•In our approach, the olive growing plays a key role within an integrated framework;•S-DSS might be the way ahead to address olive growing on the landscape scale;•GeOlive is capable of producing real ...time, site-specific data for planning and management;•Our approach is based on the use of free, open-source geospatial libraries and programs;
Olive cultivation is a very important activity which performs several important ecological functions in many inland areas.
Recent progress in modelling and Decision Support Systems (DSS) applied to agriculture promises to deliver important positive changes. However, most of this progress regards agriculture systems other than olive growing, so failing to challenge the environmental dimension of the olive grove and the landscape, which is a key issue in the planning and management of olive cultivation.
This paper aims to demonstrate that a new type of DSS developed upon the open-source Geospatial Cyberinfrastructure (GCI) platform (named GeOlive) can provide a very important web-based operational tool for olive growing as it better connects productivity and environmental sustainability.
This GCI platform supports the acquisition, management, and processing of both static and dynamic data (e.g. pedology, daily climate), data visualization, and computer on-the-fly applications in order to perform simulation modelling (e.g. evaluation of bioclimatic indices), all potentially accessible via the Web.
The DSS tool, applied to an area of 20,000 ha in southern Italy, is designed to assist olive grove planning and management and provide operational support for farmers, farmer associations and decision makers involved in olive grove landscape.
DSS outputs include olive grove planning and management scenario analysis and maps, together with evaluation of potential and current plant water stress.
A short selection of practical case studies is presented to show the different use cases of the proposed DSS.
A combination of indirect soil investigation by proximal soil sensors (PSS), based on geophysical (ARP, EMI), physical (Cone Index –CI– by ultrasound penetrometry) and spectrometric (γ-rays) ...techniques, as well as pedological surveys, was applied in the field to assess the spatial variability of soil pollution and physical degradation in an automobile-battery recycling plant in southern Italy. Five homogeneous zones (HZs) were identified by the PSS and characterized by soil profiles. CI measurements and field analysis showed clear features of physical (i.e., soil compaction, massive structure) degradation. XRF in situ (on profiles) analysis using portable equipment (pXRF) showed Pb, Cd and As concentrations exceeding the contamination thresholds provided by the Italian regulation for industrial land use up to 20 or 100 cm of depth. Hence, a validation procedure, based on pXRF field survey, was applied to the PSS approach used for the HZs identification. High consistency was found between the HZs and the PTEs in the most contaminated areas. Significant negative Pearson correlation coefficients were found between γ-rays dose rate and Pb, Cu, Zn, As and Ni; positive ones were found between γ-rays and autochthonous lithogenic elements (V, Ti, Mn, K, Sr, Nb, Zr, Rb, Th), confirming that higher radionuclide activity correlated with lower pollution levels.
Landslides represent a severe geohazard in many countries. The availability of inventories depicting the spatial and temporal distribution of landslides is crucial for assessing landslide ...susceptibility and risk for territorial planning or investigating landscape evolution. Nevertheless, these inventories are usually affected by limitations due to their nonpublic availability and inhomogeneities in characterization and mapping. Such problems are fully recognizable by the analysis of the multiple landslide inventories of the Campania region, which is one of the Italian regions with the highest exposure to landslide hazard and risk. On this basis, a revised Landslide Inventory of the Campania region (LaICa), resulting from the processing of multiple existing landslide inventories, has been reconstructed. It aims to (i) provide a new geodatabase that is able to overcome issues derived from the coexistence of multiple inventories and (ii) provide a methodological paradigm able to support the reorganization of existing official inventories. The implication of LaICa, with its 83,284 records, will possibly improve the assessment of landslide susceptibility and then reassess the related risk.
Nowadays, Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) is on the political agenda as one of the main objectives in order to respond to the increasing degradation processes affecting soils and territories. ...Nevertheless, proper implementation of environmental policies is very difficult due to a lack of the operational, reliable and easily usable tools necessary to support political decisions when identifying problems, defining the causes of degradation and helping to find possible solutions. It is within this framework that this paper attempts to demonstrate a new valuable web-based operational LDN tool as a component of an already running Spatial Decision Support System (S-DSS) developed on a Geospatial Cyberinfrastructure (GCI). The tool could be offered to EU administrative units (e.g., municipalities) so that they may better evaluate the state and the impact of land degradation in their territories. The S-DSS supports the acquisition, management and processing of both static and dynamic data, together with data visualization and on-the-fly computing, in order to perform modelling, all of which is potentially accessible via the Web. The land degradation data utilized to develop the LDN tool refer to the SDG 15.3.1 indicator and were obtained from a platform named Trends.Earth, designed to monitor land change by using earth observations, and post-processed to correct some of the major artefacts relating to urban areas. The tool is designed to support land planning and management by producing data, statistics, reports and maps for any EU area of interest. The tool will be demonstrated through a short selection of practical case studies, where data, tables and stats are provided to challenge land degradation at different spatial extents. Currently, there are WEBGIS systems to visualize land degradation maps but—to our knowledge—this is the first S-DSS tool enabling customized LDN reporting at any NUTS (nomenclature of territorial units for statistics) level for the entire EU territory.
Andic soils have unique morphological, physical, and chemical properties that induce both considerable soil fertility and great vulnerability to land degradation. Moreover, they are the most striking ...mineral soils in terms of large organic C storage and long C residence time. This is especially related to the presence of poorly crystalline clay minerals and metal–humus complexes. Recognition of andic soils is then very important.Here we attempt to show, through a combined analysis of 35 sampling points chosen in accordance to specific physical and vegetation rules, that some andic soils have an utmost ecological importance.More specifically, in Italian non-volcanic mountain ecosystems ( > 600 m a.s.l.) combining low slope (< 21 %) and highly active green biomass (high NDVI values) and in agreement to recent findings, we found the widespread occurrence of andic soils having distinctive physical and hydrological properties including low bulk density and remarkably high water retention. Most importantly, we report a demonstration of the ability of these soils to affect ecosystem functions by analysing their influence on the timescale acceleration of photosynthesis estimated by NDVI measurements.Our results are hoped to be a starting point for better understanding of the ecological importance of andic soils and also possibly to better consider pedological information in C balance calculations.
Today, the issue of biodiversity conservation is, more than ever before, one of primary importance since it has become common knowledge that biodiversity provides many services that are relevant to ...the sustaining of ecological integrity and, so, for the benefit of humanity. Within this framework, rural areas are particularly exposed to degradation threats and, therefore, biodiversity loss due to their lying between and interlinking with urban and natural areas. The European Commission underlines the relevance of this conservation in its Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, which identifies a series of needs for conserving biodiversity in Europe, among which is the need for more operational tools to support biodiversity management. This paper aims to demonstrate that a geoSpatial decision support system (S‐DSS), developed through focused interdisciplinary research and implemented over a Geospatial Cyberinfrastructure, might provide a powerful web‐based operational tool to encourage both the engagement of a large range of end‐users and stakeholders and the better implementation of the Habitats Directive as indicated by the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. The platform supports data visualization and on‐the‐fly computer applications for modeling, all via a web browser. The S‐DSS tool brings together knowledge of soil and environmental sciences, biodiversity and information technology. The S‐DSS tool is demonstrated through three use cases in the Campania region (Southern Italy) from different users' perspectives. The connection of data and model aims to provide information that will improve knowledge and awareness of biodiversity. In just a few clicks, the production of maps, results and statistics provides an overview of the biodiversity over a personalized area drawn by the user. The approach is highly transferable to other areas, from other administrative regions to the whole European territory, because it is based on general algorithms that are easily applied elsewhere, providing there is the necessary data availability.
Nowadays, the business of ecotourism and rural tourism is a very important activity for many inland areas, enabling them to both produce important income and sustain the rural economy. Moreover, ...sustainable tourism is included in the UN 17th Sustainable Development Goal, which is to be achieved by 2030 (SDG 8.9 and SDG 12). Recent progress in digital tourism promises to deliver important changes to this activity, but most of this progress is addressed at well-known tourist destinations, so not dealing with the challenge of inland, rural and ecotourism. It is within this framework that this paper attempts to demonstrate that a new type of geoSpatial Decision Support System (S-DSS), developed on a Geospatial Cyberinfrastructure (GCI) and with a substantial interdisciplinary core, could provide a valuable web-based operational tool which may be offered to both ecotourism and rural tourism end-users, planners and policy makers, so that they might better plan and manage this type of sustainable tourism. The S-DSS platform has also been designed to encourage use by the multi-user community (farmers, tourism enterprises, associations and public bodies). The methodology is linked to the creation of a GCI platform (www.landsupport.eu) that supports the acquisition, management, processing and analysis of both static (e.g. soil, geology) and dynamic data (e.g. environmental and daily climatic data), together with data visualization and computer on-the-fly applications, in order to perform modelling, all of which is potentially accessible via the Web. The S-DSS tool known as EcoSmarTour is demonstrated through a case study of the Campania region (South Italy) and, by connecting database and modelling, it aims to deliver a large amount of information that will improve knowledge of the territory, manage scenario analysis, produce maps and evaluate potential ecotourism footpaths or areas of interest, thus enabling the provision of better information on the entire ecotourism sector. The tool will also be demonstrated through reference to a short selection of additional use cases from elsewhere in Europe. Most importantly, the approach adopted is highly transferable because it relies on very general algorithms that can be easily applied wherever the necessary data are available.
•EcoSmarTour can help to planning rural tourism and implement connected policies.•EcoSmarTour promotes environmental awareness.•EcoSmarTour supports local companies, farmers, associations and policy makers.•EcoSmarTour is available on Campania Region (IT), Zala County (HU) and Marchfeld (AT).•EcoSmarTour has a high level of potential transferability to other areas.
The protection of groundwater resources from non-point-source pollutants, such as those coming from agricultural practices, is the focus of several European Directives, including the Water Framework ...Directive and the Pesticide Directive. Besides the environmental goals to be reached by the single EU member state, these directives clearly underline the role of experts in supporting planners and public authorities to fulfil these objectives. This work presents a new web-based, freely-available dynamical tool, named the pesticide fate tool, developed within the geospatial Decision Support system (DSS), LandSupport, for the assessment of groundwater vulnerability, specific for type of pollutant. The tool is based on the extended transfer function model, specifically expanded to consider the transport of reactive solutes, such as pesticides. The work describes the tool implementation for three case studies, with different spatial scales and pedo-climatic conditions: Valle Telesina, IT, Marchfeld, AT, and Zala County, HU. Principal inputs of the tool are: soil physical and hydrological properties, climate, groundwater table depth, type of crops and related pesticides. Results of the model are shown through the LandSupport GUI both as coloured maps, representing the relative concentration of pesticide at the arrival to the water table at the end of the simulation period, and as cumulative charts of the solute arrival at the depth of interest. The three case studies are shown as examples of application of the LandSupport DSS in supporting the Water and Pesticides directives, demonstrating that it represents a valuable instrument for public authorities, environmental planners, as well as agricultural extension services. For example, large differences are shown by soils in filtering the tetraconazole (99.9% vs 76%), a fungicide used in viticulture, or different percentage of arrival (0.32% and 0,01%) to the groundwater table are shown for two herbicides (Tribenuron and Florasulam) largely used to control annual dicotyledonous weeds.
Display omitted
•The pesticide fate tool is used for the groundwater vulnerability assessment.•The tool, dynamical in space and time, is integrated within the LandSupport S-DSS.•The tool simulates the spatio-temporal distribution of non-point-source solutes.•The time intervals, crops and pesticides are user-defined and site-specific.•Three applications of the tool, in different pedoclimatic conditions, are shown.
Andic-like soils, along with Andosols, have previously been reported in non-volcanic ecosystems of the coastal and mountainous areas of the Calabria region (southern Italy), but little is known about ...their properties, soil formation processes and volcanic source areas. Chemical, mineralogical, microscopic, sub-microscopic and magnetic analyses were carried out on 8 soils which were selected from the major Calabrian geological sectors in order to assess relationships between parent material and bedrock. Soil chemical properties revealed an occurrence of andic or vitric properties in the studied soils as a whole, and the optical microscopy enabled to identify volcanic glass, micro-pumices and soil isotropic matrix, clearly indicating volcanic inputs. Three groups of soils, identified on the basis of the degree of andic properties, showed rather homogeneous also in terms of chemical properties, clay mineralogy and land use, as well as with regard to micromorphology and magnetic susceptibility. Part of the intra-group similarities was a consequence of similar distances between sites and volcanic source area, as suggested by the correlations found between ferrihydrite content, andic (i.e. % of ammonium oxalate extractable Al+0.5 Fe and phosphate retention) and magnetic properties vs. distances from several Sicilian districts. The elemental composition obtained by SEM/EDS analyses of soil glass fragments supported these findings and related the origin of most of the studied soils to the high potassium calc-alkaline magmatism of the southernmost Eolian Islands (mainly Lipari and Vulcano), except for soils from the marine terraces of northern Calabria (PRA) and the Aspromonte Massif (DEL), which were both linked, albeit uncertainly, to Campanian volcanism. Soil magnetic properties were significantly (0.79**) correlated to the andic properties, so confirming the high performance of magnetic susceptibility as low cost proxy for the identification of volcanic constituents.
•Andosols and andic properties in non-volcanic ecosystems of the Southern Italy•Volcanic glass, micro-pumices and isotropy of soil matrix suggest volcanic inputs.•Glass composition denotes the Eolian Arc as a source area of soil parent material.•Soil magnetic susceptibility correlated with andic properties.•Soil magnetic properties as low cost proxy for volcanic input identification
PDF
