P. Martinez, J.R. Brehm, A.M. Nafus, A. Laurence-Traynor, S.W. Salley, S.E. McCord
{"title":"Leveraging ecological monitoring programs to collect soil and geomorphology data across the western United States","authors":"P. Martinez, J.R. Brehm, A.M. Nafus, A. Laurence-Traynor, S.W. Salley, S.E. McCord","doi":"10.2489/jswc.2024.00068","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.2024.00068","url":null,"abstract":"Ecological site information is essential to interpreting monitoring data and guiding site-specific management of ecosystem functions and services. Ecological information includes soil properties (e.g., texture class), geomorphology characteristics (e.g., slope aspect), and ecosystem dynamics (e.g., plant succession), which are critical covariates in rangeland monitoring programs such as the Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) strategy conducted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Based on field observations, AIM identifies ecological sites according to ecological site concepts uniquely developed within individual Major Land Resource Areas (MLRA). Here, we present and evaluate the availability of ecological site identification, soil observations, and geomorphology characteristics determined by AIM data collectors between 2012 and 2021 in 14 states of the western United States. There are 31,267 monitoring plots (79% of plots) with identified ecological sites and 29,228 plots (74% of plots) containing soil morphology descriptions of soil horizons examined in excavated pits. While soil texture class is observed in most soil horizons (98%), rock fragment volume is the soil property with the least data availability (75%). The consistency of soil data (e.g., clay content observations within the ranges of texture classes) increases as a function of time following guidance in soil profile description training for AIM data collectors. Nearly 47% of AIM plots are found on gentle slopes of 0% to 5% steepness and on Flat/Plain and Hill/Mountain landscape types. We confirmed that the AIM database is a robust source of georeferenced soil and geomorphology information that can be used for land management and research on land potential, soil geography, and assessment of soil health indicators across the western United States.","PeriodicalId":50049,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Soil and Water Conservation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141152601","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exploring agricultural soil health through constraints of place: How pedology adds context to understanding soil health evaluation","authors":"Suzanne Fey, Josh McDanel","doi":"10.2489/jswc.2024.0108a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.2024.0108a","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":50049,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Soil and Water Conservation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140715744","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
K. Spaeth, William A. Rutherford, Carrie-Ann Houdeshell, C. J. Williams, Brenda Simpson, Shane Green, David Toledo, Erik Suffridge, Sarah E. McCord
{"title":"Insights from the USDA Grazing Land National Resources Inventory and field studies","authors":"K. Spaeth, William A. Rutherford, Carrie-Ann Houdeshell, C. J. Williams, Brenda Simpson, Shane Green, David Toledo, Erik Suffridge, Sarah E. McCord","doi":"10.2489/jswc.2024.0107a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.2024.0107a","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":50049,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Soil and Water Conservation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140713498","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Elevation-Derived Hydrography: The USGS’s rich new hydrological features dataset","authors":"Tracy Ray, Brad Barker","doi":"10.2489/jswc.2024.0314a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.2024.0314a","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":50049,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Soil and Water Conservation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140716254","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A historic landmark for the role of soil health in climate and food security: “Soil health” in COP28 UAE Declaration","authors":"Rattan Lal","doi":"10.2489/jswc.2024.0226a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.2024.0226a","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":50049,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Soil and Water Conservation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140714301","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
E. Argaman, C. Xu, Z. Xu, G. Zheng, U. Basson, I. Stavi
{"title":"Eco-hydrological functioning of multi-aged dryland afforestation systems","authors":"E. Argaman, C. Xu, Z. Xu, G. Zheng, U. Basson, I. Stavi","doi":"10.2489/jswc.2024.00053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.2024.00053","url":null,"abstract":"Continual land degradation processes adversely affect the functioning of dryland ecosystems. In recent decades, extensive afforestation activities have been undertaken in marginal lands of the semiarid northern Negev region of southern Israel to mitigate such degradation processes. However, the long-term impacts of these actions in drylands, subjected to long-term drought episodes, remain unknown. We investigated the impact of landuse change from natural lands to afforestation runoff-harvesting systems—through intensive earthworks (landforming) to establish a contour bench terrace during long-term drought—on herbaceous vegetation productivity, and assessed its temporal dynamics across the multi-aged Ambassadors’ Forest. The MODIS MOD13Q1 and MYD13Q1 maximum value composite products were used to calculate normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data for the hydrological years 2000 to 2020. For this study, implemented in 2021, we selected three locations within the Ambassadors’ Forest: (1) 15-year-old afforested hillslopes, (2) 11-year-old afforested hillslopes, and (3) 4-year-old afforested hillslopes. We further delineated undisturbed hillslopes near these sites as a reference treatment. We found high spatiotemporal variability in vegetation cover. Over the short term, and specifically in the first hydrological year following the establishment of the water-harvesting systems, a substantial reduction in mean annual NDVI was observed, with values ranging from 30% to 65% lower compared to the reference sites. However, the negative impact of landuse change diminished over time, suggesting that (1) self-restoration processes occurred over a longer term after landuse changes were implemented, and (2) the establishment of water-harvesting systems improve the conservation of runoff water at the hillslope. This effect was observed for the 11- and 15-year-old afforestation sites, where vegetation productivity was 8.9% and 31.0% greater, respectively, than in the respective reference sites ( p < 0.05). Although the long-term drought occurred during the construction of the water-harvesting systems, these findings are in agreement with previous studies. Specifically, this study suggests that ecological self-restoration processes in semiarid regions occur approximately a decade after runoff-harvesting systems are established through earthworks.","PeriodicalId":50049,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Soil and Water Conservation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140033255","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Low-overhead dairy grazing: A specific solution to a vexing problem","authors":"Jonathan R. Winsten","doi":"10.2489/jswc.2024.0122a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.2024.0122a","url":null,"abstract":"The dairy sector has been the backbone of many rural communities across the traditional US Dairy Belt (i.e., the states from Maine to Minnesota) since the early twentieth century. The dramatic loss of dairy farms throughout the region over the past 30 years has contributed to an unraveling of the fabric of its rural communities (Spratt et al. 2021). An important driver of this trend has been extreme volatility and a downward trend in real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) farmgate milk prices. In response, many remaining dairy farms have greatly increased herd size and milk production per cow; “get big or get out” has been the clear writing on the proverbial wall. Farmers who have followed this path have generally demonstrated an impressive application of science, technology, and management to consistently produce an average of over 25,000 lb of milk per cow per year in herds with hundreds or thousands of cows. Unfortunately, there are a host of vexing issues associated with the increasing trend toward large modern confinement-feeding dairy farms. These farms are very capital-intensive and the resulting level of assets (and debt) per cow necessitates maximum milk production per cow (Winsten et al. 2000, 2010). Very high grain-to-forage feeding ratios can increase the incidence of metabolic disorders, resulting in increased use of antibiotics and increased culling rates. The very high capital requirements preclude most farm workers from becoming farm owners. The use of heavy equipment and manure-handling systems is associated with higher rates of worker injuries and fatalities (Douphrate et al. 2013). From an environmental perspective, large modern dairy farms often import much more nutrients (e.g., grain and fertilizer) onto the farm than the farm’s land base can assimilate (Kellogg 2000). The more extreme the nutrient imbalance, …","PeriodicalId":50049,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Soil and Water Conservation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140046624","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
S. Cabello-Leiva, M.T. Berti, D.W. Franzen, L. Cihacek, T. Peters, D. Samarappuli
{"title":"Can nitrogen in fall-planted legume cover crops be credited to maize?","authors":"S. Cabello-Leiva, M.T. Berti, D.W. Franzen, L. Cihacek, T. Peters, D. Samarappuli","doi":"10.2489/jswc.2024.00048","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.2024.00048","url":null,"abstract":"Conventional tillage after wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) results in poor winter soil coverage, negatively affecting long-term soil health. Cover crops and no-tillage provide soil coverage, reducing soil erosion, and nitrate (NO3-N) leaching potential. The objective of this study was to evaluate maize ( Zea mays L.) grain yield response and grain quality due to cover crops preceding maize. The experiment was organized as a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with a split-plot arrangement. The experiments were conducted under transitional no-till at Prosper and Hickson, North Dakota, from 2017 to 2019. Forage pea ( Pisum sativum L.), faba bean ( Vicia faba Roth), and winter camelina ( Camelina sativa [L.] Crantz) were established into spring wheat stubble in August of 2017 and 2018. A check treatment with no cover crop was included. Cover crop fall biomass production and nitrogen (N) accumulation in plant tissue averaged across locations were 1.59 Mg ha−1 and 67.7 kg ha−1, respectively. Winter camelina survived the winters and accumulated biomass in the spring, resulting in significantly higher biomass (3.3 Mg ha−1) than the previous fall biomass. Winter camelina decreased spring water content in Prosper and Hickson in 2018, affecting maize seedling growth because of early competition. Soil NO3-N was not different among treatments. Maize was planted into the residue of fall-planted cover crops. Nitrogen rates of 0, 40, 80, and 160 kg N ha−1 were applied immediately after planting as urea. Maize grain yield increased with higher N rates and was significantly higher when grown in plots that had faba bean (9.7 Mg ha−1), forage pea (10.1 Mg ha−1), and the no-cover crop check (9.8 Mg ha−1), than those that had winter camelina (8.6 Mg ha−1). Leguminous cover crops resulted in a slight increase in maize grain yield compared with plots without cover crops. However, this increase did not reach statistical significance. To understand this response and the potential benefits of cover crops in maize cultivation, further research is needed, with varying seasonal weather conditions.","PeriodicalId":50049,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Soil and Water Conservation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140033121","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
D.R. Hilfiker, R.O. Maguire, R.D. Stewart, G. Ferreira, W.E. Thomason
{"title":"Manure injection effects on soil nitrate, carbon mineralization, and POXC dynamics and spatial distribution under corn silage","authors":"D.R. Hilfiker, R.O. Maguire, R.D. Stewart, G. Ferreira, W.E. Thomason","doi":"10.2489/jswc.2024.00004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.2024.00004","url":null,"abstract":"Manure injection is an alternative manure application method that can alter the spatial distribution of manure relative to surface application. Eight study sites were established to assess how manure injection versus surface broadcasting affects corn ( Zea mays L.) silage growth, soil nutrient dynamics, and spatial distribution. Specifically, corn silage yield, nitrogen (N) uptake, soil nitrate (NO3-N), carbon mineralization (C-min), and permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC) were measured. Soil samples were taken to represent whole plot soil means for both treatments, while in-band (IB) and between-band (BB) soil samples were taken in injected plots to assess nutrient spatial distribution after injection. Corn silage yield and N uptake did not differ between injection and broadcast treatments at 7 of 8 sites but was greater under injection in the one site that did not receive a sidedress N application. No consistent differences in soil NO3-N were seen between treatments; however, a clear alteration in soil NO3-N spatial distribution was observed with IB > BB = surface. Manure injection did not result in any consistent differences ( p > 0.05) in POXC or C-min compared to broadcast plots, nor did it result in an alteration in their spatial distribution. This study shows manure injection alters the spatial distribution of soil NO3-N, specifically elevating it in the injection band, but this was difficult to pick up when using the equi-spaced method to represent the whole injection application area. The inability of POXC and C-min to detect changes related to spatial variation under injection casts doubt on their utility as short-term indicators for changes in C in manured systems.","PeriodicalId":50049,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Soil and Water Conservation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140033126","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“Borders” as a metaphor in implementing large-scale, holistic water sustainability research","authors":"William L. Hargrove, Josiah M. Heyman","doi":"10.2489/jswc.2024.0116a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.2024.0116a","url":null,"abstract":"Large-scale holistic water sustainability research is fraught with methodological challenges both in the research enterprise itself and the application of results on the ground (Aeschbach-Hertig and Gleeson 2012; Bierkins and Wada 2019; Hargrove et al. 2013; Megdal et al. 2016). Scientific approaches to realize sustainable water futures in complex systems, such as those described recently by Elias et al. (2023) and Talchabhadel et al. (2021), require integrated science combined with holistic, collaborative management by stakeholders to achieve desirable, meaningful results. While integrated science can identify possible and/or probable outcomes for water futures, it is stakeholder-driven decision-making and implementation that will determine and realize preferred outcomes for sustainability. Researchers’ knowledge alone, no matter how good, is not likely to alter stakeholder actions or probable outcomes. It will be stakeholder preferences and choices based on a myriad of factors—not just science-based information—that will determine the actual outcomes. The seemingly intractable “wicked problems” relating to water sustainability seem to persist in the face of new information and advancing science produced by research. Many of the challenges that arise in wicked problems cut across traditional boundaries (both physical and figurative), including disciplinary, biophysical, sectoral, social, and jurisdictional ones. We propose that actively identifying these boundaries and consciously developing strategies for bridging them is essential for meaningful results from integrated research and desirable real-world progress in water sustainability. During a six-year project focused on the future of water in a region of the US/Mexico border that is characterized by increasing water scarcity as supplies dwindle and demands …","PeriodicalId":50049,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Soil and Water Conservation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140046716","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}