SSS8.3

        Global warming has imposed a positive or adverse impact on ecosystem services and it will be further amplified in vulnerable areas like Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. However, there is a limited understanding of spatial interaction among ecosystem services and their climatic drivers at a fine resolution, regardless of the historical or future periods. This study attempted to fill this gap by detecting sensitivity and exposure of ecosystem services to climate change based on spatial moving window method, combined with Modis-based satellite datasets and various future scenarios dataset. We found that Carbon Sequence and Oxygen Production (CSOP) and habitat quality experienced significant growth, while water retention (WR) showed a fluctuation trend on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. For CSOP, 56.94% of the pixels showed a positive sensitivity to climate change, which is nearly twice the ones with negative sensitivity (26.72%). And there is an evident positive sensitivity between WR and precipitation. Also, there is substantial spatial heterogeneity in the exposure of ecosystem services to future climate changes. A high-emission pathway (SSP5-8.5) increases the intensity of exposure on ecosystem services than low-emission pathway, and disturbances accompanied by future climate change at specific elevation intervals should not be ignored. Identifying spatial association among the ecosystem services and climatic drivers is helpful for targeted management and sustainable development of soil in the context of global warming.

Keywords

Ecosystem services, Climate change, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Sensitivity, Exposure

How to cite: Hua, T., Zhao, W., and Pereira, P.: Quantifying sensitivity and exposure of multiple ecosystem services to climate change: A case study of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-12215, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-12215, 2021.

Hedgerows can provide a wide range of regulatory ecosystem services within improved grassland landscapes, such as soil function improvement, soil erosion reduction, biodiversity, water quality, and flood prevention and mitigation. Because of their beneficial effects, farmers are incentivised to retain their hedgerows and the planting of hedges has been encouraged in agri-environment schemes in Europe. Today, hedgerow planting it is one of the most popular practices adopted in the Countryside and Environmental Stewardships in England. The role of hedgerows in climate change mitigation has been increasingly recognized over the past decade, however, while other services have been more widely studies, less is known about hedges soil organic carbon (SOC) storage capacity. The Resilient Dairy Landscapes project aims at identifying strategies to reconcile dairy systems productivity and environment in the face of climate change, and with the Committee on Climate Change calling for a 30% - 40% increase in hedgerow length by 2050 in the UK, it is important to determine the role of hedgerows in meeting Net Zero targets. In this study, we estimate the extent of SOC stock beneath hedges and how it may vary with depth, hedge management and age, as well as how it may compare to SOC stock in adjacent agricultural fields. Thus, we measured SOC under 2-4 years old, 10 years old, 37 years old, and 40+ years old hedgerows at 10 cm intervals up to 50 cm of depth under 32 hedges located on dairy farms in Cumbria, UK. We found that the time since planting and the depth of samples play a crucial role in the amount of SOC stock stored underneath hedgerows when accounting for differences in soil type. Our results contribute measurable outcomes towards the estimate of targets for Net Zero 2050 and the extent of ecosystem services provision by hedgerow planting in agricultural landscapes.  

How to cite: Biffi, S., Chapman, P. J., Grayson, R. P., and Ziv, G.: The impact of hedges maturation on soil organic carbon stocks in agricultural landscapes, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-15091, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-15091, 2021.

Soil plays a major role on carbon cycle, through both carbon stock which is one of the most important carbon terrestrial pool and soil CO₂ efflux which represents one of the largest amounts of natural carbon emissions. It is known that soil respiration, through roots respiration and carbon mineralisation by microorganisms, is mainly controlled by temperature and humidity but the impact of crop management practices still needs to be investigated. Previous studies have demonstrated that crop management and more particularly reduced or no-tillage (NT) as well as cover-crops (CC) play a key role to mitigate soil respiration and increase soil organic carbon (SOC) content, but the impacts of the synergy of these practices are still unclear. Our study aims at better understanding the effect of sustainable agriculture through agroecological crop management practices on soil carbon dynamics.

Soil respiration was measured in south-west of France on two distinct sites, CAS in 2018 and ABA in 2019, characterized by different initial soil carbon content, 106.9 % higher in CAS than in ABA. Each site included two joint maize fields using agroecological (NT and CC, named Agroeco) and conventional (tillage and bare soil, named Conv) practises. Agroeco have been settled for 12 and 19 years at CAS and ABA, respectively, at the time of experiment. Soil respiration chamber as well as temperature and moisture sensors were used to collect data twice a month, while pedoclimatic variables were monitored continuously on each field. Soil samples were collected in the fields before the experiment to define SOC and nutrient content as well as physical properties, through the entire soil profile.

Mean soil respiration rate was higher on ABA-Agroeco (0.86 g CO₂ m^-² h^-1) than on ABA-Conv (0.50 g CO₂ m^-² h^-1) and was significantly correlated with soil temperature and humidity at Conv and only with soil temperature at Agroeco. Similar relations were found at CAS but with lower soil respiration rates. SOC concentration for ABA in the top 0-15 cm was higher at Agroeco (13.4 g kg^-1) than at Conv (8.0 g kg^-1) but little difference was found at CAS where SOC was high. These results suggest that soil respiration rates depend less on soil humidity on Agroeco than on Conv because agroecology management practices both keep more water at the surface and store additional soil organic carbon in soils, inducing more activity through the carbon cycle with higher soil respiration rate. For both sites, agroecological practices induced higher SOC content compared to conventional ones, however, only for ABA site, soil respiration was higher for agroecological field while SOC content was higher. This study supports the idea that agroecological management practices can increase carbon cycle activity by increasing soil carbon stocks thus allowing the mitigation of greenhouse gases emissions and climate change, even by increasing soil CO₂ efflux.

How to cite: Breil, N. L., Lamaze, T., Bustillo, V., Coudert, B., Queguiner, S., Claverie, N., and Jarosz-Pellé, N.: How does agroecology practices impact soil carbon stock and fluxes in a maize field?, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-14949, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-14949, 2021.

Soil health is key to building resilience into agricultural and food systems in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where climate change presents a major challenge and unsustainable land management practices have exacerbated land degradation. A suite of interventions labelled climate-smart agriculture (CSA) such as conservation agriculture (cover cropping, mulching, crop rotation, intercropping, minimum/zero tillage, crop residue management), soil and water conservation (contour planting, terraces and bunds, planting pits, and irrigation) and agroforestry are promoted in SSA to improve soil health but adoption among smallholder farmers remains low. A strong evidence base on the impacts of CSA interventions on soil health in different agro-ecosystems in SSA is lacking. This contributes to weak policies and institutional support as well as conflicting messages that farmers receive about CSA impacts, which limit their adoption and lead to disadoption. Farmers’ knowledge of their soils influences their land management decisions and is an important factor in the uptake of CSA interventions. Using a multi-method approach that combines conventional soil testing and farmers’ visual techniques, we examined the impacts of soil and water conservation techniques on soil health indicators in the East Usambara Mountains of Tanzania. The link between farmers’ soil knowledge and their land management decisions was also explored in a wider review of lessons from the African Highlands. Farmers’ observed changes in selected soil health indicators, which influenced their land management decisions did not always match results of conventional soil testing, highlighting the need for integrating farmers’ observational techniques and conventional soil testing for a more targeted and comprehensive assessment of soil health. A hybrid approach to soil assessment is outlined that could foster greater uptake of sustainable land management practices including CSA by farmers in SSA and should be proactively pursued by soil scientists to ensure that their efforts translate to actions by land managers.

How to cite: Eze, S., Dougill, A., Banwart, S., Sallu, S., Mgohele, R., Senkoro, C., Smith, H., and Tripathi, H.: Improving Soil Health through Climate-smart Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa – The Essential Role of Farmers’ Knowledge, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-14250, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-14250, 2021.

The contribution of constructed Technosols to the C balance is still poorly understood since high C stocks in topsoil and biomass coincide with intensive CO₂ emissions. Moreover, geographical location can have an impact on C stocks and fluxes from Technosols, distinguishing hydrothermal regimes and specific substrates used for Technosols constructions in different regions. This study aims to study C stocks and fluxes in urban lawns on Technosols constructed in three cities in European Russia, following the bioclimatic gradient: Apatity (subarctic climate, north taiga) – Moscow (temperate climate, south taiga and mixed forests) – Rostov-on-Don (semi-arid climate, dry steppes). In each city, Technosols were constructed on summer 2020 to investigate dynamics in C stocks and fluxes at the very early stages after development, when the ecosystems are the most unstable. Both universal (constructed from similar materials and following the same technology) and regional-specific (different in substrates and the sequence of layers) Technosols were observed from September 2020 to April 2021. Soil C stocks were measured in the initial substrates (prior constructing) as well as in constructed Technosols after 2 months after construction. Dynamics in aboveground biomass was measured during the second half of the 2020 growing season (which duration differed between the regions considerably) and the length of the roots was measured at each of the cities once at the end of the 2020 growing season. Dynamics of CO₂ was monitored by IRGA once in two weeks during the growing season and once a month during the winter period (in Moscow the chamber approach with GC ending was used instead of IRGA in winter, whereas in Apatity both approaches were measured in parallel). Continuous measurements of the soil temperature were performed by iButtons with a 6-hour frequency.

The average air temperature in Rostov-on-Don was 4ºC higher than in Moscow and more than 10ºC higher than in Apatity, which generally follows the multiannual trends. The similar patterns were observed for the topsoil temperatures however the dynamics was smoother, especially in subsoil during the wintertime. The average CO₂ emission were in good coherence with soil temperatures: 0.25, 0.15 and 0.07 gC m^-2 hour^-1 were obtained in Rostov-on-Don, Moscow and Apatity respectively. Although the full seasonal biomass observation was not complete, preliminary the highest aboveground biomass was obtained in Apatity and the highest root biomass – in Rostov-on-Don. Overall lawn quality estimated based on the projected cover and shoot density was high and confirms that high-quality lawns can be grown almost regardless the bioclimatic conditions.

Acknowledgements The experimental research of C stocks and fluxes was performed with the support of Russian Science Foundation project № 17-77-20046. The climatic monitoring was carried out with the support of Russian Foundation for Basic Research project № 19-29-05187.

How to cite: Vasenev, V., Slukovskaya, M., Korneykova, M., Saltan, N., Gorbov, S., Ivashchenko, K., Sarzhanov, D., and Stepanov, A.: Short-term dynamics of C stocks and fluxes in constructed Technosols under green lawns along the bioclimatic gradient, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-9046, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-9046, 2021.

Soils in the Northern Great Plains of North America can host high salt concentrations, resulting from geologic origin, and strongly tied to landscape climate and hydrology patterns. Salt concentrations in topsoil can be elevated with intensive management for row crop production. We know that high salt concentrations in topsoil directly impact plant productivity and crop yield; however, our investigations indicate that belowground communities and processes do not necessarily align with patterns of plant productivity. Multiple years of field surveys have revealed that communities and functions of saline soils are distinctly different than non-saline soils. As expected, soils within saline patches tend to have reduced structural development, higher water content, lower surface residues and organic matter incorporation, and elevated soil nutrient concentrations. Thus, the habitat for soil organisms is physically and chemically different than nearby non-saline soils. We have observed that these habitat changes are associated with shifts in soil biological communities (microbial groups, nematodes, arthropods, and earthworms) and their activities (greenhouse gas production and decomposition) in unexpected ways. While total microorganism abundance is fairly stable across the saline and non-saline soils, arthropod, nematode, and earthworm counts are reduced in saline soils. Due to the abundance of microbes, soil water, and labile nutrients in saline soils, we observed elevated greenhouse gas emissions in saline soils. Decomposition rates are stable across salinity levels, providing further evidence that saline soils are microbiologically active despite a paucity of plant production. Given that soil salinity occurs within a suite of soil conditions that influence soil functions, and that these shifts happen over short distances, salinity appears to be an important driver of spatial heterogeneity in soil properties. These observations have implications for intensive, targeted management for mitigating the agroecosystem impacts of salts.

How to cite: Gasch, C., Harmon, J., DeSutter, T., Banerjee, S., Darby, B., and Tenuta, M.: Soil salinity initiates a cascade of changes in soil biological communities and activities, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-1437, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-1437, 2021.

Climate change is leading to significant changes in the intensity and frequency of drought events, and the key processes of terrestrial ecosystems are directly affected by the uncertainty of extreme climate events. In 2009-2010, Southwest China suffered a once-in-a-hundred-years extreme drought, but the response of vegetation to this drought event on a long-term scale is still unclear. Using multi-year moderate resolution imaging spectrometer (MODIS) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data and meteorological data, the duration of legacy effect of 2009-2010 extreme drought in Yunnan Province were studied and the response difference of diverse vegetation types were analyzed. The results showed that 1）The inhibition of vegetation growth occurred about 2 years in Yunnan Province after the extreme drought event, especially in areas where precipitation experienced a severe reduction. 2）The most sensitive area of vegetation response to drought events is around 2000 m above sea level, and the vegetation growth above 4000m is almost unaffected. 3）Compared with grassland and farmland, the inhibition of forest vegetation is stronger. This research revealed the negative impact of extreme drought on the growth of vegetation in Yunnan Province and provided a theoretical basis for coping with extreme drought and restoring vegetation effectively in the future.

How to cite: Dong, B. and Yu, Y.: Drought legacy effects on vegetation growth in Yunnan Province, China, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-9068, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-9068, 2021.

Gender equity is a concern in many scientific fields, including soil science. Lower percentages of women work as soil scientists than we have in the general population; fewer opportunities to serve on committees or as invited speakers at scientific meetings; lower selection rates for scientific awards; unconscious bias; tension with work-life balance; poor funding and pay; lack of career progression and a lack of networking opportunities. Advances have been made in many countries, although major discrepancies still exist and women are overall still a minority in soil science and related fields.

A review of international gender equity issues in soil science was undertaken by requesting gender data from 70 national soil science societies around the world; forty-three societies responded. Female members ranged from 0% to 69%. Thirty-six of the 43 societies had more male than female members; the global average was 68% male and 32% female. Some societies noted that women make up a majority of the younger soil science generation or women make up a larger percentage of the younger membership than of the total membership in their society. These findings indicate there is some progress in gender equity in these countries. However, higher numbers of women do not always mean the reasons for those higher numbers are positive. For example, the Bulgarian Soil Science Society mentioned that women were a majority of their soil scientists because soil science did not pay well and men would not take such a low-paying job. Twenty percent of the national soil science societies belonging to the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) have a woman as their president. However, this is lower than the average female membership (32%) in these societies. This is an indication that women are underrepresented in leadership roles.

A rethinking of gender equity is needed to create a new paradigm that allows us:

1. To create an inclusive perspective that encourages respect, collaboration and solidarity between the genders. An education based on the full understanding that “equality does not mean that women and men will become the same but that women’s and men’s rights, responsibilities and opportunities will not depend on whether they are born male or female.”

2. An education that recognizes that soil is not only a natural resource, but also provides social, economic, cultural, political and patrimonial good. The soil not only allows humans to live on it, it supplies food, water and a legitimate sustenance to overcome poverty and to construct an identity, cultural and economic independence.

Therefore, legitimate land ownership is a key element in achieving gender equality for the construction of a just and equitable life, but also the only real way to end all forms of discrimination against women and girls. To improve equity in the sciences, including soil science, we need to educate in a way that changes the gender stereotypes that link science to stereotypes about masculinity. There is no equality without economic independence, and there is no economic independence without equal access to land ownership and land care.

How to cite: Brevik, E. C., Dawson, L., and Reyes Sanchez, L. B.: International Gender Equity in Soil Science: A Social Equity Issue, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-17, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-17, 2021.

Soils Training and Research Studentships (STARS) is a NERC and BBSRC funded Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT).  The consortium comprises of four universities and four research institutes from around England, Scotland and Wales who are collaborating to offer training to PhD students in soil science. The program offered forty PhD studentships over four cohorts, which started in 2016 and due to complete in 2022. The ambitious program aimed to address the under representation of soil science and graduates in UK higher education institutes.

The comprehensive CDT supports cross-institute participation which allows a sharing of resources both human and physical promoting a cross-disciplinary research environment. Students have received group training from experts across the respective establishments encouraging inter-institute collaboration and support. Centralised funding has supported a range of outside training from motion graphic skills to clowning in public to genomics and statistics and the production of video media products by students and staff communicating their research and knowledge. In addition, the managerial structure at STARS has allowed for easy access to professional and industry placements for students. By building upon the traditional PhD experience, STARS has been able to facilitate not only quality doctoral research but also graduates with the skill set and networks required by the next generation of soils scientists to help achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

Collectively, the STARS consortium has amassed a vast range of soils research, knowledge, skills and training resources. To remain ambitious and forward focused our legacy project will bring together these resources and continue to work to build on the relationships forged under STARS and into the broader soil community.   These resources will be accessible to those outside of STARS and outside of the research community because resources that offer the tools to support healthy soils, clean water, access to healthy food is not our legacy, it is everyone’s.  The legacy we are left with will not only be comprised of our journal publications but our success in sharing our knowledge, translating our findings and being active participants in global dialogues.

How to cite: Mezeli, M., Evans, D., Jones, D., Lawrenson, O., and Haygarth, P.: Soils training and research: Who's legacy?, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-16477, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-16477, 2021.

A sustainable management of urban soil is of paramount importance for the modern cities, thus sustainable programs of urban agriculture are strongly supported by policy-makers to preserve urban soil from anthropic degradation, to enhance its ecosystem functions and services and to produce safe and quality food. Although urban agriculture is already a reality in Naples, it is still lacking of a scientific-based approach aiming to: i) characterise pedo-climatic properties, ii) apply site-specific sustainable management practices, iii) enhance urban food quality; iv) address potential contaminants or pathogenic microorganisms threatening food safety. UrbanSoilGreening* project aims to overcome this lack of scientific-knowledge on urban agriculture in the metropolitan area of Naples. Project activities will cover the major issues related to urban agriculture (i.e., soil degradation and contamination, loss of ecosystem functions, food safety). An operative methodology for sustainable management and protection of urban soil will be developed during 2021 in a couple of green spaces in the metropolitan area of Naples potentially exploitable for agricultural purposes, selected on the basis of factors such as proximity to potential sources of contamination. The urban soils will be characterised to assess their physicochemical properties and identify possible contaminants such as potentially toxic elements (PTEs) and hydrocarbons. In the potentially contaminated soils, the bioavailable and bioaccessible fractions of PTEs will be extracted from soil by standardised analytical procedures. In the absence of soil contamination, the green spaces will be still exploited for food production and agricultural purposes. On the other hand, they will be converted into ornamental or spontaneous low-management gardens. The cultivation techniques would address the general interest of preserving the soil and promoting a sustainable management of sites (e.g. organic farming, synergistic techniques, on-site production of high-quality compost to recycle vegetable waste and promote the circular economy, etc.). The cultivation of uncontaminated green spaces will be done in the spring-summer time, selecting food plant species suitable for local urban horticulture. The greening will aim to create areas accessible to local citizens and associations (cooperating actively with project’s team during plant growing season), with a social function as meeting places for the neighbourhood, suitable for hosting social events and activities. Food quality will be evaluated by morphological and quality parameters and chemical analyses. Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy will be also applied to rapidly assess food quality with minimum sample processing. The possible presence of PTEs and pathogenic microorganisms (e.g., Clostridium, Escherichia, Listeria and Salmonella genera) in food products will be evaluated to establish their chemical and microbiological safety. Major breakthroughs and achievements will be communicated to main stakeholders in education and public outreach activities and scientific events. At the end of project, guidelines for the sustainable management of urban green spaces producing high-quality and safe food crops will be disseminated as electronic document.

* Multidisciplinary study to improve the sustainability of urban soil, to protect its ecosystem functions and services, and to enhance the safety and quality of food from urban agriculture (FRA-202009291319). Programma per il Finanziamento della Ricerca di Ateneo UniNA, call 2020, line A.

How to cite: Caporale, A. G., Ceruso, M., Ruggiero, L., Di Palma, A., and Adamo, P.: Fostering soil sustainability and food safety in urban agricultural areas of Naples, Italy, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-5001, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-5001, 2021.

Understanding the dynamics of plant populations and their relationship with the characteristics of the terrain (slope, texture, etc.) and with particular phenomena (erosion, pollution, environmental constrains, etc.) that could affect them is crucial in order to manage regeneration and rehabilitation projects in degraded lands. In recent years, the emphasis has been placed on the observation and assessment of microtopographic drivers as they lead to large-scale phenomena. All the ecological variables that affect a given area are interconnected and the success in unraveling the ecological patterns of operation relies on making a good characterization of all the parameters involved.

It is especially interesting to study the natural colonization processes that take place in Mediterranean areas with a high degree of seasonality, to whose climatic restrictions, the presence of pollutants and various anthropic actions, can be added. Over these degraded areas, we propose using a new tool, what we have come to call "pictorial transects", that is, one-dimensional artificial transects built from low-scale photographs (2 m²) taken along a line of work (transect) where you can see the points where ecological resources are generated, stored and lost, and their fluctuation throughout time. A derivative of these would be the "green transects" in which the green color has been discriminated using the open software Image I. It is an inexpensive, fast and straightforward pictorial method that can be used to research and monitor the spatial and temporal fluctuation of the potential input of resources (organic matter, water, fine particles, etc.) to the ecosystem.

The information obtained from pictorial transects not only refers to the measurement of the photosynthetic potential per unit area or the location of the critical points (generate, storage or sink of resources) but also makes it possible to monitor the specific composition of the plant cover. For an appropriate use of this methodology, the criteria to determine the direction and length of the different transects must be previously and carefully established according to the objectives proposed in the study. For example: a radial transect in a salty pond will give us information on the changes in the plant cover as we move away from the center and the salinity decreases. In the same pond, a transect parallel to the shore will give us information on those changes that occur in the vegetation that do not depend on the degree of salinity. There are some cases in which this method could be very useful, as in the natural colonization of a degraded mine site or to assess the progression area affected by allochthonous species or weeds in extensive crops.

How to cite: Campos, J. A., Villena, J., Moreno, M. M., Peco, J. D., Sánchez-Ormeño, M., Moreno, C., and Higueras, P.: Landscape analysis through pictorial transects in degraded lands., EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-14477, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-14477, 2021.