Soils and Native Vegetation in a Hilly and Mountainous Area in Central Greece

Karyotis, Theodore; Toulios, M.; Alexiou, J.; Tziouvalekas, Miltiadis; Charoulis, A.; Vergos, S.; Tsipis, K.; Drosos, Achilleas; Aretos, V.; Mitsimponas, T.

doi:10.1080/00103624.2011.571741

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Overgrazing has been identified as a prominent cause of catastrophic soil erosion and degradation in many different environments, including the African rangelands (Karyotis et al, 2011; Podwojewski et al, 2011; UNEP, 1992) (Table 3). The unfortunate effects of the Sub-Saharan droughts of the 1970s and the 1980s appeared to confirm the prognosis that overgrazing damages sustainability (Warren, 1995).…”

Section: Human-induced Causes Of Soil Erosionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perspectives on the assumed causes of land degradation in the rangelands of Sub-Saharan Africa

Kiage

2013

Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment

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Soil erosion and land degradation are serious problems in tropical Africa, especially Sub-Saharan Africa, where they are widely recognized as more serious problems than in non-tropical areas. Sub-Saharan Africa experiences deleterious levels of soil erosion, largely due to the interaction between harsh climates of high erosivity, fragile soils of high erodibility, steep slopes, and poor natural resource management. The fundamental challenge is to separate purely background-level soil erosion due to biophysical, geomorphic, topographic, and climatic conditions from what is caused by humans. This review shows that the human-induced causes of soil erosion and land degradation in Sub-Saharan Africa are not fully understood and some of the commonly listed causes may not always stand the test of critical scrutiny. The popular views of human-induced soil erosion and land degradation not only fail to take into consideration the fact that land degradation is primarily a physical process, but also they do injustice to adaptive ecosystem management by the local inhabitants. The review specifically questions the stereotypes of overpopulation, overgrazing, deforestation, overstocking, and general rangeland degradation due to human resource use in Sub-Saharan Africa. Empirical evidence suggests that biophysical factors including soil properties, climatic characteristics, topography, and vegetation can sometimes interact among themselves to yield high soil erosion and degradation rates independent of anthropogenic impacts.

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Section: Human-induced Causes Of Soil Erosionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perspectives on the assumed causes of land degradation in the rangelands of Sub-Saharan Africa

Kiage

2013

Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment

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“…Normally plants ranged the Zn content between 30-100mg/kg on the basis of dry matter but the toxicity occurs when it surpassed the limit of 300mg/kg (Noulas et al, 2018). Karyotis et al (2011) acknowledged that the annual plants accrete 4 times higher amount of Zn, in contrast to perennial grazing land. 1).…”

Section: Forage Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioaccumulation and transfer of zinc in soil plant and animal system: a health risk assessment for the grazing animals

Chen

Muhammad

Khan

et al. 2021

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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Heavy metal pollution has thoroughly worldwide apprehensions due to the instantaneous growth of industries. Farming regions are irrigated mainly with wastewater which contains both municipal and industrial emancipations.Therefore, three sites irrigated with ground, canal and municipal-wastewater in the District Jhang were selected to determine the zinc accumulation and its transfer in the soil, plant and animal food-chain. Soil, forage and animal samples of cow, buffalo and sheep were selected from each site. Various pollution indices were also measured to assess the zinc exposure to grazing animals. Zinc concentration was ranged as 18.85-35.59mg/kg in the soil, 26.42-42.67 mg/kg in the forage and 0.982-2.85mg/kg in the animal samples. Investigated zinc concentration in soil and forages was found to be within the recommended WHO/FAO limits but blood samples exceeding the standards of NRC ( 2007). Maximum level of pollution load index (0.427-0.805mg/kg) and enrichment factor (0.373-0.894 mg/kg) for zinc was noticed upon waste water irrigation. Daily intake (0.039 to 0.082 mg/kg/day) and health risk index (0.130 to 0.275 mg/kg/day) of zinc metal was higher in the buffaloes that feed on waste water irrigated forages. Bio-concentration factor (0.840 to 2.01mg/kg) for soil-forage was >1 represented that these plants accumulated the zinc concentration into their tissues and raised health issues in grazing animals on consumption of waste water contaminated forages. Overall ndings of this study, suggested that animal herds should be monitored periodically to devise preventive measures regarding the toxic level of heavy metals availability to livestock.

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