Monitoring soil erosion on agricultural land: results and implications for the Rother valley, West Sussex, UK

Boardman, John; Burt, Tim; Foster, Ian D L

doi:10.1002/esp.5011

Cited by 12 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Previous studies have shown similar patterns of lower microplastic concentrations, with losses of 30-45% from soils, following heavy rainfall events (8). In addition, the resulting erosion of agricultural land is seasonal, with increased erosion prevalent in winter months (54). This will depend on the soil type as more dense soils are more susceptible to runoff and will therefore likely retain less plastic (8).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Agricultural soils and microplastics: Are biosolids the problem?

et al. 2023

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Biosolids are the solid by-product of the wastewater treatment system. They are regularly applied to agricultural land in the UK to fertilize and increase crop yields, but they have been shown to contain high concentrations of microplastics. Here we sampled a selection of agricultural soils in the Southeast of England which had received or never received biosolid treatment. Sites were sampled on two occasions in the summer and winter. Microplastic (MP) numbers were high in both the biosolid treated fields (874 MP/kg) and the untreated fields (664 MP/kg) and a wide variety of polymers were found across sites. However, there was a lack of significant difference between treated and untreated soils. This suggests the influence of other microplastic sources e.g. agricultural plastic and general littering, and external conditions e.g. farm management and rainfall. Microplastic concentrations were higher in the summer suggesting that erosion, runoff, and wind transport may be removing microplastics from these systems. The dynamic nature of the agricultural soils may result in them becoming a vector for microplastics into the wider environment. The high variability in results seen here highlights the complexity of microplastic concentrations in heterogeneous agricultural soils. This study suggests that biosolids, whilst are likely a contributor, are not the sole source of microplastics in agricultural soils. Further research is required to determine source and sink dynamics in these systems. Understanding the sources of microplastic contamination in soils is imperative for future mitigation strategies to be effective.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Agricultural soils and microplastics: Are biosolids the problem?

et al. 2023

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“…An example of this is maps of around 200 fields in the Rother valley, West Sussex, UK (Figure 3), which have a history of erosion in the last 30 years. We can also identify which of these fields (66%) are potentially connected to the freshwater system and therefore potential pollution sources (Boardman et al, 2020; Favis‐Mortlock et al, 2022). This enables mitigation measures to be planned for vulnerable fields.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A basic mitigation measure is to interrupt water and/or sediment connectivity within agricultural catchments. Many major erosion events and much off‐site damage is the result of flow of runoff from one field to another (Biddulph et al, 2017; Boardman et al, 2020; Evans & Boardman, 2003; Wainwirght et al, 2011; Wilkinson et al, 2014). Large blocks of fields under the same land use are likely to be bare at the same time: the coincidence of lack of vegetation cover and rainfall may then lead to runoff and erosion.…”

Section: The Need For a Comprehensive Mitigation Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Soil erosion and runoff: The need to rethink mitigation strategies for sustainable agricultural landscapes in western Europe

Boardman

Vandaele

2023

Soil Use and Management

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Agricultural landscapes that are intensively farmed, as in western Europe, face the challenge of a transition to more sustainable systems. Although erosion rates are relatively low in western Europe, the agricultural landscape is confronted by the need to mitigate the off‐site impacts of erosion. An important challenge is that of disrupting connectivity between runoff and sediment sources, often farmers' fields, and freshwater systems or local communities. Mitigation strategies should include monitoring of erosion rates and off‐site impacts and a mix of engineered and alternative measures such as buffer strips and retention ponds. Also needed are supportive government policies and actions including awareness of institutional memory problems and the promotion of farmer education. For the future, the risk of climate change must be appreciated and built into the planning of comprehensive mitigation strategies. Our perspective is that the overall aim should be a ‘sustainable agricultural landscape’ and not simply a reduction of erosion and runoff on farmers' fields.

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“…Occasionally, unexpected rainfall occurs following irrigation. On fields without a tile drainage system, this can make the soil too wet, turning a water deficit problem into a water excess problem, which may result in crop yield and quality losses as well as soil erosion and nutrient leaching [64]. Determining the timing and amount of water for irrigation remains one of the biggest knowledge gaps for supplemental irrigation in AC [18,23].…”

Section: Supplemental Irrigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landscape Integrated Soil and Water Conservation (LISWC) System for Sloping Landscapes in Atlantic Canada

2021

Agriculture

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Soil and water are fundamental and precious resources for agriculture. In Atlantic Canada (AC), intensive agricultural production systems have led to detrimental environmental effects such as soil erosion and the contamination of receiving waters, posing significant threats to the resilience and sustainability of the agro-ecosystem. Although many beneficial management practices (BMPs) have been developed, they all have their shortcomings and there are often trade-offs for each individual BMP. In this paper, a new paradigm is proposed for soil and water conservation—landscape integrated soil and water conservation (LISWC), a system designed to conserve and reuse soil and water within the landscape by integrating multiple BMPs based on an understanding of the landscape processes and knowledge about the BMPs. On a typical sloping field in AC, an LISWC system can be established by integrating BMPs such as diversion terraces and grassed waterways, tile drainage, water retention structures, supplemental irrigation, conservative tillage practices and soil–landscape restoration. Each individual BMP is designed to enhance one aspect of soil and water conservation but working on their own, they are all insufficient for the landscape as a whole and sometimes even have negative impacts. However, once integrated in the landscape, they complement each other: water erosion is reduced by diversion terraces and grassed waterway and conservative tillage, field drainage condition is enhanced by tile drainage, runoff and tile drained water is stored in the retention structure and reused for irrigation, and most eroded soil is returned to the soil loss area with soil–landscape restoration. This holistic landscape perspective can be used to develop LISWC systems for other landform types or applied at watershed or regional scales. Future studies are needed for the connections and interactions between individual BMPs, and analysis on the overall economic benefit of an LISWC system.

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Monitoring soil erosion on agricultural land: results and implications for the Rother valley, West Sussex, UK

Cited by 12 publications

References 44 publications

Agricultural soils and microplastics: Are biosolids the problem?

Agricultural soils and microplastics: Are biosolids the problem?

Soil erosion and runoff: The need to rethink mitigation strategies for sustainable agricultural landscapes in western Europe

Landscape Integrated Soil and Water Conservation (LISWC) System for Sloping Landscapes in Atlantic Canada

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