Spatiotemporal dynamics of land cover change were generally high—especially between oak woodlands and grass- and shrub-lands, resulting in a more heterogeneous and fragmented landscape in 2010. Surprisingly, oak woodland area remained stable with marginal losses in one study site and gains in the other one. Oak canopy cover increased by 8 and 9 %. Spatial hotspots of change were mountainous and peripheral phrygana areas with expanding oak stands, as well as river valleys and near urban areas with expanding olive groves and grass- and shrublands in former complex cultivation and oak stands. We conclude that the parallel processes of abandonment of crop cultivation and intensification of livestock grazing have been less detrimental to oak woodlands than supposed. To ensure long-term persistence of oak woodlands in the face of ongoing rural depopulation and land-use intensification, environmental and agricultural policies should better address their specificities as anthropogenic habitats.

  10. Reproduction, mastitis, and body condition of seasonally calved Holstein and Jersey cows in confinement or pasture systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Washburn, S P; White, S L; Green, J T; Benson, G A

    2002-01-01

    Dairy cows in confinement and pasture-based feeding systems were compared across four spring-calving and three fall-calving replicates for differences in reproduction, mastitis, body weights, and body condition scores. Feeding systems and replicates included both Jersey and Holstein cows. Cows in confinement were fed a total mixed ration, and cows on pasture were supplemented with concentrates and provided baled hay or haylage when pasture supply was limiting. Breeding periods were for 75 d in spring or fall. Reproductive performance did not differ significantly due to feeding system or season. Jerseys had higher conception rates (59.6 vs. 49.5 +/- 3.3%) and higher percentages of cows pregnant in 75 d (78.1 vs. 57.9 +/- 3.9%) than Holsteins. Cows in confinement had 1.8 times more clinical mastitis and eight times the rate of culling for mastitis than did cows on pasture. Jerseys had half as many clinical cases of mastitis per cow as Holsteins. Only 41 +/- 5% of confinement Holsteins remained for a subsequent lactation, starting within the defined calving season compared with 51 +/- 5% of pastured Holsteins and 71 and 72 +/- 5% of Jerseys, respectively. Body weights and condition scores were generally higher for confinement cows than pastured cows, and Jerseys had higher condition scores and lower body weights than Holsteins. In summary, pastured cows had fewer clinical cases of mastitis, lower body condition scores, and lower body weights than confinement cows. Holsteins were less likely to rebreed, had more mastitis, higher culling rates, and lower body condition scores than Jerseys.

  11. Harmonization of global land-use scenarios for the period 850-2100

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hurtt, G. C.; Chini, L. P.; Sahajpal, R.; Frolking, S. E.; Fisk, J.; Bodirsky, B.; Calvin, K. V.; Fujimori, S.; Goldewijk, K.; Hasegawa, T.; Havlik, P.; Heinimann, A.; Humpenöder, F.; Kaplan, J. O.; Krisztin, T.; Lawrence, D. M.; Lawrence, P.; Mertz, O.; Popp, A.; Riahi, K.; Stehfest, E.; van Vuuren, D.; de Waal, L.; Zhang, X.

    2016-12-01

    Human land-use activities have resulted in large changes to the biogeochemical and biophysical properties of the Earth surface, with resulting implications for climate. In the future, land-use activities are likely to expand and/or intensify further to meet growing demands for food, fiber, and energy. As part of the World Climate Research Program Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6), the international community is developing the next generation of advanced Earth System Models (ESM) able to estimate the combined effects of human activities (e.g. land use and fossil fuel emissions) on the carbon-climate system. In addition, a new set of historical data based on HYDE, and multiple alternative scenarios of the future (2015-2100) from Integrated Assessment Model (IAM) teams, are being developed as input for these models. Here we present results from the Land-use Harmonization 2 (LUH2) project, with the goal to smoothly connect updated historical reconstructions of land-use with new future projections in the format required for ESMs. The harmonization strategy estimates the fractional land-use patterns, underlying land-use transitions, and key agricultural management information, and resulting secondary lands annually while minimizing the differences between the end of the historical reconstruction and IAM initial conditions, and working to preserve changes depicted by the IAMs in the future. The new approach builds off the approach from CMIP5, and is provided at higher resolution (0.25x0.25 degree), over longer time domain (850-2100), with more detail (including multiple crop and pasture types and associated management), using more inputs (including Landsat data), updated algorithms (wood harvest and shifting cultivation), and is assessed via a new diagnostic package. The new LUH2 products contain >50 times the information content of the datasets used in CMIP5, and are designed to enable new and improved estimates of the combined effects of land-use on the

  12. Overcoming barriers to seedling regeneration during forest restoration on tropical pasture land and the potential value of woody weeds

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amelia eElgar

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Combating the legacy of deforestation on tropical biodiversity requires the conversion to forest of large areas of established pasture, where barriers to native plant regeneration include competition with pasture grasses and poor propagule supply (seed availability. In addition, initial woody plants that colonise pasture are often invasive non-native species whose ecological roles and management in the context of forest regeneration are contested. In a restoration experiment at two 0.64 ha sites we quantified the response of native woody vegetation recruitment to (1 release from competition with introduced pasture grasses, and (2 local facilitation of frugivore-assisted seed dispersal provided by scattered woody plants and artificial bird perches. Herbicide pasture grass suppression during 20 months caused a significant but modest increase in density of native woody seedlings, together with abundant co-recruitment of the prominent non-native pioneer wild tobacco (Solanum mauritianum. Recruitment of native species was further enhanced by local structure in herbicide-treated areas, being consistently greater under live trees and dead non-native shrubs (herbicide-treated than in open areas, and intermediate under bird perches. Native seedling recruitment comprised 28 species across 0.25 ha sampled but was dominated by two rainforest pioneers (Homalanthus novoguineensis, Polyscias murrayi. These early results are consistent with the expected increase in woody vegetation recruitment in response to release from competitive and dispersive barriers to rainforest regeneration. The findings highlight the need for a pragmatic consideration of the ecological roles of woody weeds and the potential roles of ‘new forests’ more broadly in accelerating succession of humid tropical forest across large areas of retired agricultural land.

  13. A Generalized Deforestation and Land-Use Change Scenario Generator for Use in Climate Modelling Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tompkins, Adrian Mark; Caporaso, Luca; Biondi, Riccardo; Bell, Jean Pierre

    2015-01-01

    A new deforestation and land-use change scenario generator model (FOREST-SAGE) is presented that is designed to interface directly with dynamic vegetation models used in latest generation earth system models. The model requires a regional-scale scenario for aggregate land-use change that may be time-dependent, provided by observational studies or by regional land-use change/economic models for future projections. These land-use categories of the observations/economic model are first translated into equivalent plant function types used by the particular vegetation model, and then FOREST-SAGE disaggregates the regional-scale scenario to the local grid-scale of the earth system model using a set of risk-rules based on factors such as proximity to transport networks, distance weighted population density, forest fragmentation and presence of protected areas and logging concessions. These rules presently focus on the conversion of forest to agriculture and pasture use, but could be generalized to other land use change conversions. After introducing the model, an evaluation of its performance is shown for the land-cover changes that have occurred in the Central African Basin from 2001–2010 using retrievals from MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Vegetation Continuous Field data. The model is able to broadly reproduce the spatial patterns of forest cover change observed by MODIS, and the use of the local-scale risk factors enables FOREST-SAGE to improve land use change patterns considerably relative to benchmark scenarios used in the latest Coupled Model Intercomparison Project integrations. The uncertainty to the various risk factors is investigated using an ensemble of investigations, and it is shown that the model is sensitive to the population density, forest fragmentation and reforestation factors specified. PMID:26394392

  14. Investigating potential transferability of place-based research in land system science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Václavík, Tomáš; Langerwisch, Fanny; Cotter, Marc; Fick, Johanna; Häuser, Inga; Hotes, Stefan; Kamp, Johannes; Settele, Josef; Spangenberg, Joachim H.; Seppelt, Ralf

    2016-09-01

    Much of our knowledge about land use and ecosystem services in interrelated social-ecological systems is derived from place-based research. While local and regional case studies provide valuable insights, it is often unclear how relevant this research is beyond the study areas. Drawing generalized conclusions about practical solutions to land management from local observations and formulating hypotheses applicable to other places in the world requires that we identify patterns of land systems that are similar to those represented by the case study. Here, we utilize the previously developed concept of land system archetypes to investigate potential transferability of research from twelve regional projects implemented in a large joint research framework that focus on issues of sustainable land management across four continents. For each project, we characterize its project archetype, i.e. the unique land system based on a synthesis of more than 30 datasets of land-use intensity, environmental conditions and socioeconomic indicators. We estimate the transferability potential of project research by calculating the statistical similarity of locations across the world to the project archetype, assuming higher transferability potentials in locations with similar land system characteristics. Results show that areas with high transferability potentials are typically clustered around project sites but for some case studies can be found in regions that are geographically distant, especially when values of considered variables are close to the global mean or where the project archetype is driven by large-scale environmental or socioeconomic conditions. Using specific examples from the local case studies, we highlight the merit of our approach and discuss the differences between local realities and information captured in global datasets. The proposed method provides a blueprint for large research programs to assess potential transferability of place-based studies to other

  15. A high accuracy land use/cover retrieval system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alaa Hefnawy

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available The effects of spatial resolution on the accuracy of mapping land use/cover types have received increasing attention as a large number of multi-scale earth observation data become available. Although many methods of semi automated image classification of remotely sensed data have been established for improving the accuracy of land use/cover classification during the past 40 years, most of them were employed in single-resolution image classification, which led to unsatisfactory results. In this paper, we propose a multi-resolution fast adaptive content-based retrieval system of satellite images. Through our proposed system, we apply a Super Resolution technique for the Landsat-TM images to have a high resolution dataset. The human–computer interactive system is based on modified radial basis function for retrieval of satellite database images. We apply the backpropagation supervised artificial neural network classifier for both the multi and single resolution datasets. The results show significant improved land use/cover classification accuracy for the multi-resolution approach compared with those from single-resolution approach.

  16. Phosphorus, carbon- and nitrogen interactions in productive and degraded tropical pastures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oberson, A.; Hegglin, D. D.; Nesper, M.; Rao, I.; Fonte, S.; Ramirez, B.; Velasquez, J.; Tamburini, F.; Bünemann, E. K.; Frossard, E.

    2011-12-01

    Pastures are the main land use in deforested areas of tropical South America. The highly weathered soils of these regions usually have low total and available phosphorus (P) contents. Low P availability can strongly limit plant and animal productivity and other soil ecosystem functions. Most introduced pastures of Brachiaria spp. are grass-alone (GA) while some are grass-legume (GL) pastures. The majority of the introduced pastures, particularly the grass-alone are at some state of degradation (GD). Pasture degradation induces severe loss of plant biomass production, with drastic ecological and economic implications. Although the importance of P deficiency in pasture degradation has been recognized, the knowledge generated on stoichiometry of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and P along pathways of the nutrient cycles of pastures, with different botanical composition and productivity, has been very limited. We will present results of a case study realized during 2010 to 2011 in the forest margins agro-ecosystem of the department of Caquetá, Colombia. Our objectives were to determine: i) whether P availability is lower in degraded compared to productive pastures, and ii) whether the introduction of legumes in the pasture increases P availability through enhanced biological P cycling through plant growth, plant litter decomposition and the soil microbial biomass; and iii) whether pasture types (GA vs GL) and the state of pasture degradation affect the C:N:P ratios in nutrient pools of the soil-plant system. An on-farm study was conducted on nine farms in the department of Caquetá, Colombia. On every farm three different pasture types were studied: degraded grass alone pastures (GD), productive grass-alone pastures (GA) and productive grass-legume pastures (GL). Basic soil characteristics and indicators on soil P status, microbial P cycling, plant biomass production, plant litter deposition and nutrient concentrations in plant tissue were determined. Analysis of P, C and N

  17. Accounting for land use in life cycle assessment: The value of NPP as a proxy indicator to assess land use impacts on ecosystems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taelman, Sue Ellen; Schaubroeck, Thomas; De Meester, Steven; Boone, Lieselot; Dewulf, Jo

    2016-04-15

    Terrestrial land and its resources are finite, though, for economic and socio-cultural needs of humans, these natural resources are further exploited. It highlights the need to quantify the impact humans possibly have on the environment due to occupation and transformation of land. As a starting point of this paper (1(st) objective), the land use activities, which may be mainly socio-culturally or economically oriented, are identified in addition to the natural land-based processes and stocks and funds that can be altered due to land use. To quantify the possible impact anthropogenic land use can have on the natural environment, linked to a certain product or service, life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool commonly used. During the last decades, many indicators are developed within the LCA framework in an attempt to evaluate certain environmental impacts of land use. A second objective of this study is to briefly review these indicators and to categorize them according to whether they assess a change in the asset of natural resources for production and consumption or a disturbance of certain ecosystem processes, i.e. ecosystem health. Based on these findings, two enhanced proxy indicators are proposed (3(rd) objective). Both indicators use net primary production (NPP) loss (potential NPP in the absence of humans minus remaining NPP after land use) as a relevant proxy to primarily assess the impact of land use on ecosystem health. As there are two approaches to account for the natural and productive value of the NPP remaining after land use, namely the Human Appropriation of NPP (HANPP) and hemeroby (or naturalness) concepts, two indicators are introduced and the advantages and limitations compared to state-of-the-art NPP-based land use indicators are discussed. Exergy-based spatially differentiated characterization factors (CFs) are calculated for several types of land use (e.g., pasture land, urban land). Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Land-Cover and Land-Use Change in the Brazilian Amazon: Smallholders, Ranchers and Frontier Stratification

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aldrich, Stephen P.; Walker, Robert T.; Arima, Eugenio Y.; Caldas, Marcellus M.; Browder, John O.; Perz, Stephen

    2006-01-01

    Tropical deforestation is a significant driver of global environmental change, given its impacts on the carbon cycle and biodiversity. Loss of the Amazon forest, the focus of this article, is of particular concern because of the size and the rapid rate at which the forest is being converted to agricultural use. In this article, we identify what has been the most important driver of deforestation in a specific colonization frontier in the Brazilian Amazon. To this end, we consider (1) the land-use dynamics of smallholder households, (2) the formation of pasture by large-scale ranchers, and (3) structural processes of land aggregation by ranchers. Much has been written about relations between smallholders and ranchers in the Brazilian Amazon, particularly those involving conflict over land, and this article explicates the implications of such social processes for land cover. Toward this end, we draw on panel data (1996-2002) and satellite imagery (1986-1999) to show the deforestation that is attributable to small- and largeholders, and the deforestation that is attributable to aggregations of property arising from a process that we refer to as frontier stratification. Evidently, most of the recent deforestation in the study area has resulted from the household processes of smallholders, not from conversions to pasture pursuant to the appropriations of smallholders' property by well-capitalized ranchers or speculators.

  19. Biophysical Properties of Cultivated Pastures in the Brazilian Savanna Biome: An Analysis in the Spatial-Temporal Domains Based on Ground and Satellite Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernando M. Araújo

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Brazil has the largest commercial beef cattle herd in the world, with cattle ranching being particularly prominent in the 200-million ha, Brazilian neotropical moist savanna biome, known as Cerrado, one of the world’s hotspots for biodiversity conservation. As decreasing productivity is a major concern affecting the Cerrado pasturelands, evaluation of pasture conditions through the determination of biophysical parameters is instrumental for more effective management practices and herd occupation strategies. Within this context, the primary goal of this study was the regional assessment of pasture biophysical properties, through the scaling of wet- and dry-season ground truth data (total biomass, green biomass, and % green cover via the combined use of high (Landsat-TM and moderate (MODIS spatial resolution vegetation index images. Based on the high correlation found between NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index and % green cover (r = 0.95, monthly MODIS-based % green cover images were derived for the 2009–2010 hydrological cycle, which were able to capture major regional patterns and differences in pasture biophysical responses, including the increasing greenness values towards the southern portions of the biome, due to both local conditions (e.g., more fertile soils and management practices. These results corroborate the development of biophysically-based landscape degradation indices, in support of improved land use governance and natural area conservation in the Cerrado.

  20. Decentralizing Governance of Agropastoral Systems in Kyrgyzstan: An Assessment of Recent Pasture Reforms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jyldyz Shigaeva

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Agropastoral systems in Kyrgyzstan have undergone dramatic change in recent decades. In large part, change has resulted from the introduction of legislation that devolves authority and responsibility for the management of common-pool agropastoral resources to community-level pasture users associations. By applying Ostrom’s principles of common resource governance, this paper analyzes the institutions and norms that currently shape local management practices in rural areas of Naryn Province in Kyrgyzstan and the views of different actors on pasture governance, including points of disagreement. Our research and analysis reveal that the community-initiated and -owned systems of pasture governance that were expected to develop and mature under the new Pasture Law have not yet been entirely realized. Decentralization occurred without the participation or awareness of most local resource users. As a consequence, users are creating and reinforcing their own community-defined practices and internal rules, leaving official management plans largely ignored and unenforced. Resource users tend to perceive the government-sanctioned pasture users associations not as public or democratic organizations that represent their interests, but rather as agencies that aim primarily to control the use of resources, exclude some people from decision-making, or impose taxation. Sustainable management of pasturelands therefore may best be served when community perspectives are more suitably integrated—from the planning phase through to collaborative governance and implementation of locally agreed upon management options.

  1. Greenhouse gas balances of Frisian peat pastures. Long term effects of land use options.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Keijzer, Elisabeth

    2010-01-01

    SUMMARY Peat pastures in the Dutch province of Friesland emit high amounts of greenhouse gases (CO2, N2O, and CH4). These high emissions are the results of deep drainage of the peat for agricultural purposes and consequently oxidation of the peat. Other

  2. Multiple constraint modeling of nutrient cycling stoichiometry following forest clearing and pasture abandonment in the Eastern Amazon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davidson, Eric; Nifong, Rachel

    2017-04-01

    While deforestation has declined since its peak, land-use change continues to modify Amazonian landscapes. The responses and feedbacks of biogeochemical cycles to these changes play an important role in determining possible future trajectories of ecosystem function and for land stewardship through effects on rates of secondary forest regrowth, soil emissions of greenhouse gases, inputs of nutrients to groundwater and streamwater, and nutrient management in agroecosystems. Here we present a new synthetic analyses of data from the NASA-supported LBA-ECO project and others datasets on nutrient cycling in cattle pastures, secondary forests, and mature forests at Paragominas, Pará, Brazil. We have developed a stoichiometric model relating C-N-P interactions during original forest clearing, extensive and intensive pasture management, and secondary forest regrowth, constrained by multiple observations of ecosystem stocks and fluxes in each land use. While P is conservatively cycled in all land uses, we demonstrate that pyrolyzation of N during pasture formation and during additional burns for pasture management depletes available-N pools, consistent with observations of lower rates of N leaching and trace gas emission and consistent with secondary forest growth responses to experimental N amendments. The soils store large stocks of N and P, and our parameterization of available forms of these nutrients for steady-state dynamics in the mature forest yield reasonable estimates of net N and P mineralization available for grasses and secondary forest species at rates consistent with observed biomass accumulation and productivity in these modified ecosystems. Because grasses and forests have much different demands for N relative to P, the land use has important biogeochemical impacts. The model demonstrates the need for periodic P inputs for sustainable pasture management and for a period of significant biological N fixation for early-to-mid-successional secondary forest

  3. GIS/RS-based Rapid Reassessment for Slope Land Capability Classification

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, T. Y.; Chompuchan, C.

    2014-12-01

    Farmland resources in Taiwan are limited because about 73% is mountainous and slope land. Moreover, the rapid urbanization and dense population resulted in the highly developed flat area. Therefore, the utilization of slope land for agriculture is more needed. In 1976, "Slope Land Conservation and Utilization Act" was promulgated to regulate the slope land utilization. Consequently, slope land capability was categorized into Class I-IV according to 4 criteria, i.e., average land slope, effective soil depth, degree of soil erosion, and parent rock. The slope land capability Class I-VI are suitable for cultivation and pasture. Whereas, Class V should be used for forestry purpose and Class VI should be the conservation land which requires intensive conservation practices. The field survey was conducted to categorize each land unit as the classification scheme. The landowners may not allow to overuse land capability limitation. In the last decade, typhoons and landslides frequently devastated in Taiwan. The rapid post-disaster reassessment of the slope land capability classification is necessary. However, the large-scale disaster on slope land is the constraint of field investigation. This study focused on using satellite remote sensing and GIS as the rapid re-evaluation method. Chenyulan watershed in Nantou County, Taiwan was selected to be a case study area. Grid-based slope derivation, topographic wetness index (TWI) and USLE soil loss calculation were used to classify slope land capability. The results showed that GIS-based classification give an overall accuracy of 68.32%. In addition, the post-disaster areas of Typhoon Morakot in 2009, which interpreted by SPOT satellite imageries, were suggested to classify as the conservation lands. These tools perform better in the large coverage post-disaster update for slope land capability classification and reduce time-consuming, manpower and material resources to the field investigation.

  4. Consequences of buffelgrass pasture development for primary productivity, perennial plant richness, and vegetation structure in the drylands of Sonora, Mexico.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franklin, Kimberly; Molina-Freaner, Francisco

    2010-12-01

    In large parts of northern Mexico native plant communities are being converted to non-native buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare) pastures, and this conversion could fundamentally alter primary productivity and species richness. In Sonora, Mexico land conversion is occurring at a regional scale along a rainfall-driven gradient of primary productivity, across which native plant communities transition from desert scrub to thorn scrub. We used a paired sampling design to compare a satellite-derived index of primary productivity, richness of perennial plant species, and canopy-height profiles of native plant communities with buffelgrass pastures. We sampled species richness across a gradient of primary productivity in desert scrub and thorn scrub vegetation to examine the influence of site productivity on the outcomes of land conversion. We also examined the influence of pasture age on species richness of perennial plants. Index values of primary productivity were lower in buffelgrass pastures than in native vegetation, which suggests a reduction in primary productivity. Land conversion reduced species richness by approximately 50% at local and regional scales, reduced tree and shrub cover by 78%, and reduced canopy height. Land conversion disproportionately reduced shrub species richness, which reflects the common practice among Sonoran ranchers of conserving certain tree and cactus species. Site productivity did not affect the outcomes of land conversion. The age of a buffelgrass pasture was unrelated to species richness within the pasture, which suggests that passive recovery of species richness to preconversion levels is unlikely. Our findings demonstrate that land conversion can result in large losses of plant species richness at local and regional scales and in substantial changes to primary productivity and vegetation structure, which casts doubt on the feasibility of restoring native plant communities without active intervention on the part of land managers.

  5. Land Cover - Minnesota Land Cover Classification System

    Data.gov (United States)

    Minnesota Department of Natural Resources — Land cover data set based on the Minnesota Land Cover Classification System (MLCCS) coding scheme. This data was produced using a combination of aerial photograph...

  6. Classification of Land Cover and Land Use Based on Convolutional Neural Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Chun; Rottensteiner, Franz; Heipke, Christian

    2018-04-01

    Land cover describes the physical material of the earth's surface, whereas land use describes the socio-economic function of a piece of land. Land use information is typically collected in geospatial databases. As such databases become outdated quickly, an automatic update process is required. This paper presents a new approach to determine land cover and to classify land use objects based on convolutional neural networks (CNN). The input data are aerial images and derived data such as digital surface models. Firstly, we apply a CNN to determine the land cover for each pixel of the input image. We compare different CNN structures, all of them based on an encoder-decoder structure for obtaining dense class predictions. Secondly, we propose a new CNN-based methodology for the prediction of the land use label of objects from a geospatial database. In this context, we present a strategy for generating image patches of identical size from the input data, which are classified by a CNN. Again, we compare different CNN architectures. Our experiments show that an overall accuracy of up to 85.7 % and 77.4 % can be achieved for land cover and land use, respectively. The classification of land cover has a positive contribution to the classification of the land use classification.

  7. High-Precision Land-Cover-Land-Use GIS Mapping and Land Availability and Suitability Analysis for Grass Biomass Production in the Aroostook River Valley, Maine, USA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chunzeng Wang

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available High-precision land-cover-land-use GIS mapping was performed in four major townships in Maine’s Aroostook River Valley, using on-screen digitization and direct interpretation of very high spatial resolution satellite multispectral imagery (15–60 cm and high spatial resolution LiDAR data (2 m and the field mapping method. The project not only provides the first-ever high-precision land-use maps for northern Maine, but it also yields accurate hectarage estimates of different land-use types, in particular grassland, defined as fallow land, pasture, and hay field. This enables analysis of potential land availability and suitability for grass biomass production and other sustainable land uses. The results show that the total area of fallow land in the four towns is 7594 hectares, which accounts for 25% of total open land, and that fallow plots equal to or over four hectares in size total 4870, or 16% of open land. Union overlay analysis, using the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS soil data, indicates that only a very small percentage of grassland (4.9% is on “poorly-drained” or “very-poorly-drained” soils, and that most grassland (85% falls into the “farmland of state importance” or “prime farmland” categories, as determined by NRCS. It is concluded that Maine’s Aroostook River Valley has an ample base of suitable, underutilized land for producing grass biomass.

  8. Changing local land systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Friis, Cecilie; Reenberg, Anette; Heinimann, Andreas

    2016-01-01

    . Combining the conceptual lenses of land systems and livelihood approaches, this paper demonstrates how the land use system has changed substantially because of the establishment of the rubber plantation by the company, notably in the linkages between livestock rearing, upland shifting cultivation......This paper investigates the direct and cascading land system consequences of a Chinese company's land acquisition for rubber cultivation in northern Laos. Transnational land acquisitions are increasingly acknowledged as an important driver of direct land use conversion with implications for local...... land-based livelihoods. The paper presents an empirical case study of the village of Na Nhang Neua in Nambak District, Luang Prabang Province, using a mixed methods approach to investigate the positive and negative implications for household agricultural strategies, income generation and food security...

  9. Using remotely sensed vegetation indices to model ecological pasture conditions in Kara-Unkur watershed, Kyrgyzstan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masselink, Loes; Baartman, Jantiene; Verbesselt, Jan; Borchardt, Peter

    2017-04-01

    Kyrgyzstan has a long history of nomadic lifestyle in which pastures play an important role. However, currently the pastures are subject to severe grazing-induced degradation. Deteriorating levels of biomass, palatability and biodiversity reduce the pastures' productivity. To counter this and introduce sustainable pasture management, up-to-date information regarding the ecological conditions of the pastures is essential. This research aimed to investigate the potential of a remote sensing-based methodology to detect changing ecological pasture conditions in the Kara-Unkur watershed, Kyrgyzstan. The relations between Vegetation Indices (VIs) from Landsat ETM+ images and biomass, palatability and species richness field data were investigated. Both simple and multiple linear regression (MLR) analyses, including terrain attributes, were applied. Subsequently, trends of these three pasture conditions were mapped using time series analysis. The results show that biomass is most accurately estimated by a model including the Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (MSAVI) and a slope factor (R2 = 0.65, F = 0.0006). Regarding palatability, a model including the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Northness Index, Near Infrared (NIR) and Red band was most accurate (R2 = 0.61, F = 0.0160). Species richness was most accurately estimated by a model including Topographic Wetness Index (TWI), Eastness Index and estimated biomass (R2 = 0.81, F = 0.0028). Subsequent trend analyses of all three estimated ecological pasture conditions presented very similar trend patterns. Despite the need for a more robust validation, this study confirms the high potential of a remote sensing based methodology to detect changing ecological pasture conditions.

  10. Resilience as a framework for analyzing the adaptation of mountain summer pasture systems to climate change

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Baptiste Nettier

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Social-ecological resilience is defined by Brian Walker and colleagues as "the capacity of a social-ecological system (SES to absorb disturbances and reorganize while undergoing change so as to continue to retain essentially the same function, structure, feedbacks, and therefore identity." It is an increasingly widespread concept whose success depends, among other things, on the promise of its rapid transfer from science into practice and its operational character for the sustainable management of SESs. However, tangible examples of management methods based on resilience remain limited in the scientific literature. Here, we test the resilience management framework proposed by Brian Walker and David Salt by applying it to the case of mountain summer pastures in the French Alps, which are complex SESs in which human and ecological dimensions are closely linked and subject to substantial perturbations due to climate change. Three steps were implemented: (1 building a conceptual model based on expert knowledge of the functioning of summer pastures; (2 building, from the model, a template for summer pasture resilience analysis; and (3 testing the operational character of the model and the template for two pairs of contrasting cases. This heuristic tool enables understanding the ways in which farmers and herders manage the resilience of their system but does not aim to quantify resilience. The method developed, together with the resilience concept, provide insights into the functioning of summer pastures from both biophysical and management perspectives. The modeling process constitutes a learning process, which will support the implementation of adaptive management. We identified three critical points for making the method truly operational: basing modeling on an equal consideration of social and ecological dimensions, defining the boundaries of the modeled system based on the social dimension, and selecting a scale of analysis coherent with the type

  11. Production and use of the pastures of the Colombia high Andean areas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lotero Cadavid, J.

    1993-01-01

    A relationship of the most common pastures is made in the Andean high area between the 2000 and 3000 m.s.n.m. and of their native vegetable associations, as well as of the invaders plants and overgrowths. The gramineae germoplasm and leguminous is indicated that has been proven lower those conditions. Data of yield average of dry matter are presented for native and introduced grasses of cold climate in Colombia. Equally it is indicated the daily earnings by animal, the load capacity and the animal production with different fertilization systems and some parameters of productivity are shown of gramineous and leguminous introduced in the high areas of Colombia. The nutritious value of gramineous and leguminous of cold climate and its chemical composition are made. A description is made of the ecological areas of the Andean high area and the pastures types that prevail in them. The factors are described that they impact in the degree of deterioration of the pastures like the environment, the same grass, the handling, the livestock, the type of exploitation, the holding of the earth and the administration. The agricultural production systems are mentioned that are associate the Andean pastures, as well as the main obstacles to increase the production of the systems and pastures and their possible solutions

  12. Daily and seasonal trends of electricity and water use on pasture-based automatic milking dairy farms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shortall, J; O'Brien, B; Sleator, R D; Upton, J

    2018-02-01

    the early morning period (0300-0600 h), followed by spikes in consumption between 1100 and 1400 h. Seasonal water trends followed the seasonal milk production curve, except for the month of May, when water consumption was reduced due to above-average rainfall. This study provides a useful insight into the consumption of electricity and water on a pasture-based AM farms, while also facilitating the development of future strategies and technologies likely to increase the sustainability of AM systems. The Authors. Published by the Federation of Animal Science Societies and Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the American Dairy Science Association®. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).

  13. An Eco-hydrologic Assessment of Small Experimental Catchments with Various Land Uses within the Panama Canal Watershed: Agua Salud Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crouch, T. D.; Ogden, F. L.; Stallard, R. F.; Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama Canal Watershed Experiment, Agua Salud Project

    2010-12-01

    Hydrological processes in the humid tropics are poorly understood and an important topic when it comes to water management in the seasonal tropics. The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama Canal Watershed Experiment, Agua Salud Project, seeks to understand these processes and quantify the long-term effects of different land cover and uses across the Panama Canal Watershed. One of the project’s main objectives is to understand how reforestation effects seasonal stream flows. To meet this objective, a baseline characterization of hydrology on the small catchment scale is being assessed across different land uses typical in rural Panama. The small experimental catchments are found within Panama’s protected Soberania National Park and the adjacent headwaters of the Agua Salud and Mendoza Rivers, all of which are part of the greater Panama Canal Watershed. The land uses being monitored include a variety of control catchments as well as treated pasture sites. The catchments used for this study include a mature old regrowth forest, a 50% deforested or mosaic regrowth site, an active pasture and a monoculture invasive grass site (saccharum spontaneum) as experimental controls and two treated catchments that were recently abandoned pastures converted to teak and native species timber plantations. Installed instrumentation includes a network of rain gauges, v-notched weirs, atmometers, an eddy covariance system and an assortment of meteorological and automated geochemical sampling systems. Spatial, rainfall, runoff and ET data across these six geologically and topographically similar catchments are available from 2009 and 2010. Classic water balance and paired catchment techniques were used to compare the catchments on an annual, seasonal, and event basis. This study sets the stage for hydrologic modeling and for better understanding the effects of vegetation and land-use history on rainfall-runoff processes for the Agua Salud Project and Panama Canal

  14. Predicting greenhouse gas emissions and soil carbon from changing pasture to an energy crop.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Benjamin D Duval

    Full Text Available Bioenergy related land use change would likely alter biogeochemical cycles and global greenhouse gas budgets. Energy cane (Saccharum officinarum L. is a sugarcane variety and an emerging biofuel feedstock for cellulosic bio-ethanol production. It has potential for high yields and can be grown on marginal land, which minimizes competition with grain and vegetable production. The DayCent biogeochemical model was parameterized to infer potential yields of energy cane and how changing land from grazed pasture to energy cane would affect greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes and soil C pools. The model was used to simulate energy cane production on two soil types in central Florida, nutrient poor Spodosols and organic Histosols. Energy cane was productive on both soil types (yielding 46-76 Mg dry mass · ha(-1. Yields were maintained through three annual cropping cycles on Histosols but declined with each harvest on Spodosols. Overall, converting pasture to energy cane created a sink for GHGs on Spodosols and reduced the size of the GHG source on Histosols. This change was driven on both soil types by eliminating CH4 emissions from cattle and by the large increase in C uptake by greater biomass production in energy cane relative to pasture. However, the change from pasture to energy cane caused Histosols to lose 4493 g CO2 eq · m(-2 over 15 years of energy cane production. Cultivation of energy cane on former pasture on Spodosol soils in the southeast US has the potential for high biomass yield and the mitigation of GHG emissions.

  15. Land-Use Change, Soil Process and Trace Gas Fluxes in the Brazilian Amazon Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melillo, Jerry M.; Steudler, Paul A.

    1997-01-01

    We measured changes in key soil processes and the fluxes of CO2, CH4 and N2O associated with the conversion of tropical rainforest to pasture in Rondonia, a state in the southwest Amazon that has experienced rapid deforestation, primarily for cattle ranching, since the late 1970s. These measurements provide a comprehensive quantitative picture of the nature of surface soil element stocks, C and nutrient dynamics, and trace gas fluxes between soils and the atmosphere during the entire sequence of land-use change from the initial cutting and burning of native forest, through planting and establishment of pasture grass and ending with very old continuously-pastured land. All of our work is done in cooperation with Brazilian scientists at the Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura (CENA) through an extant official bi-lateral agreement between the Marine Biological Laboratory and the University of Sao Paulo, CENA's parent institution.

  16. Barium selenate supplementation and its effect on intramammary infection in pasture-based dairy cows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ceballos, A; Kruze, J; Barkema, H W; Dohoo, I R; Sanchez, J; Uribe, D; Wichtel, J J; Wittwer, F

    2010-04-01

    A significant proportion of cattle receive inadequate dietary Se because of its low content in soils and pastures of various regions of the world. Several economically important diseases in dairy cows, such as mastitis, have been associated with Se deficiency. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a single injection of a long-acting form of Se at drying off on the risk and incidence rate of new intramammary infections and on milk somatic cell count in the subsequent lactation in pasture-based dairy cows. Forty-nine Chilean Holstein-Friesian cows were fed a diet containing pasture-based dairy cows did not affect udder health in the subsequent lactation, indicating that Se basal intake was adequate for preventing subclinical mastitis in pasture-based cows in southern Chile. Copyright (c) 2010 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Landscape dynamics in northwestern Amazonia: an assessment of pastures, fire and illicit crops as drivers of tropical deforestation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armenteras, Dolors; Rodríguez, Nelly; Retana, Javier

    2013-01-01

    Many studies have identified drivers of deforestation throughout the tropics and, in most cases, have recognised differences in the level of threat. However, only a few have also looked at the temporal and spatial dynamics by which those drivers act, which is critical for assessing the conservation of biodiversity as well as for landscape planning. In this study, we analyse land cover change between 2000 and 2009 in north-western Colombian Amazonia to identify the interactions between the use of fire, cultivation of illicit crops and establishment of pastures, and their impacts on the loss of forest in the region. Yearly analyses were undertaken at randomly selected sample areas to quantify the average areas of transition of land cover types under different landscape compositions: forest-dominated mosaics, pasture mosaics, fire mosaics, and illicit crop mosaics. Our results indicate that despite the fact that forest areas were well-preserved, deforestation occurred at a low annual rate (0.06%). Conversion to pasture was the main factor responsible for forest loss (the area of pastures tripled within forest mosaics over 8 years), and this process was independent of the landscape matrix in which the forests were located. In fire mosaics, burning is a common tool for forest clearing and conversion to pasture. Thus, forests in fire mosaics were highly disturbed and frequently transformed from primary to secondary forests. The use of fire for illicit cropping was not detected, partly due to the small size of common illicit crops. Forest regeneration from pastures and secondary vegetation was observed in areas with large amounts of natural forest. Overall, assuming the continuation of the observed pasture conversion trend and the use of forest fire, we suggest that our results should be incorporated into a spatially explicit and integrated decision support tool to target and focus land-planning activities and policies.

  18. Land use and water quality degradation in the Peixe-Boi River watershed

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bruno Wendell de Freitas Pereira

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available This study mapped the land use and land cover of the catchment area of the Peixe-Boi River watershed, in northeast Pará, in order to identify conflicts of land use in the permanent preservation areas, and to relate them to water quality. We used LISS-3 sensor imagery from the Resourcesat satellite with a spatial resolution of 23.5 m for supervised classification of land use and land cover based on 22 training samples. Water quality was determined based on 28 sampling points in drainage network. The relationship between human disturbance and water quality was analyzed based on observations of land use changes using satellite imagery and in situ collection of water samples. The results show that 46% of the permanent preservation areas have conflicted uses, especially with respect to urban squatters, exposed soil and, most notably, pasture, with over 84 % of the area in conflict. Critical levels of dissolved oxygen reaching 2.14 mg L-1 and pH of 5.12 were observed in some sampling points. These values are below the fresh water standards set by Resolution 357/05 of CONAMA. The poorest water quality may be related to irregular use and occupation of areas within the permanent preservation areas. There is therefore an urgent need to develop a plan for the sustainable use and occupation of catchment area land in the Peixe-Boi River watershed in order to restore the environment and improve water quality.

  19. An economic theory-based explanatory model of agricultural land-use patterns

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Diogo, V.; Koomen, E.; Kuhlman, T.

    2015-01-01

    An economic theory-based land-use modelling framework is presented aiming to explain the causal link between economic decisions and resulting spatial patterns of agricultural land use. The framework assumes that farmers pursue utility maximisation in agricultural production systems, while

  20. Impacts of land-use and land-cover change on stream hydrochemistry in the Cerrado and Amazon biomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nóbrega, Rodolfo L B; Guzha, Alphonce C; Lamparter, Gabriele; Amorim, Ricardo S S; Couto, Eduardo G; Hughes, Harold J; Jungkunst, Hermann F; Gerold, Gerhard

    2018-04-14

    Studies on the impacts of land-use and land-cover change on stream hydrochemistry in active deforestation zones of the Amazon agricultural frontier are limited and have often used low-temporal-resolution datasets. Moreover, these impacts are not concurrently assessed in well-established agricultural areas and new deforestations hotspots. We aimed to identify these impacts using an experimental setup to collect high-temporal-resolution hydrological and hydrochemical data in two pairs of low-order streams in catchments under contrasting land use and land cover (native vegetation vs. pasture) in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes. Our results indicate that the conversion of natural landscapes to pastures increases carbon and nutrient fluxes via streamflow in both biomes. These changes were the greatest in total inorganic carbon in the Amazon and in potassium in the Cerrado, representing a 5.0- and 5.5-fold increase in the fluxes of each biome, respectively. We found that stormflow, which is often neglected in studies on stream hydrochemistry in the tropics, plays a substantial role in the carbon and nutrient fluxes, especially in the Amazon biome, as its contributions to hydrochemical fluxes are mostly greater than the volumetric contribution to the total streamflow. These findings demonstrate that assessments of the impacts of deforestation in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes should also take into account rapid hydrological pathways; however, this can only be achieved through collection of high-temporal-resolution data. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Effect of pasture versus indoor feeding systems on raw milk composition and quality over an entire lactation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Callaghan, Tom F; Hennessy, Deirdre; McAuliffe, Stephen; Kilcawley, Kieran N; O'Donovan, Michael; Dillon, Pat; Ross, R Paul; Stanton, Catherine

    2016-12-01

    The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different feeding systems on milk quality and composition. Fifty-four multiparous and primiparous Friesian lactating cows were divided into 3 groups (n=18) to study the effects of 3 feeding systems over a full lactation. Group 1 was housed indoors and offered a total mixed ration diet (TMR), group 2 was maintained outdoors on a perennial ryegrass pasture (referred to as grass), and group 3 was also grazed outdoors on a perennial ryegrass/white clover pasture (referred to as clover). Bulk milk samples were collected from each group at morning and afternoon milkings once weekly from March 11 to October 28 in 2015. Milk from pasture-fed cows (grass and clover) had significantly higher concentrations of fat, protein, true protein, and casein. The pasture feeding systems induced significantly higher concentrations of saturated fatty acids C11:0, C13:0, C15:0, C17:0, C23:0, and unsaturated fatty acids C18:2n-6 trans, C18:3n-3, C20:1, and C20:4n-6 and a greater than 2-fold increase in the conjugated linoleic acid C18:2 cis-9,trans-11 content of milk compared with that of the TMR feeding system. The TMR feeding system resulted in milks with increased concentrations of C16:0, C18:2n-6 cis, C18:3n-6 cis, C22:0 C22:1n-9, and C18:2 cis-10,trans-12. Principal component analysis of average fatty acid profiles showed clear separation of milks from the grazed pasture-based diets to that of a TMR system throughout lactation, offering further insight into the ability to verify pasture-derived milk by fatty acid profiling. Copyright © 2016 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Sustainable intensification of cultivated pastures using multiple ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    rangeland and wildlife parks) for guidelines to implementing this approach in cultivated pasture. In rangeland or natural grassland ... Keywords: animal production, biodiversity, cultivated pastures, foraging ecology, plant–herbivore interactions ...

  3. Sources of N2O in organic grass-clover pastures

    OpenAIRE

    Ambus, P.

    2002-01-01

    Organic farming practises, and in particular dairy production systems based on grass-clover pastures are becoming increasingly abundant within Danish agriculture. Grass-clover pastures may provide a mitigation option to reduce grassland nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions (Velthof et al. 1998). The objectives of this work was to examine the relationship between N2O emissions and transformations of inorganic N in organically managed grass-clover pastures of different ages. Results from the projec...

  4. Soc stock in different forest-related land-uses in central Stara planina mountain, Bulgaria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhiyanski Miglena

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Forest conversions may lead to an accumulation of carbon in vegetation, but little is known about changes in soil C storage with establishment of plantation forests. Understanding these effects is important to addressing issues relevant to ecosystem function and productivity, and to global balance of carbon. The study investigated the effects of the created coniferous plantations on former beech and pasture sites on the soil organic carbon storage. The major forest-related land-uses in the high mountainous regions of central Stara Planina Mountain were investigated: mountainous pasture, coniferous plantations (planted on previous pasture and beech forests between four and five decades ago and natural beech forests. The experimental data of soil properties, conducted in 2005, 2006 and 2007, were used in determining the variations in organic carbon storage in forest litter and in mineral soil under different land-use patterns. At each site five representative soil profiles were opened and described giving a total 75 soil samples from the soil layers respectively at 0-10, 10-30 and 30-50 cm depth. A total of 55 samples from forest floor layers (Aol, Aof, Aoh and greensward were collected with 25:25 cm plastic frame. The main soil properties were determined in accordance with the standardized methods in the Laboratory of soil science at the Forest Research Institute - BAS. The IPCC Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry was used to estimate the soil organic carbon stock in soil and litter. The results obtained showed that the SOC stock was quite similar among forest land-uses. The conversion of natural beech forests to coniferous plantations in studied region is related with slightly expressed decrease in soil carbon storage. The values of SOC stocks in 0-50 cm soil layer in these sites were 8.5 (±2.1 tones/ha for pine and 11.0 (±1.4 tones/ha for spruce, while under the natural beech forest it was 14.8 (±1.0 tones

  5. Modeling and improving Ethiopian pasture systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parisi, S. G.; Cola, G.; Gilioli, G.; Mariani, L.

    2018-05-01

    The production of pasture in Ethiopia was simulated by means of a dynamic model. Most of the country is characterized by a tropical monsoon climate with mild temperatures and precipitation mainly concentrated in the June-September period (main rainy season). The production model is driven by solar radiation and takes into account limitations due to relocation, maintenance respiration, conversion to final dry matter, temperature, water stress, and nutrients availability. The model also considers the senescence of grassland which strongly limits the nutritional value of grasses for livestock. The simulation for the 1982-2009 period, performed on gridded daily time series of rainfall and maximum and minimum temperature with a resolution of 0.5°, provided results comparable with values reported in literature. Yearly mean yield in Ethiopia ranged between 1.8 metric ton per hectare (t ha-1) (2002) and 2.6 t ha-1 (1989) of dry matter with values above 2.5 t ha-1 attained in 1983, 1985, 1989, and 2008. The Ethiopian territory has been subdivided in 1494 cells and a frequency distribution of the per-cell yearly mean pasture production has been obtained. This distribution ranges from 0 to 7 t ha-1 and it shows a right skewed distribution and a modal class between 1.5-2 t ha-1. Simulation carried out on long time series for this peculiar tropical environment give rise to as lot of results relevant by the agroecological point of view on space variability of pasture production, main limiting factors (solar radiation, precipitation, temperature), and relevant meteo-climatic cycles affecting pasture production (seasonal and inter yearly variability, ENSO). These results are useful to establish an agro-ecological zoning of the Ethiopian territory.

  6. Modeling and improving Ethiopian pasture systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parisi, S. G.; Cola, G.; Gilioli, G.; Mariani, L.

    2018-01-01

    The production of pasture in Ethiopia was simulated by means of a dynamic model. Most of the country is characterized by a tropical monsoon climate with mild temperatures and precipitation mainly concentrated in the June-September period (main rainy season). The production model is driven by solar radiation and takes into account limitations due to relocation, maintenance respiration, conversion to final dry matter, temperature, water stress, and nutrients availability. The model also considers the senescence of grassland which strongly limits the nutritional value of grasses for livestock. The simulation for the 1982-2009 period, performed on gridded daily time series of rainfall and maximum and minimum temperature with a resolution of 0.5°, provided results comparable with values reported in literature. Yearly mean yield in Ethiopia ranged between 1.8 metric ton per hectare (t ha-1) (2002) and 2.6 t ha-1 (1989) of dry matter with values above 2.5 t ha-1 attained in 1983, 1985, 1989, and 2008. The Ethiopian territory has been subdivided in 1494 cells and a frequency distribution of the per-cell yearly mean pasture production has been obtained. This distribution ranges from 0 to 7 t ha-1 and it shows a right skewed distribution and a modal class between 1.5-2 t ha-1. Simulation carried out on long time series for this peculiar tropical environment give rise to as lot of results relevant by the agroecological point of view on space variability of pasture production, main limiting factors (solar radiation, precipitation, temperature), and relevant meteo-climatic cycles affecting pasture production (seasonal and inter yearly variability, ENSO). These results are useful to establish an agro-ecological zoning of the Ethiopian territory.

  7. Effects of Different Treatments of Pasture Restoration on Soil Trace Gas Emissions in the Cerrados of Central Brazil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Planted pastures ( mainly Brachiaria spp) are the most extensive land use in the cerrado (savannas of central Brazil) with an area of approximately 50 x 10(6) ha. The objective of the study was to assess the effects of pasture restoration on the N dynamics ( net N mineralization/...

  8. Pasture-Based Swine Management: Behaviour and Performances of Growing-Finishing Pigs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Riccardo Fortina

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available A pasture-based swine management (PBSM trial was conducted in Piemonte (N-W Italy to study the performances and the carcass yield of 16 hybrid pigs (8 castrated males and 8 females; average initial weight: 90 kg. Animals were allowed to forage pea, clover, beet and alfalfa pastures for 170 days in a crop-pasture rotation on different paddocks. A concentrate was fed to supply 50% of estimated energy requirements. Forage dry matter intake (DMI ranged from 0.32 kg/day (alfalfa to 2.85 kg/day (pea, depending on the period and forage type. Pigs were weighted every 30 days and at slaughtering; average daily gain (ADG was 0.29 kg. The stocking rate (SR ranged from 109 kg/ha LW (clover to 2347 kg/ha LW (pea. Data collected at slaughtering (average final weight: 141 kg were: hot carcass weight and yield, lean and fat cuts weight, backfat thickness, pH45 and pH24. The statistical analysis (ANOVA of SPSS did not show differences between males and females. Results showed that PBSM should be especially appealing to limited-resource farmers due to low inputs needed; pasture can be used to replace 50% of the nutritional needs, helping to save on grain costs, without affecting carcass characteristics.

  9. Channel unit use by Smallmouth Bass: Do land-use constraints or quantity of habitat matter?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brewer, Shannon K.

    2013-01-01

    I examined how land use influenced the distribution of Smallmouth Bass Micropterus dolomieu in channel units (discrete morphological features—e.g., pools) of streams in the Midwestern USA. Stream segments (n = 36), from four clusters of different soil and runoff conditions, were identified that had the highest percent of forest (n = 12), pasture (n = 12), and urban land use (n = 12) within each cluster. Channel units within each stream were delineated and independently sampled once using multiple gears in summer 2006. Data were analyzed using a generalized linear mixed model procedure with a binomial distribution and odds ratio statistics. Land use and channel unit were strong predictors of age-0, age-1, and age->1 Smallmouth Bass presence. Each age-class was more likely to be present in streams within watersheds dominated by forest land use than in those with pasture or urban land uses. The interaction between land use and channel unit was not significant in any of the models, indicating channel unit use by Smallmouth Bass did not depend on watershed land use. Each of the three age-classes was more likely to use pools than other channel units. However, streams with high densities of Smallmouth Bass age >1 had lower proportions of pools suggesting a variety of channel units is important even though habitat needs exist at the channel-unit scale. Management may benefit from future research addressing the significance of channel-unit quality as a possible mechanism for how land use impacts Smallmouth Bass populations. Further, management efforts aimed at improving stream habitat would likely be more beneficial if focused at the stream segment or landscape scale, where a variety of quality habitats might be supported.

  10. Water infiltration capacity under different land uses and agricultural management practices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lizandra Poeta Teixeira

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available Knowledge of physical and hydraulic properties of soil is important for the appropriate use and management of soil, and for the understanding of dynamic movement process of water and solutes. This study aims to determine the soil infiltration capacity of the Concordia Experimental Basin, located in the municipality of Lontras in Santa Catarina state. The infiltration tests were performed with the concentric ring infiltrometer, with a diameter of 25 and 50 cm on twenty sampling points showing different uses of land and agricultural management practices. The initial capacity of infiltration, calculated by Horton's equation, ranged from 0.8 (pasture to 5.0 cm min-1 (pine forest and cassava planting. In pasture areas, the initial infiltration ranged from 0.8 to 0.9 cm min-1. Regarding the minimum value, they ranged from 0.01 (perennial pasture to 0.3 cm min-1 (minimum tillage for corn. In forest areas, the minimum infiltration varied between 0.05 and 0.15 cm min-1 and in the areas of pasture, it was equal to 0.01 cm min-1.

  11. Impact of Land Use Land Cover Change on East Asian monsoon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chilukoti, N.; Xue, Y.; Liu, Y.; Lee, J.

    2017-12-01

    Humans modify the Earth's terrestrial surface on a continental scale by removing natural vegetation for crops/grazing. The current rates, extents and intensities of Land Use and Land Cover Change (LULCC) are greater than ever in history. The earlier studies of Land-atmosphere interactions used specified land surface conditions without interannual variations. In this study using NCEP CFSv2 coupled with Simplified Simple Biosphere (SSiB) model, biogeophysical impacts of LULCC on climate variability, anomaly, and changes are investigated by using the LULCC map from the Hurtt et al. (2006, 2011), which covered 66 years from 1950-2015 with annual variability. We combined the changes in crop and pasture fractions and consider as LULCC. A methodology had been developed to convert the Hurtt LULCC change map with 1° resolution to the GCM grid points. Since the GCM has only one dominant type, when the crop and pasture frction value at one point was larger than the critical value, that grid was assigned as degraded. Comprehensive evaluation was conducted to ensure the consistence of the trend of land degradation in the Hurtt's map and in the GCM LULCC map. In the degraded point, trees were changed to low vegetation or grasses, and low vegetation to bare soil. A set of surface parameters such as leaf area index, vegetation height, roughness length, and soil parameters, associated with vegetation are changed to show the degradation effects. We integrated the model with the potential vegetation map and the map with LULCC from 1950 to 2015, and the results indicate the LULCC causes precipitation reduction globally, with the strongest signals over monsoon regions. For instance, the degradation in Mexico, West Africa, south and East Asia and South America produced significant precipitation anomalies, some of which are consistent with observed regional precipitation anomalies. Meanwhile, it has also found that the LULCC enhances the surface warming during the summer in monsoon

  12. Conflict management in natural resources : a study of land, water and forest conflicts in Nepal

    OpenAIRE

    Upreti, B.R.

    2001-01-01

    This book is based on the research into natural resource (NR)-conflict carried out between 1997 and 2000 in the Dolakha district of central Nepal, and in several reference sites around the country. The study focussed especially on land, water and forest/pasture conflicts and their resolution/management practices. Five inter-connected conflict cases related to irrigation, Guthi -land, spring water source and forest-pasture land were examined and compared with elev...

  13. Dairy cow breed interacts with stocking rate in temperate pasture-based dairy production systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spaans, O K; Macdonald, K A; Lancaster, J A S; Bryant, A M; Roche, J R

    2018-05-01

    Economic optimum stocking rates for grazing dairy systems have been defined by accounting for the pasture production potential of the farm [t of dry matter (DM)/ha], the amount of feed imported from outside the farm (t of DM/ha), and the size of the cow (kg). These variables were combined into the comparative stocking rate [CSR; kg of body weight (BW)/t of feed DM available] measure. However, CSR assumes no effect of cow genetics beyond BW, and there is increasing evidence of within-breed differences in residual feed intake and between-breed differences in the gross efficiency with which cows use metabolizable energy for milk production. A multiyear production system experiment was established to determine whether Jersey (J) and Holstein-Friesian (HF) breeds performed similarly at the same CSR. Fifty-nine J cows and 51 HF cows were randomly allocated to 1 of 2 CSR in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement; systems were designed to have a CSR of either 80 or 100 kg of BW/t of feed DM (J-CSR80, J-CSR100, HF-CSR80, and HF-CSR100 treatment groups). Data were analyzed for consistency of farmlet response over years using ANOVA procedures, with year and farmlet as fixed effects and the interaction of farmlet with year as a random effect. The collated biological data and financial data extracted from a national economic database were used to model the financial performance for the different breed and CSR treatments. On average, annual and individual season pasture DM production was greater for the J farmlets and was less in the CSR100 treatment; however, the effect of CSR was primarily driven by a large decline in pasture DM production in the HF-CSR100 treatment (breed × CSR interaction). This interaction in feed availability resulted in a breed × CSR interaction for the per-cow and per-hectare milk production variables, with HF cows producing more milk and milk components per cow in the CSR80 treatment but the same amount as the J cows in the CSR100 treatment. On a per

  14. High compatibility between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities and seedlings of different land use types in a tropical dry ecosystem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gavito, Mayra E; Pérez-Castillo, Daniel; González-Monterrubio, César F; Vieyra-Hernández, Teresa; Martínez-Trujillo, Miguel

    2008-12-01

    We conducted this study to explore limitations for the establishment of mycorrhizal associations in disturbed areas of the tropical dry ecosystem in the Chamela region of Jalisco, Mexico. Specifically, we: (1) assessed the diversity and composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) communities through spore morphospecies identification in three common land uses (primary forest, secondary forest, and pasture), (2) tested the inoculum potential of the AMF communities and the effect of water stress on the establishment of mycorrhizal associations in seedlings of various plant species, and (3) explored the importance of AMF community composition on early seedling development. Soil and root samples were taken from 15 random points in each of three plots established in two primary forests, two 26-year-old secondary forests, and two 26-year-old pastures. We expected that because of soil degradation and management, pastures would have the lowest and primary forests the highest AMF species richness. We found evidence for changes in AMF species composition due to land use and for higher morphospecies richness in primary forests than in secondary forests and pastures. We expected also that water stress limited plant and mycorrhizal development and that plants and AMF communities from secondary forests and pastures would be less affected by (better adapted to) water stress than those from the primary forest. We found that although all plant species showed biomass reductions under water stress, only some of the plant species had lower mycorrhizal development under water stress, and this was regardless of the AMF community inoculated. The third hypothesis was that plant species common to all land use types would respond similarly to all AMF communities, whereas plant species found mainly in one land use type would grow better when inoculated with the AMF community of that specific land use type. All plant species were however equally responsive to the three AMF communities

  15. Eutrophication potential of lakes: an integrated analysis of trophic state, morphometry, land occupation, and land use

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    RF Silvino

    Full Text Available AbstractDespite being inside a protected area, Lake Sumidouro has been impacted by the anthropogenic occupation of the surrounding area since the 1970’s, compromising the ecological integrity of the lake and the sustainable use of natural resources. This study examined the current trophic classification of the lake and developed methods for improving it through an integrated analysis of morphometric and limnological parameters, land use and land occupation in the watershed, and eutrophication potential. Data for the limnological parameters, land use and land occupation, and morphometric characteristics of Lake Sumidouro were collected in the rainy and dry seasons of 2009 and 2010. Depending on the trophic classification system used, Lake Sumidouro is classified as oligotrophic to hypereutrophic. In our study, the highest concentration of nutrients occurred in the rainy season, indicating that high nutrient inputs played an important role during this period. Areas of anthropogenic occupation comprised approximately 62.9% of the total area of the watershed, with pasture and urban settlement as the main types of land use. The influent total phosphorus load was estimated to be 15,824.3 kg/year. To maintain mesotrophic conditions, this load must be reduced by 29.4%. By comparing the isolated use of trophic state indices, this study demonstrated that comparing the trophic state classification with morphometric analyses, land use and land occupation types in the watershed, and potential phosphorus load provided better information to guide management actions for restoration and conservation. Furthermore, this approach also allowed for evaluating the vulnerability of the environment to the eutrophication process.

  16. Land-use change arising from rural land exchange : an agent-based simulation model

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bakker, Martha M.; Alam, Shah Jamal; van Dijk, Jerry|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/29612642X; Rounsevell, Mark D. A.

    Land exchange can be a major factor driving land-use change in regions with high pressure on land, but is generally not incorporated in land-use change models. Here we present an agent-based model to simulate land-use change arising from land exchange between multiple agent types representing

  17. Soil carbon storage in silvopastoral systems and a treeless pasture in northwestern Spain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howlett, David S; Mosquera-Losada, M Rosa; Nair, P K Ramachandran; Nair, Vimala D; Rigueiro-Rodríguez, Antonio

    2011-01-01

    Soil particle size and land management practices are known to have considerable influence on carbon (C) storage in soils, but such information is lacking for silvopastoral systems in Spain. This study quantified the amounts of soil C stored at various depths to 100 cm under silvopastoral plots of radiata pine ( D. Don) and birch ( Roth) in comparison to treeless pasture in Galicia, Spain. Soils were fractionated into three size classes (<53, 53-250, and 250-2000 μm), and C stored in them and in the whole (nonfractionated) soil was determined. Overall, the C stock to 1 m ranged from 80.9 to 176.9 Mg ha in these soils. Up to 1 m depth, 78.82% of C was found in the 0- to 25-cm soil depth, with 12.9, 4.92, and 3.36% in the 25- to 50-, 50- to 75-, and 75- to 100-cm depths, respectively. Soils under birch at 0 to 25 cm stored more C in the 250- to 2000-μm size class as compared with those under radiata pine; at that depth, pasture had more C than pine silvopasture in the smaller soil fractions (<53 and 53-250 μm). In the 75- to 100-cm depth, there was significantly more storage of C in the 250- to 2000-μm fraction in both silvopastures as compared with the pasture. The higher storage of soil C in larger fraction size in lower soil depths of silvopasture suggests that planting of trees into traditional agricultural landscapes will promote longer-term storage of C in the soil. American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.

  18. Winery wastewater treatment using the land filter technique.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christen, E W; Quayle, W C; Marcoux, M A; Arienzo, M; Jayawardane, N S

    2010-08-01

    This study outlines a new approach to the treatment of winery wastewater by application to a land FILTER (Filtration and Irrigated cropping for Land Treatment and Effluent Reuse) system. The land FILTER system was tested at a medium size rural winery crushing approximately 20,000 tonnes of grapes. The approach consisted of a preliminary treatment through a coarse screening and settling in treatment ponds, followed by application to the land FILTER planted to pasture. The land FILTER system efficiently dealt with variable volumes and nutrient loads in the wastewater. It was operated to minimize pollutant loads in the treated water (subsurface drainage) and provide adequate leaching to manage salt in the soil profile. The land FILTER system was effective in neutralizing the pH of the wastewater and removing nutrient pollutants to meet EPA discharge limits. However, suspended solids (SS) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) levels in the subsurface drainage waters slightly exceeded EPA limits for discharge. The high organic content in the wastewater initially caused some soil blockage and impeded drainage in the land FILTER site. This was addressed by reducing the hydraulic loading rate to allow increased soil drying between wastewater irrigations. The analysis of soil characteristics after the application of wastewater found that there was some potassium accumulation in the profile but sodium and nutrients decreased after wastewater application. Thus, the wastewater application and provision of subsurface drainage ensured adequate leaching, and so was adequate to avoid the risk of soil salinisation. Crown Copyright 2010. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Influence of agricultural land-use and pesticides on benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages in an agricultural river basin in southeast Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M Egler

    Full Text Available Land-use alterations and pesticide run-offs are among the main causes for impairment in agricultural areas. We evaluated the influence of different land-uses (forest, pasture and intensive agriculture on the water quality and on benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages on three occasions: in the dry season, wet season and at the end of the wet season. Macroinvertebrates responded to this gradient of impairment: agricultural sites had significantly lower richness numbers than forested and pasture sites, and all major invertebrate groups were significantly affected. Most taxa found in forested sites were found in pasture sites, but often with lower densities. In this case, the loss of habitats due to sedimentation and the lower complexity of substrates seem to be the disruptive force for the macroinvertebrate fauna.

  20. An intelligent spatial land use planning support system using socially rational agents

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ghavami, S.M.; Taleai, M.; Arentze, T.A.

    2017-01-01

    This research presents an intelligent planning support system based on multi-agent systems for spatial urban land use planning. The proposed system consists of two main phases: a pre-negotiation phase and an automated negotiation phase. The pre-negotiation phase involves interaction between human

  1. Incorporating a prediction of postgrazing herbage mass into a whole-farm model for pasture-based dairy systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gregorini, P; Galli, J; Romera, A J; Levy, G; Macdonald, K A; Fernandez, H H; Beukes, P C

    2014-07-01

    The DairyNZ whole-farm model (WFM; DairyNZ, Hamilton, New Zealand) consists of a framework that links component models for animal, pastures, crops, and soils. The model was developed to assist with analysis and design of pasture-based farm systems. New (this work) and revised (e.g., cow, pasture, crops) component models can be added to the WFM, keeping the model flexible and up to date. Nevertheless, the WFM does not account for plant-animal relationships determining herbage-depletion dynamics. The user has to preset the maximum allowable level of herbage depletion [i.e., postgrazing herbage mass (residuals)] throughout the year. Because residuals have a direct effect on herbage regrowth, the WFM in its current form does not dynamically simulate the effect of grazing pressure on herbage depletion and consequent effect on herbage regrowth. The management of grazing pressure is a key component of pasture-based dairy systems. Thus, the main objective of the present work was to develop a new version of the WFM able to predict residuals, and thereby simulate related effects of grazing pressure dynamically at the farm scale. This objective was accomplished by incorporating a new component model into the WFM. This model represents plant-animal relationships, for example sward structure and herbage intake rate, and resulting level of herbage depletion. The sensitivity of the new version of the WFM was evaluated and then the new WFM was tested against an experimental data set previously used to evaluate the WFM and to illustrate the adequacy and improvement of the model development. Key outputs variables of the new version pertinent to this work (milk production, herbage dry matter intake, intake rate, harvesting efficiency, and residuals) responded acceptably to a range of input variables. The relative prediction errors for monthly and mean annual residual predictions were 20 and 5%, respectively. Monthly predictions of residuals had a line bias (1.5%), with a proportion

  2. Pasture degradation modifies the water and carbon cycles of the Tibetan highlands

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    W. Babel

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The Tibetan Plateau has a significant role with regard to atmospheric circulation and the monsoon in particular. Changes between a closed plant cover and open bare soil are one of the striking effects of land use degradation observed with unsustainable range management or climate change, but experiments investigating changes of surface properties and processes together with atmospheric feedbacks are rare and have not been undertaken in the world's two largest alpine ecosystems, the alpine steppe and the Kobresia pygmaea pastures of the Tibetan Plateau. We connected measurements of micro-lysimeter, chamber, 13C labelling, and eddy covariance and combined the observations with land surface and atmospheric models, adapted to the highland conditions. This allowed us to analyse how three degradation stages affect the water and carbon cycle of pastures on the landscape scale within the core region of the Kobresia pygmaea ecosystem. The study revealed that increasing degradation of the Kobresia turf affects carbon allocation and strongly reduces the carbon uptake, compromising the function of Kobresia pastures as a carbon sink. Pasture degradation leads to a shift from transpiration to evaporation while a change in the sum of evapotranspiration over a longer period cannot be confirmed. The results show an earlier onset of convection and cloud generation, likely triggered by a shift in evapotranspiration timing when dominated by evaporation. Consequently, precipitation starts earlier and clouds decrease the incoming solar radiation. In summary, the changes in surface properties by pasture degradation found on the highland have a significant influence on larger scales.

  3. Runoff and initial erosion assessment in fruit tree crops and improved forage pastures in the slopes of the Irazu Volcano (Costa Rica)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marchamalo, Miguel; González-Rodrigo, Beatriz

    2017-04-01

    Costa Rica is located in the Central American tropical isthmus. It presents high precipitations (ranging from 1400-8500 mm) and protection levels (27% of national territory). However, intensive land use and increasing population in headwaters are major threats for water resource management in this country. Birrís Basin is a 4800 hectares sub-watershed of the River Reventazón Basin, the major hydroelectric source in Costa Rica. Birrís Basin was selected for its high estimated erosion rates and its potential for demonstrative projects (ICE, 1999). Some pilot projects have been developed in this watershed starting from 1999, when major Costa Rican energy producer, Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, began with a long term watershed management program for the Reventazón Basin. This study aims at measuring runoff and initial splash and sheet erosion to assess the hydrological response of two pilot land use projects. Erosion and runoff plots were established and monitored in a one year period for two pilot projects (fruit trees and forage pastures) and their respective traditional land uses (vegetable crops and extensive pastures). Improved forage pastures showed reduced runoff by 73% and split erosion by 55% compared to prior extensive pastures. Conversion of vegetable crop lands into fruit tree plantations (apricot and avocado) made possible a 97% reduction of soil initial erosion. Land use pilot projects have succeeded in runoff and soil erosion reduction. Now it is time for a wider technology transfer program to expand improved land uses within Birrís Basin.

  4. Changes in soil carbon cycling accompanying conversion of row-crop fields to grazing dairy pastures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, A.; Kramer, M. G.; Hill, N.; Machmuller, M. B.; Cyle, K.

    2011-12-01

    Increasingly, the dairy industry in the eastern US is transitioning from total confinement dairy systems (TCD) toward pasture-based, management intensive grazing dairy (MiGD) systems. This transition is driven by the fact that MiGDs require substantially less operating capital and are more economically efficient than TCD systems. Consequently, the impact of this transition and shift in land-use practice on carbon dynamics may be considerable. Land-use in a Management intensive Grazing Dairy (MiGD) system is fundamentally different than conventional confinement dairies and conventional no-till pastures. The forage system involves rotational grazing at optimal digestibility, when the plants are immature (~20-days) and consequently protein-rich. MiGD cows spend >90% of their time in the field and deposit > 90% of their waste directly to the soil surface. Thus, little above ground plant residues are directly returned to the soil, but rather substantial C inputs derive from bovine manure. We sampled a MiGD-chronosequence of row-crop to MiGD conversion established in 2007 in eastern Georgia. All soils across the MiGD-chronosequence, all occur in relative (40 km) close proximity to one another, are deep, well-drained, fine and fine sandy loam Ultisols formed on Coastal Plain sediments. Prior to MiGD established, the soils were farmed for > 50 yrs using conventional tillage techniques. Our current sampling to 1m depths captures fields at 0, 2, 3, and 5 yrs since conversion. Total soil carbon (C) and the carbon concentration of the clay fraction increased following conversion, with the greatest increases occurring between 3 and 5 yrs since conversion. These C increases were limited to the upper 40cm of the soil, with minimal change occurring at depth. Characterization of the protein and ligand content of these soils via 13C NMR and chemolytic techniques as a function of soil particle density and size is in progress and will be presented along with estimates of carbon

  5. Response of free-living nitrogen-fixing microorganisms to land use change in the Amazon rainforest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mirza, Babur S; Potisap, Chotima; Nüsslein, Klaus; Bohannan, Brendan J M; Rodrigues, Jorge L M

    2014-01-01

    The Amazon rainforest, the largest equatorial forest in the world, is being cleared for pasture and agricultural use at alarming rates. Tropical deforestation is known to cause alterations in microbial communities at taxonomic and phylogenetic levels, but it is unclear whether microbial functional groups are altered. We asked whether free-living nitrogen-fixing microorganisms (diazotrophs) respond to deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, using analysis of the marker gene nifH. Clone libraries were generated from soil samples collected from a primary forest, a 5-year-old pasture originally converted from primary forest, and a secondary forest established after pasture abandonment. Although diazotroph richness did not significantly change among the three plots, diazotroph community composition was altered with forest-to-pasture conversion, and phylogenetic similarity was higher among pasture communities than among those in forests. There was also 10-fold increase in nifH gene abundance following conversion from primary forest to pasture. Three environmental factors were associated with the observed changes: soil acidity, total N concentration, and C/N ratio. Our results suggest a partial restoration to initial levels of abundance and community structure of diazotrophs following pasture abandonment, with primary and secondary forests sharing similar communities. We postulate that the response of diazotrophs to land use change is a direct consequence of changes in plant communities, particularly the higher N demand of pasture plant communities for supporting aboveground plant growth.

  6. Impacts of sugarcane agriculture expansion over low-intensity cattle ranch pasture in Brazil on greenhouse gases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bento, Camila Bolfarini; Filoso, Solange; Pitombo, Leonardo Machado; Cantarella, Heitor; Rossetto, Raffaella; Martinelli, Luiz Antonio; do Carmo, Janaina Braga

    2018-01-15

    Sugarcane is a widespread bioenergy crop in tropical regions, and the growing global demand for renewable energy in recent years has led to a dramatic expansion and intensification of sugarcane agriculture in Brazil. Currently, extensive areas of low-intensity pasture are being converted to sugarcane, while management in the remaining pasture is becoming more intensive, i.e., includes tilling and fertilizer use. In this study, we assessed how such changes in land use and management practices alter emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) such as CO 2 , N 2 O and CH 4 by measuring in situ fluxes for one year after conversion from low-intensity pasture to conventional sugarcane agriculture and management-intensive pasture. Results show that CO 2 and N 2 O fluxes increased significantly in pasture and sugarcane with tillage, fertilizer use, or both combined. Emissions were highly variable for all GHGs, yet, cumulatively, it was clear that annual emissions in CO 2 -equivalent (CO 2 -eq) were higher in management-intense pasture and sugarcane than in unmanaged pasture. Surprisingly, tilled pasture with fertilizer (management-intensive pasture) resulted in higher CO 2 -eq emissions than conventional sugarcane. We concluded that intensification of pasture management and the conversion of pasture to sugarcane can increase the emission factor (EF) estimated for sugarcane produced in Brazil. The role of management practices and environmental conditions and the potential for reducing emissions are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Forage mass and stocking rate of elephant grass pastures managed under agroecological and conventional systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Clair Jorge Olivo

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The objective was to evaluate elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum. pastures, under the agroecological and conventional systems, as forage mass and stocking rate. In the agroecological system, the elephant grass was established in rows spaced by 3.0 m from each other. During the cool season ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam. was established between these rows, which allowed the development of spontaneous growth species during the warm season. In the conventional system the elephant grass was established singularly in rows spaced 1.4 m from each other. Organic and chemical fertilizers were applied at 150 kg of N/ha/year with in the pastures under agroecological and conventional systems, respectively. Lactating Holstein cows which received 5.0 kg/day supplementary concentrate feed were used for evaluation. The experimental design was completely randomized, with two treatments (agroecological and conventional systems two replications (paddocks and independent evaluations (grazing cycles. The pastures were used during the whole year for the agroecological system and for 195 days in the conventional year. The average values of forage mass were 3.5 and 4.2 t/ha and the stocking rates were 2.08 and 3.23 AU/ha for the respective systems. The results suggest that the use of the elephant grass under the agroecological system allows for best distribution of forage and stocking rate to be more uniform throughout the year than the use of elephant grass in conventional system.

  8. Land use/cover disturbance due to tourism in Jeseníky Mountain, Czech Republic: A remote sensing and GIS based approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mukesh Singh Boori

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The Jeseníky Mountains tourism in Czech Republic is unique for its floristic richness. This is caused mainly by the altitude division and polymorphism of the landscape, climate and soil structure. This study assesses the impacts of tourism on the land cover in the Jeseníky Mountain region by comparing multi-temporal Landsat imageries (1991, 2001 and 2013 to describe the rate and extent of land-cover changes. This was achieved through spectral classification of different land cover classes and by assessing the change in forest; settlements; pasture and agriculture in relation to increasing distances (5, 10 and 15 km from three tourism sites with the help of ArcGIS software. The results indicate that the area was deforested (11.13% from 1991 to 2001 than experienced forest regrowth (6.71% from 2001 to 2013. In the first decade pasture and agriculture areas increased and then in next decade decreased. The influence of tourism facilities on land cover is also variable. Around each of the tourism site sampled, there was a general trend of forest removal decreasing as the distance from each village increased, which indicates tourism does have a negative impact on forests. However there was an opposite trend from 2001 to 2013 that indicates conservation area. The interplay among global (tourism, climate, regional (national policies, large-river management and local (construction and agriculture, energy and water sources to support the tourism industry factors drives a distinctive but complex pattern of land-use and land-cover disturbance.

  9. Simulating SOC changes in 11 land use change chronosequences from the Brazilian Amazon with RothC and Century models

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cerri, C.E.P.; Easter, M.; Paustian, K.; Killian, K.; Coleman, K.; Bernoux, M.; Falloon, P.; Powlson, D.S.; Batjes, N.H.; Milne, E.; Cerri, C.C.

    2007-01-01

    Land use and land cover changes in the Brazilian Amazon have major implications for regional and global carbon (C) cycling. Cattle pasture represents the largest single use (about 70%) of this once-forested land in most of the region. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of

  10. Dry matter production of perennial pasture Tifton 85 (Cynodon spp under different doses of fertilization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karlize Prigol

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Dairy farming is an activity that provides the small rural farmer the opportunity to earn income in small areas of land. The perennial pastures represent a source for a cheap and nutritious diet for the animals. The correct management of perennial pastures can be the key to sustainability in the dairy business, resulting in the preservation or recovery of the balance of a pasture system, starting with the pursuit of production with low costs and good pasture production per unit area. The correct choice of fertilizer is of great importance to ensure the continuous production of pasture both in quantity and in quality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the dry matter production of perennial pasture consisting of Tifton 85 (Cynodon spp under different nutrient sources on a typical dystrophic Red Latosol, presents in a region where the climate is characterized as humid-mesothermic with a hot summer, Cfa according to Köppen, with an average annual rainfall of 2039 mm, well distributed throughout the year and average annual temperatures around 18 º C, varying monthly from 14.1 to 23 º C. The treatments consisted of three nutrient sources: 1 organic manure, a base of chicken bedding (average values of reference NPK (02/03/02, 2 organic manure + mineral - organic mineral, with application of 606 kg ha-1 (04/10/10 Formula, aiming to adjust the same amounts of NPK supplied by mineral fertilizer and, 3 Mineral. The experimental design was a randomized blocks with nine replications. We collected five samples of each pasture treatment for determination of the average. After cutting the pasture of Tifton 85, the samples were subjected to weighing for determination of wet weight and then taken to the drying oven (temperature 65 ° C for 72 hours to determine dry matter production. The statistical analysis was performed with SAS for Windows computer system (SAS and the results submitted to the Tukey test at 5%. The highest dry matter yield (kg ha-1 was

  11. Use of ESI-FTICR-MS to Characterize Dissolved Organic Matter in Headwater Streams Draining Forest-Dominated and Pasture-Dominated Watersheds.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    YueHan Lu

    Full Text Available Electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (ESI-FTICR-MS has proven to be a powerful technique revealing complexity and diversity of natural DOM molecules, but its application to DOM analysis in grazing-impacted agricultural systems remains scarce. In the present study, we presented a case study of using ESI-FTICR-MS in analyzing DOM from four headwater streams draining forest- or pasture-dominated watersheds in Virginia, USA. In all samples, most formulas were CHO compounds (71.8-87.9%, with other molecular series (CHOS, CHON, CHONS, and CHOP (N, S accounting for only minor fractions. All samples were dominated by molecules falling in the lignin-like region (H/C = 0.7-1.5, O/C = 0.1-0.67, suggesting the predominance of allochthonous, terrestrial plant-derived DOM. Relative to the two pasture streams, DOM formulas in the two forest streams were more similar, based on Jaccard similarity coefficients and nonmetric multidimensional scaling calculated from Bray-Curtis distance. Formulas from the pasture streams were characterized by lower proportions of aromatic formulas and lower unsaturation, suggesting that the allochthonous versus autochthonous contributions of organic matter to streams were modified by pasture land use. The number of condensed aromatic structures (CAS was higher for the forest streams, which is possibly due to the controlled burning in the forest-dominated watersheds and suggests that black carbon was mobilized from soils to streams. During 15-day biodegradation experiments, DOM from the two pasture streams was altered to a greater extent than DOM from the forest streams, with formulas with H/C and O/C ranges similar to protein (H/C = 1.5-2.2, O/C = 0.3-0.67, lipid (H/C = 1.5-2.0, O/C = 0-0.3, and unsaturated hydrocarbon (H/C = 0.7-1.5, O/C = 0-0.1 being the most bioreactive groups. Aromatic compound formulas including CAS were preferentially removed during combined light

  12. Pasture Feeding Changes the Bovine Rumen and Milk Metabolome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tom F. O’Callaghan

    2018-04-01

    . CLV feeding resulted in increased concentrations of milk urea. Milk from pasture-based feeding systems was shown to have significantly higher concentrations of hippuric acid, a potential biomarker of pasture-derived milk. This study has demonstrated that 1H-NMR metabolomics coupled with multivariate analysis is capable of distinguishing both rumen-fluid and milk derived from cows on different feeding systems, specifically between indoor TMR and pasture-based diets used in this study.

  13. Measurement of semantic similarity for land use and land cover classification systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Dongpo

    2008-12-01

    Land use and land cover (LULC) data is essential to environmental and ecological research. However, semantic heterogeneous of land use and land cover classification are often resulted from different data resources, different cultural contexts, and different utilities. Therefore, there is need to develop a method to measure, compare and integrate between land cover categories. To understand the meaning and the use of terminology from different domains, the common ontology approach is used to acquire information regarding the meaning of terms, and to compare two terms to determine how they might be related. Ontology is a formal specification of a shared conceptualization of a domain of interest. LULC classification system is a ontology. The semantic similarity method is used to compare to entities of three LULC classification systems: CORINE (European Environmental Agency), Oregon State, USA), and Taiwan. The semantic properties and relations firstly have been extracted from their definitions of LULC classification systems. Then semantic properties and relations of categories in three LULC classification systems are mutually compared. The visualization of semantic proximity is finally presented to explore the similarity or dissimilarity of data. This study shows the semantic similarity method efficiently detect semantic distance in three LULC classification systems and find out the semantic similar objects.

  14. Tree Regeneration Under Different Land-Use Mosaics in the Brazilian Amazon's "Arc of Deforestation".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Do Vale, Igor; Miranda, Izildinha Souza; Mitja, Danielle; Grimaldi, Michel; Nelson, Bruce Walker; Desjardins, Thierry; Costa, Luiz Gonzaga Silva

    2015-08-01

    We studied the tree-regeneration patterns in three distinct agricultural settlements in the Eastern Amazon to test the influence of land-use mosaics. The following questions are addressed: are the floristic structure and composition of regenerating trees affected by the various land-use types applied in the agricultural settlements? Do tree-regeneration patterns respond similarly to distinct land-use mosaics? Is there a relationship between tree regeneration and soil characteristics among the land-use types? The regeneration was inventoried at 45 sampling points in each settlement. At each sampling point, fourteen soil variables were analyzed. Nine different land-use types were considered. The floristic structure and composition of the settlements showed differences in the density of individuals and species and high species heterogeneity among the land-use types. The maximum Jaccard similarity coefficient found between land-use types was only 29%. Shade-tolerant species were the most diverse functional group in most land-use types, including pasture and annual crops, ranging from 91% of the number of species in the conserved and exploited forests of Travessão 338-S to 53% in the invaded pastures of Maçaranduba. The land-use types influenced significantly the floristic structure and composition of regenerating trees in two agricultural settlements, but not in third the settlement, which had greater forest cover. This finding demonstrates that the composition of each land-use mosaic, established by different management approaches, affects regeneration patterns. Tree regeneration was related to soil characteristics in all mosaics. Preparation of the area by burning was most likely the determining factor in the differences in soil characteristics between forests and agricultural areas.

  15. Estimating 20-year land-use change and derived CO2 emissions associated with crops, pasture and forestry in Brazil and each of its 27 states.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novaes, Renan M L; Pazianotto, Ricardo A A; Brandão, Miguel; Alves, Bruno J R; May, André; Folegatti-Matsuura, Marília I S

    2017-09-01

    Land-use change (LUC) in Brazil has important implications on global climate change, ecosystem services and biodiversity, and agricultural expansion plays a critical role in this process. Concerns over these issues have led to the need for estimating the magnitude and impacts associated with that, which are increasingly reported in the environmental assessment of products. Currently, there is an extensive debate on which methods are more appropriate for estimating LUC and related emissions and regionalized estimates are lacking for Brazil, which is a world leader in agricultural production (e.g. food, fibres and bioenergy). We developed a method for estimating scenarios of past 20-year LUC and derived CO 2 emission rates associated with 64 crops, pasture and forestry in Brazil as whole and in each of its 27 states, based on time-series statistics and in accordance with most used carbon-footprinting standards. The scenarios adopted provide a range between minimum and maximum rates of CO 2 emissions from LUC according to different possibilities of land-use transitions, which can have large impacts in the results. Specificities of Brazil, like multiple cropping and highly heterogeneous carbon stocks, are also addressed. The highest CO 2 emission rates are observed in the Amazon biome states and crops with the highest rates are those that have undergone expansion in this region. Some states and crops showing large agricultural areas have low emissions associated, especially in southern and eastern Brazil. Native carbon stocks and time of agricultural expansion are the most decisive factors to the patterns of emissions. Some implications on LUC estimation methods and standards and on agri-environmental policies are discussed. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  16. Statistical confirmation of indirect land use change in the Brazilian Amazon

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Arima, Eugenio Y [Department of Geography and the Environment, The University of Texas, GRG 334, Mailcode A3100, Austin, TX 78712 (United States); Richards, Peter; Walker, Robert [Department of Geography, Michigan State University, 116 Geography Building, East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States); Caldas, Marcellus M, E-mail: arima@austin.utexas.edu [Department of Geography, Kansas State University, 118 Seaton Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506 (United States)

    2011-04-15

    Expansion of global demand for soy products and biofuel poses threats to food security and the environment. One environmental impact that has raised serious concerns is loss of Amazonian forest through indirect land use change (ILUC), whereby mechanized agriculture encroaches on existing pastures, displacing them to the frontier. This phenomenon has been hypothesized by many researchers and projected on the basis of simulation for the Amazonian forests of Brazil. It has not yet been measured statistically, owing to conceptual difficulties in linking distal land cover drivers to the point of impact. The present article overcomes this impasse with a spatial regression model capable of linking the expansion of mechanized agriculture in settled agricultural areas to pasture conversions on distant, forest frontiers. In an application for a recent period (2003-2008), the model demonstrates that ILUC is significant and of considerable magnitude. Specifically, a 10% reduction of soy in old pasture areas would have decreased deforestation by as much as 40% in heavily forested counties of the Brazilian Amazon. Evidently, the voluntary moratorium on primary forest conversions by Brazilian soy farmers has failed to stop the deforestation effects of expanding soy production. Thus, environmental policy in Brazil must pay attention to ILUC, which can complicate efforts to achieve its REDD targets.

  17. Statistical confirmation of indirect land use change in the Brazilian Amazon

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arima, Eugenio Y; Richards, Peter; Walker, Robert; Caldas, Marcellus M

    2011-01-01

    Expansion of global demand for soy products and biofuel poses threats to food security and the environment. One environmental impact that has raised serious concerns is loss of Amazonian forest through indirect land use change (ILUC), whereby mechanized agriculture encroaches on existing pastures, displacing them to the frontier. This phenomenon has been hypothesized by many researchers and projected on the basis of simulation for the Amazonian forests of Brazil. It has not yet been measured statistically, owing to conceptual difficulties in linking distal land cover drivers to the point of impact. The present article overcomes this impasse with a spatial regression model capable of linking the expansion of mechanized agriculture in settled agricultural areas to pasture conversions on distant, forest frontiers. In an application for a recent period (2003-2008), the model demonstrates that ILUC is significant and of considerable magnitude. Specifically, a 10% reduction of soy in old pasture areas would have decreased deforestation by as much as 40% in heavily forested counties of the Brazilian Amazon. Evidently, the voluntary moratorium on primary forest conversions by Brazilian soy farmers has failed to stop the deforestation effects of expanding soy production. Thus, environmental policy in Brazil must pay attention to ILUC, which can complicate efforts to achieve its REDD targets.

  18. Constraining the Deforestation History of Europe: Evaluation of Historical Land Use Scenarios with Pollen-Based Land Cover Reconstructions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jed O. Kaplan

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Anthropogenic land cover change (ALCC is the most important transformation of the Earth system that occurred in the preindustrial Holocene, with implications for carbon, water and sediment cycles, biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services and regional and global climate. For example, anthropogenic deforestation in preindustrial Eurasia may have led to feedbacks to the climate system: both biogeophysical, regionally amplifying winter cold and summer warm temperatures, and biogeochemical, stabilizing atmospheric CO 2 concentrations and thus influencing global climate. Quantification of these effects is difficult, however, because scenarios of anthropogenic land cover change over the Holocene vary widely, with increasing disagreement back in time. Because land cover change had such widespread ramifications for the Earth system, it is essential to assess current ALCC scenarios in light of observations and provide guidance on which models are most realistic. Here, we perform a systematic evaluation of two widely-used ALCC scenarios (KK10 and HYDE3.1 in northern and part of central Europe using an independent, pollen-based reconstruction of Holocene land cover (REVEALS. Considering that ALCC in Europe primarily resulted in deforestation, we compare modeled land use with the cover of non-forest vegetation inferred from the pollen data. Though neither land cover change scenario matches the pollen-based reconstructions precisely, KK10 correlates well with REVEALS at the country scale, while HYDE systematically underestimates land use with increasing magnitude with time in the past. Discrepancies between modeled and reconstructed land use are caused by a number of factors, including assumptions of per-capita land use and socio-cultural factors that cannot be predicted on the basis of the characteristics of the physical environment, including dietary preferences, long-distance trade, the location of urban areas and social organization.

  19. [Claw size of Scottish Highland Cows after pasture and housing periods].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nuss, K; Kolp, E; Braun, U; Weidmann, E; Hässig, M

    2014-09-01

    The claws of pastured Scottish Highland Cattle are large and this may raise the question if regular claw trimming is necessary. Therefore, the claws of the right thoracic and pelvic limbs were measured in 22 Scottish Highland cows 4 times 8 weeks apart. The cows were kept on various alpine pastures before the first measurement, on a two-hectare low-land pasture before the second measurement, in a welfare-compliant straw-bedded free stall before the third measurement and on alpine pasture before the fourth measurement. Housing conditions significantly affected claw dimensions. The claws were composed of dry, hard horn during pasture periods, and had prominent weight-bearing hoof-wall borders and soles with a natural axial slope. Long dorsal walls and heels and a greater symmetry were common. Claw lesions were absent. In contrast, free-stall housing was associated with shorter toes and steeper toe angles, but white line deterioration, heel horn erosion, wearing of the axial slope and hoof wall edges were common.

  20. Mercury loss from soils following conversion from forest to pasture in Rondonia, Western Amazon, Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Almeida, Marcelo D.; Lacerda, Luiz D.; Bastos, Wanderley R.; Herrmann, Joao Carlos

    2005-01-01

    This work reports on the effect of land use change on Hg distribution in Amazon soils. It provides a comparison among Hg concentrations and distribution along soil profiles under different land use categories; primary tropical forest, slashed forest prior to burning, a 1-year silviculture plot planted after 4 years of forest removal and a 5-year-old pasture plot. Mercury concentrations were highest in deeper (60-80 cm) layers in all four plots. Forest soils showed the highest Hg concentrations, ranging from 128 ng g -1 at the soil surface to 150 ng g -1 at 60-80 cm of depth. Lower concentrations were found in pasture soils, ranging from 69 ng g -1 at the topsoil to 135 ng g -1 at 60-80 cm of depth. Slashed and silviculture soils showed intermediate concentrations. Differences among plots of different soil-use categories decreased with soil depth, being non-significant below 60 cm of depth. Mercury burdens were only statistically significantly different between pasture and forest soils at the topsoil, due to the large variability of concentrations. Consequently, estimated Hg losses were only significant between these two land use categories, and only for the surface layers. Estimated Hg loss due to forest conversion to pasture ranged from 8.5 mg m -2 to 18.5 mg m -2 , for the first 20 cm of the soil profile. Mercury loss was comparable to loss rates estimated for other Amazon sites and seems to be directly related to Hg concentrations present in soils. - Deforestation can be responsible for maintaining high Hg levels in the Amazon environment, through a grasshopper effect of Hg remobilization from the affected soils

  1. Diversity in the dry land mixed system and viability of dairy sheep farming

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jose Rivas

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Castilla La Mancha is a Spanish region where sheep farming system is traditionally pasture-based. Recently, this territory has undergone a recession of dairy sheep activity, which changed the type and intensity of land utilization and led to environmental and landscape degradation. The present study analyzed the diversity and viability of dairy sheep of mixed systems. Multivariate analysis was conducted on 157 dairy sheep farms, factor analysis selected 3 productivity factors (level of intensification, land use, size and family labour, and cluster analysis classified farms into three groups. Group 1, smallholders – with the smallest size (405.5 ewes and 564.7 ha, lowest area in ownership (1.5%, and agriculture activity (6.5% crops area: family farms (90.8% highly dependent on external inputs. Group 2, large-scale farms (1058.7 ewes and 1755.1 ha – with the lowest stocking rate (0.14 livestock unit/ha and productivity: nonfamily farms (39.1% with low area in ownership (4.1% and agriculture activity (7.6%. Group 3, mixed-technified – with the highest levels of technology and least use of family labour (27.0%: large-scale farms (1387.4 ewes and 955.8 ha, combining milk production with agricultural activities (55.7% crops area, with the highest area in ownership (63.1% and the best productivity performance. In conclusion, the dry land mixed system of Castilla La Mancha showed diversity of farms. Improving viability requires a systemic approach where the key tool is grazing, allowing the mixed system to be consolidated as a model that enhances the positive impact of livestock on the environment in the Mediterranean basin.

  2. Soil Organic Matter Responses to Anthropogenic Forest Disturbance and Land Use Change in the Eastern Brazilian Amazon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariana Regina Durigan

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Anthropogenic forest disturbance and land use change (LUC in the Amazon region is the main source of greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere in Brazil, due to the carbon (C and nitrogen (N emitted from vegetation clearance. Land use conversion associated with management practices plays a key role in the distribution and origin of C in different soil organic matter (SOM fractions. Here, we show how changing land use systems have influenced soil C and N stocks, SOM physical fractions, and the origin of SOM in the Santarém region of the eastern Brazilian Amazon. Soil C and N stocks were calculated for the surface layer of 0–30 cm. Anthropogenic disturbances to the standing forest, such as selective logging and wildfires, led to significant declines in soil C and N stocks. However, in the long-term, the conversion of the Amazon forest to pasture did not have a noticeable effect on soil C and N stocks, presumably because of additional inputs from pasture grasses. However, the conversion to cropland did lead to reductions in soil C and N content. According to the physical fractionation of SOM, LUC altered SOM quality, but silt and clay remained the combined fraction that contributed the most to soil C storage. Our results emphasize the importance of implementing more sustainable forest management systems, whilst also calling further attention to the need for fire monitoring systems, helping to ensure the resilience of C and N stocks and sequestration in forest soils; thereby contributing towards urgently needed ongoing efforts to mitigate climate change.

  3. Land-use mapping for the State of Kuwait using the Geographical Information System (Gigs)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Omar, S.A.S.; Misak, R.; Minkarah, H.; King, P.; Kwarting, A.; Abo-Rizq, H.; Roy, W.

    2001-01-01

    A land-use survey was undertaken at a scale 1:100000 for the State of Kuwait. Land use is classified into 19 map units based on field survey and interpretation of Landsat imagery. The latest topographic map coverage for the State of Kuwait was used as a base map. The Geographic Information System (GIS) was used for the storage, analysis and presentation of spatial data. Summary statistics of total areas of each map unit are presented in nine 1:100.000map sheets and percentage areas of different land uses were identified. Land use is dominated by rangeland (75.12%) which is used primarily for grazing activities, and also recreational activities such as spring camping and hunting. Oil fields (7%) include areas of existing development of wells and associated infrastructure. Water reservoir areas represent the surficial extent of aquifers and natural water fields. Military areas (4%) are scattered throughout the country. Other significant land uses include the build-up areas of Kuwait city (3.5%), quarries, borrow pits and dumps of building debris, communication facilities, cemeteries, parkland, encampments, power stations, race tracks and unused land (7%). Land use information can be used as the basis for future land use planning applications. (author)

  4. Agent-based land markets: Heterogeneous agents, land proces and urban land use change

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Filatova, Tatiana; Parker, Dawn C.; van der Veen, A.; Amblard, F.

    2007-01-01

    We construct a spatially explicit agent-based model of a bilateral land market. Heterogeneous agents form their bid and ask prices for land based on the utility that they obtain from a certain location (houte/land) and base on the state of the market (an excess of demand or supply). We underline the

  5. LBA-ECO ND-06 Land Use Effects on Soil Nutrients: A Review of Studies 1950-2001

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This data set provides measurements of soil properties compiled from 39 studies on nutrient dynamics in natural forests and forest-derived land uses (pasture,...

  6. Implementation Of Vision-Based Landing Target Detection For VTOL UAV Using Raspberry Pi

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ei Ei Nyein

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents development and implementation of a real-time vision-based landing system for VTOL UAV. We use vision for precise target detection and recognition. A UAV is equipped with the onboard raspberry pi camera to take images and raspberry pi platform to operate the image processing techniques. Today image processing is used for various applications in this paper it is used for landing target extraction. And vision system is also used for take-off and landing function in VTOL UAV. Our landing target design is used as the helipad H shape. Firstly the image is captured to detect the target by the onboard camera. Next the capture image is operated in the onboard processor. Finally the alert sound signal is sent to the remote control RC for landing VTOL UAV. The information obtained from vision system is used to navigate a safe landing. The experimental results from real tests are presented.

  7. Pasture Monitoring Using SAR with COSMO-SkyMed, ENVISAT ASAR, and ALOS PALSAR in Otway, Australia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaojing Li

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Because of all-weather working ability, sensitivity to biomass and moisture, and high spatial resolution, Synthetic aperture radar (SAR satellite images can perfectly complement optical images for pasture monitoring. This paper aims to examine the potential of the integration of COnstellation of small Satellites for the Mediterranean basin Observasion (COSMO-SkyMed, Environmental Satellite Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ENVISAT ASAR, and Advanced Land Observing Satellite Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (ALOS PALSAR radar signals at horizontally emitted and received polarization (HH for pasture monitoring at the paddock scale in order to guide farmers for better management. The pasture site is selected, in Otway, Victoria, Australia. The biomass, water content of grass, and soil moisture over this site were analyzed with these three bands of SAR images, through linear relationship between SAR backscattering coefficient, and vegetation indices Normalized Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI, Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI, together with soil moisture index (MI. NDVI, NDWI, and MI are considered as proxy of pasture biomass, plant water content, and soil moisture, respectively, and computed from optical images and climate data. SAR backscattering coefficient and vegetation indices are computed within a grass zone, defined by classification with MODIS data. The grass condition and grazing activities for specific paddocks are detectable, based on SAR backscatter, with all three wavelengths datasets. Both temporal and spatial analysis results show that the X-band SAR has the highest correlation to the vegetation indices. However, its accuracy can be affected by wet weather due to its sensitivity to the water on leaves. The C-band HH backscattering coefficient showed moderate reliability to evaluate biomass and water content of grass, with limited influence from rainfall in the dry season

  8. LandSat-Based Land Use-Land Cover (Vector)

    Data.gov (United States)

    Minnesota Department of Natural Resources — Vector-based land cover data set derived from classified 30 meter resolution Thematic Mapper satellite imagery. Classification is divided into 16 classes with source...

  9. LandSat-Based Land Use-Land Cover (Raster)

    Data.gov (United States)

    Minnesota Department of Natural Resources — Raster-based land cover data set derived from 30 meter resolution Thematic Mapper satellite imagery. Classification is divided into 16 classes with source imagery...

  10. Mapping of macro and micro nutrients of mixed pastures using airborne AisaFENIX hyperspectral imagery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pullanagari, R. R.; Kereszturi, Gábor; Yule, I. J.

    2016-07-01

    On-farm assessment of mixed pasture nutrient concentrations is important for animal production and pasture management. Hyperspectral imaging is recognized as a potential tool to quantify the nutrient content of vegetation. However, it is a great challenge to estimate macro and micro nutrients in heterogeneous mixed pastures. In this study, canopy reflectance data was measured by using a high resolution airborne visible-to-shortwave infrared (Vis-SWIR) imaging spectrometer measuring in the wavelength region 380-2500 nm to predict nutrient concentrations, nitrogen (N) phosphorus (P), potassium (K), sulfur (S), zinc (Zn), sodium (Na), manganese (Mn) copper (Cu) and magnesium (Mg) in heterogeneous mixed pastures across a sheep and beef farm in hill country, within New Zealand. Prediction models were developed using four different methods which are included partial least squares regression (PLSR), kernel PLSR, support vector regression (SVR), random forest regression (RFR) algorithms and their performance compared using the test data. The results from the study revealed that RFR produced highest accuracy (0.55 ⩽ R2CV ⩽ 0.78; 6.68% ⩽ nRMSECV ⩽ 26.47%) compared to all other algorithms for the majority of nutrients (N, P, K, Zn, Na, Cu and Mg) described, and the remaining nutrients (S and Mn) were predicted with high accuracy (0.68 ⩽ R2CV ⩽ 0.86; 13.00% ⩽ nRMSECV ⩽ 14.64%) using SVR. The best training models were used to extrapolate over the whole farm with the purpose of predicting those pasture nutrients and expressed through pixel based spatial maps. These spatially registered nutrient maps demonstrate the range and geographical location of often large differences in pasture nutrient values which are normally not measured and therefore not included in decision making when considering more effective ways to utilized pasture.

  11. Sensitivity analysis of the Commonly Used Drought Indices on the different land use Types - Case Study over Turkey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ersoy, E. N.; Hüsami Afşar, M.; Bulut, B.; Onen, A.; Yilmaz, M. T.

    2017-12-01

    Droughts are climatic phenomenon that may impact large and small regions alike for long or short time periods and influence society in terms of industrial, agricultural, domestic and many more aspects. The characteristics of the droughts are commonly investigated using indices like Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). On the other hand, these indices may not necessarily yield similar performance over different vegetation types. The aim is to analyze the sensitivity of drought indices (SPI, SPEI, PDSI) to vegetation types over different climatic regions in Turkey. Here the magnitude of the drought severity is measured using MODIS NDVI data, while the vegetation type (e.g., non-irrigated arable lands, vineyards, fruit trees and berry plantations, olive groves, pastures, land principally occupied by agriculture) information is obtained using CORINE land cover classification. This study has compared the drought characteristics and vegetation conditions on different land use types using remotely sensed datasets (e.g., CORINE land use data, MODIS NDVI), and commonly used drought indices between 2000 and 2016 using gauge based precipitation and temperature measurements.

  12. Simulating Land-Use Change using an Agent-Based Land Transaction Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bakker, M. M.; van Dijk, J.; Alam, S. J.

    2013-12-01

    In the densely populated cultural landscapes of Europe, the vast majority of all land is owned by private parties, be it farmers (the majority), nature organizations, property developers, or citizens. Therewith, the vast majority of all land-use change arises from land transactions between different owner types: successful farms expand at the expense of less successful farms, and meanwhile property developers, individual citizens, and nature organizations also actively purchase land. These land transactions are driven by specific properties of the land, by governmental policies, and by the (economic) motives of both buyers and sellers. Climate/global change can affect these drivers at various scales: at the local scale changes in hydrology can make certain land less or more desirable; at the global scale the agricultural markets will affect motives of farmers to buy or sell land; while at intermediate (e.g. provincial) scales property developers and nature conservationists may be encouraged or discouraged to purchase land. The cumulative result of all these transactions becomes manifest in changing land-use patterns, and consequent environmental responses. Within the project Climate Adaptation for Rural Areas an agent-based land-use model was developed that explores the future response of individual land users to climate change, within the context of wider global change (i.e. policy and market change). It simulates the exchange of land among farmers and between farmers and nature organizations and property developers, for a specific case study area in the east of the Netherlands. Results show that local impacts of climate change can result in a relative stagnation in the land market in waterlogged areas. Furthermore, the increase in dairying at the expense of arable cultivation - as has been observed in the area in the past - is slowing down as arable produce shows a favourable trend in the agricultural world market. Furthermore, budgets for nature managers are

  13. Changes and continuity of wood-pastures in the lowland landscape in Czechia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Forejt, Michal; Skalos, Jan; Pereponova, Anna

    2017-01-01

    The term wood-pastures is usually applied to areas with trees or other woody vegetation, scattered through a mainly grazed grassland area, and reflects one of the oldest land use types in Europe, which plays important ecological, agricultural and socio-cultural roles. However, a rapid decline...

  14. The effect of temperate or tropical pasture grazing state and grain-based concentrate allocation on dairy cattle production and behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, C E F; Kaur, R; Millapan, L O; Golder, H M; Thomson, P C; Horadagoda, A; Islam, M R; Kerrisk, K L; Garcia, S C

    2018-06-01

    Grain-based concentrate (GBC) supplement is of high cost to dairy farmers as a feed source as opposed to grazed pasture. Milk production response to GBC is affected by the composition and nutritive value of the remainder of the diet, animal factors, and interactions between forage type and level of GBC. In grazing systems, dairy cattle encounter contrasting pasture states, primarily because the social structure of the herd affects the timing of when each animal accesses a paddock after milking as a result of a relatively consistent cow milking order. However, the effect of feed management, namely pasture state and GBC allocation, on dairy cattle production and behavior is unknown. We examined the effect of varying GBC allocation for dairy cattle grazing differing states of kikuyu grass (Pennisetum clandestinum, a tropical pasture species; experiment 1) and annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum L., a temperate pasture species; experiment 2) on dry matter intake, milk production and composition, and grazing behavior. For each experiment, 90 lactating dairy cattle were randomly allocated to 2 consistent (fresh-fresh and depleted-depleted) and 2 inconsistent (fresh-depleted and depleted-fresh pasture state treatments (defined as sequences of pasture state allocation for the morning and afternoon grazing events) and 3 GBC treatments [2.7, 5.4, and 8.1 kg of dry matter (DM)/cow per day], giving 12 treatment combinations for each experiment. The duration of each experiment was 14 d, with the first 7 d used as adaptation to treatment. In each experiment, 3 cattle were selected from each of the 12 pasture type × GBC treatment groups within the experimental herd to determine herbage intake and total DM digestibility using the n-alkanes method (n = 36). There was no interaction between kikuyu grass or ryegrass pasture state and GBC level for intake, digestibility, or milk yield or components. Dairy cattle offered fresh-fresh and depleted-fresh ryegrass produced 9% more milk

  15. Negative trade-off between changes in vegetation water use and infiltration recovery after reforesting degraded pasture land in the Nepalese Lesser Himalaya

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghimire, C. P.; Bruijnzeel, L. A.; Lubczynski, M. W.; Bonell, M.

    2014-12-01

    This work investigates the trade-off between increases in vegetation water use and rain water infiltration afforded by soil improvement after reforesting severely degraded grassland in the Lesser Himalaya of central Nepal. The hillslope hydrological functioning (surface and subsurface soil hydraulic conductivities and overland flow generation) and the evapotranspiration (rainfall interception and transpiration) of the following contrasting vegetation types were quantified and examined in detail: (i) a nearly undisturbed, natural broadleaved forest; (ii) a 25-year-old, intensively-used pine plantation; and (iii) a highly degraded pasture. Planting pines increased vegetation water use relative to the pasture and natural forest situation by 355 and 55 mm year-1, respectively. On balance, the limited amount of extra infiltration afforded by the pine plantation relative to the pasture (only 90 mm year-1 due to continued soil degradation associated with regular harvesting of litter and understory vegetation in the plantation) proved insufficient to compensate the higher water use of the pines. As such, observed declines in dry season flows in the study area are thought to mainly reflect the higher water use of the pines although the effect could be moderated by better forest and soil management promoting infiltration. In contrast, a comparison of the water use of the natural forest and degraded pasture suggests that replacing the latter by (mature) broadleaved forest would (ultimately) have a near-neutral effect on dry season flows as the approximate gains in infiltration and evaporative losses were very similar (ca. 300 mm year-1 each). The results of the present study underscore the need for proper forest management for optimum hydrological functioning as well as the importance of protecting the remaining natural forests in the region.

  16. The effect of concentrate allocation on traffic and milk production of pasture-based cows milked by an automatic milking system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lessire, F; Froidmont, E; Shortall, J; Hornick, J L; Dufrasne, I

    2017-11-01

    Increased economic, societal and environmental challenges facing agriculture are leading to a greater focus on effective way to combine grazing and automatic milking systems (AMS). One of the fundamental aspects of robotic milking is cows' traffic to the AMS. Numerous studies have identified feed provided, either as fresh grass or concentrate supplement, as the main incentive for cows to return to the robot. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of concentrate allocation on voluntary cow traffic from pasture to the robot during the grazing period, to highlight the interactions between grazed pasture and concentrate allocation in terms of substitution rate and the subsequent effect on average milk yield and composition. Thus, 29 grazing cows, milked by a mobile robot, were monitored for the grazing period (4 months). They were assigned to two groups: a low concentrate (LC) group (15 cows) and a high concentrate (HC) group (14 cows) receiving 2 and 4 kg concentrate/cow per day, respectively; two allocations per day of fresh pasture were provided at 0700 and 1600 h. The cows had to go through the AMS to receive the fresh pasture allocation. The effect of concentrate level on robot visitation was calculated by summing milkings, refusals and failed milkings/cow per day. The impact on average daily milk yield and composition was also determined. The interaction between lactation number and month was used as an indicator of pasture availability. Concentrate allocation increased significantly robot visitations in HC (3.60±0.07 visitations/cow per day in HC and 3.10±0.07 visitations/cow per day in LC; Pcow per day were similar in both groups (LC: 2.37±0.02/day and HC: 2.39±0.02/day; Ns). The average daily milk yield over the grazing period was enhanced in HC (22.39±0.22 kg/cow per day in HC and 21.33±0.22 kg/cow per day in LC; Pcows.

  17. Hydrological, ecological, land use, economic, and sociocultural evidence for resilience of traditional irrigation communities in New Mexico, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernald, A.; Guldan, S.; Boykin, K.; Cibils, A.; Gonzales, M.; Hurd, B. H.; Lopez, S.; Ochoa, C. G.; Ortiz, M.; Rivera, J.; Rodriguez, S.; Steele, C. M.

    2014-02-01

    Southwestern US irrigated landscapes are facing upheaval due to climate change-induced water scarcity and economic change-induced land use conversion. Clues to community longevity are found in the traditionally irrigated valleys of northern New Mexico. Human systems have interacted with hydrologic processes over the last 400 yr in river fed irrigated valleys to create linked systems. In this study, we asked if concurrent data from multiple disciplines show that human adapted hydrologic and socioeconomic systems have created conditions for resilience. We identify and describe several areas of resilience: hydrological, ecological, land use, economic, and sociocultural. We found that there are multiple hydrologic benefits of the water seepage from the traditional irrigation systems; it recharges groundwater that recharges rivers, supports threatened biodiversity by maintaining riparian vegetation, and ameliorates impacts of climate change by prolonging streamflow hydrographs. In terms of land use and economics, place-based adaptability manifests itself in transformations of irrigation infrastructure and specific animal and crop systems; as grazing has diminished over time on public land watersheds, it has increased on irrigated valley pastures while outside income allows irrigators to retain their land. Sociocultural evidence shows that traditional local knowledge about the hydrosocial cycle of acequia operations is a key factor in acequia resilience. When irrigators are confronted with unexpected disturbances or changing climate that affect water supply, they adapt specific practices while maintaining community cohesion. Our ongoing work will quantify the multiple disciplinary components of these systems, translate them into a common language of causal loop diagrams, and model future scenarios to identify thresholds and tipping points of sustainability. Early indications are that these systems are not immune to upheaval, but have astonishing resilience.

  18. Multi-year evaluation of stocking rate and animal genotype on milk production per hectare within intensive pasture-based production systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coffey, E L; Delaby, L; Fleming, C; Pierce, K M; Horan, B

    2018-03-01

    The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of stocking rate (SR) and animal genotype (BR) on milk production, body weight (BW), and body condition score (BCS) within intensive pasture-based systems. A total of 533 lactation records, from 246 elite genetic merit dairy cows were available for analysis; 68 Holstein-Friesian (HF) and 71 Jersey × Holstein-Friesian (JxHF) crossbred cows in each of 4 consecutive years (2013-2016, inclusive). Cows from each BR were randomly allocated to 1 of 3 whole-farm comparative SR treatments, low (LSR; 1,200 kg of BW/ha), medium (MSR; 1,400 kg of BW/ha), and high (HSR; 1,600 kg of BW/ha), and remained in the same SR treatments for the duration of the experiment. The effects of SR, BR, and their interaction on milk production/cow and per hectare, BW, BCS, and grazing characteristics were analyzed. Total pasture utilization per hectare consumed in the form of grazed pasture increased linearly as SR increased: least in LSR (10,237 kg of dry matter/ha), intermediate in MSR (11,016 kg of dry matter/ha), and greatest in HSR (11,809 kg of dry matter/ha). Milk and milk solids (MS) yield per hectare was greatest for HSR (15,942 and 1,354 kg, respectively), intermediate for MSR (14,191 and 1,220 kg, respectively), and least for LSR (13,186 and 1,139 kg, respectively) with similar trends evident for fat, protein, and lactose yield/ha. At higher SR (MSR and HSR), MS yield per kg of BW per ha was reduced (0.85 and 0.82 kg of MS/kg of BW, respectively) compared with LSR (0.93 kg of MS/kg of BW/ha). Holstein-Friesian cows achieved fewer grazing days per hectare (-37 d), and produced more milk (+561 kg/ha) but less fat plus protein (-57 kg/ha) compared with JxHF cows; the JxHF cows were lighter. At similar BW per hectare, JxHF cows produced more fat plus protein/ha during the grazing season at low (1,164 vs. 1,113 kg), medium (1,254 vs. 1,185 kg), and high (1,327 vs. 1,380 kg) SR. In addition, JxHF cows produced more fat plus

  19. Image-based change estimation for land cover and land use monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeremy Webb; C. Kenneth Brewer; Nicholas Daniels; Chris Maderia; Randy Hamilton; Mark Finco; Kevin A. Megown; Andrew J. Lister

    2012-01-01

    The Image-based Change Estimation (ICE) project resulted from the need to provide estimates and information for land cover and land use change over large areas. The procedure uses Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plot locations interpreted using two different dates of imagery from the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP). In order to determine a suitable...

  20. A zone-based approach to identifying urban land uses using nationally-available data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Falcone, James A.

    Accurate identification of urban land use is essential for many applications in environmental study, ecological assessment, and urban planning, among other fields. However, because physical surfaces of land cover types are not necessarily related to their use and economic function, differentiating among thematically-detailed urban land uses (single-family residential, multi-family residential, commercial, industrial, etc.) using remotely-sensed imagery is a challenging task, particularly over large areas. Because the process requires an interpretation of tone/color, size, shape, pattern, and neighborhood association elements within a scene, it has traditionally been accomplished via manual interpretation of aerial photography or high-resolution satellite imagery. Although success has been achieved for localized areas using various automated techniques based on high-spatial or high-spectral resolution data, few detailed (Anderson Level II equivalent or greater) urban land use mapping products have successfully been created via automated means for broad (multi-county or larger) areas, and no such product exists today for the United States. In this study I argue that by employing a zone-based approach it is feasible to map thematically-detailed urban land use classes over large areas using appropriate combinations of non-image based predictor data which are nationally and publicly available. The approach presented here uses U.S. Census block groups as the basic unit of geography, and predicts the percent of each of ten land use types---nine of them urban---for each block group based on a number of data sources, to include census data, nationally-available point locations of features from the USGS Geographic Names Information System, historical land cover, and metrics which characterize spatial pattern, context (e.g. distance to city centers or other features), and measures of spatial autocorrelation. The method was demonstrated over a four-county area surrounding the

  1. TRENDS OF LAND SYSTEM IN UKRAINE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Tretiak

    2017-02-01

    strategic development of land reforms and bringing them to a new level - the volume and long-term task that requires scientific substantiation of a rational state land policy. The study justified that the land order - a land system, i.e. a set of measures for the territorial organization of land and other natural resources of the country, land relations, that is determined by system of ownership and use of land, as well as by the principles of organization of territory. In the process of land reform the land system have been changed several times: from the system of administrative-territorial division and respective to it forms of land use and methods of land use (collective and state farms as of year 1990, to the system of the administrative-territorial division with the respective forms of land ownership (state, collective, private and the forms and methods of land use (collective and state farms, collective farms, peasant (farmer farms, subsidiary farms, collective gardens, agricultural research institutions, subsidiary agriculture enterprices, etc. as of 1991 - 2001. As of the 2002 - 2016 , the land order in Ukraine was defined: by the natural-resource-based division and natural-economic-based division (zoning; by the administrative-territorial division; by the forms of land ownership (state, municipal, property of foreign countries, co-ownership, private ownership of individuals and of legal entities; by the forms and methods of land use (for example, in agriculture there were the non-state agricultural enterprises such as collective, cooperative, corporate (agricultural holdings, companies, private-rental farms, subsidiary farms, private (family and individual, state and municipal scientific research and others. Today, due to the decentralization of power, the new model for land order is developed, which will be presented in subsequent studies.

  2. Site selection model for new metro stations based on land use

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Nan; Chen, Xuewu

    2015-12-01

    Since the construction of metro system generally lags behind the development of urban land use, sites of metro stations should adapt to their surrounding situations, which was rarely discussed by previous research on station layout. This paper proposes a new site selection model to find the best location for a metro station, establishing the indicator system based on land use and combining AHP with entropy weight method to obtain the schemes' ranking. The feasibility and efficiency of this model has been validated by evaluating Nanjing Shengtai Road station and other potential sites.

  3. A fire model with distinct crop, pasture, and non-agricultural burning: use of new data and a model-fitting algorithm for FINAL.1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rabin, Sam S.; Ward, Daniel S.; Malyshev, Sergey L.; Magi, Brian I.; Shevliakova, Elena; Pacala, Stephen W.

    2018-03-01

    This study describes and evaluates the Fire Including Natural & Agricultural Lands model (FINAL) which, for the first time, explicitly simulates cropland and pasture management fires separately from non-agricultural fires. The non-agricultural fire module uses empirical relationships to simulate burned area in a quasi-mechanistic framework, similar to past fire modeling efforts, but with a novel optimization method that improves the fidelity of simulated fire patterns to new observational estimates of non-agricultural burning. The agricultural fire components are forced with estimates of cropland and pasture fire seasonality and frequency derived from observational land cover and satellite fire datasets. FINAL accurately simulates the amount, distribution, and seasonal timing of burned cropland and pasture over 2001-2009 (global totals: 0.434×106 and 2.02×106 km2 yr-1 modeled, 0.454×106 and 2.04×106 km2 yr-1 observed), but carbon emissions for cropland and pasture fire are overestimated (global totals: 0.295 and 0.706 PgC yr-1 modeled, 0.194 and 0.538 PgC yr-1 observed). The non-agricultural fire module underestimates global burned area (1.91×106 km2 yr-1 modeled, 2.44×106 km2 yr-1 observed) and carbon emissions (1.14 PgC yr-1 modeled, 1.84 PgC yr-1 observed). The spatial pattern of total burned area and carbon emissions is generally well reproduced across much of sub-Saharan Africa, Brazil, Central Asia, and Australia, whereas the boreal zone sees underestimates. FINAL represents an important step in the development of global fire models, and offers a strategy for fire models to consider human-driven fire regimes on cultivated lands. At the regional scale, simulations would benefit from refinements in the parameterizations and improved optimization datasets. We include an in-depth discussion of the lessons learned from using the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm in an interactive optimization for a dynamic global vegetation model.

  4. Soil water status under perennial and annual pastures on an acid duplex soil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heng, L.K.; White, R.E.; Chen, D.

    2000-01-01

    A comprehensive field study of soil water balance, nitrogen (N) cycling, pasture management and animal production was carried out on an acid duplex soil at Book Book near Wagga Wagga in southern New South Wales. The experiment, carried out over a 3-year period, tested the hypothesis that sown perennial grass pastures improve the sustainability of a grazing system through better use of water and N. The treatments were: annual pastures without lime (AP-), annual pastures with lime (AP+), perennial pastures without lime (PP-) and perennial pastures with lime (PP+). Soil water measurement was made using a neutron probe on one set of the treatments comprising four adjacent paddocks. Over three winter and spring periods, the results showed that perennial grass pastures, especially PP+, consistently extracted about 40 mm more soil water each year than did the annual grass pastures. As a result, surface runoff, sub-surface flow and deep drainage (percolation below 180 cm depth) were about 40 mm less from the perennial pastures. The soil water status of the four pasture treatments was simulated reasonably well using a simple soil water model. Together with the long-term simulation of deep drainage, using past meteorological records, it is shown that proper management of perennial pastures can reduce recharge to groundwater and make pastoral systems more sustainable in the high rainfall zone. However, to completely reduce recharge, more-deeply rooted plants or trees are needed. (author)

  5. Arsenic distribution in a pasture area impacted by past mining activities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abad-Valle, P; Álvarez-Ayuso, E; Murciego, A; Muñoz-Centeno, L M; Alonso-Rojo, P; Villar-Alonso, P

    2018-01-01

    pasture intake resulted important entrance pathways of As into livestock animals, showing quite close contribution levels. The cow acceptable daily intake (ADI) of As regarding food safety was surpassed in some locations of the study area when the species Agrostis truncatula was considered as the only pasture feed. Restrictions in the grazing use of lands with considerable As contents where this plant was the predominant pasture species should be established in order to preserve food quality. Therefore, the exposure of livestock animals to As via both soil ingestion and pasture consumption should be taken into account to establish the suitability of mining-impacted areas for gazing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Recovery of 15N-urea in soil-plant system of tanzania grass pasture

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martha Junior, Geraldo Bueno; Vilela, Lourival; Corsi, Moacyr; Trivelin, Paulo Cesar Ocheuze

    2009-01-01

    The economic attractiveness and negative environmental impact of nitrogen (N) fertilization in pastures depend on the N use efficiency in the soil-plant system. However, the recovery of urea- 15 N by Panicum maximum cv. Tanzania pastures, one of the most widely used forage species in intensified pastoral systems, is still unknown. This experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with four treatments (0, 40, 80 and 120 kg ha-1 of N-urea) and three replications, to determine the recovery of 15 N urea by Tanzania grass. Forage production, total N content and N yield were not affected by fertilization (p > 0.05), reflecting the high losses of applied N under the experimental conditions. The recovery of 15 N urea (% of applied N) in forage and roots was not affected by fertilization levels (p > 0.05), but decreased exponentially in the soil and soil-plant system (p 15 N (kg ha -1 ) in forage and roots (15 to 30 cm) increased with increasing urea doses (p < 0.05). (author)

  7. Land use and carbon dynamics in the southeastern United States from 1992 to 2050

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhao, Shuqing; Liu, Shuguang; Sohl, Terry; Werner, Jeremy; Young, Claudia

    2013-01-01

    Land use and land cover change (LUCC) plays an important role in determining the spatial distribution, magnitude, and temporal change of terrestrial carbon sources and sinks. However, the impacts of LUCC are not well understood and quantified over large areas. The goal of this study was to quantify the spatial and temporal patterns of carbon dynamics in various terrestrial ecosystems in the southeastern United States from 1992 to 2050 using a process-based modeling system and then to investigate the impacts of LUCC. Spatial LUCC information was reconstructed and projected using the FOREcasting SCEnarios of future land cover (FORE-SCE) model according to information derived from Landsat observations and other sources. Results indicated that urban expansion (from 3.7% in 1992 to 9.2% in 2050) was expected to be the primary driver for other land cover changes in the region, leading to various declines in forest, cropland, and hay/pasture. The region was projected to be a carbon sink of 60.4 gC m −2  yr −1 on average during the study period, primarily due to the legacy impacts of large-scale conversion of cropland to forest that happened since the 1950s. Nevertheless, the regional carbon sequestration rate was expected to decline because of the slowing down of carbon accumulation in aging forests and the decline of forest area. (letter)

  8. Development of Botanical Composition in Maribaya Pasture, Brebes, Central Java

    Science.gov (United States)

    Umami, N.; Ngadiyono, N.; Panjono; Agus, F. N.; Shirothul, H. M.; Budisatria, I. G. S.; Hendrawati, Y.; Subroto, I.

    2018-02-01

    The research was aimed to observe the development of botanical composition in Maribaya pastures. The sampling method was cluster random sampling. The observed variables were the type of forages and the botanical composition in the pasture. Botanical composition was measured by using Line Intercept method and the production was measured by the estimation of botany production for each square meter using its dry matter measurement. The botani sampling was performed using square with size of 1×1 m2. The observation was performed before the pasture made (at 2015) and after the pasture made (at 2017). Based on the research result, it was found that there was significant difference between the forage type in the pasture at 2015 and at 2017. It happens due to the adjustment for the Jabres cattle feed.

  9. Emissions of carbon from land use change in sub-Saharan Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Houghton, R. A.; Hackler, J. L.

    2006-06-01

    Previous estimates of the flux of carbon from land use change in sub-Saharan Africa have been based on highly aggregated data and have ignored important categories of land use. To improve these estimates, we divided the region into four subregions (east, west, central, and southern Africa), each with six types of natural vegetation and five types of land use (permanent crops, pastures, shifting cultivation, industrial wood harvest, and tree plantations). We reconstructed rates of land use change and rates of wood harvest from country-level statistics reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (1961-2000) and extrapolated the rates from 1961 to 1850 on the basis of qualitative histories of demography, economy, and land use. We used a bookkeeping model to calculate the annual flux of carbon associated with these changes in land use. Country-level estimates of average forest biomass from the FAO, together with changes in biomass calculated from the reconstructed rates of land use change, constrained the average biomass of forests in 1850. Comparison of potential (predisturbance) forest areas with the areas present in 1850 and 2000 suggests that 60% of Africa's forests were lost before 1850 and an additional 10% lost in the last 150 years. The annual net flux of carbon from changes in land use was probably small and variable before the early 1900s but increased to a source of 0.3 ± 0.2 PgC/yr by the end of the century. In the 1990s the source was equivalent to about 15% of the global net flux of carbon from land use change.

  10. Global projections of 21st century land-use changes in regions adjacent to Protected Areas.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Linda J Beaumont

    Full Text Available The conservation efficiency of Protected Areas (PA is influenced by the health and characteristics of the surrounding landscape matrix. Fragmentation of adjacent lands interrupts ecological flows within PAs and will decrease the ability of species to shift their distribution as climate changes. For five periods across the 21(st century, we assessed changes to the extent of primary land, secondary land, pasture and crop land projected to occur within 50 km buffers surrounding IUCN-designated PAs. Four scenarios of land-use were obtained from the Land-Use Harmonization Project, developed for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fifth Assessment Report (AR5. The scenarios project the continued decline of primary lands within buffers surrounding PAs. Substantial losses are projected to occur across buffer regions in the tropical forest biomes of Indo-Malayan and the Temperate Broadleaf forests of the Nearctic. A number of buffer regions are projected to have negligible primary land remaining by 2100, including those in the Afrotropic's Tropical/Subtropical Grassland/Savanna/Shrubland. From 2010-2050, secondary land is projected to increase within most buffer regions, although, as with pasture and crops within tropical and temperate forests, projections from the four land-use scenarios may diverge substantially in magnitude and direction of change. These scenarios demonstrate a range of alternate futures, and show that although effective mitigation strategies may reduce pressure on land surrounding PAs, these areas will contain an increasingly heterogeneous matrix of primary and human-modified landscapes. Successful management of buffer regions will be imperative to ensure effectiveness of PAs and to facilitate climate-induced shifts in species ranges.

  11. Remote Sensing Time Series to Evaluate Direct Land Use Change of Recent Expanded Sugarcane Crop in Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcio Pupin Mello

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available The use of biofuels to mitigate global carbon emissions is highly dependent on direct and indirect land use changes (LUC. The direct LUC (dLUC can be accurately evaluated using remote sensing images. In this work we evaluated the dLUC of about 4 million hectares of sugarcane expanded from 2005 to 2010 in the South-central region of Brazil. This region has a favorable climate for rain-fed sugarcane, a great potential for agriculture expansion without deforestation, and is currently responsible for almost 90% of Brazilian’s sugarcane production. An available thematic map of sugarcane along with MODIS and Landast images, acquired from 2000 to 2009, were used to evaluate the land use prior to the conversion to sugarcane. A systematic sampling procedure was adopted and the land use identification prior to sugarcane, for each sample, was performed using a web tool developed to visualize both the MODIS time series and the multitemporal Landsat images. Considering 2000 as reference year, it was observed that sugarcane expanded: 69.7% on pasture land; 25.0% on annual crops; 0.6% on forest; while 3.4% was sugarcane land under crop rotation. The results clearly show that the dLUC of recent sugarcane expansion has occurred on more than 99% of either pasture or agriculture land.

  12. [Study on the land use optimization based on PPI].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Xiao-Feng; Li, Ting

    2012-03-01

    Land use type and managing method which is greatly influenced by human activities, is one of the most important factors of non-point pollution. Based on the collection and analysis of non-point pollution control methods and the concept of the three ecological fronts, 9 land use optimized scenarios were designed according to rationality analysis of the current land use situation in the 3 typed small watersheds in Miyun reservoir basin. Take Caojialu watershed for example to analyze and compare the influence to environment of different scenarios based on potential pollution index (PPI) and river section potential pollution index (R-PPI) and the best combination scenario was found. Land use scenario designing and comparison on basis of PPI and R-PPI could help to find the best combination scenario of land use type and managing method, to optimize space distribution and managing methods of land use in basin, to reduce soil erosion and to provide powerful support to formulation of land use planning and pollution control project.

  13. Automated oestrus detection using multimetric behaviour recognition in seasonal-calving dairy cattle on pasture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brassel, J; Rohrssen, F; Failing, K; Wehrend, A

    2018-06-11

    To evaluate the performance of a novel accelerometer-based oestrus detection system (ODS) for dairy cows on pasture, in comparison with measurement of concentrations of progesterone in milk, ultrasonographic examination of ovaries and farmer observations. Mixed-breed lactating dairy cows (n=109) in a commercial, seasonal-calving herd managed at pasture under typical farming conditions in Ireland, were fitted with oestrus detection collars 3 weeks prior to mating start date. The ODS performed multimetric analysis of eight different motion patterns to generate oestrus alerts. Data were collected during the artificial insemination period of 66 days, commencing on 16 April 2015. Transrectal ultrasonographic examinations of the reproductive tract and measurements of concentrations of progesterone in milk were used to confirm oestrus events. Visual observations by the farmer and the number of theoretically expected oestrus events were used to evaluate the number of false negative ODS alerts. The percentage of eligible cows that were detected in oestrus at least once (and were confirmed true positives) was calculated for the first 21, 42 and 63 days of the insemination period. During the insemination period, the ODS generated 194 oestrus alerts and 140 (72.2%) were confirmed as true positives. Six confirmed oestrus events recognised by the farmer did not generate ODS alerts. The positive predictive value of the ODS was 72.2 (95% CI=65.3-78.4)%. To account for oestrus events not identified by the ODS or the farmer, four theoretical missed oestrus events were added to the false negatives. Estimated sensitivity of the automated ODS was 93.3 (95% CI=88.1-96.8)%. The proportion of eligible cows that were detected in oestrus during the first 21 days of the insemination period was 92/106 (86.8%), and during the first 42 and 63 days of the insemination period was 103/106 (97.2%) and 105/106 (99.1%), respectively. The ODS under investigation was suitable for oestrus detection in

  14. Investigating the climate and carbon cycle impacts of CMIP6 Land Use and Land Cover Change in the Community Earth System Model (CESM2)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lawrence, P.; Lawrence, D. M.; O'Neill, B. C.; Hurtt, G. C.

    2017-12-01

    For the next round of CMIP6 climate simulations there are new historical and SSP - RCP land use and land cover change (LULCC) data sets that have been compiled through the Land Use Model Intercomparison Project (LUMIP). The new time series data include new functionality following lessons learned through CMIP5 project and include new developments in the Community Land Model (CLM5) that will be used in all the CESM2 simulations of CMIP6. These changes include representing explicit crop modeling and better forest representation through the extended to 12 land units of the Global Land Model (GLM). To include this new information in CESM2 and CLM5 simulations new transient land surface data sets have been generated for the historical period 1850 - 2015 and for preliminary SSP - RCP paired future scenarios. The new data sets use updated MODIS Land Cover, Vegetation Continuous Fields, Leaf Area Index and Albedo to describe Primary and Secondary, Forested and Non Forested land units, as well as Rangelands and Pasture. Current day crop distributions are taken from the MIRCA2000 crop data set as done with the CLM 4.5 crop model and used to guide historical and future crop distributions. Preliminary "land only" simulations with CLM5 have been performed for the historical period and for the SSP1-RCP2.6 and SSP3-RCP7 land use and land cover change time series data. Equivalent no land use and land cover change simulations have been run for these periods under the same meteorological forcing data. The "land only" simulations use GSWP3 historical atmospheric forcing data from 1850 to 2010 and then time increasing RCP 8.5 atmospheric CO2 and climate anomalies on top of the current day GSWP3 atmospheric forcing data from 2011 to 2100. The offline simulations provide a basis to evaluate the surface climate, carbon cycle and crop production impacts of changing land use and land cover for each of these periods. To further evaluate the impacts of the new CLM5 model and the CMIP6 land

  15. Stormflow influence on nutrient dynamics in micro-catchments under contrasting land use in the Cerrado and Amazon Biomes, Brazil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edelmann, Katharina; Nóbrega, Rodolfo L. B.; Gerold, Gerhard

    2017-04-01

    highest nutrient concentrations, while concentrations in the recession limb were higher than in the rising limb. We also found that in this catchment K concentrations were lower in the recession limb than in the rising limb. In the Amazonian pasture catchment, the peak discharge showed the greatest concentrations for TIC, TOC, and Ca, and the rising limb the lowest. DOC and NO3 concentrations in this catchment were the highest in the rising and were lowest in peak discharge, while K increased over time. Based on that, we conclude that stormflow is an important driver of nutrients fluxes due to land-use change on the Amazon Agricultural Frontier, with significant increases and distinguished dynamics during the storm events, and higher nutrient concentrations in the catchments with pastures than in the ones with native vegetation, especially for TIC and K.

  16. The importance of agricultural lands for Himalayan birds in winter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elsen, Paul R; Kalyanaraman, Ramnarayan; Ramesh, Krishnamurthy; Wilcove, David S

    2017-04-01

    The impacts of land-use change on biodiversity in the Himalayas are poorly known, notwithstanding widespread deforestation and agricultural intensification in this highly biodiverse region. Although intact primary forests harbor many Himalayan birds during breeding, a large number of bird species use agricultural lands during winter. We assessed how Himalayan bird species richness, abundance, and composition during winter are affected by forest loss stemming from agriculture and grazing. Bird surveys along 12 elevational transects within primary forest, low-intensity agriculture, mixed subsistence agriculture, and intensively grazed pastures in winter revealed that bird species richness and abundance were greatest in low-intensity and mixed agriculture, intermediate in grazed pastures, and lowest in primary forest at both local and landscape scales; over twice as many species and individuals were recorded in low-intensity agriculture than in primary forest. Bird communities in primary forests were distinct from those in all other land-use classes, but only 4 species were unique to primary forests. Low-, medium-, and high-intensity agriculture harbored 32 unique species. Of the species observed in primary forest, 80% had equal or greater abundance in low-intensity agricultural lands, underscoring the value of these lands in retaining diverse community assemblages at high densities in winter. Among disturbed landscapes, bird species richness and abundance declined as land-use intensity increased, especially in high-intensity pastures. Our results suggest that agricultural landscapes are important for most Himalayan bird species in winter. But agricultural intensification-especially increased grazing-will likely result in biodiversity losses. Given that forest reserves alone may inadequately conserve Himalayan birds in winter, comprehensive conservation strategies in the region must go beyond protecting intact primary forests and ensure that low-intensity agricultural

  17. Carbon budgets for an irrigated intensively grazed dairy pasture and an unirrigated winter-grazed pasture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunt, John E.; Laubach, Johannes; Barthel, Matti; Fraser, Anitra; Phillips, Rebecca L.

    2016-05-01

    Intensification of pastoral agriculture is occurring rapidly across New Zealand, including increasing use of irrigation and fertiliser application in some regions. While this enables greater gross primary production (GPP) and livestock grazing intensity, the consequences for the net ecosystem carbon budget (NECB) of the pastures are poorly known. Here, we determined the NECB over one year for an irrigated, fertilised and rotationally grazed dairy pasture and a neighbouring unirrigated, unfertilised, winter-grazed pasture. Primary terms in the NECB calculation were: net ecosystem production (NEP), biomass carbon removed by grazing cows and carbon (C) input from their excreta. Annual NEP was measured using the eddy-covariance method. Carbon removal was estimated with plate-meter measurements calibrated against biomass collections, pre- and post-grazing. Excreta deposition was calculated from animal feed intake. The intensively managed pasture gained C (NECB = 103 ± 42 g C m-2 yr-1) but would have been subject to a non-significant C loss if cattle excreta had not been returned to the pasture. The unirrigated pasture was C-neutral (NECB = -13 ± 23 g C m-2 yr-1). While annual GPP of the former was almost twice that of the latter (2679 vs. 1372 g C m-2 yr-1), ecosystem respiration differed by only 68 % between the two pastures (2271 vs. 1352 g C m-2 yr-1). The ratio of GPP to the total annual water input of the irrigated pasture was 37 % greater than that of the unirrigated pasture, i.e. the former used the water input more efficiently than the latter to produce biomass. The NECB results agree qualitatively with those from many other eddy-covariance studies of grazed grasslands, but they seem to be at odds with long-term carbon-stock studies of other New Zealand pastures.

  18. Re-visiting the nutrition of dairy sheep grazing Mediterranean pastures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Decandia

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available In the light of recent findings in sheep nutrition and behaviour, the diets of grazing dairy sheep should be based on forages encompassing a variety of complementary nutritional values and containing moderate levels of complementary plant secondary metabolites, until recently regarded as "anti-nutritional". In lactating sheep, pastures of tannin-containing legumes like sulla (Hedysarum coronarium and chicory (Cichorium intybus can be integrated with annual grasses for establishing sustainable artificial pastures under rainfed conditions. Diets based on these forages, while ensuring high milking performance, can mitigate the unbalance of CP to energy ratio of grazing sheep. By grazing sulla and annual or Italian ryegrass (50:50 by area as spatially conterminal monocultures or in timely sequence (complementary grazing sheep eat more and perform better than by grazing the ryegrass pasture only. Concentrate supplementation of lactating sheep should be preferably based on fibrous sources (soyhulls or beet pulps, particularly from mid-lactation onwards and when supplementation levels are high. Milk urea concentration is confirmedly a useful monitoring tool to balance protein nutrition and curb the waste of N at animal and system level.

  19. Variation in Phenometric Lapse Rates in Pasture Resources across Four Rayons in Kyrgyzstan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henebry, G. M.; Tomaszewska, M. A.; Kelgenbaeva, K.

    2017-12-01

    High elevation pasture resources form the foundation of agro-pastoralist livelihoods in Kyrgyzstan and elsewhere in montane Central Asia. We explore the temporal and the topographical variation in phenometric lapse rates (PLRs: the change in a phenometric as a function of elevation) across four rayons in two oblasts of the Kyrgyz Republic—Alay, At-Bashy, Chong Alay, and Naryn—with the aim of identifying and quantifying robust generic patterns in the PLRs. We evaluate two fundamental phenometrics derived from the downward convex quadratic model of land surface phenology that links the NDVI to accumulated growing degree-day (AGDD). The peak height (PH) is the maximum NDVI value obtained from the fitted model. The thermal time to peak (TTP) is the amount of AGDD required to reach the PH. We fitted sixteen years of Landsat NDVI data at 30 m spatial resolution to annual AGDD progressions derived from MODIS land surface temperature time series at 1 km spatial resolution, yielding maps for each phenometric. If the coefficient of determination was less than 0.5, then the model fit was deemed a failure. We classified the reliability of pasture resources into five classes based on the number of years of successful model fit: very persistent (14-16 y); persistent (11-13 y); marginal (7-10 y); occasional (4-6); and rare (1-3). We explore the interactive roles of elevation, slope, aspect, latitude, and rayon on the PLRs and pasture resource persistence to identify critical areas for resource management.

  20. Simulating feedbacks in land use and land cover change models

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Verburg, P.H.

    2006-01-01

    In spite of the many advances in land use and land cover change modelling over the past decade many challenges remain. One of these challenges relates to the explicit treatment of feedback mechanisms in descriptive models of the land use system. This paper argues for model-based analysis to explore

  1. Effect of mesohabitats on responses of invertebrate community structure in streams under different land uses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    da Silva, Marcos Vinícius Dias; Rosa, Beatriz F J V; Alves, Roberto G

    2015-11-01

    Riparian vegetation is one of the most important abiotic components determining the water flow pattern in lotic ecosystems, influencing the composition, richness, and diversity of invertebrates. We have identified whether differences in the structure of the assemblages of invertebrates between riffles and pools may influence the responses of fauna to the effects of land use. In addition, we investigated which fauna metrics are responsible for the differentiation between riffles and pools in streams subject to different land uses. During the dry season of 2012, the main substrates of riffles and pools were sampled (Surber collector) from nine streams within forest, pasture, and urban areas. Principal component analysis (PCA) and Permanova showed differences in the set of environmental variables between streams and mesohabitats. The first PCA axis distinguished the forest and pasture streams from the urban area streams and was related to variables indicative of nutrient enrichment and land use, while the second axis was formed by velocity flow and by the quantities of ultrafine and coarse sand, which distinguished the riffles and pools of the streams. The faunal composition distinguished the streams in pasture and forest areas from the urban streams. Riffles and pools were not concordant in the representation of the invertebrate fauna, indicating the importance of sampling both mesohabitats in the types of streams investigated. The richness, taxonomic composition, and relative abundance of families of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera showed robust responses in riffles to the effects of environmental changes, while in pools, only the richness showed a significant response. It was possibly concluded that riffles were more sensitive in detecting the effects of land use. The information from this study help to understand how the community of invertebrates and the types of habitats in streams may be affected by anthropogenic impacts.

  2. The creation and evaluation of a model predicting the probability of conception in seasonal-calving, pasture-based dairy cows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fenlon, Caroline; O'Grady, Luke; Doherty, Michael L; Dunnion, John; Shalloo, Laurence; Butler, Stephen T

    2017-07-01

    Reproductive performance in pasture-based production systems has a fundamentally important effect on economic efficiency. The individual factors affecting the probability of submission and conception are multifaceted and have been extensively researched. The present study analyzed some of these factors in relation to service-level probability of conception in seasonal-calving pasture-based dairy cows to develop a predictive model of conception. Data relating to 2,966 services from 737 cows on 2 research farms were used for model development and data from 9 commercial dairy farms were used for model testing, comprising 4,212 services from 1,471 cows. The data spanned a 15-yr period and originated from seasonal-calving pasture-based dairy herds in Ireland. The calving season for the study herds extended from January to June, with peak calving in February and March. A base mixed-effects logistic regression model was created using a stepwise model-building strategy and incorporated parity, days in milk, interservice interval, calving difficulty, and predicted transmitting abilities for calving interval and milk production traits. To attempt to further improve the predictive capability of the model, the addition of effects that were not statistically significant was considered, resulting in a final model composed of the base model with the inclusion of BCS at service. The models' predictions were evaluated using discrimination to measure their ability to correctly classify positive and negative cases. Precision, recall, F-score, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were calculated. Calibration tests measured the accuracy of the predicted probabilities. These included tests of overall goodness-of-fit, bias, and calibration error. Both models performed better than using the population average probability of conception. Neither of the models showed high levels of discrimination (base model AUC 0.61, final model AUC 0.62), possibly because of the

  3. Advancing Land-Sea Conservation Planning: Integrating Modelling of Catchments, Land-Use Change, and River Plumes to Prioritise Catchment Management and Protection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Álvarez-Romero, Jorge G; Pressey, Robert L; Ban, Natalie C; Brodie, Jon

    2015-01-01

    Human-induced changes to river loads of nutrients and sediments pose a significant threat to marine ecosystems. Ongoing land-use change can further increase these loads, and amplify the impacts of land-based threats on vulnerable marine ecosystems. Consequently, there is a need to assess these threats and prioritise actions to mitigate their impacts. A key question regarding prioritisation is whether actions in catchments to maintain coastal-marine water quality can be spatially congruent with actions for other management objectives, such as conserving terrestrial biodiversity. In selected catchments draining into the Gulf of California, Mexico, we employed Land Change Modeller to assess the vulnerability of areas with native vegetation to conversion into crops, pasture, and urban areas. We then used SedNet, a catchment modelling tool, to map the sources and estimate pollutant loads delivered to the Gulf by these catchments. Following these analyses, we used modelled river plumes to identify marine areas likely influenced by land-based pollutants. Finally, we prioritised areas for catchment management based on objectives for conservation of terrestrial biodiversity and objectives for water quality that recognised links between pollutant sources and affected marine areas. Our objectives for coastal-marine water quality were to reduce sediment and nutrient discharges from anthropic areas, and minimise future increases in coastal sedimentation and eutrophication. Our objectives for protection of terrestrial biodiversity covered species of vertebrates. We used Marxan, a conservation planning tool, to prioritise interventions and explore spatial differences in priorities for both objectives. Notable differences in the distributions of land values for terrestrial biodiversity and coastal-marine water quality indicated the likely need for trade-offs between catchment management objectives. However, there were priority areas that contributed to both sets of objectives. Our

  4. Increasing importance of precipitation variability on global livestock grazing lands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sloat, Lindsey L.; Gerber, James S.; Samberg, Leah H.; Smith, William K.; Herrero, Mario; Ferreira, Laerte G.; Godde, Cécile M.; West, Paul C.

    2018-03-01

    Pastures and rangelands underpin global meat and milk production and are a critical resource for millions of people dependent on livestock for food security1,2. Forage growth, which is highly climate dependent3,4, is potentially vulnerable to climate change, although precisely where and to what extent remains relatively unexplored. In this study, we assess climate-based threats to global pastures, with a specific focus on changes in within- and between-year precipitation variability (precipitation concentration index (PCI) and coefficient of variation of precipitation (CVP), respectively). Relating global satellite measures of vegetation greenness (such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index; NDVI) to key climatic factors reveals that CVP is a significant, yet often overlooked, constraint on vegetation productivity across global pastures. Using independent stocking data, we found that areas with high CVP support lower livestock densities than less-variable regions. Globally, pastures experience about a 25% greater year-to-year precipitation variation (CVP = 0.27) than the average global land surface area (0.21). Over the past century, CVP has generally increased across pasture areas, although both positive (49% of pasture area) and negative (31% of pasture area) trends exist. We identify regions in which livestock grazing is important for local food access and economies, and discuss the potential for pasture intensification in the context of long-term regional trends in precipitation variability.

  5. Performance, body fat reserves and plasma metabolites in Brown Swiss dairy cows: Indoor feeding versus pasture-based feeding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frey, H-J; Gross, J J; Petermann, R; Probst, S; Bruckmaier, R M; Hofstetter, P

    2018-04-01

    Feeding dairy cows indoors or on pasture affects not only labour, machinery and housing costs, but also animals' performance and metabolism. This study investigates the effects of indoor feeding (IF) with a partial-mixed ration (PMR) versus pasture-based feeding (PF) on milk production, fertility, backfat thickness (BFT), body weight (BW) loss and energy metabolism of Brown Swiss (BS) dairy cows with similar genetic production potential. The IF herd consisted of 13 cows fed a PMR composed of maize and grass silage plus protein concentrate according to each cow's requirements. The PF herd consisted of 14 cows offered barn-ventilated hay ad libitum after calving from January until March and grazed on semi-continuous pastures during the vegetation period. The IF cows produced more energy-corrected milk (ECM) per standard lactation (9,407 vs. 5,960 kg; p dairy cows in our trial seem to have a high capacity for metabolic adaptation to different production systems. © 2017 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

  6. Environmental impact assessment of land use systems using emergy in Teresópolis-Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan Carlos Torrico Albino

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper provides a set of indices based on emergy analysis for the Côrrego Sujo basin, Teresópolis-Brazil. Encompassing natural and agricultural systems, the Côrrego Sujo basin has been affected by destruction and fragmentation of natural habitats and unsustainable land use practices. The main objective is to evaluate the environmental impact of the land use systems, the load capacity and the use of natural and economic resources. The studied land use systems were: i agriculture, ii grassland and cattle, iii rainforest and iv forest in regeneration stage (fallow: 1, 2 and 3 years old. Emergy analysis integrates all flows within a system of coupled economic and environmental work in common biophysical units (solar emjoules – seJ. The main conclusions of the study are: the basin does not have dependence of purchased resources and the environmental impact is moderate; the efficiency of the basin as a system is highly positive and it represents a positive contribution to the economy; the emergy exchange ratio is moderate and; the biggest contributions to the system come from natural sources showing that the ecological sustainability is moderate to good.

  7. Organic Carbon and Physical Properties in Sandy Soil after Conversion from Degraded Pasture to Eucalyptus in the Brazilian Cerrado

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karla Nascimento Sena

    development in PAST and EU02 were restrictive. Land use systems reduced OC and the CP, indicating anthropogenic disturbance of the soil compared to CER. Fifteen years after planting eucalyptus in the pasture area, signs of recovery of some soil physical properties were observed, e.g., reduced BD and increased TP.

  8. Potential influence of climate-induced vegetation shifts on future land use and associated land carbon fluxes in Northern Eurasia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kicklighter, D W; Melillo, J M; Lu, X; Cai, Y; Paltsev, S; Sokolov, A P; Reilly, J M; Zhuang, Q; Parfenova, E I; Tchebakova, N M

    2014-01-01

    Climate change will alter ecosystem metabolism and may lead to a redistribution of vegetation and changes in fire regimes in Northern Eurasia over the 21st century. Land management decisions will interact with these climate-driven changes to reshape the region’s landscape. Here we present an assessment of the potential consequences of climate change on land use and associated land carbon sink activity for Northern Eurasia in the context of climate-induced vegetation shifts. Under a ‘business-as-usual’ scenario, climate-induced vegetation shifts allow expansion of areas devoted to food crop production (15%) and pastures (39%) over the 21st century. Under a climate stabilization scenario, climate-induced vegetation shifts permit expansion of areas devoted to cellulosic biofuel production (25%) and pastures (21%), but reduce the expansion of areas devoted to food crop production by 10%. In both climate scenarios, vegetation shifts further reduce the areas devoted to timber production by 6–8% over this same time period. Fire associated with climate-induced vegetation shifts causes the region to become more of a carbon source than if no vegetation shifts occur. Consideration of the interactions between climate-induced vegetation shifts and human activities through a modeling framework has provided clues to how humans may be able to adapt to a changing world and identified the trade-offs, including unintended consequences, associated with proposed climate/energy policies. (paper)

  9. Design and implementation of land reservation system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Yurong; Gao, Qingqiang

    2009-10-01

    Land reservation is defined as a land management policy for insuring the government to control primary land market. It requires the government to obtain the land first, according to plan, by purchase, confiscation and exchanging, and then exploit and consolidate the land for reservation. Underlying this policy, it is possible for the government to satisfy and manipulate the needs of land for urban development. The author designs and develops "Land Reservation System for Eastern Lake Development District" (LRSELDD), which deals with the realistic land requirement problems in Wuhan Eastern Lake Development Districts. The LRSELDD utilizes modern technologies and solutions of computer science and GIS to process multiple source data related with land. Based on experiments on the system, this paper will first analyze workflow land reservation system and design the system structure based on its principles, then illustrate the approach of organization and management of spatial data, describe the system functions according to the characteristics of land reservation and consolidation finally. The system is running to serve for current work in Eastern Lake Development Districts. It is able to scientifically manage both current and planning land information, as well as the information about land supplying. We use the LRSELDD in our routine work, and with such information, decisions on land confiscation and allocation will be made wisely and scientifically.

  10. Simulating runoff from small grazed pasture watersheds located at North Appalachian Experimental Watershed in Ohio

    Science.gov (United States)

    Runoff from grazing pasture lands can impact water quality in receiving streams if not well managed. Management consists of conservation practices to reduce runoff and pollutants transport. Simulation models have been effectively used to design and implement these conservation practices. The Agricul...

  11. A web-based system for supporting global land cover data production

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Gang; Chen, Jun; He, Chaoying; Li, Songnian; Wu, Hao; Liao, Anping; Peng, Shu

    2015-05-01

    Global land cover (GLC) data production and verification process is very complicated, time consuming and labor intensive, requiring huge amount of imagery data and ancillary data and involving many people, often from different geographic locations. The efficient integration of various kinds of ancillary data and effective collaborative classification in large area land cover mapping requires advanced supporting tools. This paper presents the design and development of a web-based system for supporting 30-m resolution GLC data production by combining geo-spatial web-service and Computer Support Collaborative Work (CSCW) technology. Based on the analysis of the functional and non-functional requirements from GLC mapping, a three tiers system model is proposed with four major parts, i.e., multisource data resources, data and function services, interactive mapping and production management. The prototyping and implementation of the system have been realised by a combination of Open Source Software (OSS) and commercially available off-the-shelf system. This web-based system not only facilitates the integration of heterogeneous data and services required by GLC data production, but also provides online access, visualization and analysis of the images, ancillary data and interim 30 m global land-cover maps. The system further supports online collaborative quality check and verification workflows. It has been successfully applied to China's 30-m resolution GLC mapping project, and has improved significantly the efficiency of GLC data production and verification. The concepts developed through this study should also benefit other GLC or regional land-cover data production efforts.

  12. An integrated system for land resources supervision based on the IoT and cloud computing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fang, Shifeng; Zhu, Yunqiang; Xu, Lida; Zhang, Jinqu; Zhou, Peiji; Luo, Kan; Yang, Jie

    2017-01-01

    Integrated information systems are important safeguards for the utilisation and development of land resources. Information technologies, including the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing, are inevitable requirements for the quality and efficiency of land resources supervision tasks. In this study, an economical and highly efficient supervision system for land resources has been established based on IoT and cloud computing technologies; a novel online and offline integrated system with synchronised internal and field data that includes the entire process of 'discovering breaches, analysing problems, verifying fieldwork and investigating cases' was constructed. The system integrates key technologies, such as the automatic extraction of high-precision information based on remote sensing, semantic ontology-based technology to excavate and discriminate public sentiment on the Internet that is related to illegal incidents, high-performance parallel computing based on MapReduce, uniform storing and compressing (bitwise) technology, global positioning system data communication and data synchronisation mode, intelligent recognition and four-level ('device, transfer, system and data') safety control technology. The integrated system based on a 'One Map' platform has been officially implemented by the Department of Land and Resources of Guizhou Province, China, and was found to significantly increase the efficiency and level of land resources supervision. The system promoted the overall development of informatisation in fields related to land resource management.

  13. Soil fertility and 137 Cs redistribution as related to land use, landscape and texture in a watershed of Paraiba State

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Santos, Antonio Clementino dos

    2004-03-01

    Intensive land use and growing deforestation of the natural vegetation in Northeastern Brazil have contributed to the degradation of resources, particularly the decrease of soil fertility. As a result, biodiversity and ecosystem capacity to restore its resources after disturbances have been diminished. The decrease in soil fertility is more substantial in areas dominated by an undulating topography. In these areas, erosion is intensified when crops or pasture replaces natural vegetation. Even though degradation processes are reflected in environmental, social, and economical changes, there is a lack of information regarding the interrelationship between these changes and soil fertility and erosion. Thus, the 'Vaca Brava' watershed (14,04 km 2 ), located in the 'Agreste' region of Paraiba State, was selected to study the interrelationships between land use, landscape, particle size distribution, soil fertility and erosion using 137 Cs redistribution. Small farms, where subsistence agriculture is intensive, are common in this watershed, as well as areas for environmental protection. A georreferenced survey of the watershed topography was initially carried out. Based on the survey data, the watershed was digitalized using a scale of 1:5000, and a 3-D map was created. Each landform element had its area determined on a area (absolute value) and percentage (relative value) basis. Shoulder, backslope and footslope positions represented 83% of the cultivated area in the watershed. A data base of 360 georreferenced soil samples (0-20 cm), collected using a stratified sampling scheme, was further created. Sites were stratified based on their landscape position (summit, shoulder, backslope, footslope, and toeslope) in factorial combination with land use (annual crops, pasture, Pennisetum purpureum, Mimosa caesalpiniae folia, bush fallow, and native forest). Physical analyses of the soil samples included particle size distribution and bulk density, whereas soil chemical

  14. Data model for the collaboration between land administration systems and agricultural land parcel identification systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inan, Halil Ibrahim; Sagris, Valentina; Devos, Wim; Milenov, Pavel; van Oosterom, Peter; Zevenbergen, Jaap

    2010-12-01

    The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union (EU) has dramatically changed after 1992, and from then on the CAP focused on the management of direct income subsidies instead of production-based subsidies. For this focus, Member States (MS) are expected to establish Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS), including a Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) as the spatial part of IACS. Different MS have chosen different solutions for their LPIS. Currently, some MS based their IACS/LPIS on data from their Land Administration Systems (LAS), and many others use purpose built special systems for their IACS/LPIS. The issue with these different IACS/LPIS is that they do not have standardized structures; rather, each represents a unique design in each MS, both in the case of LAS based or special systems. In this study, we aim at designing a core data model for those IACS/LPIS based on LAS. For this purpose, we make use of the ongoing standardization initiatives for LAS (Land Administration Domain Model: LADM) and IACS/LPIS (LPIS Core Model: LCM). The data model we propose in this study implies the collaboration between LADM and LCM and includes some extensions. Some basic issues with the collaboration model are discussed within this study: registration of farmers, land use rights and farming limitations, geometry/topology, temporal data management etc. For further explanation of the model structure, sample instance level diagrams illustrating some typical situations are also included. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Productive performance of Holstein calves finished in feedlot or pasture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ANA MARIA O. DIAS

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT The use of animals from dairy farms is an alternative to meat production since it provides an increment of total income for farmers. This study aims to evaluate the performance of Holstein calves finished in two feeding systems (feedlot or pasture. Forty-three animals with 58 days old and 57 kg were divided in two treatments: 23 animals finished in feedlot with corn silage plus concentrate based on corn and soybean meal (40:60; 20 animals kept in cultivated pastures according to the period of the year: Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum and pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum with supplementation with the same feedlot-concentrate at 1% body weight. Animals were slaughtered with 200 kg. Dry matter and nutrient intake were determined, with the use of chromium oxide for estimating pasture intake. Feedlot animals had greater total intake and total digestible nutrients, resulting in higher average daily gain (0.949 vs 0.694 kg day-1. Crude protein intake, neutral detergent fiber and feed conversion did not show significant differences. Holstein calves have improved performance when finished in feedlot.

  16. Integration of land use and land cover inventories for landscape management and planning in Italy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sallustio, Lorenzo; Munafò, Michele; Riitano, Nicola; Lasserre, Bruno; Fattorini, Lorenzo; Marchetti, Marco

    2016-01-01

    There are both semantic and technical differences between land use (LU) and land cover (LC) measurements. In cartographic approaches, these differences are often neglected, giving rise to a hybrid classification. The aim of this paper is to provide a better understanding and characterization of the two classification schemes using a comparison that allows maximization of the informative power of both. The analysis was carried out in the Molise region (Central Italy) using sample information from the Italian Land Use Inventory (IUTI). The sampling points were classified with a visual interpretation of aerial photographs for both LU and LC in order to estimate surfaces and assess the changes that occurred between 2000 and 2012. The results underscore the polarization of land use and land cover changes resulting from the following: (a) recolonization of natural surfaces, (b) strong dynamisms between the LC classes in the natural and semi-natural domain and (c) urban sprawl on the lower hills and plains. Most of the observed transitions are attributable to decreases in croplands, natural grasslands and pastures, owing to agricultural abandonment. The results demonstrate that a comparison between LU and LC estimates and their changes provides an understanding of the causes of misalignment between the two criteria. Such information may be useful for planning policies in both natural and semi-natural contexts as well as in urban areas.

  17. Land-based approach to evaluate sustainable land management and adaptive capacity of ecosystems/lands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kust, German; Andreeva, Olga

    2015-04-01

    A number of new concepts and paradigms appeared during last decades, such as sustainable land management (SLM), climate change (CC) adaptation, environmental services, ecosystem health, and others. All of these initiatives still not having the common scientific platform although some agreements in terminology were reached, schemes of links and feedback loops created, and some models developed. Nevertheless, in spite of all these scientific achievements, the land related issues are still not in the focus of CC adaptation and mitigation. The last did not grow much beyond the "greenhouse gases" (GHG) concept, which makes land degradation as the "forgotten side of climate change" The possible decision to integrate concepts of climate and desertification/land degradation could be consideration of the "GHG" approach providing global solution, and "land" approach providing local solution covering other "locally manifesting" issues of global importance (biodiversity conservation, food security, disasters and risks, etc.) to serve as a central concept among those. SLM concept is a land-based approach, which includes the concepts of both ecosystem-based approach (EbA) and community-based approach (CbA). SLM can serve as in integral CC adaptation strategy, being based on the statement "the more healthy and resilient the system is, the less vulnerable and more adaptive it will be to any external changes and forces, including climate" The biggest scientific issue is the methods to evaluate the SLM and results of the SLM investments. We suggest using the approach based on the understanding of the balance or equilibrium of the land and nature components as the major sign of the sustainable system. Prom this point of view it is easier to understand the state of the ecosystem stress, size of the "health", range of adaptive capacity, drivers of degradation and SLM nature, as well as the extended land use, and the concept of environmental land management as the improved SLM approach

  18. Combining global land cover datasets to quantify agricultural expansion into forests in Latin America: Limitations and challenges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Persson, U. Martin

    2017-01-01

    While we know that deforestation in the tropics is increasingly driven by commercial agriculture, most tropical countries still lack recent and spatially-explicit assessments of the relative importance of pasture and cropland expansion in causing forest loss. Here we present a spatially explicit quantification of the extent to which cultivated land and grassland expanded at the expense of forests across Latin America in 2001–2011, by combining two “state-of-the-art” global datasets (Global Forest Change forest loss and GlobeLand30-2010 land cover). We further evaluate some of the limitations and challenges in doing this. We find that this approach does capture some of the major patterns of land cover following deforestation, with GlobeLand30-2010’s Grassland class (which we interpret as pasture) being the most common land cover replacing forests across Latin America. However, our analysis also reveals some major limitations to combining these land cover datasets for quantifying pasture and cropland expansion into forest. First, a simple one-to-one translation between GlobeLand30-2010’s Cultivated land and Grassland classes into cropland and pasture respectively, should not be made without caution, as GlobeLand30-2010 defines its Cultivated land to include some pastures. Comparisons with the TerraClass dataset over the Brazilian Amazon and with previous literature indicates that Cultivated land in GlobeLand30-2010 includes notable amounts of pasture and other vegetation (e.g. in Paraguay and the Brazilian Amazon). This further suggests that the approach taken here generally leads to an underestimation (of up to ~60%) of the role of pasture in replacing forest. Second, a large share (~33%) of the Global Forest Change forest loss is found to still be forest according to GlobeLand30-2010 and our analysis suggests that the accuracy of the combined datasets, especially for areas with heterogeneous land cover and/or small-scale forest loss, is still too poor for

  19. Combining global land cover datasets to quantify agricultural expansion into forests in Latin America: Limitations and challenges.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Florence Pendrill

    Full Text Available While we know that deforestation in the tropics is increasingly driven by commercial agriculture, most tropical countries still lack recent and spatially-explicit assessments of the relative importance of pasture and cropland expansion in causing forest loss. Here we present a spatially explicit quantification of the extent to which cultivated land and grassland expanded at the expense of forests across Latin America in 2001-2011, by combining two "state-of-the-art" global datasets (Global Forest Change forest loss and GlobeLand30-2010 land cover. We further evaluate some of the limitations and challenges in doing this. We find that this approach does capture some of the major patterns of land cover following deforestation, with GlobeLand30-2010's Grassland class (which we interpret as pasture being the most common land cover replacing forests across Latin America. However, our analysis also reveals some major limitations to combining these land cover datasets for quantifying pasture and cropland expansion into forest. First, a simple one-to-one translation between GlobeLand30-2010's Cultivated land and Grassland classes into cropland and pasture respectively, should not be made without caution, as GlobeLand30-2010 defines its Cultivated land to include some pastures. Comparisons with the TerraClass dataset over the Brazilian Amazon and with previous literature indicates that Cultivated land in GlobeLand30-2010 includes notable amounts of pasture and other vegetation (e.g. in Paraguay and the Brazilian Amazon. This further suggests that the approach taken here generally leads to an underestimation (of up to ~60% of the role of pasture in replacing forest. Second, a large share (~33% of the Global Forest Change forest loss is found to still be forest according to GlobeLand30-2010 and our analysis suggests that the accuracy of the combined datasets, especially for areas with heterogeneous land cover and/or small-scale forest loss, is still too

  20. Conceptual bases of land managment planning for urban land use in conditions of decentralization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A.M. Tretyak

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The place and role of the plans of the land-economic system as a tool of land managment planning of urban land use development in the conditions of decentralization of power in replacement of general plans as not a market type of documentation is substantiated

  1. Soil fertility, humic fractions and natural abundance of "1"3C and "1"5N in soil under different land use in Parana State, Southern Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Loss, Arcangelo; Pereia, Marcos Gervasio; Costa, Elias Mendes; Beutler, Sidinei Julio; Piccolo, Marisa de Cassia

    2016-01-01

    Humic fractions of soil organic matter (SOM) and measurements of "1"3C and "1"5N isotope can be used to highlight differences between management systems with different intensities of land use. This study characterized soil fertility, quantified carbon levels in the humic fractions and evaluated the natural abundance of "1"3C and "1"5N in systems cultivated under no-tillage system (NTS) and conventional tillage system (CTS) or used with secondary forest or perennial pasture in Marmeleiro, Parana State, Southern Brazil. NTS was more efficient than the conventional tillage system (CTS) in increasing pH (0.0-0.10 m layer), Ca (0.0-0.05 m layer), P (except 0.05-0.10 m layer) and N (0.0-0.10 m) levels, total organic carbon (TOC) stocks (0.0-0.20 and 0.0-0.40 m layers); carbon of the humin fraction (C-HUM) in 0.0-0.40 m; the fulvic acid fraction (C-FAF) and humic acid (C-HAF) in 0.0-0.05 m. The use of grasses, in NTS and pasture, increased TOC stocks compared to the other soil use or management systems evaluated in the 0.0-0.40 m layer. In the topsoil layer, the anthropogenic influence of plowing and harrowing in CTS promoted greater loss of carbon in C-HUM, C-FAF and C-HAF than NTS, forest and pasture. In CTS, growing corn for 42 years after the removal of forest cover did not alter the "1"3C at 0.0-0.40 m. In pasture, the absence of legumes, constant deposition of cattle manure and a more stable organic matter favored high "1"5N levels (except at 0.0-0.05 m in CTS). The decrease in "1"5N values from the 0.0-0.10 to 0.10-0.20 m layer in CTS indicates that soil turnover (by plowing and harrowing) has the potential to disturb the depth-related variation in soil "1"5N, accelerating decomposition and compromising N transformations. Among the variables analyzed, the determination of carbon in humic fractions and "1"5N values were efficient in identifying soil changes produced by land use or management systems

  2. Land use change effects on forest carbon cycling throughout the southern United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peter B. Woodbury; Linda S. Heath; James E. Smith

    2006-01-01

    We modeled the effects of afforestation and deforestation on carbon cycling in forest floor and soil from 1900 to 2050 throughout 13 states in the southern United States. The model uses historical data on gross (two-way) transitions between forest, pasture, plowed agriculture, and urban lands along with equations describing changes in carbon over many decades for each...

  3. Influence of grazing and land use on stream-channel characteristics among small dairy farms in the Eastern United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brand, Genevieve; Vondracek, Bruce C.; Jordan, Nicholas R.

    2015-01-01

    Rotational grazing (RG) is a livestock management practice that rotates grazing cattle on a scale of hours to days among small pastures termed paddocks. It may beneficially affect stream channels, relative to other livestock management practices. Such effects and other beneficial effects on hydrology are important to RG's potential to provide a highly multifunctional mode of livestock farming. Previous comparisons of effects of RG and confinement dairy (CD) on adjoining streams have been restricted in scale and scope. We examined 11 stream-channel characteristics on a representative sample of 37 small dairy farms that used either RG or CD production methods. Our objectives were: (1) to compare channel characteristics on RG and CD farms, as these production methods are implemented in practice, in New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, USA; and (2) to examine land use on these farms that may affect stream-channel characteristics. To help interpret channel characteristic findings, we examined on-farm land use in riparian areas 50 m in width along both sides of stream reaches and whole-farm land use. In all states, stream-channel characteristics on RG and CD farms did not differ. Whole-farm land use differed significantly between farm types; CD farms allocated more land to annual row crops, whereas RG farms allocated more land to pasture and grassland. However, land cover in 50 m riparian areas was not different between farm types within states; in particular, many RG and CD farms had continuously grazed pastures in riparian areas, typically occupied by juvenile and non-lactating cows, which may have contributed sediment and nutrients to streams. This similarity in riparian management practices may explain the observed similarity of farm types with respect to stream-channel characteristics. To realize the potential benefits of RG on streams, best management practices that affect stream-channel characteristics, such as protection of riparian areas, may improve aggregate

  4. Land-use change effects on fluxes and isotopic composition of CO2 and CH4 in Panama, and possible insights into the atmospheric H2 cycle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pendall, E.; Schwendenmann, L.; Potvin, C.

    2003-12-01

    Land-use changes in tropical regions are believed to release a quantity of C to the atmosphere which is similar in magnitude to the entire "missing" sink for anthropogenic CO2. Our research attempts to evaluate carbon cycling in three land-cover systems in central Panama: cow pasture, native tree plantation, and undisturbed moist forest. In this ongoing project, we are collecting samples of air from profiles in the stable, nocturnal boundary layer, which is dominated by ecosystem respiration. Samples are analyzed for CO2 and its isotopes, CH4 and its C isotopic composition, N2O, H2, CO, and SF6. We use a flux-gradient method to estimate ecosystem-scale fluxes of trace gases from soil to the atmosphere. Keeling plot intercepts reflect the respiratory contribution of C3 and C4 biomass under contrasting land cover systems, and how this varies with pronounced wet-dry seasonal cycles. C isotopes of methane and gradients of molecular hydrogen provide insight into the source of methane production from pasture and plantation soils. Rainforest soils, in contrast, are sinks for both atmospheric methane and hydrogen. The process oriented nature of this field experiment will contribute to parameterization of carbon cycle models at a variety of spatial scales.

  5. Policy implications in developing a land use management information systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Landini, A. J.

    1975-01-01

    The current land use map for the city of Los Angeles was developed by the guesstimation process and provides single stage information for each level in the critical geographical hierarchy for land use planning management. Processing and incorporation of LANDSAT data in the land use information system requires special funding; however, computergraphic maps are able to provide a viable information system for city planning and management.

  6. Effect of land use on the density of nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria in the Colombian Coffee Region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vallejo Quintero Victoria Eugenia

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available

    Soil microbial communities involved in the cycling of nitrogen (N are essential to maintaining and improving soil fertility, productivity and functionality of natural and agricultural ecosystems. However, some compounds generated during the metabolic processes performed by nitrifying (NB and denitrifying (DB bacteria are associated with the production of greenhouse gases, groundwater pollution and acidification. Therefore, the study of these bacteria is essential for economic and environmental sustainability. This study evaluated the effect of different land uses in two river basins (La Vieja and Otun on NB and DB densities. Two sampling events (SE were conducted by selecting the most representative land uses. Physicochemical (T °, pH, moisture and nitrate and microbiological properties (NB and DB densities were evaluated. In both SEs, significantly higher densities of NB and DB were observed in the land uses: pasture, guadua (DB only and unshaded coffee (La Vieja and onion (Otun. These land uses, excluding guadua, are dependent on nitrogen fertilizers, which together with the activities of grazing livestock on pastures may lead to greater availability of substrates for the NB. The use of agricultural machinery and overgrazing in pasture and onion uses generate compacted soil and other physical disturbances, encouraging the growth of DB. Forests had the lowest densities of NB and DB possibly due to a reduced availability of N and the releasing of allelopathic compounds from certain plants. Finally, the densities of ammonium-oxidizing bacteria had the greatest differences between the land uses evaluated, demonstrating its high sensitivity to agricultural management practices and livestock. We suggest that changes in the abundance of this community could

  7. Evaluation of Intensive Construction Land Use in the Emerging City Based on PSR-Entropy model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jia, Yuanyuan; Lei, Guangyu

    2018-01-01

    A comprehensive understanding of emerging city land utilization and the evaluation of intensive land use in the Emerging City will provide the comprehensive and reliable technical basis for the planning and management. It is an important node. According to the Han cheng from 2008 to 2016 years of land use, based on PSR-Entropy model of land use evaluation system, using entropy method to determine the index weight, the introduction of comprehensive index method to evaluate the degree of land use. The results show that the intensive land use comprehensive evaluation index of Han cheng increased from 2008 to 2015, but the land intensive use can not achieve the standards. The potential of further enhancing space is relatively large.

  8. Grid-based modeling for land use planning and environmental resource mapping.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kuiper, J. A.

    1999-08-04

    Geographic Information System (GIS) technology is used by land managers and natural resource planners for examining resource distribution and conducting project planning, often by visually interpreting spatial data representing environmental or regulatory variables. Frequently, many variables influence the decision-making process, and modeling can improve results with even a small investment of time and effort. Presented are several grid-based GIS modeling projects, including: (1) land use optimization under environmental and regulatory constraints; (2) identification of suitable wetland mitigation sites; and (3) predictive mapping of prehistoric cultural resource sites. As different as the applications are, each follows a similar process of problem conceptualization, implementation of a practical grid-based GIS model, and evaluation of results.

  9. Using a passive air sampler to monitor air-soil exchange of organochlorine pesticides in the pasture of the central Tibetan Plateau.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Chuanfei; Wang, Xiaoping; Ren, Jiao; Gong, Ping; Yao, Tandong

    2017-02-15

    Air-soil exchange is a key process controlling the fate of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). However, the "sink effect" of soil for POPs in Tibetan pasture has not been clear. In NamCo, in the central Tibetan Plateau (TP) where the land is covered by grass, a modified passive air sampler (PAS) (thickness: 2cm) was tested. Using the PAS, the atmospheric gaseous phase organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) at 11 heights from close-to-surface (2cm) to 200cm above ground, in summer and in winter, were measured. Concentrations of OCPs in summer were higher than those in winter. Both in summer and winter, atmospheric concentrations of OCPs decreased with decreasing height from 200 to 2cm, indicating that OCPs were being deposited from air to soil. Air deposition of OCPs was possibly driven by wind speed. Furthermore, based on air OCPs at 0-3cm near the surface, the interface exchange of OCPs between air and soil was studied by the fugacity method. The results showed that pastural soil in the TP was a "sink" of OCPs even in summer. The mean deposition fluxes of α-HCH, γ-HCH and o,p'-DDT were 0.72, 0.24 and 0.54pg/h/m 2 , respectively, and it was estimated that the level of these pollutants in the soil will double every 24, 66 and 206years, respectively. This study will contribute to the further understanding of global cycling of POPs in different land covers. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Impact of cow strain and concentrate supplementation on grazing behaviour, milk yield and metabolic state of dairy cows in an organic pasture-based feeding system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heublein, C; Dohme-Meier, F; Südekum, K-H; Bruckmaier, R M; Thanner, S; Schori, F

    2017-07-01

    As ruminants are able to digest fibre efficiently and assuming that competition for feed v. food use would intensify in the future, cereals and other field crops should primarily be destined to cover the dietary needs of humans and monogastric animals such as poultry and pigs. Farming systems with a reduced or absent concentrate supplementation, as postulated by organic agriculture associations, require adapted dairy cows. The aim of this experiment was to examine the impact of concentrate supplementation on milk production, grazing and rumination behaviour, feed intake, physical activity and blood traits with two Holstein-Friesian cow strains and to conclude the consequences for sustainable and organic farming. The experiment was a cross-over study and took place on an organic farm in Switzerland. In all, 12 Swiss Holstein-Friesian (HCH) cows and 12 New Zealand Holstein-Friesian (HNZ) cows, which were paired according to lactation number, days in milk and age for primiparous cows, were used. All cows grazed full time and were supplemented either with 6 kg/day of a commercial, organic cereal-grain mix or received no supplement. After an adaptation period of 21 days, a measurement period of 7 days followed, where milk yield and composition, pasture dry matter intake estimated with the n-alkane double-indicator technique, physical activity based on pedometer measurements, grazing behaviour recorded by automatic jaw movement recorder and blood samples were investigated. Non-supplemented cows had a lower milk yield and supplemented HCH cows produced more milk than supplemented HNZ cows. Grazing time and physical activity were greater for non-supplemented cows. Supplementation had no effect on rumination behaviour, but HNZ cows spent longer ruminating compared with HCH cows. Pasture dry matter intake decreased with the concentrate supplementation. Results of blood analysis did not indicate a strong negative energy balance for either non-supplemented or supplemented cows

  11. Determination of Some Land and Soil Characteristics of Siirt Province with Geographic Information System Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mehmet Arif ÖZYAZICI

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The main aim of this research was to determine some land and soil characteristics of Siirt province and to make database using Geographic Information System (GIS. The study area covers about 562619.5 ha. Firstly, digital elevation model was formed using topographic map of the Siirt province and after this process slope, aspect, elevation and hill shade maps were also produced. In addition to that, some data produced General Directory of Rural Services and climate data were used in this study. According to study results, west part of the Siirt province has almost flat area whereas, hilly and mountain area locate in north and east part of it. Therefore, slope degree increase from west to north and east ways. More than half of the study area’s soil types (65% is Brown forest soils. Besides, according to land use and land cover map about 44% and 31% of the study area covers by shrubbery-brush and pastures, respectively. According to erosion maps, approximately %90 of the Siirt province lands has medium, severe and very severe erosion problem. Lands that are suitable for agricultural activities are very limited in Siirt Province. Only about 9% of the total land was classified as I, II and III land capability classes. Moreover, investigated depth map of the study area about 85% of the study area has very shallow and shallow soil depth. Deep soils found on plain and valley located at west part of the study area.

  12. Tsunami Hazard Preventing Based Land Use Planning Model Using GIS Techniques in Muang Krabi, Thailand

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdul Salam Soomro

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available The terrible tsunami disaster, on 26 December 2004 hit Krabi, one of the ecotourist and very fascinating provinces of southern Thailand including its various regions e.g. Phangna and Phuket by devastating the human lives, coastal communications and the financially viable activities. This research study has been aimed to generate the tsunami hazard preventing based lands use planning model using GIS (Geographical Information Systems based on the hazard suitability analysis approach. The different triggering factors e.g. elevation, proximity to shore line, population density, mangrove, forest, stream and road have been used based on the land use zoning criteria. Those criteria have been used by using Saaty scale of importance one, of the mathematical techniques. This model has been classified according to the land suitability classification. The various techniques of GIS, namely subsetting, spatial analysis, map difference and data conversion have been used. The model has been generated with five categories such as high, moderate, low, very low and not suitable regions illustrating with their appropriate definition for the decision makers to redevelop the region.

  13. Tsunami hazard preventing based land use planing model using GIS technique in Muang Krabi, Thailand

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soormo, A.S.

    2012-01-01

    The terrible tsunami disaster, on 26 December 2004 hit Krabi, one of the ecotourist and very fascinating provinces of southern Thailand including its various regions e.g. Phangna and Phuket by devastating the human lives, coastal communications and the financially viable activities. This research study has been aimed to generate the tsunami hazard preventing based lands use planning model using GIS (Geographical Information Systems) based on the hazard suitability analysis approach. The different triggering factors e.g. elevation, proximity to shore line, population density, mangrove, forest, stream and road have been used based on the land use zoning criteria. Those criteria have been used by using Saaty scale of importance one, of the mathematical techniques. This model has been classified according to the land suitability classification. The various techniques of GIS, namely subsetting, spatial analysis, map difference and data conversion have been used. The model has been generated with five categories such as high, moderate, low, very low and not suitable regions illustrating with their appropriate definition for the decision makers to redevelop the region. (author)

  14. Potential for biological nitrification inhibition to reduce nitrification and N2O emissions in pasture crop-livestock systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Subbarao, G V; Rao, I M; Nakahara, K; Sahrawat, K L; Ando, Y; Kawashima, T

    2013-06-01

    Agriculture and livestock production systems are two major emitters of greenhouse gases. Methane with a GWP (global warming potential) of 21, and nitrous oxide (N2O) with a GWP of 300, are largely emitted from animal production agriculture, where livestock production is based on pasture and feed grains. The principal biological processes involved in N2O emissions are nitrification and denitrification. Biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) is the natural ability of certain plant species to release nitrification inhibitors from their roots that suppress nitrifier activity, thus reducing soil nitrification and N2O emission. Recent methodological developments (e.g. bioluminescence assay to detect BNIs in plant root systems) have led to significant advances in our ability to quantify and characterize the BNI function. Synthesis and release of BNIs from plants is a highly regulated process triggered by the presence of NH4 + in the rhizosphere, which results in the inhibitor being released precisely where the majority of the soil-nitrifier population resides. Among the tropical pasture grasses, the BNI function is strongest (i.e. BNI capacity) in Brachiaria sp. Some feed-grain crops such as sorghum also have significant BNI capacity present in their root systems. The chemical identity of some of these BNIs has now been established, and their mode of inhibitory action on Nitrosomonas has been characterized. The ability of the BNI function in Brachiaria pastures to suppress N2O emissions and soil nitrification potential has been demonstrated; however, its potential role in controlling N2O emissions in agro-pastoral systems is under investigation. Here we present the current status of our understanding on how the BNI functions in Brachiaria pastures and feed-grain crops such as sorghum can be exploited both genetically and, from a production system's perspective, to develop low-nitrifying and low N2O-emitting production systems that would be economically profitable and

  15. The Environmental Advisory Service (EASe): a decision support system for comprehensive screening of local land-use development proposals and comparative evaluation of proposed land-use plans

    OpenAIRE

    K P White; A P Sage; F A Rodammer; C T Peters

    1985-01-01

    The Environmental Advisory Service (EASe) is a decision support system which can provide assistance to local planning agencies in selecting land-development alternatives or in formulating land-use plans. EASe offers a comprehensive and consistent procedure for rating either a development proposal or a proposed plan. This procedure is based upon qualitative assessments of the impact of developments or plans on the natural environment, zoning and land use. public and private services, transport...

  16. Remote Marker-Based Tracking for UAV Landing Using Visible-Light Camera Sensor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nguyen, Phong Ha; Kim, Ki Wan; Lee, Young Won; Park, Kang Ryoung

    2017-08-30

    Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which are commonly known as drones, have proved to be useful not only on the battlefields where manned flight is considered too risky or difficult, but also in everyday life purposes such as surveillance, monitoring, rescue, unmanned cargo, aerial video, and photography. More advanced drones make use of global positioning system (GPS) receivers during the navigation and control loop which allows for smart GPS features of drone navigation. However, there are problems if the drones operate in heterogeneous areas with no GPS signal, so it is important to perform research into the development of UAVs with autonomous navigation and landing guidance using computer vision. In this research, we determined how to safely land a drone in the absence of GPS signals using our remote maker-based tracking algorithm based on the visible light camera sensor. The proposed method uses a unique marker designed as a tracking target during landing procedures. Experimental results show that our method significantly outperforms state-of-the-art object trackers in terms of both accuracy and processing time, and we perform test on an embedded system in various environments.

  17. Forage-based dairying in a water-limited future: use of models to investigate farming system adaptation in southern Australia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chapman, D F; Dassanayake, K; Hill, J O; Cullen, B R; Lane, N

    2012-07-01

    The irrigated dairy industry in southern Australia has experienced significant restrictions in irrigation water allocations since 2005, consistent with climate change impact predictions for the region. Simulation models of pasture growth (DairyMod), crop yield (Agricultural Production Systems Simulator, APSIM), and dairy system management and production (UDDER) were used in combination to investigate a range of forage options that may be capable of sustaining dairy business profitability under restricted water-allocation scenarios in northern Victoria, Australia. A total of 23 scenarios were simulated and compared with a base farm system (100% of historical water allocations, grazed perennial ryegrass pasture with supplements; estimated operating surplus $A2,615/ha at a milk price of $A4.14/kg of milk solids). Nine simulations explored the response of the base farm to changes in stocking rate or the implementation of a double cropping rotation on 30% of farm area, or both. Five simulations explored the extreme scenario of dairying without any irrigation water. Two general responses to water restrictions were investigated in a further 9 simulations. Annual ryegrass grazed pasture, complemented by a double cropping rotation (maize grown in summer for silage, followed by either brassica forage crop and annual ryegrass for silage in winter and spring) on 30% of farm area, led to an estimated operating surplus of $A1746/ha at the same stocking rate as the base farm when calving was moved to autumn (instead of late winter, as in the base system). Estimated total irrigation water use was 2.7ML/ha compared with 5.4ML/ha for the base system. Summer-dormant perennial grass plus double cropping (30% of farm area) lifted operating surplus by a further $A100/ha if associated with autumn calving (estimated total irrigation water use 3.1ML/ha). Large shifts in the forage base of dairy farms could sustain profitability in the face of lower, and fluctuating, water allocations

  18. Historical roots and environmental impacts of land use in the Luhansk region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dmitry Sopov

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The influence of human activities (particularly agriculture and the coal industry on the nature of land use in the Luhansk region (separately for right Bank and left Bank parts. The emphasis on the value sarutanont areas and sheet erosion in the degradation of soils and lands, especially on the Donetskridge (the right Bank of the Seversky Donets. The role of prologue relief Donetskridge as a natural factor in the spread of erosion processes. A brief historical overview of attempts to combat the development of ravines in the Luhansk region that carried out, starting from the second half of the XIX century, but mainly were not effective. As one of the negative factors that influenced the structure of land use, delineated drainage increasing the area under pasture, which increases the intensity of erosion processes. Lighted the detrimental effect of mining activities on the land-use patterns in the study area. Noted regarding the environmental effects of physical exclusion of lands due to their occupation by dumps, waste heaps and other anthropogenic forms of relief, formed mining activities. Emphasized that not only mine, but also the concentrator, communication facilities and the like play a role in the reduction of the area occupied by farmland, and therefore cause negative changes of land use structure in the right-Bank part of the territory of the Luhansk region. Noted that extensive and excessive land use in agriculture and the coal industry in Luhansk region has led to the degradation of large areas of land and the impoverishment of the land fund. Noted that the current structure of land use requires radical changes which should be based on new conceptual principles and a systematic approach to the problems of environmental management.

  19. Mekong Land Cover Dasboard: Regional Land Cover Mointoring Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saah, D. S.; Towashiraporn, P.; Aekakkararungroj, A.; Phongsapan, K.; Triepke, J.; Maus, P.; Tenneson, K.; Cutter, P. G.; Ganz, D.; Anderson, E.

    2016-12-01

    SERVIR-Mekong, a USAID-NASA partnership, helps decision makers in the Lower Mekong Region utilize GIS and Remote Sensing information to inform climate related activities. In 2015, SERVIR-Mekong conducted a geospatial needs assessment for the Lower Mekong countries which included individual country consultations. The team found that many countries were dependent on land cover and land use maps for land resource planning, quantifying ecosystem services, including resilience to climate change, biodiversity conservation, and other critical social issues. Many of the Lower Mekong countries have developed national scale land cover maps derived in part from remote sensing products and geospatial technologies. However, updates are infrequent and classification systems do not always meet the needs of key user groups. In addition, data products stop at political boundaries and are often not accessible making the data unusable across country boundaries and with resource management partners. Many of these countries rely on global land cover products to fill the gaps of their national efforts, compromising consistency between data and policies. These gaps in national efforts can be filled by a flexible regional land cover monitoring system that is co-developed by regional partners with the specific intention of meeting national transboundary needs, for example including consistent forest definitions in transboundary watersheds. Based on these facts, key regional stakeholders identified a need for a land cover monitoring system that will produce frequent, high quality land cover maps using a consistent regional classification scheme that is compatible with national country needs. SERVIR-Mekong is currently developing a solution that leverages recent developments in remote sensing science and technology, such as Google Earth Engine (GEE), and working together with production partners to develop a system that will use a common set of input data sources to generate high

  20. Diet of the crayfish Paranephrops zealandicus in bush and pasture streams : insights from stable isotopes and stomach analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hollows, J.W.; Townsend, C.R.; Collier, K.J.

    2002-01-01

    Crayfish (Paranephrops zealandicus White) stomachs from streams in both native bush (mainly tree leaves and dicotyledonous seeds) and exotic pasture settings (mainly grass stems and monocotyledonous seeds) were dominated by allochthonous material. More detritus occurred in stomachs in autumn-winter than in spring-summer, but quantities were similar in crayfish from native bush and pasture streams. The stomachs of larger crayfish contained a significantly greater proportion of detritus than smaller individuals. Aquatic invertebrates were the second most abundant dietary category by volume, with highest values in winter, but there were no significant differences between land uses or crayfish size classes. A wide range of invertebrates was eaten by crayfish, with mayfly nymphs, chironomid larvae, and snails predominating. The latter were numerically more prominent in crayfish from bush than pasture streams. Terrestrial invertebrates were recorded from 4% of stomachs, but there were no significant differences in relation to land use, season, or crayfish size class. Despite aquatic invertebrates making up 13 C and perhaps of microfloral origin, seems to be an important energy source for crayfish in both stream types. (author). 52 refs., 5 figs., 2 tabs

  1. Carbon emissions from land use and land-cover change

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. A. Houghton

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The net flux of carbon from land use and land-cover change (LULCC accounted for 12.5% of anthropogenic carbon emissions from 1990 to 2010. This net flux is the most uncertain term in the global carbon budget, not only because of uncertainties in rates of deforestation and forestation, but also because of uncertainties in the carbon density of the lands actually undergoing change. Furthermore, there are differences in approaches used to determine the flux that introduce variability into estimates in ways that are difficult to evaluate, and not all analyses consider the same types of management activities. Thirteen recent estimates of net carbon emissions from LULCC are summarized here. In addition to deforestation, all analyses considered changes in the area of agricultural lands (croplands and pastures. Some considered, also, forest management (wood harvest, shifting cultivation. None included emissions from the degradation of tropical peatlands. Means and standard deviations across the thirteen model estimates of annual emissions for the 1980s and 1990s, respectively, are 1.14 ± 0.23 and 1.12 ± 0.25 Pg C yr−1 (1 Pg = 1015 g carbon. Four studies also considered the period 2000–2009, and the mean and standard deviations across these four for the three decades are 1.14 ± 0.39, 1.17 ± 0.32, and 1.10 ± 0.11 Pg C yr−1. For the period 1990–2009 the mean global emissions from LULCC are 1.14 ± 0.18 Pg C yr−1. The standard deviations across model means shown here are smaller than previous estimates of uncertainty as they do not account for the errors that result from data uncertainty and from an incomplete understanding of all the processes affecting the net flux of carbon from LULCC. Although these errors have not been systematically evaluated, based on partial analyses available in the literature and expert opinion, they are estimated to be on the order of ± 0.5 Pg C yr−1.

  2. Land use and surface process domains on alpine hillslopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuhn, Nikolaus J.; Caviezel, Chatrina; Hunziker, Matthias

    2015-04-01

    Shrubs and trees are generally considered to protect hillslopes from erosion. As a consequence, shrub encroachment on mountain pastures after abandoning grazing is not considered a threat to soils. However, the abandonment of mown or grazed grasslands causes a shift in vegetation composition and thus a change in landscape ecology and geomorphology. On many alpine slopes, current changes in land use and vegetation cover are accompanied by climate change, potentially generating a new geomorphic regime. Most of the debate focuses on the effect of land abandonment on water erosion rates. Generally, an established perennial vegetation cover improves the mechanical anchoring of the soil and the regulation of the soil water budget, including runoff generation and erosion. However, changing vegetation composition affects many other above- and below-ground properties like root density, -diversity and -geometry, soil structure, pore volume and acidity. Each combination of these properties can lead to a distinct scenario of dominating surface processes, often not reflected by common erosion risk assessment procedures. The study of soil properties along a chronosequence of green alder (alnusviridis) encroachment on the Unteralptal in central Switzerland reveals that shrub encroachment changes soil and vegetation properties towards an increase of resistance to run-off related erosion processes, but a decrease of slope stability against shallow landslides. The latter are a particular threat because of the currently increasing frequency of slide-triggering high magnitude rainfalls. The potential change of process domain on alpine pastures highlights the need for a careful use of erosion models when assessing future land use and climate scenarios. In mountains, but also other intensively managed agricultural landscapes, risk assessment without the appropriate reflection on the shifting relevance of surface processes carries the risk of missing future threats to environmental

  3. Humic Haplustox under different land uses in a high altitude environment in the Agreste region of Pernambuco, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jane Kelly Silva Araujo

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available The Garanhuns Plateau in the Agreste region of the State of Pernambuco, Brazil is characterized by humid climatic conditions due to orographic rains, unlike the surrounding semiarid region. These soils are subjected to intense agricultural use and are extremely important for the regional economy. This study was carried out in the municipality of Brejão in the Agreste region with the aim of assessing changes in humic Haplustox soils subjected to different land uses. Four plots with different vegetation covers (native forest, secondary shrubby vegetation (capoeira, traditional cropping system, and planted pasture were selected, and samples were taken from a soil profile and four small pits surrounding it at each site. Physical and chemical properties were assessed, including aggregate stability, humic organic fractions, and a microbiological evaluation through determination of basal respiration, microbial biomass carbon, and metabolic quotient. The soils under study showed physical and chemical properties typical of a Haplustox, such as low nutrient content, low cation exchange capacity, and high levels of acidity and Al saturation. The total organic carbon (TOC contents were high regardless of the type of land use. Aggregates < 2 mm were dominant in all the conditions under study. The TOC content was higher in the soil under capoeira, 43.91 g kg-1 on the surface, while 34.36 and 33.43 g kg-1 of TOC were observed in the first layer of forest and pasture soils, respectively. While the microbial biomass C (MBC was greater than 700 mg kg-1 in the forest and pasture areas (in the 0-5 cm layer, and 588 mg kg-1 in the soil under capoeira, these numbers were not statistically different. In the cultivated soil area, there was a reduction of around 28 % in TOC and MBC contents. Agricultural activity contributed to degradation of the humic horizon, as can be seen from a significant decrease in the TOC and changes in the relative distribution of the humic

  4. Effect of land use change on the carbon cycle in Amazon soils

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trumbore, Susan E.; Davidson, Eric A.

    1994-01-01

    The overall goal of this study was to provide a quantitative understanding of the cycling of carbon in the soils associated with deep-rooting Amazon forests. In particular, we wished to apply the understanding gained by answering two questions: (1) what changes will accompany the major land use change in this region, the conversion of forest to pasture? and (2) what is the role of carbon stored deeper than one meter in depth in these soils? To construct carbon budgets for pasture and forest soils we combined the following: measurements of carbon stocks in above-ground vegetation, root biomass, detritus, and soil organic matter; rates of carbon inputs to soil and detrital layers using litterfall collection and sequential coring to estimate fine root turnover; C-14 analyses of fractionated SOM and soil CO2 to estimate residence times; C-13 analyses to estimate C inputs to pasture soils from C-4 grasses; soil pCO2, volumetric water content, and radon gradients to estimate CO2 production as a function of soil depth; soil respiration to estimate total C outputs; and a model of soil C dynamics that defines SOM fractions cycling on annual, decadal, and millennial time scales.

  5. Assessing land use by cattle in heterogeneous environments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aline Cristina Sant'Anna

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this note is to describe preliminary results on assessment of land use by cattle, obtained in a pilot study using Geographic Information System (GIS. The research was carried out on a semi-natural pasture in Sweden, where the geographic positions of one cow were recorded during 25 consecutive days during summer. The cow, wearing a GPS collar, was integrated in a herd of 53 Hereford cattle. Each location point registered for the animal was considered as a sampling unit (N=3,097. The spatial distribution of ground declivity, water sources, cattle tracks, and classes of woody vegetation cover (forest, grassland with trees and open grassland were recorded. The storage, processing and data analysis were carried out using the Idrisi and GS+ softwares. Three occupation zones were identified in function of the variation in the space used by the animal, which were occupied in a cyclical pattern; with the animal moving from one zone to another in cycles of five days. It was also clear that the cattle distribution in the area was neither random nor uniform, and it was affected by environmental characteristics that act as conditioners on its distribution. These preliminary results suggest that definition of zones of occupation and the environmental conditioners are promising tools to understand the land use by cattle

  6. Differentiating impacts of land use changes from pasture management in a CEAP watershed using the SWAT model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Due to intensive farm practices, nonpoint-source (NPS) pollution has become one of the most challenging environmental problems in agricultural and mixed land use watersheds. Usually, various conservation practices are implemented in the watershed to control the NPS pollution problem. However, land u...

  7. Poverty Dynamics, Ecological Endowments, and Land Use among Smallholders in the Brazilian Amazon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guedes, Gilvan R.; VanWey, Leah K.; Hull, James R.; Antigo, Mariangela; Barbieri, Alisson F.

    2013-01-01

    Rural settlement in previously sparsely occupied areas of the Brazilian Amazon has been associated with high levels of forest loss and unclear long-term social outcomes. We focus here on the micro-level processes in one settlement area to answer the question of how settler and farm endowments affect household poverty. We analyze the extent to which poverty is sensitive to changes in natural capital, land use strategies, and biophysical characteristics of properties (particularly soil quality). Cumulative time spent in poverty is simulated using Markovian processes, which show that accessibility to markets and land use system are especially important for decreasing poverty among households in our sample. Wealthier households are selected into commercial production of perennials before our initial observation, and are therefore in poverty a lower proportion of the time. Land in pasture, in contrast, has an independent effect on reducing the proportion of time spent in poverty. Taken together, these results show that investments in roads and the institutional structures needed to make commercial agriculture or ranching viable in existing and new settlement areas can improve human well-being in frontiers. PMID:24267754

  8. Poverty dynamics, ecological endowments, and land use among smallholders in the Brazilian Amazon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guedes, Gilvan R; VanWey, Leah K; Hull, James R; Antigo, Mariangela; Barbieri, Alisson F

    2014-01-01

    Rural settlement in previously sparsely occupied areas of the Brazilian Amazon has been associated with high levels of forest loss and unclear long-term social outcomes. We focus here on the micro-level processes in one settlement area to answer the question of how settler and farm endowments affect household poverty. We analyze the extent to which poverty is sensitive to changes in natural capital, land use strategies, and biophysical characteristics of properties (particularly soil quality). Cumulative time spent in poverty is simulated using Markovian processes, which show that accessibility to markets and land use system are especially important for decreasing poverty among households in our sample. Wealtheir households are selected into commercial production of perennials before our initial observation, and are therefore in poverty a lower proportion of the time. Land in pasture, in contrast, has an independent effect on reducing the proportion of time spent in poverty. Taken together, these results show that investments in roads and the institutional structures needed to make commercial agriculture or ranching viable in existing and new settlement areas can improve human well-being in frontiers. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Accounting for multi-functionality of sheep farming in the carbon footprint of lamb: A comparison of three contrasting Mediterranean systems.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ripoll-Bosch, R.; Boer, de I.J.M.; Bernues, A.; Vellinga, Th.V.

    2013-01-01

    Intensifying animal production is generally advocated to mitigate greenhouse gases emissions associated with production of animal-source food. Sheep farming systems (SFSs) in Spain are generally considered to be pasture-based and extensive, but large differences in input utilization, land use and

  10. LUMIS: Land Use Management and Information Systems; coordinate oriented program documentation

    Science.gov (United States)

    1976-01-01

    An integrated geographic information system to assist program managers and planning groups in metropolitan regions is presented. The series of computer software programs and procedures involved in data base construction uses the census DIME file and point-in-polygon architectures. The system is described in two parts: (1) instructions to operators with regard to digitizing and editing procedures, and (2) application of data base construction algorithms to achieve map registration, assure the topological integrity of polygon files, and tabulate land use acreages within administrative districts.

  11. Land Use, Conservation, Forestry, and Agriculture in Puerto Rico

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    William A. Gould

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Global food security concerns emphasize the need for sustainable agriculture and local food production. In Puerto Rico, over 80 percent of food is imported, and local production levels have reached historical lows. Efforts to increase local food production are driven by government agencies, non-government organizations, farmers, and consumers. Integration of geographic information helps plan and balance the reinvention and invigoration of the agriculture sector while maintaining ecological services. We used simple criteria that included currently protected lands and the importance of slope and forest cover in protection from erosion to identify land well-suited for conservation, agriculture and forestry in Puerto Rico. Within these categories we assessed U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA farmland soils classification data, lands currently in agricultural production, current land cover, and current land use planning designations. We found that developed lands occupy 13 percent of Puerto Rico; lands well-suited for conservation that include protected areas, riparian buffers, lands surrounding reservoirs, wetlands, beaches, and salt flats, occupy 45 percent of Puerto Rico; potential working lands encompass 42 percent of Puerto Rico. These include lands well-suited for mechanized and non-mechanized agriculture, such as row and specialty crops, livestock, dairy, hay, pasture, and fruits, which occupy 23 percent of Puerto Rico; and areas suitable for forestry production, such as timber and non-timber products, agroforestry, and shade coffee, which occupy 19 percent of Puerto Rico.

  12. Banco de sementes no solo em sistemas de cultivo lavoura-pastagem Soil seedbank in integrated crop-pasture systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernanda Satie Ikeda

    2007-11-01

    gradual corrective fertilization, there was no difference between tillage systems. The fertilization level caused a reduction in seed density only in LPLC and PLPC cultivated areas. Integrated crop-pasture system with no-tillage adoption can be useful in weed management of grains crop areas.

  13. Land use/land cover study of urban features using spot imagery

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mahmood, S.A.; Qureshi, J.; Abbas, I.

    2005-01-01

    This study is based on visual interpretation and classification of the urban area of Peshawar. Cloud free satellite image of the French SPOT System in panchromatic mode at 100m/pixel spatial detail was used for this purpose. The coverage area comprised nearly (7.5 x 6)sq. km. on the ground depicting the major portion of the city. Various image interpretation elements were exploited to accomplish the study, thirteen land cover classes were identified and demarcated on a tracing sheet. Having prepared the base map. Satellite image map was constructed by assigning disparate colors to the identified features. Dimensions of some of the prominent, regular and liner features were computed from the image. The results indicate that high-resolution satellite image can be effectively used for mapping and area estimation of urban land use/land cover features. (author)

  14. Analysis of the development of land use in the Morava River floodplain, with special emphasis on the landscape matrix

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kilianová Helena

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available The results of an analysis of land use development in the Morava River floodplain (Czech Republic using GIS from 1836 to the present, are the subject of this article. The results are based on the analysis of historical maps, using the landscape matrix assessment of the Morava River floodplain. The final analyses were processed from land use maps of the floodplain at a scale of 1 : 25,000 in five time horizons. These maps were compared with the present state of landscape by GIS methods. The study area was assessed according to five geomorphological areas from the northern/higher part to the southern/lower part of floodplain. In 1836 the landscape matrix of the floodplain was composed of meadows and forests. Forest components decreased minimally but the changes are more important. The grassland area (meadows and pastures decreased but arable land, as well as settlements, increased very significantly. In the 1950s the landscape matrix was composed of a mosaic of alluvial forests, meadows and arable land. Currently, the predominant landscape matrix consists of arable land and isolated forest complexes.

  15. The role of livestock-poached pasture as a sediment source

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greenwood, Philip; Walling, Desmond; Quine, Timothy

    2015-04-01

    Historically, the occurrence of sediment-laden runoff has almost exclusively been associated with cultivated hillslopes and particularly with arable land. This association was commonly accompanied by the presumption that, in comparison with cultivated slopes, erosion from intensively-managed lowland pasture was relatively low. Recent developments in sediment source tracing and fingerprinting techniques have, however, challenged these assumptions by demonstrating that soil loss from grasslands may be greater than previously assumed. In attempting to identify potential source areas within grassland environments, attention has frequently focused on areas of livestock poaching where herd animals tend to congregate. However, the role of poached grassland as a sediment-source remains uncertain. Reasons include the difficulties associated with accurately documenting the movement or redistribution of small quantities of fine sediment over relevant spatial and temporal scales. Motivated by an urgent need for such information, this communication presents preliminary results from a tracing study aimed at measuring sediment redistribution within areas of poached pasture over short (i.e. event-based) timescales using the artificial radionuclides, caesium-134 (134Cs) and cobalt-60 (60Co). The approach involved labelling six small areas (0.2 * 0.2 m) of poached soil, each with a contrasting gradient, with either 134Cs or 60Co, and then measuring changes in the radiometric inventory at predetermined points before and after periods of rainfall. Each labelled area of poached pasture was measured on three separate occasions over a 65 day period. At the end of the monitoring phase, the mean net soil redistribution depth (mm) was negative for all plots, with values ranging from -6.8 mm to -15.2 mm. This is interpreted as evidence of the removal, or erosion, of surface material. The findings indicate that areas of livestock-poached pasture can act as significant sediment sources. These

  16. Land-Based Mobile Laser Scanning Systems: a Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puente, I.; González-Jorge, H.; Arias, P.; Armesto, J.

    2011-09-01

    Mobile mapping has been using various photogrammetric techniques for many years. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of mobile mapping systems using laser scanners available in the market, partially because of the improvement in GNSS/INS performance for direct georeferencing. In this article, some of the most important land-based mobile laser scanning (MLS) systems are reviewed. Firstly, the main characteristics of MLS systems vs. airborne (ALS) and terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) systems are compared. Secondly, a short overview of the mobile mapping technology is also provided so that the reader can fully grasp the complexity and operation of these devices. As we put forward in this paper, a comparison of different systems is briefly carried out regarding specifications provided by the manufacturers. Focuses on the current research are also addressed with emphasis on the practical applications of these systems. Most of them have been utilized for data collection on road infrastructures or building façades. This article shows that MLS technology is nowadays well established and proven, since the demand has grown to the point that there are several systems suppliers offering their products to satisfy this particular market.

  17. Soil phosphorus dynamics in a humid tropical silvopastoral system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cooperband, L.R.

    1992-01-01

    In developing countries of the humid tropics, timber exploitation and agricultural expansion frequently result in deforestation. Extensive land management, coupled with inherently low soil fertility invariably produce declines in agricultural/livestock productivity which eventually lead to land abandonment and further deforestation. Phosphorus is often the major nutrient limiting plant growth in tropical soils. Agroforestry systems have been considered as viable alternatives to current land use practices. Several hypotheses suggest that combining trees with crops or pasture, especially leguminous species will improve soil nutrient cycling, soil structure and soil organic matter. In this experiment Erythrina berteroana (an arboreous legume) was grown in native grass pastures in Costa Rica to determine the effects of tree pruning and cattle grazing on soil P availability. I measured soil P fluxes as well as changes in pasture biomass over an 18-month period. In a separate field experiment, I determined decomposition rates and P release characteristics of Erythrina leaves, pasture grass clippings and cattle dung. Erythrina leaves decomposed faster than both pasture grass and cattle dung. Erythrina and pasture residues released 4-5 times less P than dung. Phosphorus fluxes after tree pruning and grazing were highly dynamic for all treatments. Tree pruning increased labile soil P over time when coupled with grazing. Pasture biomass production was greatest in the grazed tree treatment. Pasture biomass P production and concentration was greatest in the non-grazed treatment. Trees and grazing together tended to increase nutrient (P) turnover which stimulated biomass production. In contrast, trees without grazing promoted nutrient (P) accumulation in pasture biomass.

  18. Soil phosphorus dynamics in a humid tropical silvopastoral system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cooperband, L.R.

    1992-01-01

    In developing countries of the humid tropics, timber exploitation and agricultural expansion frequently result in deforestation. Extensive land management, coupled with inherently low soil fertility invariably produce declines in agricultural/livestock productivity which eventually lead to land abandonment and further deforestation. Phosphorus is often the major nutrient limiting plant growth in tropical soils. Agroforestry systems have been considered as viable alternatives to current land use practices. Several hypotheses suggest that combining trees with crops or pasture, especially leguminous species will improve soil nutrient cycling, soil structure and soil organic matter. In this experiment Erythrina berteroana (an arboreous legume) was grown in native grass pastures in Costa Rica to determine the effects of tree pruning and cattle grazing on soil P availability. I measured soil P fluxes as well as changes in pasture biomass over an 18-month period. In a separate field experiment, I determined decomposition rates and P release characteristics of Erythrina leaves, pasture grass clippings and cattle dung. Erythrina leaves decomposed faster than both pasture grass and cattle dung. Erythrina and pasture residues released 4-5 times less P than dung. Phosphorus fluxes after tree pruning and grazing were highly dynamic for all treatments. Tree pruning increased labile soil P over time when coupled with grazing. Pasture biomass production was greatest in the grazed tree treatment. Pasture biomass P production and concentration was greatest in the non-grazed treatment. Trees and grazing together tended to increase nutrient (P) turnover which stimulated biomass production. In contrast, trees without grazing promoted nutrient (P) accumulation in pasture biomass

  19. Advancing Land-Sea Conservation Planning: Integrating Modelling of Catchments, Land-Use Change, and River Plumes to Prioritise Catchment Management and Protection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Álvarez-Romero, Jorge G.; Pressey, Robert L.; Ban, Natalie C.; Brodie, Jon

    2015-01-01

    Human-induced changes to river loads of nutrients and sediments pose a significant threat to marine ecosystems. Ongoing land-use change can further increase these loads, and amplify the impacts of land-based threats on vulnerable marine ecosystems. Consequently, there is a need to assess these threats and prioritise actions to mitigate their impacts. A key question regarding prioritisation is whether actions in catchments to maintain coastal-marine water quality can be spatially congruent with actions for other management objectives, such as conserving terrestrial biodiversity. In selected catchments draining into the Gulf of California, Mexico, we employed Land Change Modeller to assess the vulnerability of areas with native vegetation to conversion into crops, pasture, and urban areas. We then used SedNet, a catchment modelling tool, to map the sources and estimate pollutant loads delivered to the Gulf by these catchments. Following these analyses, we used modelled river plumes to identify marine areas likely influenced by land-based pollutants. Finally, we prioritised areas for catchment management based on objectives for conservation of terrestrial biodiversity and objectives for water quality that recognised links between pollutant sources and affected marine areas. Our objectives for coastal-marine water quality were to reduce sediment and nutrient discharges from anthropic areas, and minimise future increases in coastal sedimentation and eutrophication. Our objectives for protection of terrestrial biodiversity covered species of vertebrates. We used Marxan, a conservation planning tool, to prioritise interventions and explore spatial differences in priorities for both objectives. Notable differences in the distributions of land values for terrestrial biodiversity and coastal-marine water quality indicated the likely need for trade-offs between catchment management objectives. However, there were priority areas that contributed to both sets of objectives. Our

  20. Advancing Land-Sea Conservation Planning: Integrating Modelling of Catchments, Land-Use Change, and River Plumes to Prioritise Catchment Management and Protection.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jorge G Álvarez-Romero

    Full Text Available Human-induced changes to river loads of nutrients and sediments pose a significant threat to marine ecosystems. Ongoing land-use change can further increase these loads, and amplify the impacts of land-based threats on vulnerable marine ecosystems. Consequently, there is a need to assess these threats and prioritise actions to mitigate their impacts. A key question regarding prioritisation is whether actions in catchments to maintain coastal-marine water quality can be spatially congruent with actions for other management objectives, such as conserving terrestrial biodiversity. In selected catchments draining into the Gulf of California, Mexico, we employed Land Change Modeller to assess the vulnerability of areas with native vegetation to conversion into crops, pasture, and urban areas. We then used SedNet, a catchment modelling tool, to map the sources and estimate pollutant loads delivered to the Gulf by these catchments. Following these analyses, we used modelled river plumes to identify marine areas likely influenced by land-based pollutants. Finally, we prioritised areas for catchment management based on objectives for conservation of terrestrial biodiversity and objectives for water quality that recognised links between pollutant sources and affected marine areas. Our objectives for coastal-marine water quality were to reduce sediment and nutrient discharges from anthropic areas, and minimise future increases in coastal sedimentation and eutrophication. Our objectives for protection of terrestrial biodiversity covered species of vertebrates. We used Marxan, a conservation planning tool, to prioritise interventions and explore spatial differences in priorities for both objectives. Notable differences in the distributions of land values for terrestrial biodiversity and coastal-marine water quality indicated the likely need for trade-offs between catchment management objectives. However, there were priority areas that contributed to both

  1. Parasites of domestic and wild animals in South Africa. XLV. Helminths of dairy calves on dry-land Kikuyu grass pastures in the Eastern Cape Province

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I.G. Horak

    2004-11-01

    Full Text Available Successive pairs of approximately 4-month-old Friesland bull calves, raised under worm-free conditions, were exposed to helminth infection for 14 days on dry-land Kikuyu grass pastures at 28-day to monthly intervals, on a coastal farm in a non-seasonal rainfall region of the Eastern Cape Province. With the exception of one pair of calves exposed for 28 days, this procedure was repeated for 28 consecutive months from December 1982 to March 1985. The day after removal from the pastures one calf of each pair was slaughtered and processed for helminth recovery and the other 21 days later. Both members of the last four pairs of calves were killed 21 days after removal from the pastures. Sixteen nematode species were recovered from the calves, and infection with Ostertagia ostertagi was the most intense and prevalent, followed by Cooperia oncophora. The calves acquired the greatest number of nematodes from the pastures from June to October of the first year and from June to August of the second year of the survey. Few worms were recovered from the tracer calves examined from November or December to March or April in each year of the survey. The seasonal patterns of infection with Cooperia spp., Haemonchus placei, Nematodirus helvetianus, Oesophagostomum spp., O. ostertagi and Trichostrongylus axei were all similar and were negatively correlated to atmospheric temperature and evaporation. Slight to moderate arrest in the development of fourth stage larvae occurred from July to September in Cooperia spp., April to July in H. placei, and August to October in O. ostertagi and Trichostrongylus spp. during the first year of the survey. Too few worms were present in the second year to determine a seasonal pattern of arrest. Species survival during the hot and windy summer months appeared to be achieved via a combination of arrested larval development and an ageing residual population of adult worms in the host, and a small extant population of infective

  2. Parasites of domestic and wild animals in South Africa. XLV. Helminths of dairy calves on dry-land Kikuyu grass pastures in the Eastern Cape Province.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horak, I G; Evans, Ursula; Purnell, R E

    2004-12-01

    Successive pairs of approximately 4-month-old Friesland bull calves, raised under worm-free conditions, were exposed to helminth infection for 14 days on dry-land Kikuyu grass pastures at 28-day to monthly intervals, on a coastal farm in a non-seasonal rainfall region of the Eastern Cape Province. With the exception of one pair of calves exposed for 28 days, this procedure was repeated for 28 consecutive months from December 1982 to March 1985. The day after removal from the pastures one calf of each pair was slaughtered and processed for helminth recovery and the other 21 days later. Both members of the last four pairs of calves were killed 21 days after removal from the pastures. Sixteen nematode species were recovered from the calves, and infection with Ostertagia ostertagi was the most intense and prevalent, followed by Cooperia oncophora. The calves acquired the greatest number of nematodes from the pastures from June to October of the first year and from June to August of the second year of the survey. Few worms were recovered from the tracer calves examined from November or December to March or April in each year of the survey. The seasonal patterns of infection with Cooperia spp., Haemonchus placei, Nematodirus helvetianus, Oesophagostomum spp., O. ostertagi and Trichostrongylus axei were all similar and were negatively correlated to atmospheric temperature and evaporation. Slight to moderate arrest in the development of fourth stage larvae occurred from July to September in Cooperia spp., April to July in H. placei, and August to October in O. ostertagi and Trichostrongylus spp. during the first year of the survey. Too few worms were present in the second year to determine a seasonal pattern of arrest. Species survival during the hot and windy summer months appeared to be achieved via a combination of arrested larval development and an ageing residual population of adult worms in the host, and a small extant population of infective larvae on the pastures.

  3. Structure, agency, and the transformation of the Sonoran Desert by buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare): An application of land change science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brenner, Jacob C.

    A regional land transformation is underway in the Sonoran Desert of southwestern North America as a result of the conversion of native rangeland to exotic pasture. In northwestern Sonora, Mexico the process involves clearing native vegetation for cultivation of buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare). Southern African buffelgrass was introduced to Sonora through the United States in the 1950s with generous support from the Mexican federal and Sonoran state governments. The ascendance of buffelgrass as a range management tool in Sonora has been conditioned by an international political economy of beef production. However, land use decisions regarding buffelgrass are also conditioned by factors internal to the ranch household. This research examines the expansion of buffelgrass in the Sonoran Desert, addressing its extent and drivers. Through the use of systematic interviews with ranchers, key informant interviews with government officials, and an examination of northern Mexico's cattle ranching history and policy, the dissertation documents why buffelgrass has spread as a policy program and management choice. This part of the work addresses a "structure-agency debate" in human-environment geography. Next the research turns to landscape impacts of buffelgrass cultivation, through vegetation plot and transect sampling. The extent, cover, and density of buffelgrass inside and outside fenced pastures are examined, confirming the hypothesis that disturbance facilitates invasion from pastures onto surrounding lands. Finally, the research employs novel methods of remote sensing and geographic information science using a 1973-2006 time series of Landsat imagery to characterize the patterns and temporal trajectories of land change by buffelgrass across the site. Object-based image processing techniques are combined with traditional maximum likelihood techniques and classification tree analysis to address the difficult task of distinguishing buffelgrass from other prevalent land

  4. Land use impact evaluation in life cycle assessment based on ecosystem thermodynamics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wagendorp, Tim; Gulinck, Hubert; Coppin, Pol; Muys, Bart

    2006-01-01

    Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies of products with a major part of their life cycle in biological production systems (i.e. forestry and agriculture) are often incomplete because the assessment of the land use impact is not operational. Most method proposals include the quality of the land in a descriptive way using rank scores for an arbitrarily selected set of indicators. This paper first offers a theoretical framework for the selection of suitable indicators for land use impact assessment, based on ecosystem thermodynamics. According to recent theories on the thermodynamics of open systems, a goal function of ecosystems is to maximize the dissipation of exogenic exergy fluxes by maximizing the internal exergy storage under form of biomass, biodiversity and complex trophical networks. Human impact may decrease this ecosystem exergy level by simplification, i.e. decreasing biomass and destroying internal complexity. Within this theoretical framework, we then studied possibilities for assessing the land use impact in a more direct way by measuring the ecosystems' capacity to dissipate solar exergy. Measuring ecosystem thermal characteristics by using remote sensing techniques was considered a promising tool. Once operational, it could offer a quick and cheap alternative to quantify land use impacts in any terrestrial ecosystem of any size. Recommendations are given for further exploration of this method and for its integration into an ISO compatible LCA framework

  5. Cultural Systems and Land Use Decision Making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaefer, Larry; Pressman, Rob

    This material includes student guide sheets, reference material, and tape script for the audio-tutorial unit on Cultural Systems. An audio tape is used with the materials. The material is designed for use with Connecticut schools, but can be adapted to other localities. The materials in this unit consider components of cultural systems, land use…

  6. “Abstractive description” of land registration system based on the theory of “public confidence”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nasrini Tabatabai Hesari

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available the system of land registration is protective formalism that is formed based on the theory of “public confidence”. This theory presumes that what reflected by the land registration offices is based on the legal fact. This theory, which provides legal stability and security in transactions, is manifested in three guiding principles including “mirror principle”, “curtain principle” and “insurance principle”, and offers an “abstractive description” to a land registration system. This character has different effects on diverse legal systems and can be studied for both positive and negative systems.

  7. Classification of Land Use on Sand-Dune Topography by Object-Based Analysis, Digital Photogrammetry, and GIS Analysis in the Horqin Sandy Land, China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Takafumi Miyasaka

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Previous field research on the Horqin Sandy Land (China, which has suffered from severe desertification during recent decades, revealed how land use on a sand-dune topography affects both land degradation and restoration. This study aimed to depict the spatial distribution of local land use in order to shed more light on previous field findings regarding policies on a broader scale. We performed the following analyses with Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping (PRISM and Advanced Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer type 2 (AVNIR-2 images of Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS: (1 object-based classification to discriminate preliminary classification of land-use types that were approximately differentiated by ordinary pixel-based analysis with spectral information; (2 digital photogrammetry to generate a digital surface model (DSM with adequately high accuracy to represent undulating sand-dune topography; (3 geographic information system (GIS analysis to classify major topographic types with the digital surface model (DSM; and (4 overlay of the two classification results to depict the local land-use types. The overall accuracies of the object-based and GIS-based classifications were high, at 93% (kappa statistic: 0.84 and 89% (kappa statistic: 0.81, respectively. The resultant local land-use map represents areas covered in previous field studies, showing where and how land degradation and restoration are likely to occur. This research can contribute to future environmental surveys, models, and policies in the study area.

  8. Global and regional drivers of land-use emissions 1961-2013

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, S. J.; Burney, J. A.; Pongratz, J.; Hansis, E.

    2017-12-01

    Historically, human land use, including conversion of natural landscapes, has disrupted ecosystems worldwide, degraded global biodiversity, and added tremendous quantities of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to the atmosphere1-5. Yet, in contrast to fossil fuel emissions, trends and drivers of land use and related GHG emissions are usually assessed only for specific regions, processes, or products. Here, we present a comprehensive, country-level inventory of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from land use and land-use change from 1961-2013, decompose the demographic, economic and technical drivers of these emissions, and assess the sensitivity of results to different units of measurement and accounting assumptions. Globally, annual land use emissions (CO2-eq) have decreased between 1961 and 2013 (-32% in our central case), reflecting a balance between steady increases in agricultural production per capita (+42%) and equally persistent declines in the land required per unit of agricultural production (-65%), and emissions per area of land used (-41%). A few regions, processes, and products account for the majority of land use emissions: Latin America, Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa represent 55% of net cumulative emissions 1961-2013, conversion to cropland and pasture and enteric fermentation represent 103%, and cereal, dairy and beef products together represent 83%. Our results suggest that the emissions intensity of agricultural production is a particularly important indicator of agriculture's climate impact, where targeted reductions could substantially reduce that impact.

  9. Transient simulations of historical climate change including interactive carbon emissions from land-use change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matveev, A.; Matthews, H. D.

    2009-04-01

    Carbon fluxes from land conversion are among the most uncertain variables in our understanding of the contemporary carbon cycle, which limits our ability to estimate both the total human contribution to current climate forcing and the net effect of terrestrial biosphere changes on atmospheric CO2 increases. The current generation of coupled climate-carbon models have made significant progress in simulating the coupled climate and carbon cycle response to anthropogenic CO2 emissions, but do not typically include land-use change as a dynamic component of the simulation. In this work we have incorporated a book-keeping land-use carbon accounting model into the University of Victoria Earth System Climate Model (UVic ESCM), and intermediate-complexity coupled climate-carbon model. The terrestrial component of the UVic ESCM allows an aerial competition of five plant functional types (PFTs) in response to climatic conditions and area availability, and tracks the associated changes in affected carbon pools. In order to model CO2 emissions from land conversion in the terrestrial component of the model, we calculate the allocation of carbon to short and long-lived wood products following specified land-cover change, and use varying decay timescales to estimate CO2 emissions. We use recently available spatial datasets of both crop and pasture distributions to drive a series of transient simulations and estimate the net contribution of human land-use change to historical carbon emissions and climate change.

  10. Geospatial Data as a Service: The GEOGLAM Rangelands and Pasture Productivity Map Experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, B. J. K.; Antony, J.; Guerschman, J. P.; Larraondo, P. R.; Richards, C. J.

    2017-12-01

    Empowering end-users like pastoralists, land management specialists and land policy makers in the use of earth observation data for both day-to-day and seasonal planning needs both interactive delivery of multiple geospatial datasets and the capability of supporting on-the-fly dynamic queries while simultaneously fostering a community around the effort. The use of and wide adoption of large data archives, like those produced by earth observation missions, are often limited by compute and storage capabilities of the remote user. We demonstrate that wide-scale use of large data archives can be facilitated by end-users dynamically requesting value-added products using open standards (WCS, WMS, WPS), with compute running in the cloud or dedicated data-centres and visualizing outputs on web-front ends. As an example, we will demonstrate how a tool called GSKY can empower a remote end-user by providing the data delivery and analytics capabilities for the GEOGLAM Rangelands and Pasture Productivity (RAPP) Map tool. The GEOGLAM RAPP initiative from the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and its Agricultural Monitoring subgroup aims at providing practical tools to end-users focusing on the important role of rangelands and pasture systems in providing food production security from both agricultural crops and animal protein. Figure 1, is a screen capture from the RAPP Map interface for an important pasture area in the Namibian rangelands. The RAPP Map has been in production for six months and has garnered significant interest from groups and users all over the world. GSKY, being formulated around the theme of Open Geospatial Data-as-a-Service capabilities uses distributed computing and storage to facilitate this. It works behind the scenes, accepting OGC standard requests in WCS, WMS and WPS. Results from these requests are rendered on a web-front end. In this way, the complexities of data locality and compute execution are masked from an end user. On-the-fly computation of

  11. Archetypical patterns and trajectories of land systems in Europe

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Levers, Christian; Müller, Daniel; Erb, Karlheinz

    2018-01-01

    -system change, there is a need to develop approaches to reduce this complexity. Using Europe as a case study, we applied a clustering approach based on self-organising maps and 12 land-use indicators to map (1) land-system archetypes for the year 2006, defined as characteristic patterns of land-use extent...... and intensity, and (2) archetypical change trajectories, defined as characteristic changes in these indicators between 1990 and 2006. Our analysis identified 15 land-system archetypes, with low-intensity archetypes dominating (ca. 55 % coverage) followed by high-intensity archetypes (ca. 26 %). In terms...... of change, we identified 17 archetypical change trajectories, clustered in four broad categories. Stable land systems were most widespread (ca. 40 % of the EU27), followed by land systems characterised by land-use conversions (ca. 26 %), de-intensification trends (ca. 18 %), and intensification trends (ca...

  12. Estimating Unbiased Land Cover Change Areas In The Colombian Amazon Using Landsat Time Series And Statistical Inference Methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arevalo, P. A.; Olofsson, P.; Woodcock, C. E.

    2017-12-01

    Unbiased estimation of the areas of conversion between land categories ("activity data") and their uncertainty is crucial for providing more robust calculations of carbon emissions to the atmosphere, as well as their removals. This is particularly important for the REDD+ mechanism of UNFCCC where an economic compensation is tied to the magnitude and direction of such fluxes. Dense time series of Landsat data and statistical protocols are becoming an integral part of forest monitoring efforts, but there are relatively few studies in the tropics focused on using these methods to advance operational MRV systems (Monitoring, Reporting and Verification). We present the results of a prototype methodology for continuous monitoring and unbiased estimation of activity data that is compliant with the IPCC Approach 3 for representation of land. We used a break detection algorithm (Continuous Change Detection and Classification, CCDC) to fit pixel-level temporal segments to time series of Landsat data in the Colombian Amazon. The segments were classified using a Random Forest classifier to obtain annual maps of land categories between 2001 and 2016. Using these maps, a biannual stratified sampling approach was implemented and unbiased stratified estimators constructed to calculate area estimates with confidence intervals for each of the stable and change classes. Our results provide evidence of a decrease in primary forest as a result of conversion to pastures, as well as increase in secondary forest as pastures are abandoned and the forest allowed to regenerate. Estimating areas of other land transitions proved challenging because of their very small mapped areas compared to stable classes like forest, which corresponds to almost 90% of the study area. Implications on remote sensing data processing, sample allocation and uncertainty reduction are also discussed.

  13. The changing of land use and land management in Ignalina NPP region

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Milius, J.; Ribokas, G.

    1998-01-01

    The investigated locality (Ignalina NPP) represents territory of NPP and Visaginas town as well as agrarian territories of three former environs Dukshtas and Rimshe (Ignalina district) and Turmantas (Zarasai district). The changes of land, started with the beginning of construction works of NPP (1974) and are still taking place, are analyzed. The data on the land fund and current data of land reform agrarian services were used. The changes of the plots of farming lands in agrarian territories were preconditioned by the same factors which operated in other territories of hilly agrarian landscape. In the drained terrains the plots of farming lands increased, whereas, in other territories re naturalization processes set in resulting in the increase of the areas covered with forests and bushes which were not used for agricultural purposes. Thus, we may assert that the impact of the NPP itself on the change of the structure of farming lands in agrarian territories was minimal. It manifested not as a permanent process but as a spontaneous fact - a mechanical allotment of a plots of land for building the NPP and town itself. The comparison of the structure of farming lands at the moment of allotment with the data of 1995 revealed that during the mentioned period the farming land were completely destroyed (1003 ha of ploughed lands, 168 ha - grasslands, 180 ha - pastures). The forest area was reduced by 625 ha. The destroyed farming lands were occupied by territories under buildings (719 ha), artificial ground cover (159 ha), and high tension current lines (over 800 ha) which are absolutely unfit neither for agriculture nor forestry. Though the NPP and Visaginas town exerted no appreciable influence on the structure of farming lands in the surrounding territories they substantially changed the territory of NPP and Visaginas. The former wooded - agrarian landscape was replaced by an untypical for these places technical - urbanized landscape. This should be taken into

  14. Pasture shade and farm management effects on cow productivity in the tropics

    OpenAIRE

    Ainsworth, Justin A.W.; Moe, Stein R.; Skarpe, Christina

    2012-01-01

    This is the postprint version of the article. The published article can be located at the publisher's webpage Shade, provided by trees within pastures, can affect cattle productivity through mitigating heat stress and by altering understorey pasture growth and cattle behaviour. Models for daily milk yield and body condition were used to evaluate the effect of pasture shade on dual purpose cow productivity within a silvopastoral system in a dry tropical province of Nicaragua. Daily milk yie...

  15. Rationally Managed Pastures Stock More Carbon than No-Tillage Fields

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hizumi L. S. Seó

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available A significant share of Greenhouse Gases (GHG produced from agriculture comes from cattle farming. The reduction in GHG emissions from ruminants fed with grains has led some researchers to recommend such a diet as a means of mitigating emissions in the sector. A more accurate balance of emissions, however, must include the carbon (C stocked by feed crops. Within the grain production system, no-tillage (NT cultivation systems have a greater capacity to increase and store soil organic carbon (SOC. Within grazing management systems, the rotation used in Voisin's Rational Grazing (VRG allows the accumulation of SOC through root growth. The objective of this study was to assess the C stock of pasture under VRG and compare soil C stock between VRG pasture and fields under no-tillage management, in two seasons over a period of 1 year. The study included five dairy farms in Santa Catarina State, Brazil. In each property, we collected soil to quantify SOC from VRG pasture and NT fields, in summer and winter. In the pasture, to determine the total stock, we also collected samples from the aerial parts of plants and the roots. Further, we estimated how efficient would be producing milk from those pastures or from those crops. The VRG pasture showed a greater capacity to stock C in the soil than the no-tillage fields (VRG = 115.0 Mg C ha−1; NT = 92.5 Mg C ha−1; p < 0.00009, with the greatest difference at a depth of 0–10 cm (VRG = 41 Mg C ha−1; NT = 32 Mg C ha−1; p < 0.00008. In VRG, 95% of C was in the soil, 1% in the aerial part of plants, and 4% in the roots. On pasture was produced 0.15 kg of milk.kg−1 of C stored, and on NT system 0.13 kg of milk.kg−1 of C stored. In this study, we conclude that independent of season, the soil in well managed pastures had a greater stock of C, produced more milk and produced more milk.kg−1 of stored C than fields under NT management. Therefore, when comparing GHG emissions of ruminants with different

  16. Soil organic carbon in riparian forests, rice fields, and pastures in Piedras, Tolima, Colombia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hernán Jair Andrade-Castañeda

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the study was to estimate the soil organic carbon (SOC storage in the interface between riparian forests and a matrix of rice fields and pastures with organic management. The study took place in Piedras, Tolima, Colombia. Two plots in production (rice and pasture were selected and SOC was estimated in these areas and in the edge and the interior of adjacent riparian forests at a depth of 0 to 20 cm. Bulk density and SOC concentration were quantified between May and July, 2013. Potential change in SOC storage due to land use change among rice fields, pastures, and riparian forests was estimated. The interfaces rice field-riparian forest and pasture-riparian forest stored an average of 65.6 and 61.3 t C/ha, respectively, with no statistical differences (p>0.05. Statistical differences were not detected (p>0.05 between agricultural matrices (rice fields and pastures in any of the variables. The sampling position (matrix and the edge and interior of forests had a significant impact (p<0.05 just in bulk density: 1.7 vs 1.1 vs 1.0 g/cm3 in interior and edge of the riparian forests and the matrix, respectively. SOC was not statistically affected (p>0.05 by the position in the riparian forest-matrix interface. Conversion from riparian forests to rice fields or pastures with organic management is not emitting greenhouse gases, on the contrary, it is increasing SOC in 3.2 t C/ha. 

  17. Transfer of biologically fixed nitrogen to the non-legume component of mixed pastures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haystead, A.

    1983-01-01

    Pasture ecosystems are extremely diverse, as are the management procedures imposed upon them by the pastoralist. In low input pasture enterprises in marginal areas, legume nitrogen fixation is frequently (but not invariably) crucial to continued productivity. Legumes usually do not dominate a pasture and their role in transferring fixed nitrogen to a non-legume, frequently graminaceous, species is important. Methods for measuring this transfer are critically assessed in terms of their usefulness in realistic pasture environments. Existing techniques all have serious disadvantages in this respect. Isotopic studies of individual processes within the transfer system are described and some new lines of investigation are proposed. The value of isotopic studies in improving pasture management is discussed. (author)

  18. The trends of modeling the ways of formation, distribution and exploitation of megapolis lands using geo-information systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kostyantyn Mamonov

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The areas of need for ways of modeling the formation, distribution and use of land metropolis using GIS are identified. The article is to define the areas of modeling ways of formation, distribution and use of land metropolis using GIS. In the study, the following objectives are set: to develop an algorithm process data base (Data System creation for pecuniary valuation of land settlements with the use of GIS; to offer process model taking into account the influence of one factor modules using geographic information systems; to identify components of geo providing expert money evaluation of land metropolis; to describe the general procedure for expert money assessment of land and property by using geographic information system software; to develop an algorithm methods for expert evaluation of land. Identified tools built algorithms used for modeling the ways of formation, distribution and use of land metropolis using GIS. Directions ways of modeling the formation, distribution and use of land metropolis using GIS.

  19. Benefits of wildlife-based land uses on private lands in Namibia and limitations affecting their development

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lindsey, P.A.; Havemann, C.P.; Lines, R.M.; Price, A.E.; Retief, T.A.; Rhebergen, T.; Waal, van der C.; Romanach, S.

    2013-01-01

    Legislative changes during the 1960s–1970s granted user rights over wildlife to landowners in southern Africa, resulting in a shift from livestock farming to wildlife-based land uses. Few comprehensive assessments of such land uses on private land in southern Africa have been conducted and the

  20. Soil organic carbon pool's contribution to climate change mitigation on marginal land of a Mediterranean montane area in Italy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tommaso, Chiti; Emanuele, Blasi; Guido, Pellis; Lucia, Perugini; Vincenza, Chiriacò Maria; Riccardo, Valentini

    2018-07-15

    To evaluate the mitigation potential provided by the SOC pool, we investigated the impact of woody encroachment in the 0-30 cm depth of mineral soil across a natural succession from abandoned pastures and croplands to broadleaves forests on the central Apennine in Italy. In parallel, to assess the effect of the land use change (LUC) from cropland to pasture, a series of pastures established on former agricultural sites, abandoned at different time in the past, were also investigated. Our results show that woody encroachment on former pastures and croplands contributes largely to mitigate climate change, with an increase of the original SOC stock of 45% (40.5 Mg C ha -1 ) and 120% (66.5 Mg C ha -1 ), respectively. Also the LUC from croplands to pastures, greatly contributes to climate change mitigation trough a SOC increase of about 80% of the original SOC (45.9 Mg C ha -1 ). The management of abandoned lands represent a crucial point in the mitigation potential of agriculture and forestry activities, and particularly the role of the SOC pool. A policy effort should focus on minimizing the risk of speculative management options, particularly when the value of woody biomass become convenient to supply new energy systems allowing monetizing a long term forests productivity. In conclusion, despite both the land abandonment and the LUC can have a different impact on the SOC pool under different climatic conditions, these results can be useful to improve the SOC estimates in the National greenhouse gases Inventory at country level. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Construction of the Classification and Grading Index System of Cultivated Land Based on the Viewpoint of Sustainable Development

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2010-01-01

    In order to objectively and reasonably evaluate the actual and potential value of cultivated land, both social and ecological values are introduced into the classification and grading index system of cultivated land based on the viewpoint of sustainable development, after considering the natural and economic values of cultivated land. Index system construction of the sustainable utilization of cultivated land should follow the principles of economic viability, social acceptability, and ecological protection. Classification of cultivated land should take into account the soil fertility of cultivated land. Then, grading of cultivated land is carried out from the practical productivity (or potential productivity) of cultivated land. According to the existing classification index system of cultivated land, the soil, natural and environmental factors in plains, mountains and hills are mainly modified in the classification index system of cultivated land. And index systems for the cultivated land classification in plains, mountains and hills are set up. The grading index system of cultivated land is established based on the economic viability (economic value), social acceptability (social value) and protection of cultivated land (ecological value). Quantitative expression of cultivated land grading index is also carried out.

  2. Historical Image Registration and Land-Use Land-Cover Change Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fang-Ju Jao

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Historical aerial images are important to retain past ground surface information. The land-use land-cover change in the past can be identified using historical aerial images. Automatic historical image registration and stitching is essential because the historical image pose information was usually lost. In this study, the Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT algorithm was used for feature extraction. Subsequently, the present study used the automatic affine transformation algorithm for historical image registration, based on SIFT features and control points. This study automatically determined image affine parameters and simultaneously transformed from an image coordinate system to a ground coordinate system. After historical aerial image registration, the land-use land-cover change was analyzed between two different years (1947 and 1975 at the Tseng Wen River estuary. Results show that sandbars and water zones were transformed into a large number of fish ponds between 1947 and 1975.

  3. Climate mitigation comparison of woody biomass systems with the inclusion of land-use in the reference fossil system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haus, S.; Gustavsson, L.; Sathre, R.

    2014-01-01

    While issues of land-use have been considered in many direct analyses of biomass systems, little attention has heretofore been paid to land-use in reference fossil systems. Here we address this limitation by comparing forest biomass systems to reference fossil systems with explicit consideration of land-use in both systems. We estimate and compare the time profiles of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and cumulative radiative forcing (CRF) of woody biomass systems and reference fossil systems. A life cycle perspective is used that includes all significant elements of both systems, including GHG emissions along the full material and energy chains. We consider the growth dynamics of forests under different management regimes, as well as energy and material substitution effects of harvested biomass. We determine the annual net emissions of CO 2 , N 2 O and CH 4 for each system over a 240-year period, and then calculate time profiles of CRF as a proxy measurement of climate change impact. The results show greatest potential for climate change mitigation when intensive forest management is applied in the woody biomass system. This methodological framework provides a tool to help determine optimal strategies for managing forests so as to minimize climate change impacts. The inclusion of land-use in the reference system improves the accuracy of quantitative projections of climate benefits of biomass-based systems. - Highlights: • We analyze the dynamics of GHG emissions from woody biomass and fossil systems. • With a life cycle perspective, we account for forest land-use in both systems. • Replacing more carbon intensive fossil fuels gives greater climate benefit. • Increasing the intensity of forest management gives greater climate benefit. • Methodological choices in defining temporal system boundaries are important

  4. Land-use planning of Volyn region (Ukraine) using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strielko, Irina; Pereira, Paulo

    2014-05-01

    Land-use development planning is carried out in order to create a favourable environment for human life, sustainable socioeconomic and spatial development. Landscape planning is an important part of land-use development that aims to meet the fundamental principles of sustainable development. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a fundamental tool to make a better landscape planning at different territorial levels, providing data and maps to support decision making. The objective of this work is to create spatio-temporal, territorial and ecological model of development of Volyn region (Ukraine). It is based on existing spatial raster and vector data and includes the analysis of territory dynamics as the aspects responsible for it. A spatial analyst tool was used to zone the areas according to their environmental components and economic activity. This analysis is fundamental to define the basic parameters of sustainability of Volyn region. To carry out this analysis, we determined the demographic capacity of districts and the analysis of spatial parameters of land use. On the basis of the existing natural resources, we observed that there is a need of landscape protection and integration of more are natural areas in the Pan-European Ecological Network. Using GIS technologies to landscape planning in Volyn region, allowed us to identify, natural areas of interest, contribute to a better resource management and conflict resolution. Geographic Information Systems will help to formulate and implement landscape policies, reform the existing administrative system of Volyn region and contribute to a better sustainable development.

  5. Anthropogenic land use estimates for the Holocene - HYDE 3.2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klein Goldewijk, Kees; Beusen, Arthur; Doelman, Jonathan; Stehfest, Elke

    2017-12-01

    This paper presents an update and extension of HYDE, the History Database of the Global Environment (HYDE version 3.2). HYDE is an internally consistent combination of historical population estimates and allocation algorithms with time-dependent weighting maps for land use. Categories include cropland, with new distinctions for irrigated and rain-fed crops (other than rice) and irrigated and rain-fed rice. Grazing lands are also provided, divided into more intensively used pasture and less intensively used rangeland, and further specified with respect to conversion of natural vegetation to facilitate global change modellers. Population is represented by maps of total, urban, rural population, population density and built-up area. The period covered is 10 000 before Common Era (BCE) to 2015 Common Era (CE). All data can be downloaded from https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-25g-gez3. We estimate that global population increased from 4.4 million people (we also estimate a lower range land surface of the globe. Cropland occupied approximately less than 1 % of the global land area (13 037 Mha, excluding Antarctica) for a long time period until 1 CE, quite similar to the grazing land area. In the following centuries the share of global cropland slowly grew to 2.2 % in 1700 CE (ca. 293 Mha, uncertainty range 220-367 Mha), 4.4 % in 1850 CE (578 Mha, range 522-637 Mha) and 12.2 % in 2015 CE (ca. 1591 Mha, range 1572-1604 Mha). Cropland can be further divided into rain-fed and irrigated land, and these categories can be further separated into rice and non-rice. Rain-fed croplands were much more common, with 2.2 % in 1700 CE (289 Mha, range 217-361 Mha), 4.2 % (549 Mha, range 496-606 Mha) in 1850 CE and 10.1 % (1316 Mha, range 1298-1325 Mha) in 2015 CE, while irrigated croplands used less than 0.05 % (4.3 Mha, range 3.1-5.5 Mha), 0.2 % (28 Mha, range 25-31 Mha) and 2.1 % (277 Mha, range 273-278 Mha) in 1700, 1850 and 2015 CE, respectively. We estimate the irrigated rice area

  6. Combined application of Sentinel2A data and growth modelling for novel monitoring and prediction of pasture yields

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verhoef, A.; Punalekar, S.; Quaife, T. L.; Humphries, D.; Reynolds, C.

    2017-12-01

    Currently, 30% of the world's land area is covered by permanent pasture. Grazing ruminants convert forage materials into milk and meat for human consumption; ruminant production is a key agricultural enterprise. Management of pasture farms (nutrient and herbi-/pesticides application, grazing rotations) is often suboptimal. Furthermore, adverse weather can have negative effects on pasture growth and quality. Near real-time herbage monitoring and prediction could help improve farm profitability. While the use of remote sensing (RS) in the context of arable crop growth prediction is becoming more established, the same is not true for pasture. However, recently launched Sentinel satellites offer real opportunities to exploit high spatio-temporal resolution datasets for effective monitoring of pastures, as well as crops. A perennial grazed ryegrass field in the Southwest of the UK was monitored regularly using field hyperspectral spectro-radiometers. Simultaneously, leaf area index (LAI) was measured using a ceptometer, and yield was measured, indirectly using a `plate meter' and directly by destructive sampling. Two sets of spectral data were used to retrieve LAI with the PROSAIL radiative transfer model: (i) Sentinel-2A bands convolved from field spectral data, (ii) actual Sentinel-2A image pixels for the sampling plots. Retrieved LAI was compared against field observations. LAI estimates were assimilated in a bespoke growth model (including grazing and management), driven by weather data, for calibration of sensitive parameters using a 4D-Var scheme, to obtain pasture biomass. The developed approach was used to study a pasture farm in the South of the UK, for which a large number of Sentinel-2A images were available throughout 2016-17. Retrieved LAI compared well with in-situ LAI, and significantly improved yield estimates. The calibrated model parameters compared well with literature values. The model, guided by satellite data and general information on farm

  7. Analysis of Land Use and Land Cover Changes and Their Impacts on Future Runoff in the Luanhe River Basin in North China Using Markov and SWAT

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, W.; Long, D.

    2017-12-01

    Both land use/cover change (LUCC) and climate change exert significant impacts on runoff, which needs to be thoroughly examined in the context of urbanization, population growth, and climate change. The majority of studies focus on the impacts of either LUCC or climate on runoff in the upper reaches of the Panjiakou Reservoir in the Luanhe River basin, North China. In this study, first, two land use change matrices for periods 1970‒1980 and 1980‒2000 were constructed based on the theory of the Markov Chain which were used to predict the land use scenario of the basin in year 2020. Second, a distributed hydrological model, Soil Water Assessment Tools (SWAT), was set up and driven mainly by the China Gauge-based Daily Precipitation Analysis (CGDPA) product and outputs from three general circulation models (GCMs) of the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Inter-comparison Project (ISI-MIP). Third, under the land use scenario in 2000, streamflow at the Chengde gauging station for the period 1998‒2014 was simulated with the CGDPA as input, and streamflow for the period 2015‒2025 under four representative concentration pathways (RCPs) was simulated using the outputs from GCMs and compared under the land use scenarios in 2000 and 2020. Results show that during 2015‒2025, the ensemble average precipitation in summer (i.e., from June to August) may increase up to 20% but decrease by -16% in fall (i.e., from September to November). The streamflow may increase in all the seasons, particularly in spring (i.e., from March to May) and summer reaching 150% and 142%, respectively. Furthermore, the streamflow may increase even more when the land use scenario for the period 1998‒2025 remains the same as that in 2000. The minimum (61mm) and maximum (77mm) mean annual runoff depth occur under the RCP4.5 and RCP6 scenarios, respectively, compared with the mean annual observed streamflow of 33 mm from 1998 to 2014. Finally, we analyzed the correlation among the main land use types

  8. Diazotrophic Bacterial Community of Degraded Pastures

    OpenAIRE

    João Tiago Correia Oliveira; Everthon Fernandes Figueredo; Williane Patrícia da Silva Diniz; Lucianne Ferreira Paes de Oliveira; Pedro Avelino Maia de Andrade; Fernando Dini Andreote; Júlia Kuklinsky-Sobral; Danúbia Ramos de Lima; Fernando José Freire

    2017-01-01

    Pasture degradation can cause changes in diazotrophic bacterial communities. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the culturable and total diazotrophic bacterial community, associated with regions of the rhizosphere and roots of Brachiaria decumbens Stapf. pastures in different stages of degradation. Samples of roots and rhizospheric soil were collected from slightly, partially, and highly degraded pastures. McCrady’s table was used to obtain the Most Probable Number (MPN) of bacteria per gram ...

  9. Soil organic phosphorus in soils under different land use systems in northeast Germany

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slazak, Anna; Freese, Dirk; Hüttl, Reinhard F.

    2010-05-01

    Phosphorus (P) is commonly known as a major plant nutrient, which can act as a limiting factor for plant growth in many ecosystems, including different land use systems. Organic P (Po), transformations in soil are important in determining the overall biological availability of P and additionally Po depletion is caused by land cultivation. It is expected that changes of land use modifies the distribution of soil P among the various P-pools (Ptotal, Plabile, Po), where the Plabile forms are considered to be readily available to plants and Po plays an important role with P nutrition supply for plants. The aim of the study was to measure the different soil P pools under different land use systems. The study was carried out in northeast of Brandenburg in Germany. Different land use systems were studied: i) different in age pine-oak mixed forest stands, ii) silvopastoral land, iii) arable lands. Samples were taken from two mineral soil layers: 0-10 and 10-20 cm. Recently, a variety of analytical methods are available to determine specific Po compounds in soils. The different P forms in the soil were obtained by a sequential P fractionation by using acid and alkaline extractants, which mean that single samples were subjected to increasingly stronger extractants, consequently separating the soil P into fractions based on P solubility. The soil Ptotal for the forest stands ranged from 100 to 183 mg kg -1 whereas Po from 77 to 148 mg kg -1. The Po and Plabile in both soil layers increased significantly with increase of age-old oak trees. The most available-P fraction was Plabile predominate in the oldest pine-oak forest stand, accounting for 29% of soil Ptotal. For the silvopasture and arable study sites the Ptotal content was comparable. However, the highest value of Ptotal was measured in the 30 years old silvopastoral system with 685 mg kg-1 and 728 mg kg-1 at 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm depth, respectively than in arable lands. The results have shown that the 30 years old

  10. An economic theory-based explanatory model of agricultural land-use patterns: The Netherlands as a case study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Diogo, V.; Koomen, E.; Kuhlman, T.

    2015-01-01

    An economic theory-based land-use modelling framework is presented aiming to explain the causal link between economic decisions and resulting spatial patterns of agricultural land use. The framework assumes that farmers pursue utility maximisation in agricultural production systems, while

  11. LUMIS: A Land Use Management Information System for urban planning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paul, C. K.

    1975-01-01

    The Land Use Management Information System (LUMIS) consists of a methodology of compiling land use maps by means of air photo interpretation techniques, digitizing these and other maps into machine-readable form, and numerically overlaying these various maps in two computer software routines to provide land use and natural resource data files referenced to the individual census block. The two computer routines are the Polygon Intersection Overlay System (PIOS) and an interactive graphics APL program. A block referenced file of land use, natural resources, geology, elevation, slope, and fault-line items has been created and supplied to the Los Angeles Department of City Planning for the City's portion of the Santa Monica Mountains. In addition, the interactive system contains one hundred and seventy-three socio-economic data items created by merging the Third Count U.S. Census Bureau tapes and the Los Angeles County Secured Assessor File. This data can be graphically displayed for each and every block, block group, or tract for six test tracts in Woodland Hills, California. Other benefits of LUMIS are the knowledge of air photo availability, flight pattern coverage and frequencies, and private photogrammetry companies flying Southern California, as well as a formal Delphi study of relevant land use informational needs in the Santa Monicas.

  12. Optimal Geometric Deployment of a Ground Based Pseudolite Navigation System to Track a Landing Aircraft

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Crawford, Matthew P

    2006-01-01

    .... This testing is especially necessary for precise tasks such as landing an aircraft. Currently, research is being conducted into using a pseudolite-based reference system to use as a truth model for the GPS jamming test...

  13. Nitrification is a primary driver of nitrous oxide production in laboratory microcosms from different land-use soils

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rui Liu

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Most studies on soil N2O emissions have focused either on the quantifying of agricultural N2O fluxes or on the effect of environmental factors on N2O emissions. However very limited information is available on how land-use will affect N2O production, and nitrifiers involved in N2O emissions in agricultural soil ecosystems. Therefore, this study aimed at evaluating the relative importance of nitrification and denitrification to N2O emissions from different land-use soils and identifying the potential underlying microbial mechanisms. A 15N-tracing experiment was conducted under controlled laboratory conditions on four agricultural soils collected from different land-use. We measured N2O fluxes, nitrate (NO3− and ammonium (NH4+ concentration and15N2O, 15NO3− and 15NH4+ enrichment during the incubation. Quantitative PCR was used to quantify ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB. Our results showed that nitrification was the main contributor to N2O production in soils from sugarcane, dairy pasture and cereal cropping systems, while denitrification played a major role in N2O production in the vegetable soil under the experimental conditions. Nitrification contributed to 96.7% of the N2O emissions in sugarcane soil followed by 71.3% in the cereal cropping soil and 70.9% in the dairy pasture soil, while only around 20.0% of N2O was produced from nitrification in vegetable soil. The proportion of nitrified nitrogen as N2O (PN2O value varied across different soils, with the highest PN2O value (0.26‰ found in the cereal cropping soil, which was around 10 times higher than that in other three systems. AOA were the abundant ammonia oxidizers, and were significantly correlated to N2O emitted from nitrification in the sugarcane soil, while AOB were significantly correlated with N2O emitted from nitrification in the cereal cropping soil. Our findings suggested that soil type and land-use might have strongly affected the

  14. Nitrification Is a Primary Driver of Nitrous Oxide Production in Laboratory Microcosms from Different Land-Use Soils.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Rui; Hu, Hangwei; Suter, Helen; Hayden, Helen L; He, Jizheng; Mele, Pauline; Chen, Deli

    2016-01-01

    Most studies on soil N2O emissions have focused either on the quantifying of agricultural N2O fluxes or on the effect of environmental factors on N2O emissions. However, very limited information is available on how land-use will affect N2O production, and nitrifiers involved in N2O emissions in agricultural soil ecosystems. Therefore, this study aimed at evaluating the relative importance of nitrification and denitrification to N2O emissions from different land-use soils and identifying the potential underlying microbial mechanisms. A (15)N-tracing experiment was conducted under controlled laboratory conditions on four agricultural soils collected from different land-use. We measured N2O fluxes, nitrate ([Formula: see text]), and ammonium ([Formula: see text]) concentration and (15)N2O, (15)[Formula: see text], and (15)[Formula: see text] enrichment during the incubation. Quantitative PCR was used to quantify ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB). Our results showed that nitrification was the main contributor to N2O production in soils from sugarcane, dairy pasture and cereal cropping systems, while denitrification played a major role in N2O production in the vegetable soil under the experimental conditions. Nitrification contributed to 96.7% of the N2O emissions in sugarcane soil followed by 71.3% in the cereal cropping soil and 70.9% in the dairy pasture soil, while only around 20.0% of N2O was produced from nitrification in vegetable soil. The proportion of nitrified nitrogen as N2O (PN2O-value) varied across different soils, with the highest PN2O-value (0.26‰) found in the cereal cropping soil, which was around 10 times higher than that in other three systems. AOA were the abundant ammonia oxidizers, and were significantly correlated to N2O emitted from nitrification in the sugarcane soil, while AOB were significantly correlated with N2O emitted from nitrification in the cereal cropping soil. Our findings suggested that soil

  15. Scenario-Based Analysis on the Structural Change of Land Uses in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qian Xu

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Land Use/Land Cover change (LUCC is a key aspect of global environmental change, which has a significant impact on climate change. In the background of increasing global warming resulting from greenhouse effect, to understand the impact of land use change on climate change is necessary and meaningful. In this study, we choose China as the study area and explore the possible land use change trends based on the AgLU module and ERB module of global change assessment model (GCAM model and Global Change Assessment Model. We design three scenarios based on socioeconomic development and simulated the corresponding structure change of land use according to the three scenarios with different parameters. Then we simulate the different emission of CO2 under different scenarios based on the simulation results of structure change of land use. At last, we choose the most suitable scenario that could control the emission of CO2 best and obtain the relatively better land use structure change for adaption of climate change. Through this research we can provide a theoretical basis for the future land use planning to adapt to climate change.

  16. Map-based multicriteria analysis to support interactive land use allocation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Arciniegas Lopez, G.A.; Janssen, R.; Omtzigt, A.Q.A.

    2011-01-01

    This article focuses on the use of map-based multicriteria analysis to develop a negotiation support tool for land use allocation. Spatial multicriteria analysis is used to make explicit trade-offs between objectives and to provide guidance and feedback on the land use changes negotiated by the

  17. Linking Spatial Variations in Water Quality with Water and Land Management using Multivariate Techniques.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wan, Yongshan; Qian, Yun; Migliaccio, Kati White; Li, Yuncong; Conrad, Cecilia

    2014-03-01

    Most studies using multivariate techniques for pollution source evaluation are conducted in free-flowing rivers with distinct point and nonpoint sources. This study expanded on previous research to a managed "canal" system discharging into the Indian River Lagoon, Florida, where water and land management is the single most important anthropogenic factor influencing water quality. Hydrometric and land use data of four drainage basins were uniquely integrated into the analysis of 25 yr of monthly water quality data collected at seven stations to determine the impact of water and land management on the spatial variability of water quality. Cluster analysis (CA) classified seven monitoring stations into four groups (CA groups). All water quality parameters identified by discriminant analysis showed distinct spatial patterns among the four CA groups. Two-step principal component analysis/factor analysis (PCA/FA) was conducted with (i) water quality data alone and (ii) water quality data in conjunction with rainfall, flow, and land use data. The results indicated that PCA/FA of water quality data alone was unable to identify factors associated with management activities. The addition of hydrometric and land use data into PCA/FA revealed close associations of nutrients and color with land management and storm-water retention in pasture and citrus lands; total suspended solids, turbidity, and NO + NO with flow and Lake Okeechobee releases; specific conductivity with supplemental irrigation supply; and dissolved O with wetland preservation. The practical implication emphasizes the importance of basin-specific land and water management for ongoing pollutant loading reduction and ecosystem restoration programs. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  18. Carbon accounting and economic model uncertainty of emissions from biofuels-induced land use change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plevin, Richard J; Beckman, Jayson; Golub, Alla A; Witcover, Julie; O'Hare, Michael

    2015-03-03

    Few of the numerous published studies of the emissions from biofuels-induced "indirect" land use change (ILUC) attempt to propagate and quantify uncertainty, and those that have done so have restricted their analysis to a portion of the modeling systems used. In this study, we pair a global, computable general equilibrium model with a model of greenhouse gas emissions from land-use change to quantify the parametric uncertainty in the paired modeling system's estimates of greenhouse gas emissions from ILUC induced by expanded production of three biofuels. We find that for the three fuel systems examined--US corn ethanol, Brazilian sugar cane ethanol, and US soybean biodiesel--95% of the results occurred within ±20 g CO2e MJ(-1) of the mean (coefficient of variation of 20-45%), with economic model parameters related to crop yield and the productivity of newly converted cropland (from forestry and pasture) contributing most of the variance in estimated ILUC emissions intensity. Although the experiments performed here allow us to characterize parametric uncertainty, changes to the model structure have the potential to shift the mean by tens of grams of CO2e per megajoule and further broaden distributions for ILUC emission intensities.

  19. Direct nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes from soils under different land use in Brazil—a critical review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meurer, Katharina H E; Franko, Uwe; Stange, Claus F; Rosa, Jaqueline Dalla; Madari, Beata E; Jungkunst, Hermann F

    2016-01-01

    Brazil typifies the land use changes happening in South America, where natural vegetation is continuously converted into agriculturally used lands, such as cattle pastures and croplands. Such changes in land use are always associated with changes in the soil nutrient cycles and result in altered greenhouse gas fluxes from the soil to the atmosphere. In this study, we analyzed literature values to extract patterns of direct nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions from soils of different ecosystems in Brazil. Fluxes from natural ecosystems exhibited a wide range: whereas median annual flux rates were highest in Amazonian and Atlantic rainforests (2.42 and 0.88 kg N ha −1 ), emissions from cerrado soils were close to zero. The decrease in emissions from pastures with increasing time after conversion was associated with pasture degradation. We found comparatively low N 2 O-N fluxes from croplands (−0.07 to 4.26 kg N ha −1 yr −1 , median 0.80 kg N ha −1 yr −1 ) and a low response to N fertilization. Contrary to the assumptions, soil parameters, such as pH, C org , and clay content emerged as poor predictors for N 2 O fluxes. This could be a result of the formation of micro-aggregates, which strongly affect the hydraulic properties of the soil, and consequently define nitrification and denitrification potentials. Since data from croplands mainly derived from areas that had been under natural cerrado vegetation before, it could explain the low emissions under agriculture. Measurements must be more frequent and regionally spread in order to enable sound national estimates. (topical review)

  20. The Influence of Climate, Soil and Pasture Type on Productivity and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Intensity of Modeled Beef Cow-Calf Grazing Systems in Southern Australia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richard J. Eckard

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available A biophysical whole farm system model was used to simulate the interaction between the historical climate, soil and pasture type at sites in southern Australia and assess the balance between productivity and greenhouse gas emissions (expressed in carbon dioxide equivalents, CO2-eq. intensity of beef cow-calf grazing systems. Four sites were chosen to represent a range of climatic zones, soil and pasture types. Poorer feed quality and supply limited the annual carrying capacity of the kikuyu pasture compared to phalaris pastures, with an average long-term carrying capacity across sites estimated to be 0.6 to 0.9 cows/ha. A relative reduction in level of feed intake to productivity of calf live weight/ha at weaning by feeding supplementary feed reduced the average CO2-eq. emissions/kg calf live weight at weaning of cows on the kikuyu pasture (18.4 and 18.9 kg/kg with and without supplementation, respectively, whereas at the other sites studied an increase in intake level to productivity and emission intensity was seen (between 10.4 to 12.5 kg/kg without and with supplementary feed, respectively. Enteric fermentation and nitrous oxide emissions from denitrification were the main sources of annual variability in emissions intensity, particularly at the lower rainfall sites. Emissions per unit product of low input systems can be minimized by efficient utilization of pasture to maximize the annual turnoff of weaned calves and diluting resource input per unit product.

  1. International trade, and land use intensification and spatial reorganization explain Costa Rica’s forest transition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jadin, I.; Meyfroidt, P.; Lambin, E. F.

    2016-03-01

    While tropical deforestation remains widespread, some countries experienced a forest transition—a shift from net deforestation to net reforestation. Costa Rica had one of the highest deforestation rates in the 1980s and is now considered as a model of environmental sustainability, despite being a major producer of bananas and pineapples. We tested three land use processes that are thought to facilitate forest transitions. First, forest transitions may be accompanied by land use displacement through international trade of land-based products, which may undermine the global-scale environmental benefits of national forest protection. Second, reforestation is often associated with land use intensification in agriculture and forestry, allowing for land sparing. Third, this intensification may partly result from a geographical redistribution of land use at the sub-national scale to better match land use with land suitability. These hypotheses were verified for Costa Rica’s forest transition. We also tested whether forest increased mainly in regions with a low ecological value and agriculture expanded in regions with a high ecological value. Intensification and land use redistribution accounted for 76% of land spared during the forest transition, with 32% of this spared area corresponding to net reforestation. Decreasing meat exports led to a contraction of pastures, freeing an area equivalent to 80% of the reforested area. The forest transition in Costa Rica was environmentally beneficial at the global scale, with the reforested area over 1989-2013 corresponding to 130% of the land use displaced abroad through imports of agricultural products. However, expansion of export-oriented cropland caused deforestation in the most ecologically valuable regions of Costa Rica. Moreover, wood extraction from forest plantations increased to produce the pallets needed to export fruits. This highlights the importance of a multi-scale analysis when evaluating causes and impacts of

  2. Forage intake, feeding behavior and bio-climatological indices of pasture grass, under the influence of trees, in a silvopastoral system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L.F Sousa

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to compare a silvopastoral system with a control (pasture only in the Brazilian Cerrado. The silvopastoral system consisted of a tropical grass (Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu pasture and trees (Zeyheria tuberculosa, while the control was a Marandu pasture without trees. Sheep intake, feeding behavior and microclimatic conditions were the variables evaluated. Temperatures within the silvopastoral system were lower than in the control (maximum temperature of 28 and 33.5 °C, temperature and humidity index of 74.0 and 79.2 for the silvopastoral system and control, respectively. There was increased dry matter intake (88.2 vs. 79.9 g DM/kg0.75 LW/d, P<0.05, organic matter intake (89.6 vs. 81.1 g OM/kg0.75 LW/d, P<0.05 and grazing time (572 vs. 288 min/d, P<0.05, and reduced total water intake (430 vs. 474 mL/kg0.75 LW/d, P<0.05 and walking time (30 vs. 89 min/d, P<0.05 in grazing sheep in the silvopastoral system relative to the control. The results suggest that a silvopastoral system would provide a more favorable environment than a straight pasture for sheep performance in a tropical grazing situation.Keywords: Animal behavior, microclimate, shade, sheep.DOI: 10.17138/TGFT(3129-141

  3. Comparison of Vegetation Indices from Rpas and SENTINEL-2 Imagery for Detecting Permanent Pastures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piragnolo, M.; Lusiani, G.; Pirotti, F.

    2018-04-01

    Permanent pastures (PP) are defined as grasslands, which are not subjected to any tillage, but only to natural growth. They are important for local economies in the production of fodder and pastures (Ali et al. 2016). Under these definitions, a pasture is permanent when it is not under any crop-rotation, and its production is related to only irrigation, fertilization and mowing. Subsidy payments to landowners require monitoring activities to determine which sites can be considered PP. These activities are mainly done with visual field surveys by experienced personnel or lately also using remote sensing techniques. The regional agency for SPS subsidies, the Agenzia Veneta per i Pagamenti in Agricoltura (AVEPA) takes care of monitoring and control on behalf of the Veneto Region using remote sensing techniques. The investigation integrate temporal series of Sentinel-2 imagery with RPAS. Indeed, the testing area is specific region were the agricultural land is intensively cultivated for production of hay harvesting four times every year between May and October. The study goal of this study is to monitor vegetation presence and amount using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), the Soil-adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI), the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), and the Normalized Difference Built Index (NDBI). The overall objective is to define for each index a set of thresholds to define if a pasture can be classified as PP or not and recognize the mowing.

  4. COMPARISON OF VEGETATION INDICES FROM RPAS AND SENTINEL-2 IMAGERY FOR DETECTING PERMANENT PASTURES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Piragnolo

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Permanent pastures (PP are defined as grasslands, which are not subjected to any tillage, but only to natural growth. They are important for local economies in the production of fodder and pastures (Ali et al. 2016. Under these definitions, a pasture is permanent when it is not under any crop-rotation, and its production is related to only irrigation, fertilization and mowing. Subsidy payments to landowners require monitoring activities to determine which sites can be considered PP. These activities are mainly done with visual field surveys by experienced personnel or lately also using remote sensing techniques. The regional agency for SPS subsidies, the Agenzia Veneta per i Pagamenti in Agricoltura (AVEPA takes care of monitoring and control on behalf of the Veneto Region using remote sensing techniques. The investigation integrate temporal series of Sentinel-2 imagery with RPAS. Indeed, the testing area is specific region were the agricultural land is intensively cultivated for production of hay harvesting four times every year between May and October. The study goal of this study is to monitor vegetation presence and amount using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI, the Soil-adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI, the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI, and the Normalized Difference Built Index (NDBI. The overall objective is to define for each index a set of thresholds to define if a pasture can be classified as PP or not and recognize the mowing.

  5. Aspects of a two-pasture — herbivore model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan Åge Riseth

    2004-04-01

    Full Text Available Pastures for reindeer can be divided into green pastures (mainly herbs and grasses of summer time and more or less snow-covered lichen pastures of winter. Fall and spring pastures have a composition in-between these extremes, but for model purposes bisection is sufficient. For the animals the green-pasture season is an anabolic phase with a physiological building-up of protein reserves, while winter is a catabolic phase where food-intake is reduced and the animals to a considerable extent survive on the accumulated reserves from summer. While protein reserves are stored from summer to winter, lichen pastures are stored from year to year. Grasses and herbs not being grazed are wilting by the end of the growing season, while lichens not grazed can live for many years. This corresponds with fundamental differences in both growth pattern and resilience. The implications of the different features, and their interconnections, are not easy to survey without formal modeling. The point of departure is a simple pasture-herbivore model, well known from the literature building on a set of differential equations. A new two-pasture-herbivore model is developed. The model includes as basic elements the Klein (1968 hypothesis and that a residual lichen biomass is kept ungrazed due to snow-cover protection. Further the annual cycle is divided into four stylized seasons with herd rates of winter survival, spring calving, summer physiological growth and fall slaughtering. Isoclines are derived for summer pasture, winter pasture and herbivores. Stability properties are discussed in relation to various situations of seasonal pasture balance. Empirical examples, particularly that of changes in pasture balance and vegetation cover in Western Finnmark, Norway, are discussed. The article finds that the two-pasture model provides important features of reality, such as the stability aspects of pasture balance, which cannot be displayed by a one-pasture model. It is

  6. A case study of carbon fluxes from land change in the southwest Brazilian Amazon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barrett, K.; Rogan, J.; Eastman, J.R.

    2009-01-01

    Worldwide, land change is responsible for one-fifth of anthropogenic carbon emissions. In Brazil, three-quarters of carbon emissions originate from land change. This study represents a municipal-scale study of carbon fluxes from vegetation in Rio Branco, Brazil. Land-cover maps of pasture, forest, and secondary growth from 1993, 1996, 1999, and 2003 were produced using an unsupervised classification method (overall accuracy = 89%). Carbon fluxes from land change over the decade of imagery were estimated from transitions between land-cover categories for each time interval. This article presents new methods for estimating emissions reductions from carbon stored in the vegetation that replaces forests (e.g., pasture) and sequestration by new (>10-15 years) forests, which reduced gross emissions by 16, 15, and 22% for the period of 1993-1996, 1996-1999, and 1999-2003, respectively. The methods used in the analysis are broadly applicable and provide a comprehensive characterization of regional-scale carbon fluxes from land change.

  7. Using the Q10 model to simulate E. coli survival in cowpats on grazing lands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Microbiological quality of surface waters can be affected by microbial load in runoff from grazing lands. This effect, with other factors, depends on the survival of microorganisms in animal waste deposited on pastures. Since temperature is a leading environmental parameter affec...

  8. Climate change and socio-economic scenarios, land use modelling implications on water resources in an inner alpine area, Switzerland

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rey, Emmanuel; Schneider, Flurina; Liniger, Hanspeter; Weingartner, Rolf; Herweg, Karl

    2014-05-01

    The MontanAqua project aims to study the water resources management in the region Sierre-Montana (Valais, Switzerland). Land use is known to have an influence on the water resources (soil moisture dynamic, soil sealing, surface runoff and deep percolation). Thus land use modelling is of importance for the water resources management. An actual land use map was produced using infrared imagery (Niklaus 2012, Fig.1). Land use changes are known to be mainly drived by socio-economic factors as well as climatic factors (Dolman et al. 2003). Potential future Land uses was separatly predicted according to 1-. socio-economic and 2-. climatic/abiotic drivers : 1. 4 socio-economic scenarios were developped with stakeholders (Schneider et al. 2013) between 2010 and 2012. We modeled those socio-economic scenarios into a GIS application using Python programming (ModelBuilder in ArcGIS 10) to get a cartographic transcription of the wishes of the stakeholders for their region in 2050. 2. Uncorrelated climatic and abiotic drivers were used in a BIOMOD2 (Georges et al. 2013) framework. 4 models were used: Maximum Entropy (MAXENT), Multiple Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS), Classification Tree Analysis (CTA) and the Flexible Discriminant Analysis (FDA) to predict grassland, alpine pasture, vineyards and forest in our study region. Climatic scenarios were then introduced into the models to predict potential land use in 2050 driven only by climatic and abiotic factors The comparison of all the outputs demonstrates that the socio-economic drivers will have a more important impact in the region than the climatic drivers (e.g. -70% grassland surface for the worst socio-economic scenario vs. -40% of grassland surface for the worst climatic models). Further analysis also brings out the sensitivity of the grassland/alpine pasture system to the climate change and to socio-economic changes. Future work will be to cross the different land use maps obtained by the two model types and to use

  9. Study on temporal and spatial variations of urban land use based on land change data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Ping; Liu, Yanfang; Fan, Min; Zhang, Yang

    2009-10-01

    With the rapid development of urbanization, demands of urban land increase in succession, hence, to analyze temporal and spatial variations of urban land use becomes more and more important. In this paper, the principle of trend surface analysis and formula of urban land sprawl index ( ULSI) are expatiated at first, and then based on land change data of Jiayu county, the author fits quadratic trend surface by choosing urban land area as dependent variable and urbanization and GDP as independent variables from 1996 to 2006, draws isoline of trend surface and residual values; and then urban land sprawl indexes of towns are calculated on the basis of urban land area of 1996 and 2006 and distribution map of ULSI is plotted. After analyzing those results, we can conclude that there is consanguineous relationship between urban land area and urbanization, economic level etc.

  10. Reversing land degradation through grasses: a systematic meta-analysis in the Indian tropics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mandal, Debashis; Srivastava, Pankaj; Giri, Nishita; Kaushal, Rajesh; Cerda, Artemi; Meherul Alam, Nurnabi

    2017-02-01

    Although intensive agriculture is necessary to sustain the world's growing population, accelerated soil erosion contributes to a decrease in the environmental health of ecosystems at local, regional and global scales. Reversing the process of land degradation using vegetative measures is of utmost importance in such ecosystems. The present study critically analyzes the effect of grasses in reversing the process of land degradation using a systematic review. The collected information was segregated under three different land use and land management situations. Meta-analysis was applied to test the hypothesis that the use of grasses reduces runoff and soil erosion. The effect of grasses was deduced for grass strip and in combination with physical structures. Similarly, the effects of grasses were analyzed in degraded pasture lands. The overall result of the meta-analysis showed that infiltration capacity increased approximately 2-fold after planting grasses across the slopes in agricultural fields. Grazing land management through a cut-and-carry system increased conservation efficiencies by 42 and 63 % with respect to reduction in runoff and erosion, respectively. Considering the comprehensive performance index (CPI), it has been observed that hybrid Napier (Pennisetum purpureum) and sambuta (Saccharum munja) grass seem to posses the most desirable attributes as an effective grass barrier for the western Himalayas and Eastern Ghats, while natural grass (Dichanthium annulatum) and broom grass (Thysanolaena maxima) are found to be most promising grass species for the Konkan region of the Western Ghats and the northeastern Himalayan region, respectively. In addition to these benefits, it was also observed that soil carbon loss can be reduced by 83 % with the use of grasses. Overall, efficacy for erosion control of various grasses was more than 60 %; hence, their selection should be based on the production potential of these grasses under given edaphic and agro

  11. The UAV take-off and landing system used for small areas of mobile vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ren, Tian-Yu; Duanmu, Qing-Duo; Wu, Bo-Qi

    2018-03-01

    In order to realize an UAV formation cluster system based on the current GPS and the fault and insufficiency of Beidou integrated navigation system in strong jamming environment. Due to the impact of the compass on the plane crash, navigation system error caused by the mobile area to help reduce the need for large landing sites and not in the small fast moving area to achieve the reality of the landing. By using Strapdown inertial and all-optical system to form Composite UAV flight control system, the photoelectric composite strapdown inertial coupling is realized, and through the laser and microwave telemetry link compound communication mechanism, using all-optical strapdown inertial and visual navigation system to solve the deviation of take-off and landing caused by electromagnetic interference, all-optical bidirectional data link realizes two-way position correction of landing site and aircraft, thus achieves the accurate recovery of UAV formation cluster in the mobile narrow area which the traditional navigation system can't realize. This system is a set of efficient unmanned aerial vehicle Group Take-off/descending system, which is suitable for many tasks, and not only realizes the reliable continuous navigation under the complex electromagnetic interference environment, moreover, the intelligent flight and Take-off and landing of unmanned aerial vehicles relative to the fast moving and small recovery sites in complex electromagnetic interference environment can not only improve the safe operation rate of unmanned aerial vehicle, but also guarantee the operation safety of the aircraft, and the more has important social value for the application foreground of the aircraft.

  12. Feasibility Study of a Vision-Based Landing System for Unmanned Fixed-Wing Aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-06-01

    similar procedure that closely mirrors the Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS). JPALS sea -based systems, such as those used on...parameter space via Equation 1.3. co sinsx y    (4.1) 43 This eliminates the possibility of undefined or infinite slopes in the slope...burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instruction, searching

  13. Use of agricultural land evaluation and site assessment in Linn County, Oregon, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huddleston, J. Herbert; Pease, James R.; Forrest, William G.; Hickerson, Hugh J.; Langridge, Russell W.

    1987-07-01

    Oregon state law requires each county in the state to identify agricultural land and enact policies and regulations to protect agricultural land use. State guidelines encourage the preservation of large parcels of agricultural land and discourage partitioning of agricultural land and construction of nonfarm dwellings in agricultural areas. A land evaluation and site assessment (LESA) system was developed in Linn County to aid in the identification of agricultural land and provide assistance to decision makers concerning the relative merits of requests to partition existing parcels of ricultural land and introduce nonagricultural uses. Land evaluation was determined by calculating soil potential ratings for each agricultural soil in the county based on the soil potentials for winter wheat, annual ryegrass, permanent pasture, and irrigated sweet corn. Soil potential ratings were expressed on a scale of 0 to 150 points. The land evaluation score for a parcel consists of the weighted average soil potential rating for all of the soils in the parcel, weighted by the percentage of each soil present in the parcel. Site assessment was based on the size of a parcel and on the amount of existing conflict between agricultural and nonagricultural uses, particularly rural residential uses, both adjacent to and in the vicinity of a parcel. Parcel size refers to both size in relation to a typical field and size in relation to a typical farm unit. Conflict takes into account the number of nonfarm dwellings within 1/4 mile (0.4 km) of a parcel, the amount of the perimeter that adjoins conflicting land uses, and the residential density adjacent to the parcel. Empirical scales were derived for assigning points to each of the site assessment factors. Both parcel size and conflict were worth 75 points in the model. For parcel size, 45 points were allocated to field size and 30 points to farm-unit size. For conflict, 30 points were allocated to nonfarm dwellings within 1/4 mile and 45

  14. The investigation of spatiotemporal variations of land surface temperature based on land use changes using NDVI in southwest of Iran

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fathizad, Hassan; Tazeh, Mahdi; Kalantari, Saeideh; Shojaei, Saeed

    2017-10-01

    Land use changes can bring about changes in land surface temperature (LST) which is influenced by climatic conditions and physical characteristics of the land surface. In this study, spatiotemporal variations of land surface temperature have been investigated in the desert area of Dasht-e-Abbas, Ilam, based on a variety of land use changes. The investigated periods for the study include 1990, 2000 and 2010 using Landsat image data. First, in mapping land use we used the Fuzzy ARTMAP Neural Network Classification method followed by determination of the NDVI Index to estimate land surface temperature. The results show an increase in LST in areas where degradation, land use and land cover changes have occurred. In 1990, 2000 and 2010, the average land surface temperature of the Fair Rangelands was 26.72 °C, 30.06 °C and 30.95 °C, respectively. This rangeland has been reduced by about 5%. For poor rangelands, the average LSTs were 26.95, 32.83 and 34.49 Cº, respectively which had a 18% reduction. In 1990, 2000 and 2010, the average land surface temperatures of agricultural lands were 24.31 °C, 27.87 °C and 28.61 °C, respectively which has been an increasing trend. The reason can be attributed to changes in cropping patterns of the study area.

  15. Challenges and opportunities in mapping land use intensity globally

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kuemmerle, Tobias; Erb, Karlheinz; Meyfroidt, Patrick

    2013-01-01

    Future increases in land-based production will need to focus more on sustainably intensifying existing production systems. Unfortunately, our understanding of the global patterns of land use intensity is weak, partly because land use intensity is a complex, multidimensional term, and partly becau...... challenges and opportunities for mapping land use intensity for cropland, grazing, and forestry systems, and identify key issues for future research....... we lack appropriate datasets to assess land use intensity across broad geographic extents. Here, we review the state of the art regarding approaches for mapping land use intensity and provide a comprehensive overview of available global-scale datasets on land use intensity. We also outline major...

  16. Rethinking Eucalyptus globulus Labill. Based Land Use Systems in Smallholder Farmers Livelihoods: A Case of Kolobo Watershed, West Shewa, Ethiopia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Feyisa Dadi

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Despite their restriction, smallholder farmers have been continuing growing Eucalyptus globulus in the cultivated land in the central highland of Ethiopia. Literature has shown controversial issues against E. globulus. Therefore, the objective of the study was to investigate the compatibility of E. globulus in the smallholder farmers’ land use system. Soil samples were collected from five different land uses and analysed for selected physical and chemical properties. The socioeconomic contribution of E. globulus was collected through household surveys from 110 households. Analysis of soil showed that organic carbon (OC, total nitrogen (TN and cation exchange capacity (CEC were significantly higher (P<0.05 under E. globulus compared to the cultivated land. The survey results also showed that the largest proportion (58% of households was interested in growing E. globulus because of its multiple uses. About 83% of households responded that E. globulus help them to attain food security through increasing the purchasing power of smallholder farmers to buy agricultural inputs and food. This study has substantiated the role of E. globulus in the land use system of smallholder farmers. Most of the soil fertility indicators were better under E. globulus. The present finding reveals that E. globulus degrade the soil seemingly difficult to generalise. Growing E. globulus must be promoted under appealing land use to enhance smallholder farmers’ livelihoods. Removing E. globulus from the land use system may jeopardise the food security situation of many households.

  17. SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN NORTHWESTERN ALPS: WINTER SPORTS IMPACT ON PASTURE LANDS

    OpenAIRE

    FREPPAZ MICHELE; FILIPPA GIANLUCA; CAIMI ANGELO; ZANINI ERMANNO

    2010-01-01

    Tourism has many potential benefits for rural areas, being an important source of jobs for nonmetro communities, especially for those that are economically underdeveloped. The traditional use of lands in mountain regions is combined nowadays with surfaces devoted to recreational activities because of increasing tourist demand for winter sports. Winter-based ski tourism is a major human use of many mountain regions, with large-scale ski resorts in Europe, Asia, North and South America, New Zea...

  18. Evaluation of historical land cover, land use, and land-use change emissions in the GCAM integrated assessment model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calvin, K. V.; Wise, M.; Kyle, P.; Janetos, A. C.; Zhou, Y.

    2012-12-01

    Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) are often used as science-based decision-support tools for evaluating the consequences of climate and energy policies, and their use in this framework is likely to increase in the future. However, quantitative evaluation of these models has been somewhat limited for a variety of reasons, including data availability, data quality, and the inherent challenges in projections of societal values and decision-making. In this analysis, we identify and confront methodological challenges involved in evaluating the agriculture and land use component of the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM). GCAM is a global integrated assessment model, linking submodules of the regionally disaggregated global economy, energy system, agriculture and land-use, terrestrial carbon cycle, oceans and climate. GCAM simulates supply, demand, and prices for energy and agricultural goods from 2005 to 2100 in 5-year increments. In each time period, the model computes the allocation of land across a variety of land cover types in 151 different regions, assuming that farmers maximize profits and that food demand is relatively inelastic. GCAM then calculates both emissions from land-use practices, and long-term changes in carbon stocks in different land uses, thus providing simulation information that can be compared to observed historical data. In this work, we compare GCAM results, both in recent historic and future time periods, to historical data sets. We focus on land use, land cover, land-use change emissions, and albedo.

  19. Nutritive value and in situ rumen degradability of Marandu palisade grass at different locations within the pasture in a silvopastoral system with different babassu palm densities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xerxes M. Tosta

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study was to evaluate the nutritive value and in situ rumen degradability of grass collected from different locations within the pasture in a silvopastoral system with different densities of trees. The silvopastoral system consisted of Urochloa (syn. Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu and the babassu palm, Orbignya sp. (now: Attaleia speciosa. We used a completely randomized design with a 3 x 3 factorial arrangement for nutritional value (3 differently shaded locations and 3 palm tree densities and a 3 x 3 x 3 factorial arrangement for dry matter (DM disappearance (3 locations, 3 palm densities and 3 incubation times. There was no effect of location within the pasture nor of palm tree density on the concentrations of NDF, ADF, lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose. However, location influenced the concentrations of crude protein (CP and DM, with highest CP in material grown in full sunlight. At all densities, DM disappearance at 96 h for pasture grown in full sunlight exceeded that for pasture grown in full shade. These factors need to be compounded with the possible depressant effect of trees on DM production of pasture when considering the benefits of silvopastoral systems.Keywords: Digestibility, fiber, Northeast Brazil, protein, tree-grass associations, Urochloa  brizantha.DOI: 10.17138/TGFT(3187-193

  20. The development and application of a decision support system for land management in the Lake Tahoe Basin—The Land Use Simulation Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forney, William M.; Oldham, I. Benson; Crescenti, Neil

    2013-01-01

    This report describes and applies the Land Use Simulation Model (LUSM), the final modeling product for the long-term decision support project funded by the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act and developed by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Western Geographic Science Center for the Lake Tahoe Basin. Within the context of the natural-resource management and anthropogenic issues of the basin and in an effort to advance land-use and land-cover change science, this report addresses the problem of developing the LUSM as a decision support system. It includes consideration of land-use modeling theory, fire modeling and disturbance in the wildland-urban interface, historical land-use change and its relation to active land management, hydrologic modeling and the impact of urbanization as related to the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board’s recently developed Total Maximum Daily Load report for the basin, and biodiversity in urbanizing areas. The LUSM strives to inform land-management decisions in a complex regulatory environment by simulating parcel-based, land-use transitions with a stochastic, spatially constrained, agent-based model. The tool is intended to be useful for multiple purposes, including the multiagency Pathway 2007 regional planning effort, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) Regional Plan Update, and complementary research endeavors and natural-resource-management efforts. The LUSM is an Internet-based, scenario-generation decision support tool for allocating retired and developed parcels over the next 20 years. Because USGS staff worked closely with TRPA staff and their “Code of Ordinances” and analyzed datasets of historical management and land-use practices, this report accomplishes the task of providing reasonable default values for a baseline scenario that can be used in the LUSM. One result from the baseline scenario for the model suggests that all vacant parcels could be allocated within 12 years. Results also include

  1. Meta-language for land use classification systems

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Cooper, Antony K

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available This presentation provides an overview of a meta-language for land use classification. It also explains why land use can’t always be determined from imagery, and why land use is not the same as land cover, zoning or planning - though...

  2. An integrated GIS-based interval-probabilistic programming model for land-use planning management under uncertainty--a case study at Suzhou, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Shasha; Zhou, Min; Guan, Xingliang; Tao, Lizao

    2015-03-01

    A large number of mathematical models have been developed for supporting optimization of land-use allocation; however, few of them simultaneously consider land suitability (e.g., physical features and spatial information) and various uncertainties existing in many factors (e.g., land availabilities, land demands, land-use patterns, and ecological requirements). This paper incorporates geographic information system (GIS) technology into interval-probabilistic programming (IPP) for land-use planning management (IPP-LUPM). GIS is utilized to assemble data for the aggregated land-use alternatives, and IPP is developed for tackling uncertainties presented as discrete intervals and probability distribution. Based on GIS, the suitability maps of different land users are provided by the outcomes of land suitability assessment and spatial analysis. The maximum area of every type of land use obtained from the suitability maps, as well as various objectives/constraints (i.e., land supply, land demand of socioeconomic development, future development strategies, and environmental capacity), is used as input data for the optimization of land-use areas with IPP-LUPM model. The proposed model not only considers the outcomes of land suitability evaluation (i.e., topography, ground conditions, hydrology, and spatial location) but also involves economic factors, food security, and eco-environmental constraints, which can effectively reflect various interrelations among different aspects in a land-use planning management system. The case study results at Suzhou, China, demonstrate that the model can help to examine the reliability of satisfying (or risk of violating) system constraints under uncertainty. Moreover, it may identify the quantitative relationship between land suitability and system benefits. Willingness to arrange the land areas based on the condition of highly suitable land will not only reduce the potential conflicts on the environmental system but also lead to a lower

  3. Varying pasture growth and commodity prices change the value of traits in sheep breeding objectives

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rose, I.J.; Mulder, H.A.; Thompson, P.N.; Werf, van der J.H.J.; Arendonk, van J.A.M.

    2014-01-01

    Breeding programs for livestock require economic weights for traits that reflect the most profitable animal in a given production system. Economic weights are commonly based on average conditions. In pasture based livestock production systems the cost of feed is an important profit driver, but

  4. HUMIC SUBSTANCES AND PHOSPHORUS FRACTIONS IN AREAS WITH CROP-LIVESTOCK INTEGRATION, PASTURE AND NATURAL CERRADO VEGETATION IN GOIÁS, BRAZIL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sidinei Julio Beutler

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Crop-livestock integration (CLI coupled with a no-till planting system (NTS has proven to be an important alternative farming system, promoting efficient land use and soil conservation by maintaining soil organic matter (SOM. The present study quantified the humic fractions of SOM and soil P fractions and analyzed their relationship in CLI, pasture and natural Cerrado areas in Goiás, Brazil. The samples were obtained from a pasture area (covered with Urochloa decumbens grass for 15 years; a CLI area (planted in annual rotation with Urochloa ruziziensis for 13 years; and a native Cerrado area, sampled for comparison purposes. Total organic carbon (TOC and carbon in the fulvic acid fraction (C-FAF, humic acid fraction (C-HAF and humin (C-HUM were evaluated at a depth of 0‑5; 5‑10; 10‑20 and 20‑40 cm; and inorganic (IP and organic (OP P fractions at a depth of 0‑5 and 5‑10 cm. The highest TOC values, humic fractions and OP were found in the Cerrado area. Similarities in relation to the humic fractions and TOC were found between CLI and pasture areas in all the layers between 0 and 40cm. The area currently managed with CLI, but originally covered by Cerrado, had already developed chemical stability (C-FAF, C-HAF, C-HUM and TOC that was similar to that found in the Cerrado area at a depth of 20-40 cm and with higher C-FAF and C-HUM accumulation compared to the pasture area. Compared to pasture and Cerrado, the CLI system favored the increase in labile, moderately labile and moderately resistant P, both for total P (TP and IP. IP fractions were found in areas treated with high doses of phosphate fertilizer, whereas OP fractions corresponded to those under low or null anthropogenic influence. Organic P fractions were directly related to the humic SOM fractions.

  5. Land use change and human systems dynamics: Cotacachi Ecuador 1963-2000

    OpenAIRE

    Rhoades, Robert E.

    2004-01-01

    This presentation reports on a study to analyze land-use change over 40 years in Cotacachi, Ecuador, link land-use change to human system dynamics, and discuss implications for sustainability. BA-2 (SANREM-Andes Research)

  6. Land Administration Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Enemark, Stig

    2014-01-01

    Land administration systems are the operational tool for conceptualizing rights, restrictions and responsibilities (RRRs) in land. Each of the rights, restrictions and responsibilities encompasses a human rights dimension that relates to the overall national land policies and should be unfolded...... as more than just rhetoric. This paper attempts to analyse the aspects of human rights in relation to land administration systems with a special focus on developing countries struggling to build adequate systems for governing the rights, restrictions and responsibilities in land. Human rights....... This relates to national political arrangements and standards for good governance and land administration systems are highly instrumental in this regard. This paper introduces the relation between land administration and human rights. It is argued that human rights and land administration are closely linked...

  7. Influence of Pasture Rearing on the Cecal Bacterial Microbiota in Broiler Chickens

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Čermák L.

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Differences in quantity of cecal microbiota in broiler chickens from conventional and pasture rearing were investigated by cultivation. Rearing on pasture brings stress reduction and increases comfort and bird welfare, which leads to products with better taste and flavour compared to conventionally produced broiler chickens. A difference in cecal settlement of general anaerobes, coliforms, lactic acid bacteria, and campylobacters and salmonellas in the two different rearing systems was addressed. Whereas numbers of total anaerobes and lactic acid bacteria were not affected, those of coliforms were significantly reduced in pasture rearing. Campylobacters were found only in pasture-reared chickens (in 28% of animals. Salmonellas were not detected in any of the systems.

  8. Using 3d Bim Model for the Value-Based Land Share Calculations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Çelik Şimşek, N.; Uzun, B.

    2017-11-01

    According to the Turkish condominium ownership system, 3D physical buildings and its condominium units are registered to the condominium ownership books via 2D survey plans. Currently, 2D representations of the 3D physical objects, causes inaccurate and deficient implementations for the determination of the land shares. Condominium ownership and easement right are established with a clear indication of land shares (condominium ownership law, article no. 3). So, the land share of each condominium unit have to be determined including the value differences among the condominium units. However the main problem is that, land share has often been determined with area based over the project before construction of the building. The objective of this study is proposing a new approach in terms of value-based land share calculations of the condominium units that subject to condominium ownership. So, the current approaches and its failure that have taken into account in determining the land shares are examined. And factors that affect the values of the condominium units are determined according to the legal decisions. This study shows that 3D BIM models can provide important approaches for the valuation problems in the determination of the land shares.

  9. Direct sensor orientation of a land-based mobile mapping system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rau, Jiann-Yeou; Habib, Ayman F; Kersting, Ana P; Chiang, Kai-Wei; Bang, Ki-In; Tseng, Yi-Hsing; Li, Yu-Hua

    2011-01-01

    A land-based mobile mapping system (MMS) is flexible and useful for the acquisition of road environment geospatial information. It integrates a set of imaging sensors and a position and orientation system (POS). The positioning quality of such systems is highly dependent on the accuracy of the utilized POS. This limitation is the major drawback due to the elevated cost associated with high-end GPS/INS units, particularly the inertial system. The potential accuracy of the direct sensor orientation depends on the architecture and quality of the GPS/INS integration process as well as the validity of the system calibration (i.e., calibration of the individual sensors as well as the system mounting parameters). In this paper, a novel single-step procedure using integrated sensor orientation with relative orientation constraint for the estimation of the mounting parameters is introduced. A comparative analysis between the proposed single-step and the traditional two-step procedure is carried out. Moreover, the estimated mounting parameters using the different methods are used in a direct geo-referencing procedure to evaluate their performance and the feasibility of the implemented system. Experimental results show that the proposed system using single-step system calibration method can achieve high 3D positioning accuracy.

  10. CLC2000 land cover database of the Netherlands; monitoring land cover changes between 1986 and 2000

    OpenAIRE

    Hazeu, G.W.

    2003-01-01

    The 1986 CORINE land cover database of the Netherlands was revised and updated on basis of Landsat satellite images and ancillary data. Interpretation of satellite images from 1986 and 2000 resulted in the CLC2000, CLC1986rev and CLCchange databases. A standard European legend and production methodology was applied. Thirty land cover classes were discerned. Most extended land cover types were pastures (231), arable land (211) and complex cultivation patterns (242). Between 1986 and 2000 aroun...

  11. Evaluation of ecosystem service based on scenario simulation of land use in Yunnan Province

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Hong; Liao, Xiaoli; Zhai, Tianlin

    2018-04-01

    Climate change and rapid urbanization are important factors restricting future land use. Situational analysis, as an important foundation for the optimization of land use, needs to focus on the impact of climate factors and socio-economic factors. In this paper, the Markov model and the DLS (Simulation of Land System Dynamics) model are combined for the first time, and the land use pattern in 2020 is simulated based on the data of land use in 2000 and 2010 as well as the climate, soil, topography and socio-economic factors of Yunnan Province. In his paper, we took Yunnan Province as the case study area, and selected 12 driving factors by logistic regression method, then the land use demands and layout of Yunnan Province in 2020 has been forecasted and simulated under business as usual (BAU) scenario and farmland protection (FP) scenario and the changes in ecosystem service value has been calculated. The result shows that: (1) after the regression analysis and ROC (Relative Operating Characteristics) test, the 12 factors selected in this paper have a strong ability to explain the land use change in Yunnan Province. (2) Under the two scenarios, the significant reduction of arable land area is a common feature of land use change in Yunnan Province in the future, and its main land use type will be construction land. However, under FP scenario, the current situation where construction land encroach on arable land will be improved. Compared with the change from 2000 to 2010, the trend of arable land, forest land, water area, construction land and unused land will be the same under the two scenarios, whereas the change trend of grassland was opposite. (3) From 2000 to 2020, the value of ecosystem services in Yunnan Province is on the rise, but the ecosystem service value under FP scenario is higher than that of the ecosystem services under BAU scenario. In general, land use in 2020 in Yunnan Province continues the pattern of 2010, but there are also significant spatial

  12. Factors influencing storm-generated suspended-sediment concentrations and loads in four basins of contrasting land use, humid-tropical Puerto Rico

    Science.gov (United States)

    A. C. Gellis; NO-VALUE

    2013-01-01

    The significant characteristics controlling the variability in storm-generated suspended-sediment loads and concentrations were analyzed for four basins of differing land use (forest, pasture, cropland, and urbanizing) in humid-tropical Puerto Rico. Statistical analysis involved stepwise regression on factor scores. The explanatory variables were attributes of flow,...

  13. CARBON SEQUESTRATION IN PASTURES WITH TREES, TREELESS PASTURES AND DECIDUOUS FOREST FROM HUATUSCO, VERACRUZ

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Antonio Torres-Rivera

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available It was compared the amount of carbon (C sequestered in a pasture with trees (P+Ar and in conventional treeless pastures (P and deciduous forest (BC, typical of the region of Huatusco, Veracruz, Mexico. Total C sequestered by the systems evaluated was 49.9, 63.0 and 469.8 ton ha-1 for P, P+Ar and BC, respectively. The system with the highest amount of C sequestered was BC, with almost equal proportions in the aerial (268.4 ton ha-1 and belowground parts (201.4 ton ha-1. The amount of C sequestered in the livestock systems represented about one tenth of that sequestered in BC, being higher the proportion obtained in P+Ar (13.4 % compared to P (10.6 %. In both livestock systems, a significantly greater amount of C was sequestered in the soil organic matter than in the aerial biomass, with 59.7 and 3.29 ton ha-1 in P+Ar, and with 48.2 and 1.78 ton ha-1 in P, respectively. It is expected that as trees of the P+Ar system gain volume, C sequestration will increase, especially in the aerial biomass.

  14. Microwave sensors for detection of wild animals during pasture mowing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Patrovsky

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available More than 400000 wild animals are killed or severely injured every year during spring time pasture mowing. Conventional methods for detection and removal or expulsion of animals before mowing are either inefficient or very time-consuming. The first really working method is based on a pyro-detector which senses the temperature contrast between the animals body and the surrounding pasture. Unfortunately, the detection reliability of this sensor decreases with increasing ambient temperature and strong sunlight, i.e. for typical weather conditions, when pasture is mowed, especially around noon. In this paper, a detector is presented that exhibits complementary behaviour. It works best during dry conditions (i.e. around noon, but has a tendency to false alarms when dew is present (i.e. morning and evening. The sensor is based on a commercial, low-cost Doppler module at 24GHz. It senses the difference of radar cross section between the animals body (high water content, specular reflection and the pasture (low water content, diffuse reflection. The signal is analysed by means of a non-linear Wigner time-frequency transformation. Experimental results are presented for a laboratory setup as well as for measurement in actual spring-time pasture. The results prove that a microwave sensor is capable of reliably detecting animals of the size of a fawn even if it is covered by a layer of pasture.

  15. LandSense: A Citizen Observatory and Innovation Marketplace for Land Use and Land Cover Monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moorthy, Inian; Fritz, Steffen; See, Linda; McCallum, Ian

    2017-04-01

    Currently within the EU's Earth Observation (EO) monitoring framework, there is a need for low-cost methods for acquiring high quality in-situ data to create accurate and well-validated environmental monitoring products. To help address this need, a new four year Horizon 2020 project entitled LandSense will link remote sensing data with modern participatory data collection methods that involve citizen scientists. This paper will describe the citizen science activities within the LandSense Observatory that aim to deliver concrete, measurable and quality-assured ground-based data that will complement existing satellite monitoring systems. LandSense will deploy advanced tools, services and resources to mobilize and engage citizens to collect in-situ observations (i.e. ground-based data and visual interpretations of EO imagery). Integrating these citizen-driven in-situ data collections with established authoritative and open access data sources will help reduce costs, extend GEOSS and Copernicus capacities, and support comprehensive environmental monitoring systems. Policy-relevant campaigns will be implemented in close collaboration with multiple stakeholders to ensure that citizen observations address user requirements and contribute to EU-wide environmental governance and decision-making. Campaigns for addressing local and regional Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) issues are planned for select areas in Austria, France, Germany, Spain, Slovenia and Serbia. Novel LandSense services (LandSense Campaigner, FarmLand Support, Change Detector and Quality Assurance & Control) will be deployed and tested in these areas to address critical LULC issues (i.e. urbanization, agricultural land use and forest/habitat monitoring). For example, local residents in the cities of Vienna, Tulln, and Heidelberg will help cooperatively detect and map changes in land cover and green space to address key issues of urban sprawl, land take and flooding. Such campaigns are facilitated through

  16. The Environmental Effect of Land Use in the Tenure Systems in Ghana

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Libor Grega

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the land tenure system in Ghana and its impact on the environment. The main forms of land tenure systems are explained and the positive and negative impacts of each of these forms on the environment analysed. Specific attention is devoted to deforestation and soil depletion. The complex problems of land acquisition in Ghana, and the inherent insecurity effects on farming, which is considered to be the most important economic activity in the rural areas are examined. The analyses and the result proved that the insecurity of land tenure system has a direct relationship with the environment. Cross-sectional data analyses establishes that traditional forms of land acquisitions, ownership and land use form part of the main causes of environmental degradation in Ghana.

  17. Socially rational agents in spatial land use planning: a heuristic proposal based negotiation mechanism

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ghavami, S.M.; Taleai, M.; Arentze, T.A.

    2016-01-01

    This paper introduces a novel heuristic based negotiation model for urban land use planning by using multi-agent systems. The model features two kinds of agents: facilitator and advocate. Facilitator agent runs the negotiation according to a certain protocol that defines the procedure. Two roles are

  18. Modeling and Mapping Soil Moisture of Plateau Pasture Using RADARSAT-2 Imagery

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xun Chai

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Accurate soil moisture retrieval of a large area in high resolution is significant for plateau pasture. The object of this paper is to investigate the estimation of volumetric soil moisture in vegetated areas of plateau pasture using fully polarimetric C-band RADARSAT-2 SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar images. Based on the water cloud model, Chen model, and Dubois model, we proposed two developed algorithms for soil moisture retrieval and validated their performance using experimental data. We eliminated the effect of vegetation cover by using the water cloud model and minimized the effect of soil surface roughness by solving the Dubois equations. Two experimental campaigns were conducted in the Qinghai Lake watershed, northeastern Tibetan Plateau in September 2012 and May 2013, respectively, with simultaneous satellite overpass. Compared with the developed Chen model, the predicted soil moisture given by the developed Dubois model agreed better with field measurements in terms of accuracy and stability. The RMSE, R2, and RPD value of the developed Dubois model were (5.4, 0.8, 1.6 and (3.05, 0.78, 1.74 for the two experiments, respectively. Validation results indicated that the developed Dubois model, needing a minimum of prior information, satisfied the requirement for soil moisture inversion in the study region.

  19. Vision Analysis System for Autonomous Landing of Micro Drone

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Skoczylas Marcin

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available This article describes a concept of an autonomous landing system of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. This type of device is equipped with the functionality of FPV observation (First Person View and radio broadcasting of video or image data. The problem is performance of a system of autonomous drone landing in an area with dimensions of 1m × 1m, based on CCD camera coupled with an image transmission system connected to a base station. Captured images are scanned and landing marker is detected. For this purpose, image features detectors (such as SIFT, SURF or BRISK are utilized to create a database of keypoints of the landing marker and in a new image keypoints are found using the same feature detector. In this paper results of a framework that allows detection of defined marker for the purpose of drone landing field positioning will be presented.

  20. Reforesting degraded lands may not restore hydrological conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balcerak, Ernie

    2013-12-01

    By the 1980s, forest lands in the Himalayas in central Nepal had become severely degraded as people cleared land for pastures. This led to lowered soil infiltration capacities, resulting in increased surface runoff, soil erosion, and flooding during the rainy season.

  1. Trajectory analysis of land use and land cover maps to improve spatial-temporal patterns, and impact assessment on groundwater recharge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zomlot, Z.; Verbeiren, B.; Huysmans, M.; Batelaan, O.

    2017-11-01

    Land use/land cover (LULC) change is a consequence of human-induced global environmental change. It is also considered one of the major factors affecting groundwater recharge. Uncertainties and inconsistencies in LULC maps are one of the difficulties that LULC timeseries analysis face and which have a significant effect on hydrological impact analysis. Therefore, an accuracy assessment approach of LULC timeseries is needed for a more reliable hydrological analysis and prediction. The objective of this paper is to assess the impact of land use uncertainty and to improve the accuracy of a timeseries of CORINE (coordination of information on the environment) land cover maps by using a new approach of identifying spatial-temporal LULC change trajectories as a pre-processing tool. This ensures consistency of model input when dealing with land-use dynamics and as such improves the accuracy of land use maps and consequently groundwater recharge estimation. As a case study the impact of consistent land use changes from 1990 until 2013 on groundwater recharge for the Flanders-Brussels region is assessed. The change trajectory analysis successfully assigned a rational trajectory to 99% of all pixels. The methodology is shown to be powerful in correcting interpretation inconsistencies and overestimation errors in CORINE land cover maps. The overall kappa (cell-by-cell map comparison) improved from 0.6 to 0.8 and from 0.2 to 0.7 for forest and pasture land use classes respectively. The study shows that the inconsistencies in the land use maps introduce uncertainty in groundwater recharge estimation in a range of 10-30%. The analysis showed that during the period of 1990-2013 the LULC changes were mainly driven by urban expansion. The results show that the resolution at which the spatial analysis is performed is important; the recharge differences using original and corrected CORINE land cover maps increase considerably with increasing spatial resolution. This study indicates

  2. A spatial dynamic model to assess piospheric land degradation processes of SW Iberian rangelands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herguido Sevillano, Estela; Ibáñez, Javier; Francisco Lavado Contador, Joaquín; Pulido-Fernández, Manuel; Schnabel, Susanne

    2015-04-01

    Iberian open wooded rangelands (known as dehesas or montados) constitute valuable agro-silvo-pastoral systems traditionally considered as highly sustainable. Nevertheless, in the recent decades, those systems are undergoing changes of land use and management practices that compromise its sustainability. Some of those changes, as the rising construction of watering points and the high spatial fragmentation and livestock movement restriction associated to fencing, show an aggregated effect with livestock, producing an impact gradient over soil and vegetation. Soil compaction related to livestock pressure is higher around watering points, with bare soil halos and patches of scarce vegetation or nude soil developing with higher frequency in areas close to them. Using the freeware Dinamica EGO as environmental modeling platform, we have developed a theoretic spatial dynamic model that represents some of the processes of land degradation associated to livestock grazing in dehesa fenced enclosures. Spatial resolution is high since every cell in the model is a square unit area of 1 m2. We paid particular attention to the relationships between soil degradation by compaction (porosity), livestock pressure, rainfall, pasture growth and shrub cover and bare soil generation. The model considers pasture growth as related to soil compaction, measured by the pore space in the top 10 cm soil layer. Annual precipitation is randomly generated following a normal distribution. When annual precipitation and pore space increase, also does pasture growth. Besides, there is a feedback between pasture growth and pore space, given that pasture roots increases soil porosity. The cell utility for livestock function has been defined as an exponential function of the distance of a cell to watering points and the amount of pasture present in it. The closer the cell to a pond and the higher the amount of pasture, the higher is cell utility. The latter is modulated by a normal random variable to

  3. Using geometrical, textural, and contextual information of land parcels for classification of detailed urban land use

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, S.-S.; Qiu, X.; Usery, E.L.; Wang, L.

    2009-01-01

    Detailed urban land use data are important to government officials, researchers, and businesspeople for a variety of purposes. This article presents an approach to classifying detailed urban land use based on geometrical, textural, and contextual information of land parcels. An area of 6 by 14 km in Austin, Texas, with land parcel boundaries delineated by the Travis Central Appraisal District of Travis County, Texas, is tested for the approach. We derive fifty parcel attributes from relevant geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing data and use them to discriminate among nine urban land uses: single family, multifamily, commercial, office, industrial, civic, open space, transportation, and undeveloped. Half of the 33,025 parcels in the study area are used as training data for land use classification and the other half are used as testing data for accuracy assessment. The best result with a decision tree classification algorithm has an overall accuracy of 96 percent and a kappa coefficient of 0.78, and two naive, baseline models based on the majority rule and the spatial autocorrelation rule have overall accuracy of 89 percent and 79 percent, respectively. The algorithm is relatively good at classifying single-family, multifamily, commercial, open space, and undeveloped land uses and relatively poor at classifying office, industrial, civic, and transportation land uses. The most important attributes for land use classification are the geometrical attributes, particularly those related to building areas. Next are the contextual attributes, particularly those relevant to the spatial relationship between buildings, then the textural attributes, particularly the semivariance texture statistic from 0.61-m resolution images.

  4. Nitrous oxide emissions from forests and pastures of various ages in the Brazilian Amazon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melillo, J. M.; Steudler, P. A.; Feigl, B. J.; Neill, C.; Garcia, D.; Piccolo, M. C.; Cerri, C. C.; Tian, H.

    2001-12-01

    Nitrous oxide emissions from tropical forest soils are thought to account for 2.2-3.7 Tg N yr-1 of the total annual global production of 10-17 Tg N yr-1. Recent research suggests that clearing of tropical forest for pasture can increase N2O emissions but that the period of elevated emissions may be limited and fluxes from older pastures may be lower than from the original forest. Here we report N2O emissions from two land-use sequences in the Brazilian Amazon's state of Rondônia. Each sequence includes a forest and a set of pastures of different ages. One sequence contains a newly created pasture that we studied intensively through its first 2 years, including forest cutting, burning, and the planting of forage grasses. Emissions from the newly created pasture were about two and one half times the forest emissions during the first 2 years (5.0 kg N2O-N ha-1 yr-1 versus 1.9 kg N2O-N ha-1 yr-1). Nitrous oxide fluxes from pastures older than 3 years were on average about one third lower than fluxes from uncut forest (1.4 kg N2O-N ha-1 yr-1 versus 1.9 kg N2O-N ha-1 yr-1). The best predictor of N2O flux across the chronosequences was the magnitude of the NO3 pool in the upper 10 cm of soil measured at the time of gas sampling. Using a simple cohort model combined with deforestation rates estimated from satellite images by Brazil's Instituto de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE) for the period 1978 through 1997, we estimate that for the Brazilian Amazon the basin-wide flux of N2O-N from pasture soils was 0.06 Tg in 1997. This is ˜8% of the combined forest plus pasture flux of 0.78 Tg N2O-N we estimate for the Brazilian part of the basin in 1997. In the absence of any forest-to-pasture conversion in the Brazilian part of the basin, we estimate that the basin-wide flux of N2O-N would have been only slightly larger: 0.80 Tg in 1997. Through a second modeling analysis we estimate that for the whole of the Amazon Basin, including parts of the basin outside of Brazil, the N2O

  5. Bringing multiple values to the table: assessing future land-use and climate change in North Kona, Hawaiʻi

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leah L. Bremer

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available As ecosystem service assessments increasingly contribute to decisions about managing Earth's lands and waters, there is a growing need to understand the diverse ways that people use and value landscapes. However, these assessments rarely incorporate the value of landscapes to communities with strong cultural and generational ties to place, precluding inclusion of these values - alongside others - into planning processes. We developed a process to evaluate trade-offs and synergies in ecosystem services across land-use scenarios and under climate change in North Kona, Hawaiʻi, a tropical dry ecosystem where water, fire, biodiversity, and cultural values are all critical considerations for land management decisions. Specifically, we combined participatory deliberative methods, ecosystem service models, vegetation surveys, and document analysis to evaluate how cultural services, regulating services (groundwater recharge, landscape flammability reduction, biodiversity, and revenue: (1 vary across four land-use scenarios (pasture, coffee, agroforestry, and native forest restoration and (2 are expected to vary with climate change (representative concentration pathway (RCP 8.5 mid-century scenario. The native forest restoration scenario provided high cultural, biodiversity, and ecosystem service value, whereas coffee's strongest benefit was monetary return. The agroforestry scenario offered the greatest potential in terms of maximizing multiple services. Pasture had relatively low ecological and economic value but, as with native forest and agroforestry, held high value in terms of local knowledge and cultural connection to place. Climate change amplified existing vulnerabilities for groundwater recharge and landscape flammability, but resulted in few shifts in the ranking of land-use scenarios. Our results demonstrate that cultural services need not be sacrificed at the expense of other management objectives if they are deliberately included in land-use

  6. Impact of land use change on soil organic matter dynamics in subalpine grassland

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyer, Stefanie; Leifeld, Jens; Bahn, Michael; Fuhrer, Jürg

    2010-05-01

    Information regarding the response of soil organic matter (SOM) in soils to past and expected future land use changes in the European Alps is scarce. Understanding this response requires knowledge of size and residence times of SOM fractions with distinct stabilities. In order to quantify differences between types of land use in the amount, distribution and turnover rates of soil organic carbon (SOC) in subalpine grassland soils, we used soil aggregate and SOM density fractionation in combination with 14C dating. Samples were taken along gradients of different types of land use from meadow (M) to pasture (P) and to abandoned grassland (A) in the Stubai Valley and in the Matsch Valley. Sampling sites in both areas were located at equal altitude (1880 m and 1820 m, respectively) with the same parent material and soil type, but the Matsch Valley receives 400-500 mm less annual rainfall. SOC stocks in the top 10 cm were 2.47 ± 0.32 (M), 2.75 ± 0.32 (P), and 2.50 ± 0.31 kg C/m2 (A) in the Stubai Valley and 2.25 ± 0.14 (M), 3.45 ± 0.22 (P), 3.16 ± 0.27 kg C/m2(A) in the Matsch Valley. Three aggregate size classes were separated by wet sieving: 2 mm. The light floating fraction (wPOM, ρ >1 g/cm3) was included in the analysis. Free (f-) and occluded particulate organic matter (oPOM) were isolated from each aggregate size class (ρ >1.6 g/cm3). At both locations, more than 80% of SOC was stored in small (0.25-2 mm) and large (>2 mm) macroaggregates, but no trend in relation to the different types of land use could be detected. The fraction of C in fPOM and in oPOM in all aggregate size classes was highest for soil from abandoned grasslands. The bulk soil of the abandoned site in the Stubai Valley showed a significantly higher share of fPOM-C and oPOM-C and a higher amount of wPOM-C as compared to the soil from managed grassland, whereas in the Matsch Valley pasture soil had a significantly higher wPOM-C content. At both sites, 13C natural abundance analyses revealed

  7. Influence of habitat and land use on the assemblages of ephemeroptera, plecoptera, and trichoptera in neotropical streams.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amaral, Pedro Henrique Monteiro do; Silveira, Lidimara Souza da; Rosa, Beatriz Figueiraujo Jabour Vescovi; Oliveira, Vívian Campos de; Alves, Roberto da Gama

    2015-01-01

    Insects of the orders Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (EPT) are often used to assess the conditions of aquatic environments, but few studies have examined the differences in these communities between riffles and pools. Our objective was to test whether riffles shelter greater richness and abundance of EPT, as well as to assess the sensitivity of these insects for detecting impacts from different land uses in streams in southeastern Brazil. Samples were collected in the dry season of 2012 with a Surber sampler in riffles and pools of nine streams (forest, pasture, and urban areas). Principal component analysis distinguished the streams according to different land uses as a function of percentage of plant cover and water oxygenation level and showed partial distinction between riffles and pools as a function of current speed and percentage of ultrafine sand. Detrended correspondence analysis indicated the distinction in EPT composition between riffles and pools, except in urban streams. The results of this study confirm the expected differences in the EPT fauna structure between riffles and pools, especially in forest and pasture environments. The individual metrics of riffle and pool assemblages showed significantly different responses to land use. Therefore, we suggest individual sampling of riffles and pools, since the metrics of these assemblages' insects can differ between these habitats and influence the results of assessments in low-order streams. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Entomological Society of America.

  8. Infiltration capacity in a tropical montane landscape: Disentangling the effects of land-use intensity and biophysical gradients

    Science.gov (United States)

    Looker, N. T.; Kolka, R.; Colin, P. O.; Asbjornsen, H.

    2017-12-01

    The alteration of soil field-saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) is a primary mechanism by which land-use/cover changes influence catchment hydrologic behavior. While previous studies have demonstrated declines in Ksat with forest cover loss, we lack a comprehensive framework for predicting the response of Ksat to increases in forest cover or to changes in land-use intensity (rather than changes in cover type per se). Variation in Ksat due to biophysical factors (e.g., climate or topography) may further obscure the effects of land cover or intensity. We assessed differences in Ksat between four cover types representative of a catchment in central Veracruz, Mexico (maize, pasture, shade coffee, and secondary cloud forest) and evaluated the factors that control variation across sites within cover types. In 38 sites distributed from 1200 m to 2900 m above sea level, we estimated Ksat at a depth of 25 cm using a Guelph permeameter. Ksat was significantly lower in soils under pasture and maize than in those under woody cover types (i.e., shade coffee and secondary forest), largely due to differences in horizon thickness. Variation in Ksat within woody cover types was associated with vegetation productivity and seasonality as inferred using remotely sensed vegetation indices. Unexpectedly, coffee and forest sites exhibited contrasting relationships between Ksat and vegetation indices. We propose possible mechanisms for these relationships and explore their implications for the regionalization of Ksat in catchment modeling applications.

  9. An Efficient Graph-based Method for Long-term Land-use Change Statistics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yipeng Zhang

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Statistical analysis of land-use change plays an important role in sustainable land management and has received increasing attention from scholars and administrative departments. However, the statistical process involving spatial overlay analysis remains difficult and needs improvement to deal with mass land-use data. In this paper, we introduce a spatio-temporal flow network model to reveal the hidden relational information among spatio-temporal entities. Based on graph theory, the constant condition of saturated multi-commodity flow is derived. A new method based on a network partition technique of spatio-temporal flow network are proposed to optimize the transition statistical process. The effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method is verified through experiments using land-use data in Hunan from 2009 to 2014. In the comparison among three different land-use change statistical methods, the proposed method exhibits remarkable superiority in efficiency.

  10. Land use changes in Pak Phanang Basin using satellite images and geographic information system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yongchalermchai, C.

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available This study defined major changes in land use in Pak Phanang Basin, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province by using remote sensing and geographic information system techniques. The land use map conducted by Department of Land Development in 1988 was compared with the land use map interpreted from satelliteimages of Landsat-5 TM acquired in 1995 and 1999. The results revealed that between 1988 to 1999, forest area in the basin decreased by a total of 98.08 km2, a drastic decline of 60% that was changed to rubber plantation area. The rubber area increased about 181.7 km2 or 41%. Shrimp farm area increased by 184.87 km2, equivalent to a high increase of 886% while paddy field area decreased by 248.7 km2, or 16% that was converted to shrimp farm and rubber land. A decline in forest area caused soil erosion. The severe expansion of shrimp farm area caused the salinity and affected nearby paddy field and water source areas, that resulted in degradation of the environment. Application of remote sensing and geographic information system was utilized as a tool for monitoring the land use change and planning proper resource utilization for sustainable development in Pak Phanang Basin.

  11. Impacts of Bioenergy Policies on Land-Use Change in Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stanley U. Okoro

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, bioenergy policies have increased the competition for land as well as the risk of adverse environmental impacts resulting from deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs. Primary land-use objectives confronting society today include meeting the growing demand for agricultural products, especially energy crops, preserving essential ecosystem services for human well-being and long-run agrarian production, and contributing to the climate policy target. Here, future agricultural, societal and environmental consequences of bioenergy policies under different global climate and societal development scenarios were assessed using a novel Forest and Agricultural Sector Optimization Model for Nigeria (NGA–FASOM. The results reveal that, in Nigeria, meeting emission reduction requires an implementation of a minimum carbon price of $80/ton within the forest and agricultural sectors. A carbon price alone is not sufficient to preserve the remaining forests and pasture land in Nigeria when bioenergy is subsidized. Furthermore, the result shows that subsidy on bioenergy does not have any significant effect on the total social welfare. The findings in this study provide a guide for policymakers in designing appropriate policies addressing bioenergy industry issues in Nigeria.

  12. Geospatial Analysis of Land Use and Land Cover Changes for Discharge at Way Kualagaruntang Watershed in Bandar Lampung

    OpenAIRE

    Yuniarti, Fieni; K, Dyah Indriana; Winarno, Dwi Joko

    2013-01-01

    Land use and land cover change in a watershed might drive some impacts, such as high amounts of discharge fluctuations. Way Kuala Garuntang Watersheed is one of watershed in Bandar Lampung that has changed significantly. This study analyzed land use and land cover change to determine how much its influence on discharce fluctuations based on Geographics Information System. The method used in this study comprised of hidrology, spatial and sensitivity analysis. Hidrology analysis based on daily ...

  13. Land use and land cover change based on historical space-time model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Qiong; Zhang, Chi; Liu, Min; Zhang, Yongjing

    2016-09-01

    Land use and cover change is a leading edge topic in the current research field of global environmental changes and case study of typical areas is an important approach understanding global environmental changes. Taking the Qiantang River (Zhejiang, China) as an example, this study explores automatic classification of land use using remote sensing technology and analyzes historical space-time change by remote sensing monitoring. This study combines spectral angle mapping (SAM) with multi-source information and creates a convenient and efficient high-precision land use computer automatic classification method which meets the application requirements and is suitable for complex landform of the studied area. This work analyzes the histological space-time characteristics of land use and cover change in the Qiantang River basin in 2001, 2007 and 2014, in order to (i) verify the feasibility of studying land use change with remote sensing technology, (ii) accurately understand the change of land use and cover as well as historical space-time evolution trend, (iii) provide a realistic basis for the sustainable development of the Qiantang River basin and (iv) provide a strong information support and new research method for optimizing the Qiantang River land use structure and achieving optimal allocation of land resources and scientific management.

  14. The Adaptive potential pasture phytocenosis to sole ambience and influence them on speaker of the fertility light-chestnut ground in condition of the natural moistening

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. Z. Usmanov

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Estimation of the adaptive potential natural phytocenosis is given to soil salinization ground under natural moistening. The Studied general regularities of the operation to pasture vegetation and condition of the renewing the vegetable cover on techno-broken ground (the lands. The analysed role prevail plants in conservation balances conditions pasture.

  15. Land Use Strategies for Optimizing Carbon Sequestration within the Head of the Lower Mississippi Watershed

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weaver, L.

    2015-12-01

    The world is currently in a stage of extreme growth, characterized by increasing demands for food and increasing greenhouse gas emissions. The population for 2050 is forecasted to grow by 2.3 billion people, resulting in close to a 40% increase in food demand (Alexandratos, Bruinsma 2012). This will severely increase pressure on the earth and on crop harvesting processes to incorporate carbon emissions reduction strategies. Optimal land use analysis and innovation can provide feasible solutions for these problems. A key environmental feature around which land use systems should be carefully planned and maintained is the Mississippi River, the largest watershed system in the United States. Along head of the Lower Mississippi Watershed lie several farming communities including Cairo, Illinois. The primary land use for the area inhabited by these communities consists of soybeans, corn, and pasture. These crops have varying carbon storage capacities, economic and social benefits, and environmental consequences. In order to maximize social, economic, and environmental benefits and sustainability, these crops were analyzed over time, spatial correlation, and crop size area. When considering risks of carbon emissions, economic decline, landscape erosion and harmful runoff, a localized switchgrass buffer remains a feasible solution. Its strengths as a native, reliable plant with high carbon sequestration and biomass harvest potential yield it to be more prevalently implemented at the head of the Lower Mississippi Watershed. However, there are multiple factors that must be considered before implementing broad agricultural policies and practices. Thorough analyses should be performed frequently to assess the effects of major land use change and can be used to identify the optimized applications for farmers and communities.

  16. Effect of termite activity on soil under different land management strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liane Barreto Alves Pinheiro

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Mound-building termites are important agents of soil bioperturbation, but these species have not been extensively studied thus far. The present study aimed to evaluate the soil particle-size and the chemical attributes of termite mounds and the surrounding soil under different land use strategies. A one-hectare plot was defined for an unmanaged degraded pasture, planted pasture, and for a eucalyptus Corymbia citriodora plantation. In each plot, the top, center, and base sections of five Cornitermes cumulans mounds, and the surrounding soil at the depths of 0-5; 5-10; 10-20 cm, were sampled in the Pinheiral, Rio de Janeiro state. In the three areas, the center of the mounds contained higher clay content, organic carbon, phosphorous, calcium and magnesium, total bases, and cation exchangeable capacity, when compared to the top, base, and the surrounding soils. However, the center had lower values of exchangeable acidity and potassium, of the three areas. In the eucalyptus plantation, the values of pH, total bases, calcium, and magnesium were lower, whereas aluminum, exchangeable acidity, sodium, and cation exchange capacity were higher both in the mounds and in the surrounding soil, in relation to the pastures. There were no differences among the three areas in terms of organic carbon, potassium, phosphorous, and total bases, in the mounds and adjacent soil. Thus, the termite activity altered the clay content and most of the soil chemical properties in all of the studied areas, but only for the center of the mounds. However, the effect of these organisms was different in the eucalyptus plantation in relation to the pasture areas.

  17. The effect of Lameness before and during the breeding season on fertility in 10 pasture-based Irish dairy herds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Somers, Joris R; Huxley, Jon; Lorenz, Ingrid; Doherty, Michael L; O'Grady, Luke

    2015-01-01

    The effects of lameness on fertility have been documented frequently but few data are available from seasonally breeding, pasture-based herds (such as those used in Ireland) where cows are housed during the winter months but managed at pasture for the remainder of the year. This study determined the prevalence of lameness in a group of 786 cows in 10 pasture-based Irish dairy herds before, during and after the breeding season and assessed the relationship between lameness and the reproductive performance in these herds through serial locomotion scoring during the grazing period. Lameness prevalences of 11.6 % before, 14.6 % during and 11.6 % after the breeding season were found and these compared favourably to results from housed cattle and are similar to other studies carried out in grazing herds. A Cox proportional hazards model with locomotion score as time varying covariate was used. After controlling for the effect of farm, month of calving, body condition score at calving, body condition score loss after calving and economic breeding index, cows identified as lame during the study were less likely to become pregnant. Cows lame before the earliest serve date but no longer lame during the breeding season, cows becoming lame after the earliest serve date and cows identified lame both before and after this date were respectively 12 %, 35 % and 38 % less likely to become pregnant compared to cows never observed lame during the study. However, these findings were only significant for cows becoming lame after the earliest serve date and cows lame both before and after the start of breeding. This study found that the reproductive efficiency was significantly (p  0.05) lower in these animals compared to cows never diagnosed as lame. In addition to lameness status, nutritional status and genetics were found to influence the reproductive performance in pasture-based Irish dairy herds.

  18. Impacts of a Changing Climate and Land Use on Reindeer Pastoralism: Indigenous Knowledge and Remote Sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maynard, N. G.; Oskal, A.; Turi, A.; Mathiesen, J. M.; Eira, S. D.; Yurchak, I. M. G.; Etylin, B.; Gebelein, J.

    2009-01-01

    The Arctic is home to many indigenous peoples, including those who depend on reindeer herding for their livelihood, in one of the harshest environments in the world. For the largely nomadic peoples, reindeer not only form a substantial part of the Arctic food base and economy, but they are also culturally important, shaping their way of life, mythologies, festivals and ceremonies. Reindeer pastoralism or husbandry has been practiced by numerous peoples all across Eurasia for thousands of years and involves moving herds of reindeer, which are very docile animals, from pasture to pasture depending on the season. Thus, herders must adapt on a daily basis to find optimal conditions for their herds according to the constantly changing conditions. Climate change and variability plus rapid development are increasingly creating major changes in the physical environment, ecology, and cultures of these indigenous reindeer herder communities in the North, and climate changes are occurring significantly faster in the Arctic than the rest of the globe, with correspondingly dramatic impacts (Oskal, 2008). In response to these changes, Eurasian reindeer herders have created the EALAT project, a comprehensive new initiative to study these impacts and to develop local adaptation strategies based upon their traditional knowledge of the land and its uses - in targeted partnership with the science and remote sensing community - involving extensive collaborations and coproduction of knowledge to minimize the impacts of the various changes. This chapter provides background on climate and development challenges to reindeer husbandry across the Arctic and an overview of the EALAT initiative, with an emphasis on indigenous knowledge, remote sensing, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and other scientific data to 'co-produce' datasets for use by herders for improved decision-making and herd management. It also provides a description of the EALAT monitoring data integration and sharing

  19. Tracing trade-related telecouplings in the global land-system using the embodied human appropriation of net primary production framework

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haberl, H.; Kastner, T.; Schaffartzik, A.; Erb, K. H.

    2015-12-01

    Global land-system change is influenced by a complex set of drivers that transcend spatial, institutional and temporal scales. The notion of "telecouplings" is gaining importance in Land System Science as a framework to address that complexity of drivers. One of them is the trade in land-based products, which forges connections between different geographic regions. Trade in land-based products is growing rapidly, thereby creating an increasing spatial disconnect between the locations where primary products (e.g. crops, fodder or timber) are grown and harvested and where the related environmental pressures occur, and the locations where final products (e.g. food, fiber or bioenergy) are consumed. Governing land-related sustainability issues such as GHG emissions or pressures on biodiversity and ecosystems related with land-use changes requires information on trade-related telecouplings, e.g. in order to avoid leakage effects. However, tracing land use (change) related with flows of traded products is challenging, among others due to (a) the lack of easily implementable metrics to account for differences in land quality and land-use intensity, and (b) the lack of satisfactory methods to allocate land to products that are traded and consumed. Drawing from a database derived from FAO statistics that allows tracing bilateral trade flows between ~200 countries at a resolution of ~500 products for the time period 1986-2006, this presentation will discuss how the framework of embodied human appropriation of net primary production (eHANPP) can help tackling these difficult issues. The HANPP framework allows to consistently represent important aspects of land quality and land-use intensity, e.g. natural productivity potential or land-use efficiency. In terms of allocation of land to products, eHANPP is a factor-based approach, and the presentation will discuss differences to alternative methods such as environmentally extended input-output analysis. We will use the available

  20. Abundance of large old trees in wood-pastures of Transylvania (Romania).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartel, Tibor; Hanspach, Jan; Moga, Cosmin I; Holban, Lucian; Szapanyos, Árpád; Tamás, Réka; Hováth, Csaba; Réti, Kinga-Olga

    2018-02-01

    Wood-pastures are special types of agroforestry systems that integrate trees with livestock grazing. Wood pastures can be hotspots for large old tree abundance and have exceptional natural values; but they are declining all over Europe. While presence of large old trees in wood-pastures can provide arguments for their maintenance, actual data on their distribution and abundance are sparse. Our study is the first to survey large old trees in Eastern Europe over such a large area. We surveyed 97 wood-pastures in Transylvania (Romania) in order to (i) provide a descriptive overview of the large old tree abundance; and (ii) to explore the environmental determinants of the abundance and persistence of large old trees in wood-pastures. We identified 2520 large old trees belonging to 16 taxonomic groups. Oak was present in 66% of the wood-pastures, followed by beech (33%), hornbeam (24%) and pear (22%). For each of these four species we constructed a generalized linear model with quasi-Poisson error distribution to explain individual tree abundance. Oak trees were most abundant in large wood-pastures and in wood-pastures from the Saxon cultural region of Transylvania. Beech abundance related positively to elevation and to proximity of human settlements. Abundance of hornbeam was highest in large wood-pastures, in wood-pastures from the Saxon cultural region, and in places with high cover of adjacent forest and a low human population density. Large old pear trees were most abundant in large wood-pastures that were close to paved roads. The maintenance of large old trees in production landscapes is a challenge for science, policy and local people, but it also can serve as an impetus for integrating economic, ecological and social goals within a landscape. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Diazotrophic Bacterial Community of Degraded Pastures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    João Tiago Correia Oliveira

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Pasture degradation can cause changes in diazotrophic bacterial communities. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the culturable and total diazotrophic bacterial community, associated with regions of the rhizosphere and roots of Brachiaria decumbens Stapf. pastures in different stages of degradation. Samples of roots and rhizospheric soil were collected from slightly, partially, and highly degraded pastures. McCrady’s table was used to obtain the Most Probable Number (MPN of bacteria per gram of sample, in order to determine population density and calculate the Shannon-Weaver diversity index. The diversity of total diazotrophic bacterial community was determined by the technique of Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE of the nifH gene, while the diversity of the culturable diazotrophic bacteria was determined by the Polymerase Chain Reaction (BOX-PCR technique. The increase in the degradation stage of the B. decumbens Stapf. pasture did not reduce the population density of the cultivated diazotrophic bacterial community, suggesting that the degradation at any degree of severity was highly harmful to the bacteria. The structure of the total diazotrophic bacterial community associated with B. decumbens Stapf. was altered by the pasture degradation stage, suggesting a high adaptive capacity of the bacteria to altered environments.

  2. Self-Cleaning Coatings and Materials for Decontaminating Field-Deployable Land and Water-Based Optical Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryan, Robert; Underwood, Lauren; Holekamp, Kara; May, George; Spiering, Bruce; Davis, Bruce

    2011-01-01

    This technology exploits the organic decomposition capability and hydrophilic properties of the photocatalytic material titanium dioxide (TiO2), a nontoxic and non-hazardous substance, to address contamination and biofouling issues in field-deployed optical sensor systems. Specifically, this technology incorporates TiO2 coatings and materials applied to, or integrated as a part of, the optical surfaces of sensors and calibration sources, including lenses, windows, and mirrors that are used in remote, unattended, ground-based (land or maritime) optical sensor systems. Current methods used to address contamination or biofouling of these optical surfaces in deployed systems are costly, toxic, labor intensive, and non-preventative. By implementing this novel technology, many of these negative aspects can be reduced. The functionality of this innovative self-cleaning solution to address the problem of contamination or biofouling depends on the availability of a sufficient light source with the appropriate spectral properties, which can be attained naturally via sunlight or supplemented using artificial illumination such as UV LEDs (light emitting diodes). In land-based or above-water systems, the TiO2 optical surface is exposed to sunlight, which catalyzes the photocatalytic reaction, facilitating both the decomposition of inorganic and organic compounds, and the activation of superhydrophilic properties. Since underwater optical surfaces are submerged and have limited sunlight exposure, supplementary UV light sources would be required to activate the TiO2 on these optical surfaces. Nighttime operation of land-based or above-water systems would require this addition as well. For most superhydrophilic self-cleaning purposes, a rainwater wash will suffice; however, for some applications an attached rainwater collector/ dispenser or other fresh water dispensing system may be required to wash the optical surface and initiate the removal of contaminates. Deployment of this

  3. Geographical information system based model of land suitability for good yield of rice in prachuap khiri khan province, thailand

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hussain, W.; Sohaib, O.

    2012-01-01

    Correct assessment of land is a major issue in agricultural sector to use possible capability of any land, to raise cultivation and production of rice. Geographical Information System (GIS) provides broad techniques for suitable land classifications. This study is GIS based on land suitability analysis for rice farming in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, Thailand, where the main livelihood of people is rice farming. This analysis was conducted considering the relationship of rice production with various data layers of elevation, slope, soil pH, rainfall, fertilizer use and land use. ArcView GIS 3.2 software is used to consider each layer according to related data to weight every coefficient, ranking techniques are used. It was based on determining correlation of rice production and these variables. This analysis showed a positive correlation with these variables in varying degrees depending on the magnitude and quality of these factors. By combining both data layers of GIS and weighted linear combination, various suitable lands have been developed for cultivation of rice. Integrated suitable assessment map and current land were compared to find suitable land in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province of Thailand. As a result of this comparison, we get a land which is suitable for optimum utilization for rice production in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province. (author)

  4. Agricultural irrigated land-use inventory for Polk County, Florida, 2016

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marella, Richard L.; Berry, Darbi; Dixon, Joann F.

    2017-08-16

    An accurate inventory of irrigated crop acreage is not available at the level of resolution needed to better estimate agricultural water use or to project future water demands in many Florida counties. A detailed digital map and summary of irrigated acreage was developed for Polk County, Florida, during the 2016 growing season. This cooperative project between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Office of Agricultural Water Policy of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is part of an effort to improve estimates of water use and projections of future demands across all counties in the State. The irrigated areas were delineated by using land-use data provided by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, along with information obtained from the South and Southwest Florida Water Management Districts consumptive water-use permits. Delineations were field verified between April and December 2016. Attribute data such as crop type, primary water source, and type of irrigation system were assigned to the irrigated areas.The results of this inventory and field verification indicate that during the 2016 growing seasons (spring, summer, fall, and winter), an estimated 88,652 acres were irrigated within Polk County. Of the total field-verified crops, 83,995 acres were in citrus; 2,893 acres were in other non-citrus fruit crops (blueberries, grapes, peaches, and strawberries); 621 acres were in row crops (primarily beans and watermelons); 1,117 acres were in nursery (container and tree farms) and sod production; and 26 acres were in field crops including hay and pasture. Of the total inventoried irrigated acreage within Polk County, 98 percent (86,566 acres) was in the Southwest Florida Water Management District, and the remaining 2 percent (2,086 acres) was in the South Florida Water Management District.About 85,788 acres (96.8 percent of the acreage inventoried) were irrigated by a microirrigation system, including drip, bubblers, and

  5. Coupling integrated assessment and earth system models: concepts and an application to land use change

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Neill, B. C.; Lawrence, P.; Ren, X.

    2016-12-01

    Collaboration between the integrated assessment modeling (IAM) and earth system modeling (ESM) communities is increasing, driven by a growing interest in research questions that require analysis integrating both social and natural science components. This collaboration often takes the form of integrating their respective models. There are a number of approaches available to implement this integration, ranging from one-way linkages to full two-way coupling, as well as approaches that retain a single modeling framework but improve the representation of processes from the other framework. We discuss the pros and cons of these different approaches and the conditions under which a two-way coupling of IAMs and ESMs would be favored over a one-way linkage. We propose a criterion that is necessary and sufficient to motivate two-way coupling: A human process must have an effect on an earth system process that is large enough to cause a change in the original human process that is substantial compared to other uncertainties in the problem being investigated. We then illustrate a test of this criterion for land use-climate interactions based on work using the Community Earth System Model (CESM) and land use scenarios from the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs), in which we find that the land use effect on regional climate is unlikely to meet the criterion. We then show an example of implementing a one-way linkage of land use and agriculture between an IAM, the integrated Population-Economy-Technology-Science (iPETS) model, and CESM that produces fully consistent outcomes between iPETS and the CESM land surface model. We use the linked system to model the influence of climate change on crop yields, agricultural land use, crop prices and food consumption under two alternative future climate scenarios. This application demonstrates the ability to link an IAM to a global land surface and climate model in a computationally efficient manner.

  6. Environmental Land Management in Tajikistan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Makhmudov, Zafar; Ergashev, Murod

    2015-04-01

    Tackling Environmental Land Management in Tajikistan "Project approach" Khayrullo Ibodzoda, Zafar Mahmoudov, Murod Ergashev, Kamoliddin Abdulloev Among 28 countries in Europe and Central Asia, Tajikistan is estimated to be the most vulnerable to the climate change impacts depending on its high exposure and sensitivity combined with a very low adaptive capacity. The agricultural sector of Tajikistan is subject to lower and more erratic rainfalls, as well as dryness of water resources due to the possible temperature rising in the region, high evaporation, reducing the accumulation of snow in the mountain glaciers and increased frequency of extreme events. Climate change and variability are likely to pose certain risks, especially for those who prefer natural agriculture or pasture management that just reinforces the need for sound, adapted to new climatic conditions and improved principles of land management. Adoption of new strategies and best practices on sustainable land and water management for agricultural ecosystems will help the farmers and communities in addressing the abovementioned problems, adapt and become more resilient to changing climate by increasing wellbeing of local population, and contributing to food security and restoring productive natural resources. The Environmental Land Management and Rural Livelihoods Project is being financed by the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR) and Global Environment Facility (GEF). The Project goal is to enable the rural population to increase their productive assets by improving management of natural resources and building resilience to climate change in selected climate vulnerable sites. The project will facilitate introduction of innovative measures on land use and agricultural production by providing small grants at the village level and grants for the Pasture User Groups (PUGs) at jamoat level in order to implement joint plans of pasture management and wellbred livestock, also for the Water User

  7. Land system science and sustainable development of the earth system

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Verburg, Peter H.; Crossman, Neville; Ellis, Erle C.

    2015-01-01

    Land systems are the result of human interactions with the natural environment. Understanding the drivers, state, trends and impacts of different land systems on social and natural processes helps to reveal how changes in the land system affect the functioning of the socio-ecological system...... as a whole and the tradeoff these changes may represent. The Global Land Project has led advances by synthesizing land systems research across different scales and providing concepts to further understand the feedbacks between social-and environmental systems, between urban and rural environments and between...... distant world regions. Land system science has moved from a focus on observation of change and understanding the drivers of these changes to a focus on using this understanding to design sustainable transformations through stakeholder engagement and through the concept of land governance. As land use can...

  8. The South Florida Ecosystem Portfolio Model - A Map-Based Multicriteria Ecological, Economic, and Community Land-Use Planning Tool

    Science.gov (United States)

    Labiosa, William B.; Bernknopf, Richard; Hearn, Paul; Hogan, Dianna; Strong, David; Pearlstine, Leonard; Mathie, Amy M.; Wein, Anne M.; Gillen, Kevin; Wachter, Susan

    2009-01-01

    The South Florida Ecosystem Portfolio Model (EPM) prototype is a regional land-use planning Web tool that integrates ecological, economic, and social information and values of relevance to decision-makers and stakeholders. The EPM uses a multicriteria evaluation framework that builds on geographic information system-based (GIS) analysis and spatially-explicit models that characterize important ecological, economic, and societal endpoints and consequences that are sensitive to regional land-use/land-cover (LULC) change. The EPM uses both economics (monetized) and multiattribute utility (nonmonetized) approaches to valuing these endpoints and consequences. This hybrid approach represents a methodological middle ground between rigorous economic and ecological/ environmental scientific approaches. The EPM sacrifices some degree of economic- and ecological-forecasting precision to gain methodological transparency, spatial explicitness, and transferability, while maintaining credibility. After all, even small steps in the direction of including ecosystem services evaluation are an improvement over current land-use planning practice (Boyd and Wainger, 2003). There are many participants involved in land-use decision-making in South Florida, including local, regional, State, and Federal agencies, developers, environmental groups, agricultural groups, and other stakeholders (South Florida Regional Planning Council, 2003, 2004). The EPM's multicriteria evaluation framework is designed to cut across the objectives and knowledge bases of all of these participants. This approach places fundamental importance on social equity and stakeholder participation in land-use decision-making, but makes no attempt to determine normative socially 'optimal' land-use plans. The EPM is thus a map-based set of evaluation tools for planners and stakeholders to use in their deliberations of what is 'best', considering a balancing of disparate interests within a regional perspective. Although

  9. Pasture Management Strategies for Sequestering Soil Carbon - Final Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Franzluebbers, Alan J.

    2006-03-15

    Pasturelands account for 51 of the 212 Mha of privately held grazing land in the USA. Tall fescue is the most important cool-season perennial forage for many beef cattle producers in the humid region of the USA. A fungal endophyte, Neotyphodium coenophialum, infects the majority of tall fescue stands with a mutualistic association. Ergot alkaloids produced by the endophyte have negative impacts on cattle performance. However, there are indications that endophyte infection of tall fescue is a necessary component of productive and persistent pasture ecology. The objectives of this research were to characterize and quantify changes in soil organic carbon and associated soil properties under tall fescue pastures with and without endophyte infection of grass. Pastures with high endophyte infection had greater concentration of soil organic carbon, but lower concentration of biologically active soil carbon than pastures with low endophyte infection. A controlled experiment suggested that endophyte-infected leaf tissue may directly inhibit the activity of soil microorganisms. Carbon forms of soil organic matter were negatively affected and nitrogen forms were positively affected by endophyte addition to soil. The chemical compounds in endophyte-infected tall fescue (ergot alkaloids) that are responsible for animal health disorders were found in soil, suggesting that these chemicals might be persistent in the environment. Future research is needed to determine whether ergot alkaloids or some other chemicals are responsible for increases in soil organic matter. Scientists will be able to use this information to better understand the ecological impacts of animals grazing tall fescue, and possibly to identify and cultivate other similar associations for improving soil organic matter storage. Another experiment suggested that both dry matter production and soil microbial activity could be affected by the endophyte. Sampling of the cumulative effects of 20 years of tall fescue

  10. Soil and pasture P concentration in a Fraxinus excelsior L. silvopastoral system fertilised with different types of sewage sludge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferreiro-Domínguez, Nuria; Nair, Vimala; Rigueiro-Rodríguez, Antonio; Rosa Mosquera-Losada, María

    2015-04-01

    In Europe, sewage sludge should be stabilised before using as fertiliser in agriculture. Depending on the stabilisation process that is used, sewage sludge has different characteristics, nutrient contents and soil nutrient incorporation rates. Sewage sludge is usually applied on a plant-available N or total metal concentration basic, and therefore, P concentrations can be well above crop needs. Leaching of excess P can threaten surface and ground waters with eutrophication. In this context, recent studies have demonstrated that the implementation of agroforestry systems could reduce the P leaching risk compared with conventional agricultural systems due to the different localisation of tree and crop roots which enhance nutrient uptake. The aim of this study was to evaluate during three consecutive years the effect of municipal sewage sludge stabilised by anaerobic digestion, composting, and pelletisation on concentration of P in soil and pasture compared to control treatments (mineral and no fertilisation) in a silvopastoral system established under Fraxinus excelsior L. in Galicia (Spain). The results showed that at the beginning of the study, the fertilisation with mineral increased more the total and available P in soil than the fertilisation with sewage sludge probably because the sludge nutrient release rate is slower than those from mineral fertilisers. The increment of soil available P caused by the mineral fertiliser implied an improvement of the P concentration in the pasture. However, in the last year of the experiment it was observed a positive effect of the fertilisation with pelletised sludge on the concentration of P in pasture compared with the composted sludge and the mineral fertiliser probably due to the annual application of this type of sludge. Therefore, the establishment of silvopastoral systems and their fertilisation with pelletized sludge should be recommended because the pelletized sludge increases the concentration of P in the pasture and

  11. Participatory land use planning for community based forest ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Participatory land use planning for community based forest management in South-Eastern Nigeria. FE Bisong, A Animashaun. Abstract. No Abstract. Lwati: A Journal of Contemporary Research Vol. 4 () 2007: pp.329-347. Full Text: EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT.

  12. Incorporating JULES into NASA's Land Information System (LIS) and Investigations of Land-Atmosphere Coupling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santanello, Joseph

    2011-01-01

    NASA's Land Information System (LIS; lis.gsfc.nasa.gov) is a flexible land surface modeling and data assimilation framework developed over the past decade with the goal of integrating satellite- and ground-based observational data products and advanced land surface modeling techniques to produce optimal fields of land surface states and fluxes. LIS features a high performance and flexible design, and operates on an ensemble of land surface models for extension over user-specified regional or global domains. The extensible interfaces of LIS allow the incorporation of new domains, land surface models (LSMs), land surface parameters, meteorological inputs, data assimilation and optimization algorithms. In addition, LIS has also been demonstrated for parameter estimation and uncertainty estimation, and has been coupled to the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) mesoscale model. A visiting fellowship is currently underway to implement JULES into LIS and to undertake some fundamental science on the feedbacks between the land surface and the atmosphere. An overview of the LIS system, features, and sample results will be presented in an effort to engage the community in the potential advantages of LIS-JULES for a range of applications. Ongoing efforts to develop a framework for diagnosing land-atmosphere coupling will also be presented using the suite of LSM and PBL schemes available in LIS and WRF along with observations from the U. S .. Southern Great Plains. This methodology provides a potential pathway to study factors controlling local land-atmosphere coupling (LoCo) using the LIS-WRF system, which will serve as a testbed for future experiments to evaluate coupling diagnostics within the community.

  13. Study On Safeguard Measures for Implementing Overall Planning of Land Use

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2011-01-01

    Based on minutely analysing the main problems existing in safeguard measures for implementing a new round of overall planning of land use,this paper constructs implementation security system of overall planning of land use,and puts forward the principles and basis of formulating safeguard measures for implementing overall planning of land use.Finally,this paper establishes the content system of safeguard measures:effectively strengthen social supervision;strengthen administrative management of land use planning;strengthen economic management of land use planning;reinforce the legal status of planning;establish incentive and constraint mechanism for reinforcing implementation;improve support system of planning.

  14. Environmental effectiveness of GAEC cross-compliance standard 4.1 (b, c ‘Protection of permanent pasture land’ and economic evaluation of the competitiveness gap for farmers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mauro Salis

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents the main results of the monitoring on the effectiveness of the cross-compliance Standard 4.1 ‘Permanent pasture protection: lett. b, c’ carried out in two case studies within the project MO.NA.CO. Soil, botanical, productive and economic (competitiveness gap parameters have been monitored. In the short term, the Standard 4.1 showed its effectiveness on soil quality, biomass productivity and competitiveness gap in both case studies. Botanical parameters showed differing results, therefore their generalization is not applicable to the heterogeneity of the pasture land Italian system. Shallow soil tillage could be suggested, every 40-50 years, when an appropriate soil organic matter content and the absence of runoff phenomena occur.

  15. Modeling the Behaviour of an Advanced Material Based Smart Landing Gear System for Aerospace Vehicles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Varughese, Byji; Dayananda, G. N.; Rao, M. Subba

    2008-01-01

    The last two decades have seen a substantial rise in the use of advanced materials such as polymer composites for aerospace structural applications. In more recent years there has been a concerted effort to integrate materials, which mimic biological functions (referred to as smart materials) with polymeric composites. Prominent among smart materials are shape memory alloys, which possess both actuating and sensory functions that can be realized simultaneously. The proper characterization and modeling of advanced and smart materials holds the key to the design and development of efficient smart devices/systems. This paper focuses on the material characterization; modeling and validation of the model in relation to the development of a Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) based smart landing gear (with high energy dissipation features) for a semi rigid radio controlled airship (RC-blimp). The Super Elastic (SE) SMA element is configured in such a way that it is forced into a tensile mode of high elastic deformation. The smart landing gear comprises of a landing beam, an arch and a super elastic Nickel-Titanium (Ni-Ti) SMA element. The landing gear is primarily made of polymer carbon composites, which possess high specific stiffness and high specific strength compared to conventional materials, and are therefore ideally suited for the design and development of an efficient skid landing gear system with good energy dissipation characteristics. The development of the smart landing gear in relation to a conventional metal landing gear design is also dealt with

  16. Soil structure and earthworm activity in an marine silt loam under pasture versus arable land

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jongmans, A.G.; Pulleman, M.M.; Marinissen, J.C.Y.

    2001-01-01

    Agricultural management influences soil organic matter (SOM) and earthworm activity which interact with soil structure. We aimed to describe the change in earthworm activity and related soil (micro)structure and SOM in a loamy Eutrodept as affected by permanent pasture (PP) and conventional arable

  17. Land Use Change on Coffee Farms in Southern Guatemala and its Environmental Consequences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haggar, Jeremy; Medina, Byron; Aguilar, Rosa Maria; Munoz, Claudia

    2013-04-01

    Changes in commodity prices, such as the fall in coffee prices from 2000 to 2004, affect land use decisions on farms, and the environmental services they provide. A survey of 50 farms showed a 35 % loss in the area under coffee between 2000 and 2004 below 700 m with the majority of this area (64 %) being coffee agroforest systems that included native forest species. Loss of coffee only occurred on large and medium-scale farms; there was no change in area on cooperatives. Coffee productivity declined below 1,100 m altitude for sun and Inga shade coffee, but only below 700 m altitude for agroforest coffee. Coffee productivity was 37-53 % lower under agroforests than other systems. Increases in rubber and pasture were related to low altitude large-scale farms, and bananas and timber plantations to mid-altitude farms. Average aboveground carbon stocks for coffee agroforests of 39 t C ha-1 was similar to rubber plantations, but one-third to one half that of natural forest and timber plantations, respectively. Coffee agroforests had the highest native tree diversity of the productive systems (7-12 species ha-1) but lower than natural forest (31 species ha-1). Conversion of coffee agroforest to other land uses always led to a reduction in the quality of habitat for native biodiversity, especially avian, but was concentrated among certain farm types. Sustaining coffee agroforests for biodiversity conservation would require targeted interventions such as direct payments or market incentives specifically for biodiversity.

  18. New pasture plants intensify invasive species risk.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Driscoll, Don A; Catford, Jane A; Barney, Jacob N; Hulme, Philip E; Inderjit; Martin, Tara G; Pauchard, Aníbal; Pyšek, Petr; Richardson, David M; Riley, Sophie; Visser, Vernon

    2014-11-18

    Agricultural intensification is critical to meet global food demand, but intensification threatens native species and degrades ecosystems. Sustainable intensification (SI) is heralded as a new approach for enabling growth in agriculture while minimizing environmental impacts. However, the SI literature has overlooked a major environmental risk. Using data from eight countries on six continents, we show that few governments regulate conventionally bred pasture taxa to limit threats to natural areas, even though most agribusinesses promote taxa with substantial weed risk. New pasture taxa (including species, subspecies, varieties, cultivars, and plant-endophyte combinations) are bred with characteristics typical of invasive species and environmental weeds. By introducing novel genetic and endophyte variation, pasture taxa are imbued with additional capacity for invasion and environmental impact. New strategies to prevent future problems are urgently needed. We highlight opportunities for researchers, agribusiness, and consumers to reduce environmental risks associated with new pasture taxa. We also emphasize four main approaches that governments could consider as they build new policies to limit weed risks, including (i) national lists of taxa that are prohibited based on environmental risk; (ii) a weed risk assessment for all new taxa; (iii) a program to rapidly detect and control new taxa that invade natural areas; and (iv) the polluter-pays principle, so that if a taxon becomes an environmental weed, industry pays for its management. There is mounting pressure to increase livestock production. With foresight and planning, growth in agriculture can be achieved sustainably provided that the scope of SI expands to encompass environmental weed risks.

  19. Direct Sensor Orientation of a Land-Based Mobile Mapping System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yu-Hua Li

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available A land-based mobile mapping system (MMS is flexible and useful for the acquisition of road environment geospatial information. It integrates a set of imaging sensors and a position and orientation system (POS. The positioning quality of such systems is highly dependent on the accuracy of the utilized POS. This limitation is the major drawback due to the elevated cost associated with high-end GPS/INS units, particularly the inertial system. The potential accuracy of the direct sensor orientation depends on the architecture and quality of the GPS/INS integration process as well as the validity of the system calibration (i.e., calibration of the individual sensors as well as the system mounting parameters. In this paper, a novel single-step procedure using integrated sensor orientation with relative orientation constraint for the estimation of the mounting parameters is introduced. A comparative analysis between the proposed single-step and the traditional two-step procedure is carried out. Moreover, the estimated mounting parameters using the different methods are used in a direct geo-referencing procedure to evaluate their performance and the feasibility of the implemented system. Experimental results show that the proposed system using single-step system calibration method can achieve high 3D positioning accuracy.

  20. Conflict management in natural resources : a study of land, water and forest conflicts in Nepal

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Upreti, B.R.

    2001-01-01

    This book is based on the research into natural resource (NR)-conflict carried out between 1997 and 2000 in the Dolakha district of central Nepal, and in several reference sites around the country. The study focussed especially on land, water and forest/pasture conflicts and their

  1. Forage mass and stocking rate of elephant grass pastures managed under agroecological and conventional systems

    OpenAIRE

    Clair Jorge Olivo; Carlos Alberto Agnolin; Priscila Flôres Aguirre; Cláudia Marques de Bem; Tiago Luís da Ros de Araújo; Michelle Schalemberg Diehl; Gilmar Roberto Meinerz

    2014-01-01

    The objective was to evaluate elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum.) pastures, under the agroecological and conventional systems, as forage mass and stocking rate. In the agroecological system, the elephant grass was established in rows spaced by 3.0 m from each other. During the cool season ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) was established between these rows, which allowed the development of spontaneous growth species during the warm season. In the conventional system the elephant gra...

  2. Differences in Voluntary Cow Traffic between Holstein and Illawarra Breeds of Dairy Cattle in a Pasture-based Automatic Milking System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, C E F; Kwinten, N B P; van Gastel, D A J M; Kerrisk, K L; Lyons, N A; Garcia, S C

    2014-04-01

    Automatic milking systems (AMS) rely upon voluntary cow traffic (the voluntary movement of cattle around a farm) for milk harvesting and feed consumption. Previous research on conventional milking systems has shown differences between dairy cow breeds for intake and milk production, however, the ability to manipulate voluntary cow traffic and milking frequency on AMS farms through breed selection is unknown. This study investigated the effect of breed (Holstein Friesian versus Illawarra) on voluntary cow traffic as determined by gate passes at the Camden AMS research farm dairy facility. Daily data on days in milk, milk yield, gate passes and milking frequency for 158 Holstein Friesian cows and 24 Illawarra cows were collated by month for the 2007 and 2008 years. Illawarra cows had 9% more gate passes/day than Holstein cows over the duration of the study; however, the milking frequency and milk yield of both breeds were similar. Gate passes were greatest for both breeds in early lactation and in the winter (June to August) and summer (December to February) seasons. These findings highlight an opportunity to translate increased voluntary cow movement associated with breed selection into increased milking frequencies, milk production and overall pasture-based AMS performance.

  3. Modeling soil organic carbon stocks and changes in Spain using the GEFSOC system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Álvaro-Fuentes, Jorge; Easter, Mark; Cantero-Martínez, Carlos; Paustian, Keith

    2010-05-01

    Currently, there is little information about soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in Spain. To date the effects of land-use and soil management on SOC stocks in Spain have been evaluated in experimental fields under certain soil and climate conditions. However, these field experiments do not account for the spatial variability in management, cropping systems and soil and climate characteristics that exist in the whole territory. More realistic approaches like ecosystem-level dynamic simulation systems linked to geographic information systems (GIS) allow better assessments of SOC stocks at a regional or national level. The Global Environmental Facility Soil Organic Carbon (GEFSOC) system was recently built for this purpose (Milne et al., 2007) and it incorporates three widely used models for estimating SOC dynamics: (a) the Century ecosystem model; (b) the RothC soil C decomposition model; and (c) the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) method for assessing soil C at regional scales. We modeled 9.5 Mha in northeast Spain using the GEFSOC system to predict SOC stocks and changes comprising: pasture, forest, cereal-fallow, cereal monoculture, orchards, rice, irrigated land and grapes and olives. The spatial distribution of the different land use categories and their change over time was obtained from the European Corine database and from Spanish census data on land use from 1926 to 2007. At the same time, current and historical management information was collected from different sources in order to have a fairly well picture of changes in land use and management for this area. Soil parameters needed by the system were obtained from the European soil map (1 km x 1 km) and climate data was produced by the Meteorology State Agency (Ministry of the Environment and Rural and Marine Environs of Spain). The SOC stocks simulated were validated with SOC values from the European SOC map and from other national studies. Modeled SOC results suggested that spatial-based

  4. The Regional Land Cover Monitoring System: Building regional capacity through innovative land cover mapping approaches

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saah, D.; Tenneson, K.; Hanh, Q. N.; Aekakkararungroj, A.; Aung, K. S.; Goldstein, J.; Cutter, P. G.; Maus, P.; Markert, K. N.; Anderson, E.; Ellenburg, W. L.; Ate, P.; Flores Cordova, A. I.; Vadrevu, K.; Potapov, P.; Phongsapan, K.; Chishtie, F.; Clinton, N.; Ganz, D.

    2017-12-01

    Earth observation and Geographic Information System (GIS) tools, products, and services are vital to support the environmental decision making by governmental institutions, non-governmental agencies, and the general public. At the heart of environmental decision making is the monitoring land cover and land use change (LCLUC) for land resource planning and for ecosystem services, including biodiversity conservation and resilience to climate change. A major challenge for monitoring LCLUC in developing regions, such as Southeast Asia, is inconsistent data products at inconsistent intervals that have different typologies across the region and are typically made in without stakeholder engagement or input. Here we present the Regional Land Cover Monitoring System (RLCMS), a novel land cover mapping effort for Southeast Asia, implemented by SERVIR-Mekong, a joint NASA-USAID initiative that brings Earth observations to improve environmental decision making in developing countries. The RLCMS focuses on mapping biophysical variables (e.g. canopy cover, tree height, or percent surface water) at an annual interval and in turn using those biophysical variables to develop land cover maps based on stakeholder definitions of land cover classes. This allows for flexible and consistent land cover classifications that can meet the needs of different institutions across the region. Another component of the RLCMS production is the stake-holder engagement through co-development. Institutions that directly benefit from this system have helped drive the development for regional needs leading to services for their specific uses. Examples of services for regional stakeholders include using the RLCMS to develop maps using the IPCC classification scheme for GHG emission reporting and developing custom annual maps as an input to hydrologic modeling/flood forecasting systems. In addition to the implementation of this system and the service stemming from the RLCMS in Southeast Asia, it is

  5. The relative roles of climate and land use in the degradation of a terrestrial ecosystem: a case study from Kjarardalur, West Iceland

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erlendsson, Egill; Gísladóttir, Guðrún

    2016-04-01

    Around AD 870 the virgin environment of Iceland became populated by humans and mammal land herbivores. Since then, the island has lost nearly all of its native birch woodland, resulting in dramatic degradation of landscapes and ecosystems, attributed mainly to over-exploitation of woodlands and late-medieval climate deterioration. As part of policy making in agriculture, a heated debate is ongoing over limitations to sheep grazing in pastures suffering from long-term degradation. In this context the history of climate and land use is of great importance. Those who consider grazing a minimal attribute to land degradation argue that the harsh climate conditions of the little ice age are the primary mechanism behind the current degraded landscape. Others err on the side of caution and propose a careful approach to grazing. This study forms a contribution to the historical context of the impact of grazing upon the Icelandic terrestrial ecosystem. Using the analyses of pollen and spores from coprophilous fungi as principal methods, we present data about historical environmental change from within two different land holdings in Kjarardalur Valley, West Iceland. One dataset comes from within a landholding governed by the chieftain farm Reykholt, the other comes from within the land of the indipendent farm, Norðtunga. In the past the valley was used primarily as a pasture, associated with shielings (organised seasonal grazing). Pollen data from the pasture in Kjarardalur Valley, West Iceland, demonstrate a rapid loss of birch (Betula pubescens) woodland from grazing areas owned by the major farm and institution, Reykholt. The suppressive nature of grazing is demonstrated by the expansion of woodland as soon when animal stocks are reduced, probably as a consequence of the bubonic plague after AD 1402. Resumed exploitation of resources eventually depleted all birch woodland from the Reykholt landholding and precipitated soil erosion. The trajectory of environmental change

  6. Rapid prototyping of soil moisture estimates using the NASA Land Information System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anantharaj, V.; Mostovoy, G.; Li, B.; Peters-Lidard, C.; Houser, P.; Moorhead, R.; Kumar, S.

    2007-12-01

    The Land Information System (LIS), developed at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, is a functional Land Data Assimilation System (LDAS) that incorporates a suite of land models in an interoperable computational framework. LIS has been integrated into a computational Rapid Prototyping Capabilities (RPC) infrastructure. LIS consists of a core, a number of community land models, data servers, and visualization systems - integrated in a high-performance computing environment. The land surface models (LSM) in LIS incorporate surface and atmospheric parameters of temperature, snow/water, vegetation, albedo, soil conditions, topography, and radiation. Many of these parameters are available from in-situ observations, numerical model analysis, and from NASA, NOAA, and other remote sensing satellite platforms at various spatial and temporal resolutions. The computational resources, available to LIS via the RPC infrastructure, support e- Science experiments involving the global modeling of land-atmosphere studies at 1km spatial resolutions as well as regional studies at finer resolutions. The Noah Land Surface Model, available with-in the LIS is being used to rapidly prototype soil moisture estimates in order to evaluate the viability of other science applications for decision making purposes. For example, LIS has been used to further extend the utility of the USDA Soil Climate Analysis Network of in-situ soil moisture observations. In addition, LIS also supports data assimilation capabilities that are used to assimilate remotely sensed soil moisture retrievals from the AMSR-E instrument onboard the Aqua satellite. The rapid prototyping of soil moisture estimates using LIS and their applications will be illustrated during the presentation.

  7. Participatory Simulation of Land-Use Changes in the Northern Mountains of Vietnam: the Combined Use of an Agent-Based Model, a Role-Playing Game, and a Geographic Information System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jean-Christophe Castella

    2005-06-01

    Full Text Available In Vietnam, the remarkable economic growth that resulted from the doi moi (renovation reforms was based largely on the rural households that had become the new basic unit of agricultural production in the early 1990s. The technical, economic, and social changes that accompanied the decollectivization process transformed agricultural production, resource management, land use, and the institutions that defined access to resources and their distribution. Combined with the extreme biophysical, technical, and social heterogeneity encountered in the northern mountains, these rapid changes led to the extreme complexity of the agrarian dynamics that today challenges traditional diagnostic approaches. Since 1999, a participatory simulation method has been developed to disentangle the cause-and-effect relationships between the different driving forces and changes in land use observed at different scales. Several tools were combined to understand the interactions between human and natural systems, including a narrative conceptual model, an agent-based spatial computational model (ABM, a role-playing game, and a multiscale geographic information system (GIS. We synthesized into an ABM named SAMBA-GIS the knowledge generated from the above tools applied to a representative sample of research sites. The model takes explicitly into account the dynamic interactions among: (1 farmers' strategies, i.e., the individual decision-making process as a function of the farm's resource profile; (2 the institutions that define resource access and usage; and (3 changes in the biophysical and socioeconomic environment. The next step consisted of coupling the ABM with the GIS to extrapolate the application of local management rules to a whole landscape. Simulations are initialized using the layers of the GIS, e.g., land use in 1990, accessibility, soil characteristics, etc., and statistics available at the village level, e.g., population, ethnicity, livestock, etc. At each

  8. Improved land use classification from Landsat and Seasat satellite imagery registered to a common map base

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, J.

    1981-01-01

    In the case of Landsat Multispectral Scanner System (MSS) data, ambiguities in spectral signature can arise in urban areas. A study was initiated in the belief that Seasat digital SAR could help provide the spectral separability needed for a more accurate urban land use classification. A description is presented of the results of land use classifications performed on Landsat and preprocessed Seasat imagery that were registered to a common map base. The process of registering imagery and training site boundary coordinates to a common map has been reported by Clark (1980). It is found that preprocessed Seasat imagery provides signatures for urban land uses which are spectrally separable from Landsat signatures. This development appears to significantly improve land use classifications in an urban setting for class 12 (Commercial and Services), class 13 (Industrial), and class 14 (Transportation, Communications, and Utilities).

  9. Measuring larval nematode contamination on cattle pastures: Comparing two herbage sampling methods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verschave, S H; Levecke, B; Duchateau, L; Vercruysse, J; Charlier, J

    2015-06-15

    Assessing levels of pasture larval contamination is frequently used to study the population dynamics of the free-living stages of parasitic nematodes of livestock. Direct quantification of infective larvae (L3) on herbage is the most applied method to measure pasture larval contamination. However, herbage collection remains labour intensive and there is a lack of studies addressing the variation induced by the sampling method and the required sample size. The aim of this study was (1) to compare two different sampling methods in terms of pasture larval count results and time required to sample, (2) to assess the amount of variation in larval counts at the level of sample plot, pasture and season, respectively and (3) to calculate the required sample size to assess pasture larval contamination with a predefined precision using random plots across pasture. Eight young stock pastures of different commercial dairy herds were sampled in three consecutive seasons during the grazing season (spring, summer and autumn). On each pasture, herbage samples were collected through both a double-crossed W-transect with samples taken every 10 steps (method 1) and four random located plots of 0.16 m(2) with collection of all herbage within the plot (method 2). The average (± standard deviation (SD)) pasture larval contamination using sampling methods 1 and 2 was 325 (± 479) and 305 (± 444)L3/kg dry herbage (DH), respectively. Large discrepancies in pasture larval counts of the same pasture and season were often seen between methods, but no significant difference (P = 0.38) in larval counts between methods was found. Less time was required to collect samples with method 2. This difference in collection time between methods was most pronounced for pastures with a surface area larger than 1 ha. The variation in pasture larval counts from samples generated by random plot sampling was mainly due to the repeated measurements on the same pasture in the same season (residual variance

  10. Multi-Scale Hydrometeorological Modeling, Land Data Assimilation and Parameter Estimation with the Land Information System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peters-Lidard, Christa D.

    2011-01-01

    The Land Information System (LIS; http://lis.gsfc.nasa.gov) is a flexible land surface modeling framework that has been developed with the goal of integrating satellite-and ground-based observational data products and advanced land surface modeling techniques to produce optimal fields of land surface states and fluxes. As such, LIS represents a step towards the next generation land component of an integrated Earth system model. In recognition of LIS object-oriented software design, use and impact in the land surface and hydrometeorological modeling community, the LIS software was selected as a co-winner of NASA?s 2005 Software of the Year award.LIS facilitates the integration of observations from Earth-observing systems and predictions and forecasts from Earth System and Earth science models into the decision-making processes of partnering agency and national organizations. Due to its flexible software design, LIS can serve both as a Problem Solving Environment (PSE) for hydrologic research to enable accurate global water and energy cycle predictions, and as a Decision Support System (DSS) to generate useful information for application areas including disaster management, water resources management, agricultural management, numerical weather prediction, air quality and military mobility assessment. LIS has e volved from two earlier efforts -- North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS) and Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) that focused primarily on improving numerical weather prediction skills by improving the characterization of the land surface conditions. Both of GLDAS and NLDAS now use specific configurations of the LIS software in their current implementations.In addition, LIS was recently transitioned into operations at the US Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) to ultimately replace their Agricultural Meteorology (AGRMET) system, and is also used routinely by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)/Environmental Modeling

  11. Land cover change or land use intensification: simulating land system change with a global-scale land change model

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Asselen, S.; Verburg, P.H.

    2013-01-01

    Land-use change is both a cause and consequence of many biophysical and socioeconomic changes. The CLUMondo model provides an innovative approach for global land-use change modeling to support integrated assessments. Demands for goods and services are, in the model, supplied by a variety of land

  12. Pasture types and Echinococcus multilocularis, Tibetan communities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wang, Qian; Vuitton, Dominique A; Xiao, Yongfu; Budke, Christine M; Campos-Ponce, Maiza; Schantz, Peter M; Raoul, Francis; Yang, Wen; Craig, Philip S; Giraudoux, Patrick

    Our study showed that open pastures had more small mammal burrows than fenced pastures in Tibetan pastoralist communities in 2003. This characteristic was linked to a higher prevalence of Echinococcus multilocularis in dogs and indicates that pasture type may affect E. multilocularis transmission.

  13. Land and Forest Management by Land Use/ Land Cover Analysis and Change Detection Using Remote Sensing and GIS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ankana

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS are the most effective tools in spatial data analysis. Natural resources like land, forest and water, these techniques have proved a valuable source of information generation as well as in the management and planning purposes. This study aims to suggest possible land and forest management strategies in Chakia tahsil based on land use and land cover analysis and the changing pattern observed during the last ten years. The population of Chakia tahsil is mainly rural in nature. The study has revealed that the northern part of the region, which offers for the settlement and all the agricultural practices constitutes nearly 23.48% and is a dead level plain, whereas the southern part, which constitute nearly 76.6% of the region is characterized by plateau and is covered with forest. The southern plateau rises abruptly from the northern alluvial plain with a number of escarpments. The contour line of 100 m mainly demarcates the boundary between plateau and plain. The plateau zone is deeply dissected and highly rugged terrain. The resultant topography comprises of a number of mesas and isolated hillocks showing elevation differences from 150 m to 385 m above mean sea level. Being rugged terrain in the southern part, nowadays human encroachment are taking place for more land for the cultivation. The changes were well observed in the land use and land cover in the study region. A large part of fallow land and open forest were converted into cultivated land.

  14. Energy analysis in a swine production system with use of manure as bio fertilizer in pasture; Analise energetica em sistema de producao de suinos com aproveitamento dos dejetos como biofertilizante em pastagem

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Souza, Cassio V. [Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri (UFVJM), Diamantina, MG (Brazil)], email: agro.cassio@hotmail.com; Campos, Alessandro T. [Universidade Federal de Lavras (DEG/UFLA), MG (Brazil). Dept. de Engenharia], email: campos@deg.ufla.br; Bueno, Osmar C [Universidade Estadual Paulista (FCA/UNESP), Botucatu, SP (Brazil). Fac. de Ciencias Agronomicas; Silva, Enilson B [Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri (UFVJM), Diamantina, MG (Brazil). Dept. de Agronomia

    2009-07-01

    This work objective was to esteem the amount of energy employed in a complete cycle swine production and the energy balance of the system with utilization of the generated manure as bio fertilizer in pasture area, by using five cycles' average data, in a commercial farm in Diamantina municipal district - MG Brazil. The energy coefficient of each involved component was quantified in the productive process of finished swine, residues treatment and Brachiaria decumbens pasture production, in the form of ration, human labor, electric power, machines and equipment, fuel and lubricants, buildings, finished swine production and Brachiaria decumbens production. The average quantity of energy to produce 1 kg of alive swine was of 53.35 MJ. Of total employed energy in the system 76.03% (1,067,106.07 MJ) refers to the inputs and 23.97% (331,400 MJ) refers to the outputs, resulting in an energy efficiency coefficient of 0.31. The energy converted in swine for abate corresponded to 55.58% (184,200 MJ) of the outputs, while the pasture of Brachiaria decumbens reached a value of 44.42% (147,200 MJ). (author)

  15. ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC IMPROVING OF AGRICULTURAL LAND USE ON REGIONAL LEVEL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Butenko E.

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Land Reform in Ukraine is already a considerable period of time. Priority land reform was to be the formation of land market relations that would ensure continued efficient reallocation of land resources based on market self-regulation. Implementation of large-scale land reforms in these areas has caused huge problems of acute social, economic and environmental. Properly not the rational use and protection of land resources, reproduction of the productive potential of agricultural lands. Particularly acute problem of management and expanded reproduction of land resources as a basis for sustainable development of Ukraine. Pressing problem today is to resolve these matters in accordance with the principles of sustainable development. Particulary attention should be focused on the implementation of integrated land use by solving problems of the rational use of land, an important aspect of which is to optimize land use. Irrational land use system has led to serious environmental consequences, namely the presence of such manifestations of land degradation as erosion, technogenic pollution, secondary alkalinity, flooding and landslides. The high level of tilled land, including hills, a significant expansion of crops cultivated crops and almost complete cessation of work package for soil protection, violation of the cultivation leads to land degradation. The current state of land use Cherkasy region does not meet the requirements of environmental management. Violated environmentally acceptable ratio of arable land, natural grasslands, which adversely affects the stability of agricultural landscapes. Optimizing the efficiency of land use requires evidence-based approach to land. So based on upgraded inventory system and effective land management by taking into account environmental and economic component of their assessment, you can achieve a significant positive impact on the economy of the region and the state as a whole. The current system of land

  16. Effects of buffer strips and grazing management on soil loss from pastures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Intensive grazing pressure can cause soil erosion from pastures causing increased sediment loading to aquatic systems. The objectives of this work were to determine the long-term effects of grazing management and buffer strips on soil erosion from pastures fertilized with broiler litter. Field stud...

  17. Soil food web properties explain ecosystem services across European land use systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Vries, Franciska T; Thébault, Elisa; Liiri, Mira; Birkhofer, Klaus; Tsiafouli, Maria A; Bjørnlund, Lisa; Bracht Jørgensen, Helene; Brady, Mark Vincent; Christensen, Søren; de Ruiter, Peter C; d'Hertefeldt, Tina; Frouz, Jan; Hedlund, Katarina; Hemerik, Lia; Hol, W H Gera; Hotes, Stefan; Mortimer, Simon R; Setälä, Heikki; Sgardelis, Stefanos P; Uteseny, Karoline; van der Putten, Wim H; Wolters, Volkmar; Bardgett, Richard D

    2013-08-27

    Intensive land use reduces the diversity and abundance of many soil biota, with consequences for the processes that they govern and the ecosystem services that these processes underpin. Relationships between soil biota and ecosystem processes have mostly been found in laboratory experiments and rarely are found in the field. Here, we quantified, across four countries of contrasting climatic and soil conditions in Europe, how differences in soil food web composition resulting from land use systems (intensive wheat rotation, extensive rotation, and permanent grassland) influence the functioning of soils and the ecosystem services that they deliver. Intensive wheat rotation consistently reduced the biomass of all components of the soil food web across all countries. Soil food web properties strongly and consistently predicted processes of C and N cycling across land use systems and geographic locations, and they were a better predictor of these processes than land use. Processes of carbon loss increased with soil food web properties that correlated with soil C content, such as earthworm biomass and fungal/bacterial energy channel ratio, and were greatest in permanent grassland. In contrast, processes of N cycling were explained by soil food web properties independent of land use, such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and bacterial channel biomass. Our quantification of the contribution of soil organisms to processes of C and N cycling across land use systems and geographic locations shows that soil biota need to be included in C and N cycling models and highlights the need to map and conserve soil biodiversity across the world.

  18. Modelling past land use using archaeological and pollen data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pirzamanbein, Behnaz; Lindström, johan; Poska, Anneli; Gaillard-Lemdahl, Marie-José

    2016-04-01

    Accurate maps of past land use are necessary for studying the impact of anthropogenic land-cover changes on climate and biodiversity. We develop a Bayesian hierarchical model to reconstruct the land use using Gaussian Markov random fields. The model uses two observations sets: 1) archaeological data, representing human settlements, urbanization and agricultural findings; and 2) pollen-based land estimates of the three land-cover types Coniferous forest, Broadleaved forest and Unforested/Open land. The pollen based estimates are obtained from the REVEALS model, based on pollen counts from lakes and bogs. Our developed model uses the sparse pollen-based estimations to reconstruct the spatial continuous cover of three land cover types. Using the open-land component and the archaeological data, the extent of land-use is reconstructed. The model is applied on three time periods - centred around 1900 CE, 1000 and, 4000 BCE over Sweden for which both pollen-based estimates and archaeological data are available. To estimate the model parameters and land use, a block updated Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm is applied. Using the MCMC posterior samples uncertainties in land-use predictions are computed. Due to lack of good historic land use data, model results are evaluated by cross-validation. Keywords. Spatial reconstruction, Gaussian Markov random field, Fossil pollen records, Archaeological data, Human land-use, Prediction uncertainty

  19. Adapting observationally based metrics of biogeophysical feedbacks from land cover/land use change to climate modeling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Liang; Dirmeyer, Paul A

    2016-01-01

    To assess the biogeophysical impacts of land cover/land use change (LCLUC) on surface temperature, two observation-based metrics and their applicability in climate modeling were explored in this study. Both metrics were developed based on the surface energy balance, and provided insight into the contribution of different aspects of land surface change (such as albedo, surface roughness, net radiation and surface heat fluxes) to changing climate. A revision of the first metric, the intrinsic biophysical mechanism, can be used to distinguish the direct and indirect effects of LCLUC on surface temperature. The other, a decomposed temperature metric, gives a straightforward depiction of separate contributions of all components of the surface energy balance. These two metrics well capture observed and model simulated surface temperature changes in response to LCLUC. Results from paired FLUXNET sites and land surface model sensitivity experiments indicate that surface roughness effects usually dominate the direct biogeophysical feedback of LCLUC, while other effects play a secondary role. However, coupled climate model experiments show that these direct effects can be attenuated by large scale atmospheric changes (indirect feedbacks). When applied to real-time transient LCLUC experiments, the metrics also demonstrate usefulness for assessing the performance of climate models and quantifying land–atmosphere interactions in response to LCLUC. (letter)

  20. Geographical and Statistical Analysis on the Relationship between Land-Use Mixture and Home-Based Trip Making and More: Case of Richmond, Virginia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yin - Shan MA

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Richmond, Virginia has implemented numerous mixed land-use policies to encourage non-private-vehicle commuting for decades based on the best practices of other cities and the assumption that land-use mixture would positively lead to trip reduction. This paper uses both Geographical Information Systems (GIS and statistical tools to empirically test this hypothesis. With local land use and trip making data as inputs, it first calculates two common indices of land-use mixture - entropy and dissimilarity indices, using GIS tool, supplemented by Microsoft Excel. Afterwards, it uses Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS to calculate the correlation matrices among land-use mixture indices, socioeconomic variables, and home-based work/other trip rates, followed by a series of regression model runs on these variables. Through this study, it has been found that land-use mixture has some but weak effects on home-based work trip rate, and virtually no effects on home-based other trip rate. In contrast, socioeconomic variables, especially auto ownership, have larger effects on home-based trip making.

  1. Trade-Offs in Multi-Purpose Land Use under Land Degradation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul L. G. Vlek

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Land provides a host of ecosystem services, of which the provisioning services are often considered paramount. As the demand for agricultural products multiplies, other ecosystem services are being degraded or lost entirely. Finding a sustainable trade-off between food production and one or more of other ecosystem services, given the variety of stakeholders, is a matter of optimizing land use in a dynamic and complex socio-ecological system. Land degradation reduces our options to meet both food demands and environmental needs. In order to illustrate this trade-off dilemma, four representative services, carbon sinks, water storage, biodiversity, and space for urbanization, are discussed here based on a review of contemporary literature that cuts across the domain of ecosystem services that are provided by land. Agricultural research will have to expand its focus from the field to the landscape level and in the process examine the cost of production that internalizes environmental costs. In some situations, the public cost of agriculture in marginal environments outweighs the private gains, even with the best technologies in place. Land use and city planners will increasingly have to address the cost of occupying productive agricultural land or the conversion of natural habitats. Landscape designs and urban planning should aim for the preservation of agricultural land and the integrated management of land resources by closing water and nutrient cycles, and by restoring biodiversity.

  2. Spatial Distribution of 137Cs in Suface Soil under Different Land Uses in Chao Phraya Watershed: Potential Used as Sediment source Tracing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Srisuksawad, K.; Porntepkasemsan, B.; Noipow, N.; Omanee, A.; Wiriyakitnateekul, W.; Choybudha, R.; Srimawong, P.

    2014-01-01

    Sediment fingerprinting techniques involves the discrimination of sediment sources based on differences in source material properties and quantification of the relative contributions from these sources to sediment delivered downstream to the river catchments. Results of the previous study indicated that fallout radionuclides (FRNs); 137 Cs and excess 210 Pb ( 210 Pbex) are the most suitable radionuclides to be used as sediments sources tracers. This study investigated the spatial distribution of 137 Cs in soil under different land uses in Chao Phraya watershed, the most significant watershed in Thailand. Emphasis was placed on discriminating among potential sediment sources include the cultivated (upland crops), pasture field, uncultivated (swamp, forest, and grass field), and channel erosion (stream and river bank). One hundred and twenty four soil samples were collected from all sources and determining for 137 Cs. The 137 Cs mass activities in pasture areas varied from the limit of detection (LLD) to 1.22±0.05 with the average of 0.64±0.14 Bq kg -1 . In cultivated areas the 137 Cs mass activities varied from LLD to 1.41±0.04 with the average of 0.38±0.04 Bq kg -1 .The 137 Cs mass activities were higher in uncultivated areas varied from 0.12± 0.03 to 1.73 ±0.05 with the average of 0.76±0.15 Bq kg -1 . The 137 Cs mass activities in channel bank varied from LLD to 1.16±0.04 with the average of 0.39±0.05 Bq kg -1 .GIS and geospatial interpolations revealed pattern in the spatial concentrations of 137 Cs and indicated important differences in its distributions showing the differences behavior of 137 Cs in different land uses.

  3. Techniques for land use change detection using Landsat imagery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Angelici, G. L.; Bryant, N. A.; Friedman, S. Z.

    1977-01-01

    A variety of procedures were developed for the delineation of areas of land use change using Landsat Multispectral Scanner data and the generation of statistics revealing the nature of the changes involved (i.e., number of acres changed from rural to urban). Techniques of the Image Based Information System were utilized in all stages of the procedure, from logging the Landsat data and registering two frames of imagery, to extracting the changed areas and printing tabulations of land use change in acres. Two alternative methods of delineating land use change are presented while enumerating the steps of the entire process. The Houston, Texas urban area, and the Orlando, Florida urban area, are used as illustrative examples of various procedures.

  4. The influence of land use systems on soil and surface litter fauna in the western region of Santa Catarina

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marie Luise Carolina Bartz

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to evaluate the abundance of soil and surface litter fauna in the western region of Santa Catarina state, southern Brazil, in the following land use systems (LUS: no-tillage crops (NT, integrated crop-livestock (ICL, pasture (PA, Eucalyptus plantation (EP and native forest fragments (NF. Sampling was done in three counties in the western region of Santa Catarina: Xanxerê, Chapecó and São Miguel do Oeste, in two seasons (winter and summer. The evaluation of soil/litter fauna in each LUS was performed by installing nine "pitfall traps" per sampling grid (3 x 3. The counties are true replicas. The soil for the chemical attributes was collected at the same sampling points for soil fauna. Altogether, 17 taxa were identified in the five LUS. The presence of groups of fauna was influenced by the type of soil management used. The LUS NF and EP provide better soil conditions for the development of a higher diversity of soil fauna groups compared to other LUS, which showed varying degrees of human intervention, regardless of the sampling season (winter or summer. However, annual crop systems NT and ICL groups showed greater richness and total abundance when compared to the perennial systems (EP and PA. Principal component analysis is an important tool in the study of biological indicators of sustainability because it allows use of soil attributes (chemical and physical as explanatory environmental variables, which helps in the interpretation of ecological data.

  5. Production and reproduction of Fleckvieh, Brown Swiss, and 2 strains of Holstein-Friesian cows in a pasture-based, seasonal-calving dairy system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piccand, V; Cutullic, E; Meier, S; Schori, F; Kunz, P L; Roche, J R; Thomet, P

    2013-08-01

    The first objective of this study was to compare the productive and reproductive performance of Holstein-Friesian (CH HF), Fleckvieh (CH FV), and Brown Swiss (CH BS) cows of Swiss origin with New Zealand Holstein-Friesian (NZ HF) cows in pasture-based compact-calving systems; NZ HF cows were chosen as the reference population for such grazing systems. The second objective was to analyze the relationships within and between breeds regarding reproductive performance, milk yield, and body condition score (BCS) dynamics. On 15 commercial Swiss farms, NZ HF cows were paired with Swiss cows over 3 yr. Overall, the study involved 259 complete lactations from 134 cows: 131 from 58 NZ HF, 40 from 24 CH HF, 43 from 27 CH FV, and 45 from 25 CH BS cows. All production parameters were affected by cow breed. Milk and energy-corrected milk yield over 270 d of lactation differed by 1,000 kg between the 2 extreme groups; CH HF having the highest yield and CH BS the lowest. The NZ HF cows had the greatest milk fat and protein concentrations over the lactation and exhibited the highest lactation persistency. Body weight differed by 90 kg between extreme groups; NZ HF and CH BS being the lightest and CH HF and CH FV the heaviest. As a result, the 2 HF strains achieved the highest milk production efficiency (270-d energy-corrected milk/body weight(0.75)). Although less efficient at milk production, CH FV had a high 21-d submission rate (86%) and a high conception rate within 2 inseminations (89%), achieving high pregnancy rates within the first 3 and 6 wk of the breeding period (65 and 81%, respectively). Conversely, poorer reproductive performance was recorded for CH HF cows, with NZ HF and CH BS being intermediate. Both BCS at nadir and at 100 d postpartum had a positive effect on the 6-wk pregnancy rate, even when breed was included in the model. The BCS at 100 d of lactation also positively affected first service conception rate. In conclusion, despite their high milk production

  6. LandCaRe DSS--an interactive decision support system for climate change impact assessment and the analysis of potential agricultural land use adaptation strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wenkel, Karl-Otto; Berg, Michael; Mirschel, Wilfried; Wieland, Ralf; Nendel, Claas; Köstner, Barbara

    2013-09-01

    Decision support to develop viable climate change adaptation strategies for agriculture and regional land use management encompasses a wide range of options and issues. Up to now, only a few suitable tools and methods have existed for farmers and regional stakeholders that support the process of decision-making in this field. The interactive model-based spatial information and decision support system LandCaRe DSS attempts to close the existing methodical gap. This system supports interactive spatial scenario simulations, multi-ensemble and multi-model simulations at the regional scale, as well as the complex impact assessment of potential land use adaptation strategies at the local scale. The system is connected to a local geo-database and via the internet to a climate data server. LandCaRe DSS uses a multitude of scale-specific ecological impact models, which are linked in various ways. At the local scale (farm scale), biophysical models are directly coupled with a farm economy calculator. New or alternative simulation models can easily be added, thanks to the innovative architecture and design of the DSS. Scenario simulations can be conducted with a reasonable amount of effort. The interactive LandCaRe DSS prototype also offers a variety of data analysis and visualisation tools, a help system for users and a farmer information system for climate adaptation in agriculture. This paper presents the theoretical background, the conceptual framework, and the structure and methodology behind LandCaRe DSS. Scenario studies at the regional and local scale for the two Eastern German regions of Uckermark (dry lowlands, 2600 km(2)) and Weißeritz (humid mountain area, 400 km(2)) were conducted in close cooperation with stakeholders to test the functionality of the DSS prototype. The system is gradually being transformed into a web version (http://www.landcare-dss.de) to ensure the broadest possible distribution of LandCaRe DSS to the public. The system will be continuously

  7. Effects of pasture management and off-stream water on temporal/spatial distribution of cattle and stream bank characteristics in cool-season grass pastures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwarte, K A; Russell, J R; Morrical, D G

    2011-10-01

    A 2-yr grazing experiment was conducted to assess the effects of grazing management on cattle distribution and pasture and stream bank characteristics. Six 12.1-ha cool-season grass pastures in central Iowa were allotted to 1 of 3 treatments: continuous stocking with unrestricted stream access (CSU), continuous stocking with stream access restricted to 4.9-m-wide stabilized crossings (CSR), or rotational stocking with stream access restricted to a riparian paddock (RP). Pastures were stocked with 15 fall-calving Angus cows (Bos taurus L.) from mid-May to mid-October for 153 d in 2008 and 2009. A global positioning system (GPS) collar recording cow position every 10 min was placed on at least 1 cow per pasture for 2 wk of each month from May through September. Off-stream water was provided to cattle in CSU and CSR treatments during the second of the 2 wk when GPS collars were on the cattle. A black globe temperature relative humidity index (BGTHI) was measured at 10-min intervals to match the time of the GPS measurements. Each month of the grazing season, forage characteristics (sward height, forage mass, and CP, IVDMD, and P concentrations) and bare and fecal-covered ground were measured. Stream bank erosion susceptibility was visually scored in May, August, and October (pre-, mid-, and post-stocking). Cattle in RP and CSR treatments spent less time (P CSR treatment reduced the probability (P CSR and RP treatments in the stream and streamside zones in September and October and in July and September. Streams in pastures with the CSU treatment had less stable banks (P CSR treatments. Results show that time spent by cattle near pasture streams can be reduced by RP or CSR treatments, thereby decreasing risks of sediment and nutrient loading of pasture streams even during periods of increased BGTHI.

  8. Grazing intensity affects the environmental impact of dairy systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aguirre-Villegas, H A; Passos-Fonseca, T H; Reinemann, D J; Larson, R

    2017-08-01

    Dairy products are major components of the human diet but are also important contributors to global environmental impacts. This study evaluated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, net energy intensity (NEI), and land use of confined dairy systems with increasing levels of pasture in the diet. A Wisconsin farm was modeled to represent practices adopted by dairy operations in a humid continental climate typical in the Great Lakes region and other climates that have large differences in seasonal temperatures. Five grazing scenarios (all of which contained some portion of confinement) were modeled based on different concentrations of dry matter intake from pasture and feed supplementation from corn grain, corn silage, and soybean meal. Scenarios that incorporate grazing consisted of 5 mo of pasture feeding from May to September and 7 mo of confined feeding from October to April. Environmental impacts were compared within the 5 scenarios that incorporate grazing and across 2 entirely confined scenarios with and without on-farm electricity production through anaerobic digestion (AD). To conduct a fair comparison, all scenarios were evaluated based on the same total amount of milk produced per day where resource inputs were adjusted according to the characteristics of each scenario. A cradle-to-farm gate life cycle assessment evaluated the environmental burdens that were partitioned by allocation between milk and meat and by system expansion when biogas-based electricity was produced. Overall, results for all scenarios were comparable. Enteric methane was the greatest contributor to GHG emissions, and the production of crops was the most energy-intense process. For the confined scenario without AD, GHG emissions were 0.87 kg of CO 2 equivalents, NEI was 1.59 MJ, and land use was 1.59 m 2 /kg of fat- and protein-corrected milk (FPCM). Anaerobic digestion significantly reduced emissions to 0.28 kg of CO 2 equivalents/kg of FPCM and reduced NEI to -1.26 MJ/kg of FPCM, indicating

  9. A Comparative Study of Land Cover Classification by Using Multispectral and Texture Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Salman Qadri

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The main objective of this study is to find out the importance of machine vision approach for the classification of five types of land cover data such as bare land, desert rangeland, green pasture, fertile cultivated land, and Sutlej river land. A novel spectra-statistical framework is designed to classify the subjective land cover data types accurately. Multispectral data of these land covers were acquired by using a handheld device named multispectral radiometer in the form of five spectral bands (blue, green, red, near infrared, and shortwave infrared while texture data were acquired with a digital camera by the transformation of acquired images into 229 texture features for each image. The most discriminant 30 features of each image were obtained by integrating the three statistical features selection techniques such as Fisher, Probability of Error plus Average Correlation, and Mutual Information (F + PA + MI. Selected texture data clustering was verified by nonlinear discriminant analysis while linear discriminant analysis approach was applied for multispectral data. For classification, the texture and multispectral data were deployed to artificial neural network (ANN: n-class. By implementing a cross validation method (80-20, we received an accuracy of 91.332% for texture data and 96.40% for multispectral data, respectively.

  10. Analysis of Land-Use Emergy Indicators Based on Urban Metabolism: A Case Study for Beijing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qing Huang

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The correlation of urban metabolism and changes in land use is an important issue in urban ecology, but recent research lacks consideration of the mechanisms and interactions between them. In this research, we did an emergy analysis of the flows of materials, energy, and capital within the socioeconomic system of Beijing. We calculated emergy-based evaluation indices of urban metabolism and land use change, to analyze the relationship between urban metabolism and land use by correlation analysis and regression analysis. Results indicate that the socio-economic activities on built-up land depend on local, non-renewable resource exploitation and external resource inputs. The emergy utilization efficiency of farmland has consistently decreased, but there remains significant utilization potential there. Urban development in Beijing relies on production activities on built-up land, which is subjected to great environmental pressure during extraction of material resources. To keep the economy developing effectively, we suggest that Beijing should commit to development of a circular economy, and change the land-use concept to “Smart Growth”. In this paper, we efficaciously solve the problem of conflicting measurement units, and avoid the disadvantages of subjective assignment. Consequently, this work provides not only a more scientific way to study land problems, but also provides a reliable reference for ecological construction and economic development in Beijing.

  11. Sustainable Mining Land Use for Lignite Based Energy Projects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dudek, Michal; Krysa, Zbigniew

    2017-12-01

    This research aims to discuss complex lignite based energy projects economic viability and its impact on sustainable land use with respect to project risk and uncertainty, economics, optimisation (e.g. Lerchs and Grossmann) and importance of lignite as fuel that may be expressed in situ as deposit of energy. Sensitivity analysis and simulation consist of estimated variable land acquisition costs, geostatistics, 3D deposit block modelling, electricity price considered as project product price, power station efficiency and power station lignite processing unit cost, CO2 allowance costs, mining unit cost and also lignite availability treated as lignite reserves kriging estimation error. Investigated parameters have nonlinear influence on results so that economically viable amount of lignite in optimal pit varies having also nonlinear impact on land area required for mining operation.

  12. The Behavioural Responses of Beef Cattle (Bos taurus to Declining Pasture Availability and the Use of GNSS Technology to Determine Grazing Preference

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jaime Manning

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Combining technologies for monitoring spatial behaviour of livestock with technologies that monitor pasture availability, offers the opportunity to improve the management and welfare of extensively produced beef cattle. The aims of the study were to investigate changes to beef cattle behaviour as pasture availability changed, and to determine whether Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS technology could determine livestock grazing preference and hence improve pasture management and paddock utilisation. Data derived from GNSS collars included distance travelled and location in the paddock. The latter enabled investigation of individual animal interactions with the underlying Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI and pasture biomass of the paddock. As expected, there was a significant temporal decrease in NDVI during the study and an increase in distance travelled by cattle (P < 0.001; r2 = 0.88. The proportion of time budget occupied in grazing behaviour also increased (P < 0.001; r2 = 0.71. Cattle showed a partial preference for areas of higher pasture biomass/NDVI, although there was a large amount of variation over the course of the study. In conclusion, cattle behaviour changed in response to declining NDVI, highlighting how technologies that monitor these two variables may be used in the future as management tools to assist producers better manage cattle, to manipulate grazing intensity and paddock utilisation.

  13. Land-use change trajectories up to 2050. Insights from a global agro-economic model comparison

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schmitz, Christoph [Potsdam Inst. Climate Impact Research (PIK), Telegrafenberg (Germany); van Meijl, Hans [Wageningen Univ. and Research Center, Hague (Netherlands); Kyle, G. Page [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Nelson, Gerald C. [International Food Policy Research Inst. (IFPRI), Washington, DC (United States); Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States); Fujimori, Shinichiro [National Inst. for Environmental Studies (NIES), Ibaraki (Japan); Gurgel, Angelo [Sao Paulo School of Economics (EESP-FGV) (Brazil); Havlik, Petr [International Inst. for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg (Austria); Heyhoe, Edwina [Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES), Canberra (Australia); Mason d' Croz, Daniel [International Food Policy Research Inst. (IFPRI), Washington, DC (United States); Popp, Alexander [Potsdam Inst. Climate Impact Research (PIK), Telegrafenberg (Germany); Sands, Ronald [U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), Washington, DC (United States); Tabeau, Andrzej [Wageningen Univ. and Research Center, Hague (Netherlands); van der Mensbrugghe, Dominique [Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rome (Italy); von Lampe, Martin [Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris (France); Wise, Marshall A. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Blanc, Elodie [Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Hasegawa, Tomoko [National Inst. for Environmental Studies (NIES), Tsukuba (Japan); Kavallari, Aikaterini [Wageningen Univ. and Research Center, Hague (Netherlands); Valin, Hugo [International Inst. for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg (Austria)

    2013-12-10

    Changes in agricultural land use have important implications for environmental services. Previous studies of agricultural land-use futures have been published indicating large uncertainty due to different model assumptions and methodologies. In this article we present a first comprehensive comparison of global agro-economic models that have harmonized drivers of population, GDP, and biophysical yields. The comparison allows us to ask two research questions: (1) How much cropland will be used under different socioeconomic and climate change scenarios? (2) How can differences in model results be explained? The comparison includes four partial and six general equilibrium models that differ in how they model land supply and amount of potentially available land. We analyze results of two different socioeconomic scenarios and three climate scenarios (one with constant climate). Most models (7 out of 10) project an increase of cropland of 10–25% by 2050 compared to 2005 (under constant climate), but one model projects a decrease. Pasture land expands in some models, which increase the treat on natural vegetation further. Across all models most of the cropland expansion takes place in South America and sub-Saharan Africa. In general, the strongest differences in model results are related to differences in the costs of land expansion, the endogenous productivity responses, and the assumptions about potential cropland.

  14. Land use and energy utilization. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Carroll, T.O.; Nathans, R.; Palmedo, P.F.

    1977-06-01

    Land use plays an important role in structuring the basic patterns in which energy is consumed in many areas of the U.S. Thus, in considering policies at a national or local level, which are aimed at either utilizing energy supplies in a more efficient manner, or in establishing the compatibility of new energy supply, conversion, and end use technologies with our existing social patterns of energy use, it is important to understand the interdependencies between land use and energy. The Land Use-Energy Utilization Project initiated in July 1974 was designed to explore the quantitative relationships between alternative regional land-use patterns and their resultant energy and fuel demands and the impacts of these demands on the regional and national energy supply-distribution systems. The project studies and analyses described briefly in this report provide a framework for delineating the energy system impacts of current and projected regional land-use development; a base of information dealing with the energy intensiveness of assorted land-use activities; models that enable Federal and regional planners to estimate the ranges of potential energy savings that could be derived from employing alternative land-use activity configurations; and a user manual for allowing local land use planners to carry out their own land use-energy impact evaluations. Much remains to be done to elucidate the complicated interdependencies between land use and energy utilization: what is accomplished here is an initial structuring of the problem. On the other hand, the recent increase in interest in establishing new ways for the U.S. to achieve energy conservation suggests that actions will be taken in the near future to tie land-use development to national and local targets for conservation.

  15. Earth land landing alternatives: Lunar transportation system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyerson, Robert

    1992-01-01

    The objectives of this study are as follows: (1) develop a landing option such that it is a viable trade option for future NASA missions; (2) provide NASA programs with solid technical support in the landing systems area; (3) develop the technical staff; and (4) advance the state of landing systems technology to apply to future NASA missions. All results are presented in viewgraph format.

  16. The Urban Intensive Land-use Evaluation in Xi’an, Based on Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Ru; Kang, Zhiyuan

    2018-01-01

    The intensive land-use is the basis of urban “stock optimization”, and scientific and reasonable evaluation is the important content of the land-intensive utilization. In this paper, through the survey of Xi’an urban land-use condition, we construct the suitable evaluation index system of Xi’an’ intensive land-use, by using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation (FCE) of combination. And through the analysis of the influencing factors of land-intensive utilization, we provide a reference for the future development direction.

  17. Land Use, climate change and BIOdiversity in cultural landscapes (LUBIO): Assessing feedbacks and promoting land-use strategies towards a viable future

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dullinger, Iwona; Bohner, Andreas; Dullinger, Stefan; Essl, Franz; Gaube, Veronika; Haberl, Helmut; Mayer, Andreas; Plutzar, Christoph; Remesch, Alexander

    2016-04-01

    Land-use and climate change are important, pervasive drivers of global environmental change and pose major threats to global biodiversity. Research to date has mostly focused either on land-use change or on climate change, but rarely on the interactions between both drivers, even though it is expected that systemic feedbacks between changes in climate and land use will have important effects on biodiversity. In particular, climate change will not only alter the pool of plant and animal species capable of thriving in a specific area, it will also force land owners to reconsider their land use decisions. Such changes in land-use practices may have major additional effects on local and regional species composition and abundance. In LUBIO, we will explore the anticipated systemic feedbacks between (1) climate change, (2) land owner's decisions on land use, (3) land-use change, and (4) changes in biodiversity patterns during the coming decades in a regional context which integrates a broad range of land use practices and intensity gradients. To achieve this goal, an integrated socioecological model will be designed and implemented, consisting of three principal components: (1) an agent based model (ABM) that simulates decisions of important actors, (2) a spatially explicit GIS model that translates these decisions into changes in land cover and land use patterns, and (3) a species distribution model (SDM) that calculates changes in biodiversity patterns following from both changes in climate and the land use decisions as simulated in the ABM. Upon integration of these three components, the coupled socioecological model will be used to generate scenarios of future land-use decisions of landowners under climate change and, eventually, the combined effects of climate and land use changes on biodiversity. Model development of the ABM will be supported by a participatory process intended to collect regional and expert knowledge through a series of expert interviews, a series

  18. Aligning Land Use with Land Potential: The Role of Integrated Agriculture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. A. Liebig

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Contemporary agricultural land use is dominated by an emphasis on provisioning services by applying energy-intensive inputs through relatively uniform production systems across variable landscapes. This approach to agricultural land use is not sustainable. Achieving sustainable use of agricultural land should instead focus on the application of innovative management systems that provide multiple ecosystem services on lands with varying inherent qualities. Integrated agricultural systems (IAS represent an alternative approach to prevailing land use, whereby site-adapted enterprises are implemented to enhance synergistic resource transfer among enterprises and sustainable delivery of ecosystem services. Sustainable deployment of IAS on agricultural land involves placing the “right enterprise” at the “right intensity” at the “right time” on the “right location,” with the inherent attributes of location providing guidance for management decisions. There is an urgent need to design IAS that enhance delivery of ecosystem services while ensuring land potential thresholds are not exceeded.

  19. Effects of Climate and Social Change on Pasture Productivity and Area in the Alay Valley, Kyrgyzstan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, L.; Smithwick, E. A. H.

    2017-12-01

    The high elevation Alay Valley, located in the central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan, has experienced substantial socio-political and environmental changes in recent decades, resulting from the collapse of the Soviet Union and an increase in average annual temperature from 1.8 C to 2.7 C between 1990 and 2014. However, the consequences of these changes on pastureland productivity and area has not been previously assessed, despite the critical cultural and economic importance of pasturelands for sustaining livelihoods in this region. We assessed spatial and temporal patterns of soil moisture, pasture productivity and pasture area in the Alay Valley. Supervised classification was performed on Landsat imagery over the study region to distinguish pastures and agricultural land in order to relate changes in soil moisture to specific land classes. Root Zone Soil Moisture (RZSM) was estimated between May 2015 and June 2017 from Soil Moisture Active Passive L4 RZSM product. Average monthly NDVI for 2016 was calculated to obtain seasonal patterns in productivity of the pasturelands in the region. Results show that annual RZSM trends closely matched those of precipitation, as RZSM peaks during May (the wettest month) and decreases during the dry summer. The NDVI trend is also notable as it peaks very early in June before declining due to limited precipitation and grazing practices. There has been a sharp increase in pasturelands encompassing the bank of the Kyzyl Suu river from 1993 to 2016. Likely due to turmoil from collapse of the USSR, the area of pasturelands decreased slightly from 59.98 to 55.99 km^2 from 1993-1994, corresponding with a decline in livestock count and GDP per capita. The area of pasturelands has since recovered and is hovering around 104.47 - 107.95 km^2 between 2009-2016. Overall results highlight both sensitivity and resilience of high elevation pasture to coupled socio-environmental drivers.

  20. Improving ASTER GDEM Accuracy Using Land Use-Based Linear Regression Methods: A Case Study of Lianyungang, East China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaoyan Yang

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal-Emission and Reflection Radiometer Global Digital Elevation Model (ASTER GDEM is important to a wide range of geographical and environmental studies. Its accuracy, to some extent associated with land-use types reflecting topography, vegetation coverage, and human activities, impacts the results and conclusions of these studies. In order to improve the accuracy of ASTER GDEM prior to its application, we investigated ASTER GDEM errors based on individual land-use types and proposed two linear regression calibration methods, one considering only land use-specific errors and the other considering the impact of both land-use and topography. Our calibration methods were tested on the coastal prefectural city of Lianyungang in eastern China. Results indicate that (1 ASTER GDEM is highly accurate for rice, wheat, grass and mining lands but less accurate for scenic, garden, wood and bare lands; (2 despite improvements in ASTER GDEM2 accuracy, multiple linear regression calibration requires more data (topography and a relatively complex calibration process; (3 simple linear regression calibration proves a practicable and simplified means to systematically investigate and improve the impact of land-use on ASTER GDEM accuracy. Our method is applicable to areas with detailed land-use data based on highly accurate field-based point-elevation measurements.

  1. Adapting to climate change in forest based land use systems: A guide to strategy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Secrett, C M

    1997-12-31

    The prospect of climate change and sea level rise as a result of greenhouse gas emissions presents a serious challenge to decision-makers concerned with ensuring sustainable development. This report provides a guide to means of reducing the potential impact of the global warming problem on the forest sector whilst ensuring that more immediate development priorities are met. The most effective response strategy will be one that simultaneously brings both immediate development and longer-term adaptive benefits. This report outlines ways of constructing an adaptive response strategy that can help achieve these ends. The approach is referred to as sustainable adaptation. A prototype methodological framework of the sustainable adaptation approach has been provided with the summary. The first priority of sustainable adaption is to base climate change responses on actions that meet basic ecological and social needs now and in the future. Solutions should necessarily include relieving current development pressures in the tropical forest sector. The key is to couple adaptive responses to climate change with sustainable development solutions to present-day forest use problems. Implementing adaptive land-use policies and management practices which are likely to minimise the adverse impacts of anticipated climate change should meet current sustainable management goals. Implementing sustainable land-use and forestry management practices should meet adaptation goals. This report presents a discussion of the fundamental issues underlying the development of a sustainable adaptation strategy and a prototype methodological framework. The findings are based on case studies conducted in Central America (Costa Rica and Nicaragua); SADCC countries in Africa (Zimbabwe, Botswana, Tanzania); and Asia (Vietnam). 450 refs

  2. Adapting to climate change in forest based land use systems: A guide to strategy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Secrett, C.M.

    1996-12-31

    The prospect of climate change and sea level rise as a result of greenhouse gas emissions presents a serious challenge to decision-makers concerned with ensuring sustainable development. This report provides a guide to means of reducing the potential impact of the global warming problem on the forest sector whilst ensuring that more immediate development priorities are met. The most effective response strategy will be one that simultaneously brings both immediate development and longer-term adaptive benefits. This report outlines ways of constructing an adaptive response strategy that can help achieve these ends. The approach is referred to as sustainable adaptation. A prototype methodological framework of the sustainable adaptation approach has been provided with the summary. The first priority of sustainable adaption is to base climate change responses on actions that meet basic ecological and social needs now and in the future. Solutions should necessarily include relieving current development pressures in the tropical forest sector. The key is to couple adaptive responses to climate change with sustainable development solutions to present-day forest use problems. Implementing adaptive land-use policies and management practices which are likely to minimise the adverse impacts of anticipated climate change should meet current sustainable management goals. Implementing sustainable land-use and forestry management practices should meet adaptation goals. This report presents a discussion of the fundamental issues underlying the development of a sustainable adaptation strategy and a prototype methodological framework. The findings are based on case studies conducted in Central America (Costa Rica and Nicaragua); SADCC countries in Africa (Zimbabwe, Botswana, Tanzania); and Asia (Vietnam). 450 refs

  3. Carbon fluxes of Kobresia pygmaea pastures on the Tibetan Plateau

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foken, T.; Biermann, T.; Babel, W.; Ma, Y.

    2013-12-01

    With an approximate cover of 450,000 km2 on the Tibetan Plateau (TP), the Cyperaceae Kobresia pygmaea forms he world's largest alpine ecosystem. This species, especially adapted to grazing pressure, grows to a height of only 2-6 cm and can be found in an altitudinal range of 4000 to 5960 m a.s.l. A special characteristic of this ecosystem is the stable turf layer, which is built up from roots and plays a significant role in protecting soil from erosion. This is of great importance since soils on the TP store 2.5 % of the global soil organic carbon stocks. The aim of the investigation was the study of the carbon storage and the impact of human-induced land use change on these Kobresia pygmaea pastures. We therefore applied eddy-covariance measurements and modelling as a long-term control of the fluxes between the atmosphere and the pastures and 13C labelling for the investigation of flux partitioning, and chamber measurements to investigate the degradation of the pastures. Combining CO2 budgets observed in 2010 with eddy-covariance measurements and relative partitioning of Carbon fluxes estimated with 13C labelling enabled us to characterise the C turnover for the vegetation period with absolute fluxes within the plant-soil-atmosphere continuum. These results revealed that this ecosystem indeed stores a great amount of C in below-ground pools, especially in the root turf layer. To further investigate the importance of the root layer, the experiments in 2012 focused on flux measurements over the different surface types which make up the heterogeneity of the Kobresia pygmaea pastures and might result from degradation due to extensive grazing. The three surface types investigated with a LiCOR long-term monitoring chamber system include Kobresia pygmaea with intact turf layer (IRM), a surface type where the turf layer is still present but the vegetation is sparse and mainly consists of Cryptogam crusts (DRM) and finally areas without the turf layer (BS). According to

  4. Erosion and sediment deposition evaluation on a slope under pasture in Jandaia-GO using the '137Cs fallout' technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arthur, Robson C.J.; Bacchi, Osny O.S.; Reichardt, Klaus; Oliveira, Carloeme Alves de; Correchel, Vladia

    2009-01-01

    Water erosion is one of the main forms of soil degradation and among the diverse factors that affect it, two of great importance are the soil cover and slope. Estimates of sediment distribution rates associated to the different uses and soil management practices are scarce and the employed methods in these determinations are in general costly and time consuming. Rates of sediment redistribution evaluated by means of the 137 Cs technique are based on the comparison of inventories of individual points of a given position and an inventory of reference, whose value represents the amount of 137 Cs of 'fallout' origin that was added to the local site. This allows evaluating situations of losses and accumulations of sediments by the erosive process. The objective of the present work was to analyze the sediment production in a pasture area and to measure the efficiency of riparian forests in trapping the erosion sediments coming from pasture, through the ' 137 Cs fallout' redistribution analysis. The study was carried out in Jandaia/GO, Brazil, in two dowslope transects located in a pasture area. Samples were taken from seven points of two 140 m long transects, as well as from three soil profiles of a 15 m transect in the downstream riparian forests of each transect. Soil profiles were sampled in three layers of 20 cm (0-20, 20-40 and 40-60). The soil samples were air dried, sieved and then analyzed for 137 Cs activity by a gamma ray detector (GEM-20180P, EG and ORTEC) coupled to a multichannel analyzer at CENA/USP. The results indicate variations of 137 Cs activity in soil profiles and high erosion rates to the riparian forest to the pasture areas of the two transects, showing sediment movement from the pasture area to the riparian forest, which suggests that the current width of the forest is not wide enough to trap the sediments produced upslope in the pasture area. (author)

  5. A Case Study of Behaviour and Performance of Confined or Pastured Cows During the Dry Period

    OpenAIRE

    Randi A. Black; Peter D. Krawczel

    2016-01-01

    Simple Summary Pasture and freestall systems offer benefits and consequences during lactation but have not been investigated during the dry period. The effect of pasture or confined systems during the dry period on behaviour and milk quality was investigated. Freestall housing resulted in more resting behaviour and less locomotor activity during the dry period compared to pastured cows. At calving, freestall housed cows performed fewer lying bouts and less locomotor activity compared to pastu...

  6. Impacts of Biofuel-Induced Agricultural Land Use Changes on Watershed Hydrology and Water Quality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Z.; Zheng, H.

    2015-12-01

    The US Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 has contributed to widespread changes in agricultural land uses. The impact of these land use changes on regional water resources could also be significant. Agricultural land use changes were evaluated for the Red River of the North Basin (RRNB), an international river basin shared by the US and Canada. The influence of the land use changes on spring snowmelt flooding and downstream water quality was also assessed using watershed modeling. The planting areas for corn and soybean in the basin increased by 62% and 18%, while those for spring wheat, forest, and pasture decreased by 30%, 18%, and 50%, from 2006 to 2013. Although the magnitude of spring snowmelt peak flows in the Red River did not change from pre-EISA to post-EISA, our uncertainty analysis of the normalized hydrographs revealed that the downstream streamflows had a greater variability under the post-EISA land use scenario, which may lead to greater uncertainty in predicting spring snowmelt floods in the Red River. Hydrological simulation also showed that the sediment and nutrient loads at the basin's outlet in the US and Canada border increased under the post-EISA land use scenario, on average sediment increasing by 2.6%, TP by 14.1%, nitrate nitrogen by 5.9%, and TN by 9.1%. Potential impacts of the future biofuel crop scenarios on watershed hydrology and water quality in the RRNB were also simulated through integrated economic-hydrologic modeling.

  7. Land use change detection based on multi-date imagery from different satellite sensor systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stow, Douglas A.; Collins, Doretta; Mckinsey, David

    1990-01-01

    An empirical study is conducted to assess the accuracy of land use change detection using satellite image data acquired ten years apart by sensors with differing spatial resolutions. The primary goals of the investigation were to (1) compare standard change detection methods applied to image data of varying spatial resolution, (2) assess whether to transform the raster grid of the higher resolution image data to that of the lower resolution raster grid or vice versa in the registration process, (3) determine if Landsat/Thermatic Mapper or SPOT/High Resolution Visible multispectral data provide more accurate detection of land use changes when registered to historical Landsat/MSS data. It is concluded that image ratioing of multisensor, multidate satellite data produced higher change detection accuracies than did principal components analysis, and that it is useful as a land use change enhancement method.

  8. A pilot project combining multispectral proximal sensors and digital cameras for monitoring tropical pastures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Handcock, Rebecca N.; Gobbett, D. L.; González, Luciano A.; Bishop-Hurley, Greg J.; McGavin, Sharon L.

    2016-08-01

    Timely and accurate monitoring of pasture biomass and ground cover is necessary in livestock production systems to ensure productive and sustainable management. Interest in the use of proximal sensors for monitoring pasture status in grazing systems has increased, since data can be returned in near real time. Proximal sensors have the potential for deployment on large properties where remote sensing may not be suitable due to issues such as spatial scale or cloud cover. There are unresolved challenges in gathering reliable sensor data and in calibrating raw sensor data to values such as pasture biomass or vegetation ground cover, which allow meaningful interpretation of sensor data by livestock producers. Our goal was to assess whether a combination of proximal sensors could be reliably deployed to monitor tropical pasture status in an operational beef production system, as a precursor to designing a full sensor deployment. We use this pilot project to (1) illustrate practical issues around sensor deployment, (2) develop the methods necessary for the quality control of the sensor data, and (3) assess the strength of the relationships between vegetation indices derived from the proximal sensors and field observations across the wet and dry seasons. Proximal sensors were deployed at two sites in a tropical pasture on a beef production property near Townsville, Australia. Each site was monitored by a Skye SKR-four-band multispectral sensor (every 1 min), a digital camera (every 30 min), and a soil moisture sensor (every 1 min), each of which were operated over 18 months. Raw data from each sensor was processed to calculate multispectral vegetation indices. The data capture from the digital cameras was more reliable than the multispectral sensors, which had up to 67 % of data discarded after data cleaning and quality control for technical issues related to the sensor design, as well as environmental issues such as water incursion and insect infestations. We recommend

  9. Floristic and phytosociology of weeds in pastures in Maranhão State, Northeast Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jaílson Penha Costa

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Knowledge of weed floristic composition and phytosociology are key factors for improving weed management in pastures. Information on weed species that occur in pastures in Northeast Brazil, particularly in Maranhão State is very limited. It is, therefore, important, to search for information to help farmers to control weeds in livestock farming. This paper describes the weed flora diversity and community structure parameters, including density, frequency, abundance and importance value for each weed species found in five pastures of same age and management in Maranhão State, Northeast Brazil. The weed survey was carried out using a wooden frame (80 cm x 30 cm placed randomly on the soil surface 30 times in each pasture (n = 150. Weeds were pulled out, separated by species and counted. The weed flora was represented by 996 individuals, from nine families, 15 genera and 19 species. Weed density within pastures was of 44.3 plants m-2. The weed flora was dominated by species of the Cyperaceae and Poaceae families. The most important weed species based on Importance Value were Eragrostis ciliaris (IV = 32.97, Cyperus rotundus (IV = 31,95, Cyperus luzulae (IV = 27,50, Cyperus sphacelatus (IV = 27,42, Pycreus lanceolatus (IV = 27,33 Cyperus haspan (IV = 25,72 and Eleusine indica (IV = 23,49. Weed diversity, based on Shannon Diversity Index was very high (H' = 4.37 nats ind-1. Our results could lead to improved weed management in pastures in Maranhão State, Northeast Brazil.

  10. Land Use and Land Cover Change Analysis along the Coastal ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Agribotix GCS 077

    are carried out on the land usually effect changes in its cover. ... The FAO document on land cover classification systems, (2000) partly answers this ... over the surface land, including water, vegetation, bare soils and or artificial structures. ... diseases may occur more readily in areas exposed by Land Use and Land Cover ...

  11. IT-based soil quality evaluation for agroecologically smart land-use planning in RF conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vasenev, Ivan

    2016-04-01

    Activated in the first decades of XXI century global climate, economy and farming changes sharply actualized novel IT-based approaches in soil quality evaluation to address modern agricultural issues with agroecologically smart land-use planning. Despite global projected climate changes will affect a general decline of crop yields (IPCC 2014), RF boreal and subboreal regions will benefit from predicted and already particularly verified temperature warming and increased precipitation (Valentini, Vasenev, 2015) due to essential increasing of growing season length and mild climate conditions favorable for most prospective crops and best available agrotechnologies. However, the essential spatial heterogeneity is mutual feature for most natural and man-changed soils at the Central European region of Russia which is one of the biggest «food baskets» in RF. In these conditions potentially favorable climate circumstances will increase not only soil fertility and workability features but also their dynamics and spatial variability that determine crucial issues of IT-based soil quality evaluation systems development and agroecologically smart farming planning. Developed and verified within the LAMP project (RF Governmental projects #11.G34.31.0079 and #14.120.14.4266) regionally adapted DSS (ACORD-R - RF #2012612944) gives effective informational and methodological support for smart farming agroecological optimization in global climate and farming changes challenges. Information basis for agroecologically smart land-use planning consists of crops and agrotechnologies requirements, regional and local systems of agroecological zoning, local landscape and soil cover patterns, land quality and degradation risk assessments, current and previous farming practices results, agroclimatic predictions and production agroecological models, environmental limitations and planned profitability, fertilizing efficiency DSS ACORD-R. Smart land-use practice refers to sustainable balance

  12. LAND USE/LAND COVER CHANGES IN SEMI-ARID MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPE IN SOUTHERN INDIA: A GEOINFORMATICS BASED MARKOV CHAIN APPROACH

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. A. Rahaman

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays land use/ land cover in mountain landscape is in critical condition; it leads to high risky and uncertain environments. These areas are facing multiple stresses including degradation of land resources; vagaries of climate and depletion of water resources continuously affect land use practices and livelihoods. To understand the Land use/Land cover (Lu/Lc changes in a semi-arid mountain landscape, Kallar watershed of Bhavani basin, in southern India has been chosen. Most of the hilly part in the study area covers with forest, plantation, orchards and vegetables and which are highly affected by severe soil erosion, landslide, frequent rainfall failures and associated drought. The foothill regions are mainly utilized for agriculture practices; due to water scarcity and meagre income, the productive agriculture lands are converted into settlement plots and wasteland. Hence, land use/land cover change deduction; a stochastic processed based method is indispensable for future prediction. For identification of land use/land cover, and vegetation changes, Landsat TM, ETM (1995, 2005 and IRS P6- LISS IV (2015 images were used. Through CAMarkov chain analysis, Lu/Lc changes in past three decades (1995, 2005, and 2015 were identified and projected for (2020 and 2025; Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI were used to find the vegetation changes. The result shows that, maximum changes occur in the plantation and slight changes found in forest cover in the hilly terrain. In foothill areas, agriculture lands were decreased while wastelands and settlement plots were increased. The outcome of the results helps to farmer and policy makers to draw optimal lands use planning and better management strategies for sustainable development of natural resources.

  13. Land Use/land Cover Changes in Semi-Arid Mountain Landscape in Southern India: a Geoinformatics Based Markov Chain Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rahaman, S. A.; Aruchamy, S.; Balasubramani, K.; Jegankumar, R.

    2017-05-01

    Nowadays land use/ land cover in mountain landscape is in critical condition; it leads to high risky and uncertain environments. These areas are facing multiple stresses including degradation of land resources; vagaries of climate and depletion of water resources continuously affect land use practices and livelihoods. To understand the Land use/Land cover (Lu/Lc) changes in a semi-arid mountain landscape, Kallar watershed of Bhavani basin, in southern India has been chosen. Most of the hilly part in the study area covers with forest, plantation, orchards and vegetables and which are highly affected by severe soil erosion, landslide, frequent rainfall failures and associated drought. The foothill regions are mainly utilized for agriculture practices; due to water scarcity and meagre income, the productive agriculture lands are converted into settlement plots and wasteland. Hence, land use/land cover change deduction; a stochastic processed based method is indispensable for future prediction. For identification of land use/land cover, and vegetation changes, Landsat TM, ETM (1995, 2005) and IRS P6- LISS IV (2015) images were used. Through CAMarkov chain analysis, Lu/Lc changes in past three decades (1995, 2005, and 2015) were identified and projected for (2020 and 2025); Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were used to find the vegetation changes. The result shows that, maximum changes occur in the plantation and slight changes found in forest cover in the hilly terrain. In foothill areas, agriculture lands were decreased while wastelands and settlement plots were increased. The outcome of the results helps to farmer and policy makers to draw optimal lands use planning and better management strategies for sustainable development of natural resources.

  14. Differences in Voluntary Cow Traffic between Holstein and Illawarra Breeds of Dairy Cattle in a Pasture-based Automatic Milking System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. E. F. Clark

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Automatic milking systems (AMS rely upon voluntary cow traffic (the voluntary movement of cattle around a farm for milk harvesting and feed consumption. Previous research on conventional milking systems has shown differences between dairy cow breeds for intake and milk production, however, the ability to manipulate voluntary cow traffic and milking frequency on AMS farms through breed selection is unknown. This study investigated the effect of breed (Holstein Friesian versus Illawarra on voluntary cow traffic as determined by gate passes at the Camden AMS research farm dairy facility. Daily data on days in milk, milk yield, gate passes and milking frequency for 158 Holstein Friesian cows and 24 Illawarra cows were collated by month for the 2007 and 2008 years. Illawarra cows had 9% more gate passes/day than Holstein cows over the duration of the study; however, the milking frequency and milk yield of both breeds were similar. Gate passes were greatest for both breeds in early lactation and in the winter (June to August and summer (December to February seasons. These findings highlight an opportunity to translate increased voluntary cow movement associated with breed selection into increased milking frequencies, milk production and overall pasture-based AMS performance.

  15. Grazing alters net ecosystem C fluxes and the global warming potential of a subtropical pasture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gomez-Casanovas, Nuria; DeLucia, Nicholas J; Bernacchi, Carl J; Boughton, Elizabeth H; Sparks, Jed P; Chamberlain, Samuel D; DeLucia, Evan H

    2018-03-01

    The impact of grazing on C fluxes from pastures in subtropical and tropical regions and on the environment is uncertain, although these systems account for a substantial portion of global C storage. We investigated how cattle grazing influences net ecosystem CO 2 and CH 4 exchange in subtropical pastures using the eddy covariance technique. Measurements were made over several wet-dry seasonal cycles in a grazed pasture, and in an adjacent pasture during the first three years of grazer exclusion. Grazing increased soil wetness but did not affect soil temperature. By removing aboveground biomass, grazing decreased ecosystem respiration (R eco ) and gross primary productivity (GPP). As the decrease in R eco was larger than the reduction in GPP, grazing consistently increased the net CO 2 sink strength of subtropical pastures (55, 219 and 187 more C/m 2 in 2013, 2014, and 2015). Enteric ruminant fermentation and increased soil wetness due to grazers, increased total net ecosystem CH 4 emissions in grazed relative to ungrazed pasture (27-80%). Unlike temperate, arid, and semiarid pastures, where differences in CH 4 emissions between grazed and ungrazed pastures are mainly driven by enteric ruminant fermentation, our results showed that the effect of grazing on soil CH 4 emissions can be greater than CH 4 produced by cattle. Thus, our results suggest that the interactions between grazers and soil hydrology affecting soil CH 4 emissions play an important role in determining the environmental impacts of this management practice in a subtropical pasture. Although grazing increased total net ecosystem CH 4 emissions and removed aboveground biomass, it increased the net storage of C and decreased the global warming potential associated with C fluxes of pasture by increasing its net CO 2 sink strength. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

  16. Land based use of natural gas - distribution solutions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jordanger, Einar; Moelnvik, Mona J.; Owren, Geir; Einang, Per Magne; Grinden, Bjoern; Tangen, Grethe

    2002-05-01

    The report presents results from the project ''Landbasert bruk av naturgass - distribusjonsloesninger'' (Land based use of natural gas - distribution solutions). It describes the aims of the project, the political external conditions for the use of natural gas, some environmental profits by changing from petroleum and coal to natural gas, the Norwegian infrastructure, the optimisation of energy transport, strategic consequences of the introduction of LNG and the practical consequences of the Enova strategy

  17. Ecohydrological drought monitoring and prediction using a land data assimilation system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sawada, Y.; Koike, T.

    2017-12-01

    Despite the importance of the ecological and agricultural aspects of severe droughts, few drought monitor and prediction systems can forecast the deficit of vegetation growth. To address this issue, we have developed a land data assimilation system (LDAS) which can simultaneously simulate soil moisture and vegetation dynamics. By assimilating satellite-observed passive microwave brightness temperature, which is sensitive to both surface soil moisture and vegetation water content, we can significantly improve the skill of a land surface model to simulate surface soil moisture, root zone soil moisture, and leaf area index (LAI). We run this LDAS to generate a global ecohydrological land surface reanalysis product. In this presentation, we will demonstrate how useful this new reanalysis product is to monitor and analyze the historical mega-droughts. In addition, using the analyses of soil moistures and LAI as initial conditions, we can forecast the ecological and hydrological conditions in the middle of droughts. We will present our recent effort to develop a near real time ecohydrological drought monitoring and prediction system in Africa by combining the LDAS and the atmospheric seasonal prediction.

  18. Building Fit-for-Purpose Land Administration Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Enemark, Stig; Bell, Keith; Lemmen, Christiaan

    2014-01-01

    Arguably sound land governance is the key to achieve sustainable development and to support the global agenda set by adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The operational component of land governance is the country specific land administration systems dealing with the four key...... functions of land tenure, land value, land, and land development. Land administration systems - whether highly advanced or very basic – require a land parcel framework to operate. Building such a land parcel framework – showing the way land is divided into parcels and plots for specific use and possession...... no. 60 on “Fit-for-Purpose Land Administration”. It is argued that the land parcel framework should be developed using a flexible and fit-for-purpose approach rather than being guided by costly field survey procedures or over-engineered technology solutions. When considering the resources...

  19. Hotspots of uncertainty in land-use and land-cover change projections: a global-scale model comparison.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prestele, Reinhard; Alexander, Peter; Rounsevell, Mark D A; Arneth, Almut; Calvin, Katherine; Doelman, Jonathan; Eitelberg, David A; Engström, Kerstin; Fujimori, Shinichiro; Hasegawa, Tomoko; Havlik, Petr; Humpenöder, Florian; Jain, Atul K; Krisztin, Tamás; Kyle, Page; Meiyappan, Prasanth; Popp, Alexander; Sands, Ronald D; Schaldach, Rüdiger; Schüngel, Jan; Stehfest, Elke; Tabeau, Andrzej; Van Meijl, Hans; Van Vliet, Jasper; Verburg, Peter H

    2016-12-01

    Model-based global projections of future land-use and land-cover (LULC) change are frequently used in environmental assessments to study the impact of LULC change on environmental services and to provide decision support for policy. These projections are characterized by a high uncertainty in terms of quantity and allocation of projected changes, which can severely impact the results of environmental assessments. In this study, we identify hotspots of uncertainty, based on 43 simulations from 11 global-scale LULC change models representing a wide range of assumptions of future biophysical and socioeconomic conditions. We attribute components of uncertainty to input data, model structure, scenario storyline and a residual term, based on a regression analysis and analysis of variance. From this diverse set of models and scenarios, we find that the uncertainty varies, depending on the region and the LULC type under consideration. Hotspots of uncertainty appear mainly at the edges of globally important biomes (e.g., boreal and tropical forests). Our results indicate that an important source of uncertainty in forest and pasture areas originates from different input data applied in the models. Cropland, in contrast, is more consistent among the starting conditions, while variation in the projections gradually increases over time due to diverse scenario assumptions and different modeling approaches. Comparisons at the grid cell level indicate that disagreement is mainly related to LULC type definitions and the individual model allocation schemes. We conclude that improving the quality and consistency of observational data utilized in the modeling process and improving the allocation mechanisms of LULC change models remain important challenges. Current LULC representation in environmental assessments might miss the uncertainty arising from the diversity of LULC change modeling approaches, and many studies ignore the uncertainty in LULC projections in assessments of LULC

  20. Integrated modelling of anthropogenic land-use and land-cover change on the global scale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaldach, R.; Koch, J.; Alcamo, J.

    2009-04-01

    In many cases land-use activities go hand in hand with substantial modifications of the physical and biological cover of the Earth's surface, resulting in direct effects on energy and matter fluxes between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere. For instance, the conversion of forest to cropland is changing climate relevant surface parameters (e.g. albedo) as well as evapotranspiration processes and carbon flows. In turn, human land-use decisions are also influenced by environmental processes. Changing temperature and precipitation patterns for example are important determinants for location and intensity of agriculture. Due to these close linkages, processes of land-use and related land-cover change should be considered as important components in the construction of Earth System models. A major challenge in modelling land-use change on the global scale is the integration of socio-economic aspects and human decision making with environmental processes. One of the few global approaches that integrates functional components to represent both anthropogenic and environmental aspects of land-use change, is the LandSHIFT model. It simulates the spatial and temporal dynamics of the human land-use activities settlement, cultivation of food crops and grazing management, which compete for the available land resources. The rational of the model is to regionalize the demands for area intensive commodities (e.g. crop production) and services (e.g. space for housing) from the country-level to a global grid with the spatial resolution of 5 arc-minutes. The modelled land-use decisions within the agricultural sector are influenced by changing climate and the resulting effects on biomass productivity. Currently, this causal chain is modelled by integrating results from the process-based vegetation model LPJmL model for changing crop yields and net primary productivity of grazing land. Model output of LandSHIFT is a time series of grid maps with land-use/land-cover information