Agricultural land abandonment in Mediterranean environment provides ecosystem services via soil carbon sequestration

Novara, Agata; Gristina, Luciano; Sala, Giovanna; Galati, Antonino; Crescimanno, Maria; Cerdà, Artemi; Badalamenti, Emilio; Mantia, Tommaso La

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.10.123

Cited by 130 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 86 publications

(94 reference statements)

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“…This is also true for the Mediterranean region which produces large amounts of citrus, vine, grapes, olive oil, fruits and vegetables that need a healthy soil with sufficient nutrients, normally supplied by the soil organic matter (Lugato et al, 2014;Álvaro-Fuentes et al, 2014;Schillaci et al, 2017). However, due to intensive production over centuries, most soils are depleted in natural organic matter Montanaro et al, 2017;Novara et al, 2017). The current citrus production in Eastern Spain is modern, technical and uses large inputs of agrochemicals, and induce high erosion rates (Cerdà et al, 2009) and low infiltration rates (Di Prima et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term organic farming on a citrus plantation results in soil organic carbon recovery

Novara¹,

Pulido

Rodrigo‐Comino

et al. 2019

CIG

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La agricultura ecológica a largo plazo en plantaciones de cítricos permite la recuperación del carbono orgánico del suelo RESUMEN:Se ha demostrado que el manejo del suelo bajo agricultura ecológica puede aumentar el contenido de carbono orgánico en el suelo moderando el incremento de los gases de efecto invernadero, pero hasta la fecha las evaluaciones cuantitativas basadas en mediciones a largo plazo han sido escasas, especialmente bajo condiciones mediterráneas. En esta investigación se examinaron los cambios en el contenido de carbono orgánico como respuesta a la agricultura ecológica con cobertura vegetal en una plantación de cítricos en el área mediterránea, utilizando una base de datos de 21 años. El incremento de contenido de carbono orgánico en el suelo fue más evidente tras cinco años desde el cambio del manejo del suelo, sugiriendo que, para plantaciones de cítricos en ambientes mediterráneos, los estudios deberían tener una duración superior a cinco años. La sata de secuestro de carbono orgánico no cambió significativamente durante los 21 años de observaciones, con valores que oscilaron entre -1.10 Mg C ha -1 a -1 y 1.89 Mg C ha -1 a -1 . Tras 21 años, un total de 61 t CO 2 ha -1 fueron secuestradas en las áreas de acumulación de carbono en el suelo. Estos resultados demuestran que la agricultura ecológica es una estrategia efectiva para restaurar o incrementar los niveles de carbono orgánico en el suelo en los sistemas de cítricos mediterráneos.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term organic farming on a citrus plantation results in soil organic carbon recovery

Novara¹,

Pulido

Rodrigo‐Comino

et al. 2019

CIG

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“…The cultivation of primary vegetation has likely resulted in the depletion of soil carbon about one half to two thirds, compared with the amount maintained under natural vegetation (Le Quéré et al, 2009). The reverse process such as conversion of agricultural land to grassland contributes significantly to carbon accumulation in soils (Guo & Gifford, 2002;Novara et al, 2014;Preger et al, 2010;Nadal-Romero et al, 2016b;Novara et al, 2017). Globally, it has been estimated that cropland soils have a potential to sequester carbon of 0.4-0.9 Pg C per year through improved agricultural management, restoration of degraded lands and extensive use of abandoned lands (Lal, 2004;Paustian et al, 2000;Lasanta et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil Organic Carbon Accumulation in Abandoned Croplands on the Loess Plateau

Chang

Chai

et al. 2017

Land Degrad Dev

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The Grain to Green Program in China which began in 1999 led to the conversion of 0.64 million ha of cropland to grassland on steep sloping landscapes. However, the pattern of natural vegetation succession following cropland has not been well represented in previous regional syntheses of land use change effects on soil organic carbon (SOC). A chronosequence study focusing on the vegetation succession and soil carbon stocks was conducted in the center of the Loess Plateau. The chronosequence included fields of 0, 2, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15 and 25 years of self‐restoration after cropland abandonment, as well as a natural grassland reference. Plant coverage, species richness and plant biomass increased significantly with time of cropland abandonment. Over time, the species composition more nearly resembled a natural grasslands community. Cropland abandonment replenished SOC stocks by 3.6 kg C m−2 during the 25‐year self‐restoration, but the SOC accumulation was restricted to the upper soil profiles (0–60 cm). SOC accumulation rate was 88 g C m−2 y−1 in 0–30 cm and 55 g C m−2 y−1 in 30–60 cm soil depth, respectively. These carbon stocks were still significantly lower than those found in the natural grassland soil. Our results suggest that the recovery of plant communities and SOC stocks appears to be slow in this semiarid environment without revegetation effort along with appropriate field management, although the post‐agricultural soils have a high potential for carbon sequestration. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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“…The land abandonment is a consequence of biophysical and A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t human determinants (Novara et al, 2017). Several factors trigger the abandonment in the Mediterranean: i) low economic benefits and limited ability to compete in global markets (MacDonald et al, 2000); ii) rugged terrain that reduces afforestation success (Nadal-Romero et al, 2014); iii) shallow soils in highly erodible parent materials Regüés and Nadal-Romero, 2013); and, iv) environmental and socio-economic constrains to introduce other activities such as livestock or organic farming due to the recurrent long periods of drought Ruiz-Sinoga et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the vegetation recovery can reduce the raindrop impact, reduce the surface wash velocity, increase the infiltration rates and as a consequence reduce the soil losses Breton et al, 2016). The successful recovery of the vegetation after abandonment needs a proper integrated extensive livestock to preserve the abandoned land and avoid forest fires (Mataix et al, 2015) as is relevant to understand the carbon cycles and the ecosystem services offered by the soils (Peregrina et al, 2016;Szalai et al, 2016;Novara et al, 2017). The fate of the abandoned land also will determine the soil erosion rates such as other land use changes do.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasted Impact of Land Abandonment on Soil Erosion in Mediterranean Agriculture Fields

et al. 2018

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Abandonment of agricultural land results in on-and off-site consequences on soil system and there is a need to evaluate the impact on soil erosion to understand the ecosystem's changes. The aim of this research is to assess the impact of abandonment in four Mediterranean crops (vineyards, almonds, citrus and olives) on soil and water losses. To achieve this goal, 105 rainfall simulation experiments were conducted in agriculture fields (vineyards in Málaga, almonds in Murcia, and citrus and olive in Valencia) and on the paired abandoned plots. After abandonment, soil detachment decreased drastically in the olive and citrus orchards, meanwhile vineyards did not show any difference and almonds registered higher erosion rates after the abandonment. Terraced orchards of citrus and olives recovered a dense vegetation cover after the abandonment, meanwhile the sloping terrain of almonds and vineyards enhanced the development of crusts and rills and a negligible plant cover that resulted in high erosion rates. The contrasted response of the abandonment is discussed.

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Agricultural land abandonment in Mediterranean environment provides ecosystem services via soil carbon sequestration

Cited by 130 publications

References 86 publications

Long-term organic farming on a citrus plantation results in soil organic carbon recovery

Long-term organic farming on a citrus plantation results in soil organic carbon recovery

Soil Organic Carbon Accumulation in Abandoned Croplands on the Loess Plateau

Contrasted Impact of Land Abandonment on Soil Erosion in Mediterranean Agriculture Fields

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