CATENA VERLAG GMBH Homepage

This book contains a wide range of papers presented at the Symposium on Sustainable Land Use and Management of Soils in Arid and Semiarid Regions held in Cartagena, Murcia, Spain, 22^nd to 26^th September, 2002. Drylands are in the high-risk areas. Erratic rainfall, land degradation, inadequate technologies used, and inappropriate inputs result in unpredictable food production. The objective of the workshop was to widen our understanding of the nature and dynamics of vegetation growth and resilience and encourage the practice of sustainable management in the susceptible drylands.

The book is a useful tool for land and water conservation researchers, educators, graduate students, policymakers, practitioners, and advocates interested in land degradation and sustainable use of soils in arid and semi-arid regions throughout the world.

Preface

Managing soils for sustainable land use in drylands is a formidable task. Appropriate management of soils is the prerequisite of sustainable land use in these drylands. This requires substantial investment that may not be available from local sources and can only be achieved through international cooperation. Traditional crop species and wild relatives of crops are also under threat, due to the introduction of high yielding cultivars. The interrelationships of freshwater, used water, sanitation and human health are particularly important in drylands and are keys to sustainable development.
Over 6 billion ha of the world's drylands are subject to aridity, to different extents. About 5.2 billion ha of potentially productive drylands (84% of the world's drylands) are prone to drought and desertification. It is not the arid but rather the semiarid areas that have the highest rate of land degradation mostly due to conflicts between population pressure and land use patterns. The development of irrigated agriculture is limited by the availability of fresh water and by the availability of technologies that may eventually lead to soil degradation. Large areas of irrigated lands are already affected by degradation processes to some degree. Any new irrigation project will bring about additional soil salinization because marginal lands are now being developed for irrigation. Where an irrigation project is constructed with modern sophisticated technology, including adequate water quality control and artificial drainage, the cost becomes so high that the investment is hardly profitable.
This special issue contains a wide range of papers presented at the Symposium on Sustainable Use and Management of Soils in Arid and Semiarid Regions. The objective of this symposium was to bring together an expert group for consultation to identify strategies, priority issues, and technical options for the sustainable use of arid and semiarid lands. The meeting took place in Cartagena, Murcia, on the Muralla del Mar Campus of the Technical University. More than 250 scientists from 20 countries attended the Symposium, with 18 Invited Speakers and 75 oral and 133 poster papers presented.
The Main Topics of the Symposium included Genesis, classification, and cartography of soils, Mineralogy of soils in arid and semiarid regions, Chemistry and physics, Soil biology and ecology, Land evaluation for different uses, Soil management techniques (conservation tillage, residue management, agroforestry), and sustainable use of fertilizers, Intensive agricultural production in Mediterranean agro-ecological conditions, Soil erosion, Soil-water-plant relationship, Indicators of soil quality, Carbon sequestration in arid and semiarid regions, Soil degradation (desertification) and mitigation technologies for degraded lands, Application of geographical information systems and remote sensing, Anthropogenic influence, Soil contamination and remediation, Soil salinization, and Technologies to improve soil quality.
Three simultaneous scientific excursions were also offered. Excursion 1 was around Campo de Cartagena-Mar Menor and focused on agricultural use of soils. It included the examination of the major soils of the region and a visit to newly established greenhouses containing sophisticated nutritional and irrigation systems. Excursion 2, which took place in Valle del Guadalentín-Sierra Espuña, looked at agricultural use of soils and forestry. It also included the examination of soils affected by salinization processes and a visit to a coordination centre where advanced systems to control irrigation of the soils were observed. The participants also visited the Natural Park of Sierra Espuña mountain where both its edaphodiversity and soil management could be observed. Participants of Excursion 3 visited the Escombreras-La Unión-Portman-Mar Menor and observed soils affected by pollutants from mining and industrial activity.
We strongly believe that the book provides very useful up-to-date information for researches, educators, graduate students, policymakers, practitioners, and advocates interested in land degradation and sustainable use of soils in arid and semiarid regions in the world.

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1 Genesis, Classification and Cartography of Soils

Pablo José Bouza, Mariano Simón, José Aguilar, Mario Rostagno and Héctor del Valle
Genesis of Some Selected Soils in the Valdés Peninsula, NE Patagonia, Argentina 1

Carmelo Dazzi, Vito A. Laudicina, Giuseppe Lo Papa, Salvatore Monteleone and Riccardo Scalenghe
Soils with Gypsic Horizons in Southern Sicily, Italy 13

Juan Luis Mora, Carmen Arbelo, Cecilia Armas, Asterico Guerra and Antonio Rodriguez Rodriguez
Salinity and Alkalinity in Soils of the Arid Region of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain 23

Efraín Acuña and Rosa M. Poch
Sampling Strategies for Determining Hydraulic Properties of Soil Mapping
Units in the Ebro Basin, Spain 33

Chapter 2 Soil Chemistry, Physical and Biological Properties

Irina Kovda, Olga Chichagova and Claudia I. Mora
Organic Matter in a Gilgai Soil Complex, Southeastern Russia: Chemical
and Isotopic Compositions 45

César Plaza, Juan C. García-Gil and Alfredo Polo
Cumulative Effects of Pig Slurry Application on Soil Chemical Properties
under Semiarid Conditions, Toledo, Spain 57

Francisco Javier Díaz, Rosario Basanta, Vergelin Rodríguez, Olga Escolano, Montserrat Díaz-Raviña
and Fancisco Javier García Frutos
Microbial Biomass Estimations in Semiarid Soils:Influence of Moisture Content 63

Chapter 3 Land Evaluation for Different Purposes

Francisco Javier Martínez, Manuel Sierra, Cayetano Sierra and Antonio Roca
Assessing Sustainable Use of Land under Olive Cultivation in Alcala la Real
(Jaen, Spain) using GIS 75

Gregorio García, Ahmet Ruhi Mermut and Angel Faz
Preliminary Studies on Implications of Suburban Industrial Soil Contamination
for Urban Ecology and Planning in Cartagena, SE Spain 85

Chapter 4 Soil Management Techniques

M. Victoria López and José Luis Arrúe
Soil Tillage and Wind Erosion in Fallow Lands of Central Aragon,Spain: An Overview 93

Luciano Gristina, Francesco Ferrotti, Ignazio Poma, Saverio Saladino, Maria Gabriella Barbagallo
andPietro Costanza
Management of Subterranean Clover, Annual Medic and Vetch for Sicilian
Vineyard Sustainability 103

Melek Gürbüz, JakobLomas, Orhan Öden, Moshe Mandel, Ulfet Özsoy and Yıldırım Kayam
Nitrogen Management Options for Optimum Wheat Production, Aegean Region, Turkey 113

Dilek Kahraman,Jakob Lomas, Orhan Öden, Moshe Mandel Melek Gürbüz, Ulfet Özsoy, andYıldırım Kayam
Analysis of Some Management Practices and Climate on Wheat Performance
in the Aegean Region of Turkey 123

Ángel Faz Cano, José Luis Tortosa, Manuel Andujar, Miriam Llona, Juan B. Lobera, Alfredo Palop and Sergio Amat
Application of Pig Slurries in the Guadalentin Valley for Broccoli and
Watermelon Production: Preliminary Results 133

Chapter 5 Soil Erosion

Csaba Centeri and Robert Pataki
Soil Erodibility Measurements on Slopes of the Tihany Peninsula, Hungary 149

Ramon Bienes, Ana Moré, Maria José Marqués, Soledad Moreiro and Jose Manuel Nicolau
Efficiency of Different Plant Cover to Control Water Erosion in Central Spain 155

João L.M.P. de Lima, M. Isabel de Lima and Vijay P. Singh
The Importance of the Direction, Speed, Intensity and Length of Moving Storms on Water Erosion 163

Sergio Colombo and Javier Calatrava Requena
A Socio-Economic Approach to Account for Off-site Effects of Soil Erosion 177

G.F. González, M.A. Casermeiro and M.T. de la Cruz
Influence of Structural Stability on Water Erosion Processes in the Mediterranean Area 187

Chapter 6 Soil-Water-Plant Relationship

David Moret and José L. Arrúe
Limitations of Tension Disc Infiltrometers for Measuring Water Flow in Freshly Tilled Soils 197

Antonio José Moreno Checa, Carmelo Militello and Maria Luisa Tejedor
Influence of Volcanic Gravel on the Soil Water Content in Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain 205

José Martínez-Fernández, Antonio Ceballos, Miguel Ángel Luengo and Segismundo Casado
Soil Water Availability in the Semiarid Duero-Basin (Spain) 215

Stefano Brenna, Edoardo Costantini, Giovanni L’Abate,Marco Pastoriand Carlo Riparbelli
Soil Moisture and Temperature Regimes in Lombardy, Northern Italy 223

José Luis Oropeza-Mota, José Donaldo Rios-Berber and Myriam Larose
Effects of Deforestation on Water Quantity and Quality, Oaxaca State, Mexico,
as Estimated from the SWAT Simulation Model 233

Jesús Fernández-Gálvez, Lester Paul Simmonds and Enrique Barahona
Interpretation of Soil Moisture Profiles in Gravel Rich Soils Derived from
Soil Dielectric Measurements 241

Edoardo A.C. Costantini, Fabio Castelli and Giovanni L´Abate
Use of the EPIC Model to Estimate Soil Moisture and Temperature Regimes
for Desertification Risk in Italy 251

Chapter 7 Indicators of Soil Quality and Technologies to Improve it

Julia Domínguez, Miguel A. Negrín and Carmen M. Rodríguez
Soil Variables of Predicting Conduciveness and Suppressiveness of Volcanic
Soils to Banana-wilt Caused by Fusarium in Canary Islands, Spain 265

Chiquinquira Hontoria, Juan Carlos Rodríguez-Murillo and Antonio Saa
Soil Organic Carbon Contents in Arid and Semiarid Regions of
Peninsular Spain 275

Jaume Bech, Lydia Petrova, Maria Sokolovska and Jordi Garrigo
Organic Matter of Selected Luvisols from Catalonia, Spain 281

Chapter 8 Soil Degradation

Carlos Garcia, Jose Luis Moreno and Teresa Hernandez
Microbial Activity as an Indicator of Soil Degradation in Some Soils of Murcia, SE Spain 291

Luis Recatalá, Francisco Morcillo, Andrea Fabbri and Juan Sánchez
Assessing Environmental Quality in Mediterranean Areas as a Basis
for Combating Desertification 303

José Luis Rubio, Mª José Molina, Vicente Andreu, Eugenia Gimeno-García and Josep Vicent Llinares
Controlled Forest Fire Experiments: Pre- and Post-Fire Soil and Vegetation
Patterns and Processes 313

Juan Manuel Gisbert, Sara Ibáñez and M^aÁngeles Pérez
Terrace Abandonment in the Ceta Valley, Alicante Province, Spain 329

Juan Antonio Pascual, Carlos Añó, Vicente Sanjaime and Juan Sánchez
Estimating Soil Sealing Rates in Mediterranean Coastal Environments.
Preliminary Results for Castellón, Spain 339

Juan Antonio Pascual, Carlos Añó, Antonio Valera, Moisés Poyatos and Juan Sánchez
Urban Growth (1956-1998) and Soil Degradation in the Municipality of Valencia, Spain 347

Michael Stocking, Franco Humberto Obando and Anna Tengberg
Soil Degradation and its Impact on Plants in Drylands 355

Chapter 9 Application of GIS and Remote Sensing

Julia Yagüe Ballester and Maria Pilar García Rodríguez
Evaluating Soil Degradation in the Jarama-Tajuna and Tajo River Basins
(Autonomous Region of Madrid, Spain), Using Remote Sensing Techniques 369

Ferran Ferrer, Carmen Antolín and Ernesto López-Baeza
Spatial Moisture Distribution and its Relationship with Surface Soil
Parameters, Valencia Region, Spain 377

Nicolas Bellinfante, Antonio Jordán, Lorena Martínez-Zavala and Marina del Toro
GIS-based Landscape Classification and Mapping of Land Systems, Huelva (SW Spain) 387

Patrizia Peroni, Danilo Ranalli, Marco Scozzafava and Donatello Magaldi
Influence of Soil Characteristics on Vegetation as Determined by Remote
Sensing and Field Measurements, Gran Sasso Massif, Italy 397

José Alberto Acosta, Silvia Martínez-Martínez, Ángel Faz,

Jan M. Van Mourik, Ahmet R. Mermut and Jacobus M. Verstraten
Heavy Metal Distribution in Soils of Cartagena, SE Spain 407

Chapter 10 Anthropogenic Influence

Javier López Robles, Vadillo B. De Aymerich
Improvement of Soil Health and Quality by Reducing Plant Parasitic
Nematodes through Selected Organic Amendments 421

Lourdes Soria, Emilia Fernández, Miguel Pastor, Jose Aguilarand Jesus Alfonso Muñoz
Impact of Olive-Orchard Cropping Systems on Some Soil Physical
and Chemical Properties in Southern Spain 427

Chapter 11 Soil Contamination and Remediation

Victoria Íñigo, Juan Ignacio Alonso-Martirena, Marisol Andrades and Alvaro Marín
Heavy Metal Contents and Distribution in Forest Soils of La Rioja, NW Spain 437

Joaquin Ramos, Carlos Gil and Rafael Boluda
Baseline Concentrations of Cadmium, Lead and Nickel in Greenhouses
in the Western Almería Surface Soils, Spain 445

Javier Díez, Petra Susan Kidd and Carmela Monterroso
Plants from the Serpentinic Area of Tras-os-Montes (NE Portugal)
as Potential Species for Phytoextraction Technologies 455

Mariano Simón, Angel Iriarte, Inés García, Francisco Martín, José Aguilar and Carlos Dorronsoro
Mobility of Heavy Metals in Pyritic Mine Spills from an Accident in Aznalcóllar, SW Spain 467

Luisa Andrade, Flora Alonso, Purificación Marcet and Emma Fernández Covelo
Heavy Metal Contents of Soils from Semiarid Pampa, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina 477

Joaquin Andrés Hernández Bastida, Mária Teresa Fernández Tapia and Asunción Alías Linares
Heavy Metal Content Distribution and Toxicity Risks in Soils Developed
from Lamproitic Rocks in Murcia, SE Spain 493

Núria Roca, Susana Pazos and Jaume Bech
The Role of Edaphic Parameters in Determining Heavy Metal Contents
of Soils in Semiarid Catamarca, Argentina 501

Sandra Boy and Maria Concepción Ramos
Metal Enrichment Ratios in Runoff and their Relation to Rainfall
Characteristics in a Spanish Mediterranean Vineyard Soil 511

Elizabeth Lam, Ester Esquenazi, Carlos Martínez and Leonardo Romero
Removal of Lead from the Soil Using Myoporum laetum 519

Ricardo Vera, Rocio Millán, Thomas Schmid, Alberto Tallos and Fernando Recreo
Mercury Uptake by Some Plants at Different Growing Stages: A Lysimetric Study 527

Gregorio García, David Gottfried Angeler and Ángel Faz
Ability of Nerium oleander L. Apocynaceae for the Stabilization of a
Lead Polluted Soil in Mediterranean Riparian Ecosystems 535

Chapter 12 Soil Salinization and Leaching

Nuria Vela, Joaquín Hernández, José Antonio Palazón, Mariano Vicenteand Roque Ortíz
Spatial Variability of Salinity in Cultivated Soils of Semiarid Murcia, SE Spain 545

Alberto Enrique, Paloma Bescansa, Iñigo Virto
Measuring Salinity Using Electromagnetic Sensors for Sustainable
Management of Rice Fields in the Ebro River Basin, NE Spain 559

Thomas Schmid, Magaly Koch and Jose Gumuzzio
Monitoring of Saline Wetland Soilsin Central Spain using Hyperspectral and Multispectral Data 569

Nilantha R. Hulugalle, Timothy B. Weaver and Hussein Ghadiri
A Simple Method to Estimate the Value of Salt and Nutrient Leaching
in Irrigated Vertisols in Australia 579

Chapter 13 Technologies to Improve Soil Quality

Raul Moral, Concepción Paredes, M^a Dolores Pérez-Murcia, Aurelia Pérez-Espinosa and Joaquin Moreno-Caselles
Nitrogen Dynamics in a Calcic Petrocalcid Soil Treated with an Anaerobic Sewage Sludge 589