As human interactions with Earth systems continue to intensify, understanding the complex relationships among human activity, landscape change, and societal responses to those changes becomes ...increasingly important. Interdisciplinary research centered on the theme of “feedbacks” in human–landscape systems serves as a promising focus for unraveling these interactions. This paper examines the specific case of the 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire of Colorado, where human responses after the fire to perceived threats of hydro-geomorphological hazards included construction of tall fences at the base of a burned watershed. These actions prompted feedbacks that promoted further landscape change that ultimately increased those hazards, rather than dampening the hydro-geomorphological effects of fire. Geomorphic analysis showed that the fences trapped particles that would naturally move through the system by flows with recurrence intervals greater than 3.3years. With the particles blocked by the fences, the channel downstream became erosive, because it was devoid of large particles that produce substantial hydraulic resistance. Channel incision prompted a second human response to pave the eroding channel, which led to further incision downstream. This cycle of positive feedbacks between human decision-making and landscape change eventually led to a complete channelization of the stream channel downstream of the fences. The explanation for the transformation of the post-fire landscape therefore lies in the interacting human impacts and feedbacks, rather than the expected post-fire hydro-geomorphological adjustments. An initial agent-based model, capable of integrating social and hydro-geomorphological data, simulates these interacting impacts and feedbacks. Further refinement with more complete data input, especially pertaining to human decision making at individual or local levels, is required to fully demonstrate the utility and promise of this tool for application to geomorphic analysis.
•Perceived geomorphological hazards following the 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire, Colorado prompted human responses.•These responses triggered positive feedbacks that promoted further landscape change and ultimately increased those hazards.•An initial agent-based model captured feedbacks between human decision-making and stream channel response following wildfire.•Quantifying human decision-making and behavior will inform integrative modeling tools toward predictive capacity.•Recognizing human-landscape feedbacks is a first step toward slowing or reversing environmental degradation.
•A classification model of ALS is developed to perform pattern analysis.•Dynamic mechanism of ALS in China was discussed.•3 Driving forces of ALS are characterized with spatial heterogeneity.
The ...healthy functioning of arable landscape ecosystems depends on their functional structure and productivity. In view of current global climate change and constant population mobility, the global agricultural industry has to address the effects of such factors on the functional structure of arable lands. In our research on these issues, we combined information on land use/cover changes with several other datasets. These include meteorological data from 1 823 national and local meteorological stations, agrometeorological disasters from 430 national monitoring stations, and population surveys covering 9 856 townships. Our findings indicate that the arable landscape system in China shows an overall trend of fragmentation, with the extent of the core arable land decreasing by 10 336.06km2. This trend is affected minimally by climate differences and population changes in traditional agricultural regions. However, in eastern and western China, the trend is affected significantly by the rate of population aging, the population migration rate, and the agricultural labor scale. Urban land expansion plays a key role in changing the arable landscape system. Rapid urbanization in the form of an integral transition from arable land to construction, which is represented by large-scale increase in construction land area, is the core dynamic mechanism of landscape structure change of arable landscape systems in China.
In the last decades, the use of biofuels as a mitigation measure for carbon emissions has led to land use and land cover changes in southeastern Brazil, especially in Paulista Peripheral Depression – ...Paraná Sedimentary Basin. Considering the human-landscape system associated with energy policy, these changes can affect landscape and natural resources over a range of temporal and special scales. Thus, the aim of study was on how human-landscape interactions have influenced the geomorphological dynamics in a São Paulo region that contains sugar cane crops associated with soils derived from sandstones and mudstones. The use of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) in three different scenarios from land use changes allowed verifying how they have affected soil loss: natural conditions (savannah), current land use and with the expansion of sugar cane crops. In addition, the total sediment transported, the sediment delivery ratio and the rate of soil removal were measured, considering the current land use. The land use scenarios pointed out that the land use change is directly related to increasing rates of soil loss, i.e. 0.03, 3.5 and 12.6 t ha−1 yr−1 for the natural conditions, current land use and with the expansion of sugar cane crops, respectively. These rates in the current land use and with continuous expansion of sugar cane crops are higher than the tolerable erosion limits in 17 and 57% of the study area, respectively. The suspended sediment concentration increases with increasing Cachoeirinha Stream discharge, with a specific daily flux of 88 kg km−2 day−1. The mean monthly flux in 2014 was 32 t month−1, with varying from 3.1 (August) to 144 (January) t month−1. The wet period was responsible for ca. 90% (436 t) of the total solids transported in 2014. The sediment delivery ratio was 9% of the total soil loss. The current rate of soil removal of 25.8 m Myr−1 is almost 3-fold higher than the long-term denudation rates suggested for the Peripheral Depression (9 m Myr−1). With the continuous expansion of sugar cane crops, the rate of soil removal probably will be higher than that obtained in the current scenario and, consequently, the current denudation rates should increase further. Thus, this study reinforce that the human-landscape systems in São Paulo State associated with energy policy are complex and increase the natural processes of soil removal and, consequently, affect the landscape evolution.
•Human-landscape system associated with energy policies was study at São Paulo State.•Land use changes were directly related to increasing rates of soil loss.•The specific daily flux of suspended sediment was 88 kg km−2 day−1.•Approximately 90% of the total solids were transported in the wet period.•The current rate of soil removal was 3-fold higher than the long-term denudation rate.
Chemical weathering and soil erosion in large or small watersheds are used to understand the effect of evolution processes on the Earth's surface and climate. Currently, human-driven land use changes ...have substantial effects on landscape changes over a range of temporal and spatial scales. In this context, the Sorocaba River basin, São Paulo State, Brazil, is an ideal study area to assess human influence on the present denudation rates of the Paulista Peripheral Depression (PPD). Twelve fluvial water sample collections were carried out at the Sorocaba River mouth, covering one complete hydrological cycle (Jun/2009 to Jun/2010). In the same period, 46 rainfall events were sampled. All samples were analyzed for dissolved cations, anions and silica, and total dissolved solids (TDS). Total suspended solids (TSS) were measured only in fluvial samples. The export of TDS and TSS occurs mostly during the wet season, accounting for ca. 60% and 87% of the total dissolved solids and total suspended sediment transported in the hydrological cycle studied (2009/2010), respectively. The total annual specific flux of TSS was 74.27 t/km2/year (including soil erosion by agricultural activities), with a small portion being derived from the anthropogenic contributions (ca. 2%). The total annual specific flux of TDS (74.43 t/km2/year) was similar to the TSS, but after the correction of the atmospheric inputs and anthropogenic contributions (ca. 18 and 29%, respectively), this value decreased to 39.35 t/km2/year. The chemical weathering rate was 7.1 m/Myear and this process tended towards monosialitization (RE = 2.6), with an atmospheric/soil CO2 consumption rate of 3.3 × 105 mol/km2/year. The difference between the chemical weathering and soil removal rates (7.1 and 49.6 m/Myear, respectively) indicated that the soil thickness reduction occured in the Sorocaba River basin. The climatic control on chemical weathering and soil removal rates was clearly evidenced, with the highest values of denudation occurring in the wet and hot climatic conditions. However, the chemical weathering processes (RE index) was not sensitive to climatic controls. In order to assess human influence on chemical weathering and soil removal rates in the PPD, the results were compared with other works undertaken in this vast geomorphological province. Even considering the uncertainties associated with a number of data points, the chemical weathering and soil removal rates in the PPD observed in this study were approximately 4 and 7.5-fold higher than these natural denudation rates, respectively, evidencing the effect of recent land use changes on the present denudation rates in the PPD. Thus, this study reinforces the complexity of the human-landscape systems in São Paulo State and increases the values of long-term landscape evolution rates.
•The human influence on present denudation rates was studied.•The average of chemical weathering and soil removal rates were 7.1 and 49.6 m/Myear.•The highest values of denudation occur in the wet and hot climatic conditions.•The present denudation rates are higher than the natural rates due to land use changes.
Methodological aspects of assessing harmful impacts on the natural environment are presented, aimed at determining the indicator of ecosystem stability. The use of such an indicator makes it possible ...to determine environmental changes as a result of anthropogenic activity, as well as to determine the significance of these changes. A system is presented that systematizes the variety of consequences of anthropogenic impact on CLS. A qualitative scale of reducing harmful anthropogenic impact is proposed. It is proposed to conduct assessment of the categories of significance of harmful effects and ecological risk on the basis of a comprehensive evaluation of impacts on individual storeys and subsystems in the compartment from different sources of influence, taking into account their magnitude and intensity. The corresponding scales, a way of complex formation, categories of impact significance have been developed; also, an example of constructing an environmental risk matrix has been presented.
In the Russian Federation, solving problems of land use, land relations, and land policy leave the basis for social, environmental, economic, and overall political stability of the state. The area of ...the Belgorod region is 2713.4 thousand hectares, including arable land - 1654.4 thousand hectares (61 %), pastures - 347.6 thousand hectares (12.8 %), hayfield - 68.1 thousand hectares (2.5 %), forests and other lands - 316.5 thousand hectares (22.7 %). The area of eroded soils is 53.6 % of the entire territory of the region. They include: slightly washed out soils - about 35 %, moderate washed out soils - about 13 %, strongly washed out soils - 5.6 %, and flushed - about 1 %. According to Belgorod agrarian scientific center of the RAS area of eroded lands in the Belgorod region has increased in the Western natural-agricultural zone - by 5.1 %, in the Central - by 8.4 % and in the South-East - by 9.1 % over the last 3040 years. Currently, the concept of adaptive landscape farming has been developed, which provides for comprehensive measures to prevent soil degradation and create environmentally sustainable agricultural landscapes. Adaptive landscape soil protection system of agriculture provides for expansion of perennial grasses up to 25 %, introduction of leguminous crops and annual grasses in crop rotations. With a reduction in the use of mineral and organic fertilizers in modern economic conditions, it is impossible to achieve a balance of humus acceptable for sustainable development of the studied agricultural landscape. System of agriculture adapted to local landscapes provides for introduction of the whole complex of soil conservation measures which can stop land degradation caused by soil erosion. Introduction of adaptive landscape system of agriculture in the pilot farm of the Belgorod agricultural research center allowed to minimize erosion processes, stabilize soil fertility, and significantly improve economic indicators and energy efficiency of agriculture in the economy. The area of arable land was slightly reduced, and the area of forest belts and soil protection crop rotations increased. The average yield of grain crops and sugar beets increased greatly, the use of organic and mineral fertilizers increased significantly, their payback improved, and the crop industry became profitable and cost-effective. Only through adaptive landscape agriculture it is possible to stop water erosion, create conditions for stabilizing and increasing soil fertility, ensure the biologization of agriculture and increase its economic efficiency. Ultimately, this will increase production of domestic agricultural products and increase Russias food security.
Rivers play a key role in regulating urban ecology, which can improve urban climate while slowing the heat island effect. As one of embodied energy in the field of ecology, emergy theory can be used ...to quantitatively evaluate the ecological characteristics of a system. This will help to further explore urban ecological sustainability in this article. In this study, four ecological riverbank reconstruction projects have been executed to restore the ecology along the banks of the Jinchuan River in Nanjing, China, which focus on the key river–lakeside and waterfront space in the main urban area. The LCA–emergy–carbon emission method was applied through a series of indicators, including emergy indexes and carbon emission indicators. It is important to distinguish prior research, and few have utilized this approach on urban waterways and waterscapes. The results illustrate that the reconstruction system has obvious improvement significance to the whole river ecology. This change can also be seen when using LCA–emergy analysis. In a 20-year cycle, the emergy of the material production stage and maintenance phase account for a major emergy share, followed by the construction stage, transportation process, and design process stage. The sustainability (ESI indicator) has been improved after carrying out the reconstruction projects. By choosing water and gravel as the primary material, the carbon emission can be reduced. The water treatment process accounts for the vast majority of carbon emissions. Secondly, gravel also plays an important role in carbon emission. Finally, an improved measure (clean energy reuse) was conducted to enhance the ecology of the reconstruction projects and obtained a significant ecological sustainability boost.
The ecological landscape design of urban rivers plays a crucial role in mitigating the urban heat island effect and preserving urban ecology. This study focuses on the construction process data of ...key landscape nodes along Nanjing’s urban rivers. By employing a whole life cycle emergy approach and carbon emission method, the sustainable changes in the landscape system are quantitatively assessed. Furthermore, artificial neural networks have been used to conduct long-term sustainability analysis and predictions for the landscape system. The research findings reveal that over time, the maintenance investment in landscape projects gradually becomes dominant, increasing from 2% in the first year to approximately 75% after 30 years. This phenomenon signifies a decline in the efficiency of the landscape system. Sustaining the ecological balance of the landscape system necessitates continuous inputs of material flow, energy flow, and information flow. The major contributors to carbon emissions in the landscape engineering system are diesel fuel, cement, and steel. This highlights opportunities for sustainable improvement from a low-carbon perspective. To enhance the ecological sustainability of urban waterfront landscapes, three measures are proposed: sponge city construction concepts, coupled sewage treatment systems, and information flow monitoring systems. The effectiveness of these measures was preliminarily validated.
The purpose of this study is to assess the resilience of agricultural landscapes and associated ecosystem services at multiple scales (a farm and landscape) in Kyrenia Region of Northern Cyprus. In ...doing so, the key objectives of the study were (a) to design a conceptual framework for identifying the key linkages between the resilience of the agricultural landscape and farming systems, (b) to determine the major suitable resilience assessment principles and relevant indicators for both systems, and (c) to measure the resilience of the systems as well as to assess their cross-scale linkages. The suitable resilience assessment indicators for both systems were developed by reviewing the relevant literature. Two social valuation techniques (e.g. a multiple-choice questionnaire) were employed to assess the resilience of both systems. The participants rated the resilience of the systems and their components on a 1–5 scale. The results showed that the ecological resilience of the farming system is medium with 3.23 points. The resilience of the agricultural landscape system was evaluated within the context of three dimensions: agro-ecosystem, the agricultural, and human systems. Their resilience was found to be low and ranged between 2.40 and 2.90 points. The system’s resilience was estimated to be low with 2.68 points. The outcomes of this study are significant in terms of helping policy-makers and resource managers to better understand the cross-scale linkages between the resilience of the agricultural landscape and farming systems to achieve the sustainability of natural resources, food production, and community livelihoods in Kyrenia Region and elsewhere.
QUARRY AND DUMP LANDSCAPE SYSTEMS OF KRYVORIZHZHIA Koptieva, Tetiana; Denysyk, Bohdan
International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference : SGEM,
09/2020, Volume:
20, Issue:
5.1
Conference Proceeding
The purpose of the study is to identify quarry - dump landscape complexes on the territory of Kryvyi Rih on the example of Burshchit and Shimakov dumps, analysis of plateau-like multi-tiered dump ...type of terrain, identification of the main methods of optimization of disturbed lands of Kryvyi Rih. Iron ore production was started thanks to the scientific exploration of iron ore by R.Kulshyn, M. Barbot-de-Marne, L. Shtrippelman, S. Hartung, L. Syemyechkin, S. Kontkevich, V. Domger, P. Pyatnytskyi, resulting in emergence of the industrial development of Kryvyi Rih region and, respectively, the active formation of mining landscapes. Since the overburden power did not exceed 1 - 9 meters from the surface of the ore body, the open method of mining was primarily used. According to H. Zadorozhnia's classification, the mining landscapes are divided into quarry and dump and mine complexes. The highest rainfall in June and July is up to 65 mm, the lowest number is in February and March with 28 mm, annual rainfall is up to 483 mm. In the geological structure of the dump there are the following bulk layers - stripes: 1) Lower - accumulative microstrip, is characterized by crystalline rocks that are not involved in development.
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