Land use and land cover changes can cause variations in terrestrial energy, water balance and availability of nutrients. To understand the role of vegetation in regulating the hydrochemistry of karst hillslopes, overland flow and soil seepage water from two hillslopes covered with and without vegetation were studied in the Huanjiang Observation and Research Station for Karst Ecosystems, Guangxi, SW China. Dissolved major ions, as well as isotopic compositions of dissolved inorganic C (DIC) were examined.

According to the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR 1990–1999), the risk indicates potential losses due to particular natural phenomenon, and these could be reduced by improving of prevention and education. People perceive these losses differently depending on phenomenon occurrence, severity, and impact in time. Starting from this idea, this research presents public perception on land degradation through erosion in a small area from the central part of Romania (south-west of Transylvanian Depression).

Koiliaris River watershed is a Critical Zone Observatory that represents severely degraded soils due to intensive agricultural activities and biophysical factors. It has typical Mediterranean soils under the imminent threat of desertification which is expected to intensify due to projected climate change. High frequency hydro-chemical monitoring with targeted sampling for Rare Earth Elements (REE) analysis of different water bodies and geochemical characterization of soils were used for the identification of hydrologic and geochemical pathways.

Land scarcity has become the prominent obstacle on the way to sustainable development for China. Under the constraints of land shortage, how to allocate the finite land resources to the multiple land users in China considering various political, environmental, ecological and economic conditions have become research topics with great significance. In this study, an interval fuzzy national-scale land-use model (IFNLM) was developed for optimizing land systems of China.

Off-road military vehicle traffic is a major consideration in the management of military lands. The objective of this study was to determine the impacts of military tracked M1A1 heavy combat tank vehicles on sediment loss from runoff, surface plant cover, and surface microtopography in a desert military training environment. A randomized block design was used which had 10 blocks with 4 plots (0.5 m2) in each block.

High population density and unscientific land use practices have induced severe land degradation in the fragile Lower Himalayan ecosystem of India. Land cover management has been an effective strategy in managing land degradation through the reduction of water, soil and nutrient losses and improvement in soil fertility and quality.

Global agriculture lies in intersection of two inescapable issues of the present times, viz. keeping pace with growing food demand and participating in climate change mitigation efforts. Rice cultivation is a major emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and no tillage of soil is becoming popular due to low economic investments with improved soil conditions. However, how these arrangements will affect GHG emissions need to be quantified.

This article explores the development of the social metabolism of Czech agriculture over the past 80 years and aims to describe the complex agricultural system from a biophysical perspective. As a Central European country, the Czech Republic's political system has experienced a number of turning points and changes in its history. Using the social metabolism concept and the material and energy flow method of analysis this article looks at the system from a biophysical perspective and explores the interactions between the economic system and nature.

Soybean production has become a significant force for economic development in Brazil. It has also received considerable attention from environmental and social non-governmental organizations as a driver of deforestation and land consolidation. While many researchers have examined the impacts of soybean production on human and environmental landscapes, there has been little investigation into the economic and institutional context of Brazilian soybean production or the relationship between soy yields and planted area.

Widespread anthropogenic land-cover change over the last five centuries has influenced the global climate system through both biogeochemical and biophysical processes. Models indicate that warming from carbon emissions associated with land cover conversion have been partially offset if not outweighed by cooling from elevated albedo, but considerable uncertainty remains partly because of uncertainty in model treatments of albedo.

Land use and management practices may influence plant C inputs and soil CO2 emission. We evaluated the effect of a combination of irrigation, tillage, cropping system, and N fertilization on plant biomass C, soil temperature and water content at the 0- to 15-cm depth, and CO2 emission in a sandy loam soil from April to October, 2006 to 2008, in western North Dakota.