Research has demonstrated that landscape or watershed scale processes can influence instream aquatic ecosystems, in terms of the impacts of delivery of fine sediment, solutes and organic matter. Testing such impacts upon populations of organisms (i.e. at the catchment scale) has not proven straightforward and differences have emerged in the conclusions reached.

Facing the changes in the agricultural sector as well as new growing demands from society in relation to the European countryside, new questions emerge as to the management of the agricultural landscapes. The multiple combination of production with the support of multiple functions is a challenge for present day management. Tools are needed that make it possible to assess how a certain landscape can support in particular cultural and amenity functions, those that directly depend on the public preferences.

The 921 earthquake caused a catastrophic disaster in Central Taiwan. Ten years have passed since the earthquake occurred. Vegetation succession is the basis for establishing a restoration reference which plays an important role in vegetation restoration at landslide sites. Generally, growth conditions for grass are easier and the growth rate is faster than that for trees. Therefore, grass can be considered a pioneer species or an important reference for the early vegetation succession stage. This is the reason why grass is required to be extracted from other land covers.

The semiarid Chinese Loess Plateau is notorious for severe drought, water erosion, and environmental degradation. Changes in landscape patterns and rainfall are key drivers that determine the dynamics of runoff loss and sediment yield from catchments. These factors have crucial implications for management of other fragile ecosystems around the globe. In this study, responses of surface runoff and sediment yield to land use and rainfall in a typical loess hilly catchment in 1997, 2005, and 2010 were analyzed. Several major findings are highlighted.

Native arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi associated with grass and legume cover crops established on Oxisol soils in the Colombian piedmont (Meta) were identified morphologically and the ability to colonize was evaluated. The experimental area consisted of cover crops Arachis pintoi (CIAT 18744), Brachiaria brizantha cv. Toledo, B. dictyoneura cv. Llanero, Desmodium ovalifolium cv. Maquenque, Panicum maximum (CIAT 36000), Paspalum notatum, and a chemical control (Glyphosate and mechanical control) established in the rows in a Valencia orange grove.

QUESTION: Increasing population pressure, socio‐economic development and associated natural resource use in savannas are resulting in large‐scale land cover changes, which can be mapped using remote sensing. Is a three‐dimensional (3D) woody vegetation structural classification applied to LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data better than a 2D analysis to investigate change in fine‐scale woody vegetation structure over 2 yrs in a protected area (PA) and a communal rangeland (CR)? LOCATION: Bushbuckridge Municipality and Sabi Sand Wildtuin, NE South Africa.

Whether grazed semi-arid grassland can be regarded as a net-sink or net-source of aeolian dust is difficult to detect since deposition and emission processes are in gradual transition. In grassland, dust arrives from sources far away or is directly emitted and immediately part of the suspension load. The processes of dust emission or deposition can be mainly identified by vertical concentration measurements close to the ground and close to the sources.

A modelling experiment is used to examine different land-use scenarios ranging from extreme deforestation (31% forest cover) to pristine (95% forest cover) conditions and related Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes to assess whether a change in streamflow dynamics, discharge extremes and mean annual water balance of a 73.4-km² tropical headwater catchment in Costa Rica could be detected.

Although many studies focus on mercury (Hg) and methylmercury (MeHg) dynamics in streams, challenges remain in identifying the relative importance of land cover and seasonality at regulating Hg and MeHg dynamics at the watershed scale. Developing robust proxies for Hg and/or MeHg determination also remains a challenge. Our study used Hg, MeHg, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration measurements and various DOC fluorescence indices to characterize Hg and DOC dynamics in a forested watershed of the US Northeast.

In 2000, after the international agreement on the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the United Nation Food and Agriculture Organization decided to adopt a new set of basic forest and forest change definitions. The main change is that new definitions are no more related to land cover but to land use. The entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol requires now that national forest related data must be based on land use concept.

This study aims to understand the influences of climate change and land surface processes on the variation of in-stream DOC concentrations in coastal rivers crossing different climate zones. Monthly observations spanning multiple years in seven major rivers in four different climate zones within the U.S. were analyzed for correlations between dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration and surface air temperature, precipitation, land cover and discharge.

Long-term water balance investigations are needed to better understand hydrologic systems, especially semi-arid mountainous catchments. These systems exhibit considerable interannual variability in precipitation as well as spatial variation in snow accumulation, soils, and vegetation. This study extended a previous 10-year water balance based on measurements and model simulations to 24years for the Upper Sheep Creek (USC) catchment, a 26ha, snow-fed, semi-arid rangeland headwater drainage within the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed in southwestern Idaho, USA.