Erosion and sediment delivery in agricultural landscapes: monitoring, modelling and management

Agricultural landscapes are mainly composed by a mosaic of cultivated fields, uncultivated patches (woodlands, heath land, wetlands), and a network of mostly linear anthropogenic structures (hedgerows, embankments, drainage ditches, grass strips, terraces). In these environments, hydrological connectivity, sediment delivery into streams and at longer time soil cover geometry are closely linked to spatial and temporal dynamics in land use and management.

Agricultural landscapes are exposed to fast changes in environmental conditions but agriculture itself dynamically reconfigures our landscapes via changes in land use and management. To understand, analyse and potentially manage future changes in water and sediment fluxes in these landscape it is essential to deal with these interrelationship between different driving forces.


This session will present contributions addressing different aspects of hydrologic connectivity and sediment delivery on different spatial and temporal scales, based on experiments and modelling. The session will have a particular focus on landscape and climate changes effects upon connectivity and sediment delivery.