Maintaining soil productivity and sustainability remains a challenge in the face of a changing global agricultural framework, which includes the primary threat of soil degradation in many regions. Although soil erosion contributes to land degradation, how reductions in fertiliser nitrogen (N) affect erosion and soil microbial communities in sloped farmland remains unclear. In this study, effects of reductions in fertiliser N from 300 kg ha−1 (N1) to 225 kg ha−1 (N2), 150 kg ha−1 (N3), and 75 kg ha−1 (N4) on runoff, sediment yield and microbial community structure were evaluated in 12 maize farmlands with a 10° slope in Southwest China. Soil chemical properties were analyzed, and bacterial 16S rRNA and fungal ITS1 were sequenced from extracted DNA. Runoff and sediment yield in maize were significantly lower in N1 and N2 than in N3 and N4 (p < 0.05). The microbial diversity was higher in N1 and N2 than in N3 and N4. The severe erosion associated with reductions in N input resulted in significant decreases in abundances of the bacterial phyla Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, Gemmatimonadetes, Firmicutes, and Nitrospirae and fungal phyla Basidiomycota, Mortierellomycota, and Olpidiomycota. By contrast, abundances of the phyla Acidobacteria (bacteria) and Ascomycota and Glomeromycota (fungi) increased significantly with severe erosion. Distance‐based redundancy analysis indicated that cation exchange capacity, organic matter, and nitrate strongly influenced structure of bacterial and fungal communities. Reductions >25% in N fertiliser (N3 and N4) did not meet crop N requirements, and because of the reduction in surface coverage, soil erosion was exacerbated, and soil fertility and diversity and complexity of microbial communities decreased. The results elucidated effects of N input on soil erosion and soil microbiomes in a sloped agroecosystem with the aim to rehabilitate or restore degraded land and increase sustainable agriculture development.

Conservation units are strategic territories that have a high demand for public use, as they protect attractions of great scenic beauty, geodiversity sites, and numerous leisure areas. However, when carried out in an intensive and disorderly manner, tourist activity in these areas tends to catalyze environmental degradation, triggering, for example, water erosion processes caused by intensive soil trampling on the trails. In this sense, the aim of this study was to determine the soil’s physicochemical characteristics, and to spatiotemporally monitor the microtopography of those areas degraded by erosion along two trails on Serra da Bocaina National Park coast of the Paraty Municipality. The findings verified that intensive trampling, the values of some soil physicochemical characteristics, and the specific meteorological conditions of the coastal region of this protected area were factors that contributed significantly to the evolution of erosion features monitored on these trails. Finally, strategies for appropriate management and recovery actions for these degraded areas are proposed in order to not only stop the erosive processes and re-establish the local ecosystem balance, but also avoid accidents involving the numerous tourists who visit the coastal region.

As Unidades de Conservação são espaços naturais protegidos por legislação e possuem características singulares, preservando e restaurando os recursos e os ecossistemas naturais. Além de proteger e conservar essas áreas, procuram valorizar a diversidade geológica e biológica. Nesse sentido, esta pesquisa tem como objetivo promover a relevância dos conceitos de Geodiversidade, Geoconservação e Geoturismo e mapear trilhas dentro das UCs, identificando seus processos erosivos. Diante do exposto, foram constatados elementos de Geodiversidade na trilha do Mirante do Caeté, localizada no Parque Natural Municipal da Prainha (PNMP). O trabalho procura demonstrar que há necessidade de se elaborar estratégias direcionadas à conservação e recuperação dessas áreas, para fornecer acessibilidade aos geoturistas e aos visitantes de um modo geral.

Current widespread and intensive soil degradation in India has been driven by unprecedented levels of population growth, large-scale industrialization, high-yield agriculture, urban sprawl and the spread of human infrastructure. The damage caused to managed and natural systems by soil degradation threatens livelihoods and local services and leads to national socio-economic disruption. Human-induced soil degradation results from land clearing and deforestation, inappropriate agricultural practices, improper management of industrial effluents and wastes, careless management of forests, surface mining, urban sprawl, and ill-planned commercial and industrial development. Of these, inappropriate agricultural practices, including excessive tillage and use of heavy machinery, over-grazing, excessive and unbalanced use of inorganic fertilizers, poor irrigation and water management techniques, pesticide overuse, inadequate crop residue and/or organic carbon inputs, and poor crop cycle planning, account for nearly 40% (121 Mha) of land degradation across India. Globally, human activities related to agriculture contribute to the transgression of four of the nine Planetary Boundaries proposed by Rockstrom et al. (2009): Climate Change, Biodiversity Integrity, Land-system Change, and altered Phosphorus and Nitrogen Biogeochemical Flows. This review focuses on how knowledge of soil processes in agriculture has developed in India over the past 10 years, and the potential of soil science to meet the objectives of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger (End hunger, achieve food security, improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture), using the context of the four most relevant Planetary Boundaries as a framework. Solutions to mitigate soil degradation and improve soil health in different regions using conservation agricultural approaches have been proposed. Thus, in this review we (1) summarize the outputs of recent innovative research in India that has explored the impacts of soil degradation on four Planetary Boundaries (Climate Change, Biodiversity Loss, Land-system Change, and altered Biogeochemical Flows of Phosphorus and Nitrogen) and vice-versa; and (2) identify the knowledge gaps that require urgent attention to inform developing soil science research agendas in India, to advise policy makers, and to support those whose livelihoods rely on the land.

Although the application of inorganic fertilizer is a widespread agronomic practice used to boost soil productivity and crop yields, the effects on soil microbiome and the metabolic mechanisms involved in the high-yield response of crops to long-term fertilization remain poorly described. In this study, combined metagenomic and metabolomic analyses were used to explore the mechanism of crop yield response to the 20-year application of nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium fertilizers in a subtropical agroecosystem in Southwest China. Soil bacterial and fungal communities were monitored using 16S rRNA (bacteria) and internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) full-length gene (fungi) amplicon sequencing technologies, and metabolites were detected using a liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer. The results revealed that, in addition to providing nutrients, long-term fertilization shaped the compositions of bacteria and fungi to increase crop yields. Long-term fertilization significantly increased the relative abundances of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and promoted the secretion of soil metabolites such as carbohydrates, organic acids, and organic nitrogen compounds, which were primarily enriched in amino acid metabolism pathways. The increases in carbon and nitrogen sources and bioactive substances in soil promoted the increases in plant biomass and thereby maintained soil quality and production capacity. The findings highlighted the importance of soil metabolites in maintaining soil productivity as well as crop yields, and suggested that regulating key metabolites could increase crop yields in agroecosystems.

Drought is regarded as a natural phenomenon and its impacts accumulate slowly over a long period. It is considered to be insufficient precipitation that leads to water scarcity, as triggered by meteorological parameters, such as temperature, precipitation and humidity. However, drought mitigation has mostly been reactive, but this has been challenged by extreme events globally. Many countries and regions around the world have made efforts in mitigating drought impacts, including Nigeria. This study produced frameworks for drought amelioration and management as a planning tool for Yobe State, Nigeria. Drought coping strategies have also caused environmental degradation in Yobe State. Farmers over-harvest their farms, practise deforestation and over-exploit wild animals. Several efforts to mitigate the impacts of drought by the Nigerian Government have failed, thus this research adopts a bottom-top approach to mitigate drought impacts in Yobe State. Four validated drought mitigation and management frameworks were developed for Yobe State. The frameworks were evaluated pre-use through respondent validation. State officials and farmers believed that these frameworks will reduce the impacts of drought in Yobe State. The frameworks include social, economic, environmental impact mitigation and an Integrated Drought Mitigation and Management Framework. The proposed frameworks were designed and have advocates a paradigm shift, using both proactive and reactive measures.

People continue to search for idyllic havens of natural beauty, whether to visit for themselves or for others to appreciate and admire. These are usually sites with natural elements that integrate environmental functions. However, increasing tourist activities conducted without respect and awareness for the natural environmental can result in destructive and detrimental issues, particularly when soil physicochemical properties are changed by excessive tourist footfall along abandoned trails. Soil erosion and runoff are two examples of these issues. This study has analysed runoff and soil loss on a trail in the Ubatuba Municipality (Sao Paulo State, Brazil) to understand how the soil processes have been modified by tourists' actions. This location has many serene and innate attractions, such as mountains, rivers, waterfalls and beaches, which draw the attention of many people and it is the geosystemic relation of Ubatuba that is being transformed. To understand the impacts, a suite of soil characterisation techniques (clay mineralogy, bulk density and physicochemical analysis) were adopted to analyse soils, together with continuous hydrological measuring and monitoring. Three erosion plots were monitored for four years, with runoff and loss soil measured (2013-2017). Clay minerals, indicative of more weathered soils, were identified. Porosity (40.5%) and bulk density (~1.6 g/cm(3)) showed that the trail floor is compacted, compared to surrounding soils. Consequently, these properties, together with the occurrence of biocrusts on the soil surface of trail, hamper rain infiltration and increase runoff, give rise to Hortonian overland flow (HOF). A direct relationship was found between soil saturation and runoff: during periods of saturation, runoff was equivalent to <= 50% of rain. The trail soil characteristics changed during the monitoring period. Analysis of sediment texture shows there is 18.2% more silt than the trail soil (31.5%). The trend is similar for clay, with 18.4% more clay in the transported sediment, compared to the original soil. Therefore, problems regarding water infiltration and soil loss may influence the loss of local geodiversity. Enhanced erosion is increasing soil degradation, which points to an imbalanced relation between tourist activities and environmental functions. Consequently, it is proposed that the insights gathered from this study could be beneficial to land managers across the region, and beyond, and also contribute towards wider debates and guidance on sustainable tourism.

Gully erosion is a major environmental threat on the Moldavian Plateau (MP) of eastern Romania. The permanent gully systems consist of two main gully types. These are: (1) discontinuous gullies, which are mostly located on hillslopes and (2) large continuous gullies in valley bottoms. Very few studies have investigated the evolution of continuous gullies over the medium to longer term. The main objective of this study was to quantitatively analyse the development of continuous gullies over six decades (1961-2020). The article aimed at predicting temporal patterns of gully head erosion based on field data from multiple gullies. Fourteen representative continuous gullies were selected near the town of Barlad, most of them having catchment areas < 500 ha. Linear gully head retreat (LGHR) and areal gully growth (AGG) rates were quantified for six decades. Two main periods were distinguished and compared (i.e., the wet 1961-1980 period and the drier 1981-2020 period). Results indicate that gully erosion rates have significantly decreased since 1981. The mean LGHR of 7.7 m yr(-1) over 60 years was accompanied by a mean AGG of 213 m(2) yr(-1). However, erosion rates between 1961 and 1980 were 4.0 times larger for LGHR and 5.9 times more for AGG compared to those for 1981-2020. Two regression models indicate that annual precipitation depth (P) is the primary controlling factor, explaining 57% of LGHR and 53% of AGG rate. The contributing area (CA) follows, with similar to 33%. Only 43% of total change in LGHR and 46% of total change in AGG results from rainfall-induced runoff during the warm season. Accordingly, the cold season (with associated freeze-thaw processes and snowmelt runoff) has more impact on gully development. The runoff pattern, when flow enters the trunk gully head, is largely controlled by the upper approaching discontinuous gully.

Dynamics, structure and function are geoecological characteristics that define landscapes. These characteristics help explain landscape processes, such as floods. This article analyses geoecological variables to understand flood dynamics in the original historical district of Petrópolis City (Brazil). Concepts and techniques of historical cartography and GIScience were used to analyse geoecological variables in three river basins (Quitandinha, Palatino and Piabanha) within the study area. Each basin had a river island which was excavated and removed. The Quitandinha River Basin had the largest river island (965 m2), the highest Edification Index (44.12%) and the most favourable geomorphological indices for the occurrence of floods. Hence, the basin recorded 93% of flood events within the three basins. Multiple geoecological variables influence flood dynamics. In this urban landscape, changes in the drainage network, intensified by disorderly urbanization and geomorphological processes, are extremely important in understanding flooding processes.

Geotourism is a growing activity in Brazil, mainly in Conservation Units, where trails are used by both visitors and local people to access geotourist attractions. The use of these trails can have negative impacts when there is inadequate planning and management. This research investigated two geotourist trails: Caixa D’Aço natural pool trail in Serra da Bocaina National Park (Rio de Janeiro State) and Água Branca waterfall trail in Serra do Mar State Park (São Paulo State). Geodiversity values were assessed at both geosites, adopting the methods of Gray ( 2004 , 2013 ) . Soil quality analysis was also conducted, with physico-chemical analyses of soils from 0 to 10 cm depth. The dominant soil texture on Caixa D’Aço natural pool trail is sandy clay loam, and on Água Branca trail, all samples were coarse sandy loams. Soils on Caixa D’Aco natural pool trail were compact, with a mean bulk density of 1.41 g/cm 3 , whereas on Água Branca trail, the mean value was 1.19 g/cm 3 . The geodiversity values at both sites were similar, except for supporting services, where Caixa D’Aço natural pool had a medium value, whereas Água Branca waterfall had a high value. This paper stresses the importance of geoconservation studies in publicizing the geoheritage of Brazilian Conservation Units.

This paper addresses the role of soil erosion and mass movements on mountainous trails due to human trampling on steep slopes. This is the case of several trails situated on forested areas in South-East Brazil, even those located in protected areas. Two methods were used to achieve the research objectives. Firstly, analyses of microtopography using erosion bridges, which was monitored four times on Caixa D’Aço natural pool trails in Serra da Bocaina National Park. Secondly, disturbed and undisturbed soil samples were collected at 0–10 cm depth at four sites on Água Branca trail in Serra do Mar State Park. Using this methodology, we assessed soil degradation in two different humid tropical environments. Generally, trampling combined with deficient trail management, play important roles in degrading soils in both areas. Bioengineering techniques should be used to recuperate these trails, which are used by tourists and local residents. We hope this research work may contribute towards improved management in Brazilian protected areas.

Geochemical analysis of selected plant fibres used as geotextiles for erosion control was conducted to evaluate their geochemical composition and to determine the elements that could potentially be nutrients for plants or cause heavy metal contamination in soils. Analysis of the samples was performed using X-ray Diffraction and X-ray Fluorescence spectrometry. Results revealed that potassium concentrations varied from 3.63% in jute-mat (India)-50.73% in banana-leaf (São Romão, Brazil), with a mean of 27.17%. Similarly, calcium concentrations varied from 0.09% in banana-leaf (São Romão) –37.0% in banana-leaf/stem (Oleo, Brazil). Iron concentrations varied from 0.15% in banana-leaf/stem samples (Oleo) –4.47% in jute-cloth (India). Since banana-leaf/stem had the highest concentration of macro-nutrients, it is therefore proposed that banana-leaf has the highest potential for adding nutrients to the soil system when biodegraded. In addition, heavy metal analysis of the samples revealed that none of the fibres have high concentrations that may contaminate the soil upon decomposition.

Climate change poses a serious threat to arid and low elevation coastal zones. Kafrelsheikh governorate, as a large agricultural and coastal region on the Egyptian North Nile Delta, is one of the most vulnerable areas to higher temperature and global sea level rise. Two DSSAT wheat models (CERES and N-Wheat) were calibrated using a local cultivar (Misr3) grown under irrigated conditions in Egypt. Experimental data of two successive growing seasons during 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 were used for calibration using different treatments of irrigation, planting dates and fertilization. Both models simulated the phenology and wheat yield well, with root mean square deviation of <10%, and d-index > 0.80. Climate change sensitivity analysis showed that rising temperature by 1 °C to 4 °C decreased wheat yield by 17.6%. However, elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations increased yield and could overtake some of the negative temperature responses. Sea level rise by 2.0 m will reduce the extent of agricultural land on the North Nile Delta of Egypt by ~60% creating an additional challenge to wheat production in this region.

The conventional linear 'end-of-pipe' approach to development of business site schemes is associated with high energy consumption, waste generation, air pollution and land contamination. These schemes are also not always sufficiently diverse to meet changing future needs, resulting in the legacy of derelict brownfield sites at the end of their service life. It is argued that by applying the diversity criteria of Cradle to Cradle (C2C) design philosophy to business site development, positive contributions can accrue to the natural and human environment, whilst maintaining flexibility and adaptability to meet changing future needs. This study investigates the development and integration of C2C diversity criteria on two pilot case study business sites, using an action research strategy. The study finds that essential ingredients for successful integration of C2C diversity criteria are co-creation, innovative procurement practices, good governance and willingness to accept risk. These parameters inform guidelines for achieving diversity on business sites.

The Hani minority people of Yunnan Province (south-west China) have developed a complex and sustainable agro-environmental system of terraced rice paddy fields in Yuanyang (22°49’-23°19’N, 102°27-103°13’E). The Hani people have maintained this intricate and elaborate system for over 1,300 years, with some 3,000 terraces covering about 11,000 hectares. Hence, during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the Emperor awarded the Hani people the title of “Magic Mountain Sculptors” for “building their ladders to Heaven.” However, geographic isolation and proximity to the, until recently, politically-sensitive border with Vietnam, has meant the Yuanyang terraces have attracted scant scientific attention. If we can understand how this system is sustained, we can learn lessons which hopefully can be applied more generally.

Soil erosion and land degradation are global problems and pose major issues in many countries. Both soil erosion and mass movement are two forms of land degradation and humans play important roles in these geomorphological processes. This paper reviews slope processes associated with mass movement and soil erosion and contributory factors, including physical and human agents. Acting together, these cause diverse geomorphological features. Slope processes are illustrated by reference to case studies from Brazil and UK. The causes and impacts of erosion are discussed, along with appropriate remedial bioengineering methods and the potential of the measures to prevent these types of environmental degradation. Although there are several agents of erosion, water is the most important one. Cultivation can promote soil erosion, due to ploughing and harvesting, which moves soil down slopes. Soil erosion and mass movement data would inform the viability of soil conservation practices. Integrated management of drainage basins offers a promising way forward for effective soil conservation and soil remedial bioengineering in Brazil and UK.

Soil is an integral component of the global environmental system which supports the quality and diversity of terrestrial life on Earth. Therefore, it is vital to consider the processes and impacts of soil degradation on society, especially on the provision of environmental goods and services, including food security and climate change mitigation and adaptation. Scientific societies devoted to soil science play significant roles in reducing soil degradation and promoting soil conservation by advancing scientific knowledge, education and environmental sustainability. The ESSC was founded on 4 November 1988, with the aims to: 1. Support research on soil degradation, soil protection and soil and water conservation. 2. Provide a network for the exchange of knowledge about soil degradation processes and soil conservation research and practises. 3. Produce publications on major issues relating to soil degradation and soil and water conservation. 4. Advise regulators and policy-makers on soil issues, especially soil degradation, protection and conservation. The societal challenges that can be addressed through better soil protection, advancing knowledge and scientific approaches to soil protection and sustainable management, mean the ESSC embraces the on-going development, application, review and constructive criticism of highly innovative scientific soil conservation methods. In this context, the ESSC analyses and publicizes the roles and functions of soil in natural and human-modified systems and the functional optimization of soils to ensure sustainable environmental protection. "The thin layer of soil that forms a patchy covering over the continents controls our own existence and that of every other animal of the land" (Rachel Carson (1962) in 'Silent Spring'). (C) 2018 International Research and Training Center on Erosion and Sedimentation and China Water and Power Press. Production and Hosting by Elsevier B.V.