Dear Colleagues,

Some of the most important changes that soils have undergone in arid and semiarid regions, where the distribution and intensity of precipitation and wind are irregular, are the consequence of human communities, which have accelerated soil erosion rates and rerouted nutrient flows. When land use changes, along with the fragility of the soil (low levels of organic matter, aggregate stability and nutrients), these regions become very prone to water generation or wind erosion. These processes move enormous amounts of soil, with a consequential ecological imbalance.
In this framework, soil erosion, by itself and also in its overriding role in desertification, has become a matter of public concern and intense research. Heavy economic investment and research efforts have resulted in significant progress in understanding the actual situation in natural ecosystems and in abandoned agriculture or marginal farmlands.
The Special Issue ‘Soil Erosion Modeling and Monitoring’ should present the main studies carried out with the purpose of providing an overview of the key factors and processes influencing soil erosion processes, examining the achievements and main challenges in erosion prediction, identifying major gaps in knowledge and recommending further research oriented towards the mitigation of soil erosion and its negative impacts.

Prof. Dr. Carlos Asensio Grima
Guest Editor

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• runoff
• modelling
• soil degradation
• catchment
• sediments
• crusts

Assessment of water and wind erosion in one area using GIS

Jana Kozlovsky Dufková, Tomáš Mašíček, Petra Oppeltová, Jan Szturc, Martina Urbanová

Mendel University in Brno, Department of Applied and Landscape Ecology, Czech Republic

MONITORING WIND DEPOSITS ON A FARMED CITRUS FLUVISOL FROM SOUTHEASTER SPAIN

Carlos Asensio-Amador1, José Luis Torres1, Antonio Giménez1, Alejandro I. Monterroso2 and Carlos Asensio3*

Abstract: We used wind-borne particulate collectors in a citrus crop in SE Spain. These collectors, of our own design, are very efficient, economical and easy to manufacture from thermoplastic filaments with an industrial 3D printer, being able to differentiate the collected sediments by their direction of origin. Recordings were obtained from six weather vane masts, each with four collectors at different heights, and on one of those masts, the collectors included load cells bolted at one end to the base of the collector, and at the other to each oriented bowl included in the collectors, to monitor the flow of sediments. The values of the load cell were read by means of a microcontroller, being necessary to use an amplifier module. The system allowed remote monitoring, with the development of an IoT platform. The results showed a clear predominance of winds from the northeast, at dusk, and from the south, in the central hours of the day. After analyzing the rates of sediment transport and its balance, we found that those from the northeast, with a higher carbonate content (mainly calcite), were being deposited, which produces an aggregating effect and, therefore, a stabilizer effect against wind erosion of farmed citrus soil. Furthermore, by capturing significant quantities of phyllosilicates in the upper traps, which are highly adhesive sediments, reducing erodibility. The southern sediments, however, with much more total mass transported, were not deposited and contained a large amount of quartz, promoting abrasion and increasing the wind erodibility of the soil.

Coupling sewage sludge amendment with cyanobacterial inoculation to enhance stability and carbon gain in dryland degraded soils

Lisa Maggioli; Sonia Chamizo; José Raúl Román; Carlos Asensio; Yolanda Cantón

Abstract: Sewage sludge is widely used as as soil conditioner in agricultural soils due to its high organic matter and nutrient content. On the other hand, soil inoculants based on soil microorganisms are also being succesfully applied to improve soil stability and fertility in agricultural soils. Cyanobacteria are one of the most promising microorganisms due to their easy isolation from soil and culturing ex situ, as well as the improvements they induce in the soil and their high tolerance to abiotic stresses. The use of sewadge sludge together with cyanobacteria inoculation is an unexplored technique that could have many benefits on soils and be used as a restoration tool to improve agricultural degraded soils from drylands. In this study, we conducted an outdoor experiment to evaluate the ability of cyanobacteria inoculum to grow on a degraded soil amended with different sewage sludge concentrations and the effect of both sewadge sludge concentration and cyanobacteria application on carbon gain and soil stability. Additionally, we explored the feasibility of cyanobacteria to immobilize salts in soils amended with this organic residue. Our results show that the highest cyanobacteria growth was found on the soil amended with the lowest sewage sludge concentration, supported by a higher chlorophyll a content and a deeper spectral absorption peak at 680 nm associated with the higher content of this pigment. Lower inoculum growth with increasing sewage sludge concentrations could be attributed to increasing competition of the native bacterial community present in the sludge with the inoculated cyanobacteria. However, the sewage sludge significantly increased soil carbon gains by increasing organic carbon and tightly-bound exopolysaccharides content. Cyanobacteria inoculation had a significant effect improving soil stability and reducing particle losses by wind erosion. Moreover, cyanobacteria inoculation led to a decrease in the electrical conductivity of the lixiviates from salt induced-contaminated soils, indicating their potential for salt inmobilization and as biorremediators of salt-contaminated soils. Therefore, cyanobacteria inoculation together with application of sewadge sludge amendments at the adequate dosis could be used as an efficient strategy to improve carbon gain and surface stability on agricultural dryland degraded soils.