Ecosystem services (ES), as an interconnection of the landscape mosaic pieces, along with temporal rivers (IRES) are an object of research for environmental planners and ecological economists, among other specialists. This study presents (i) a review on the importance of IRES and the services they can provide to agricultural landscapes; (ii) a classification tool to assess the impact of IRES to provide ES by agricultural landscapes; (iii) the application of the proposed classification to the Caia River in order to identify the importance of this intermittent river for its surrounding agricultural landscape. The classification of the ES follows the Common International Classification of Ecosystem (CICES) classification that was adapted for the purposes of this study. Firstly, the list of ES provided by agricultural landscape was elaborated. In the next step, we assessed the potential of IRES to provide ES. Next, IRES impacts to ES within the agricultural landscape were evaluated according to observations from the conducted field monitoring in the study area. This study focuses on the relevance of the intermittent Caia River—a transboundary river in Spain and Portugal—and its ephemeral tributaries in the agricultural landscape. Our study estimates that each hydrological phase of IRES increases the ES provided by the agricultural landscape. However, the dry phase can potentially have negative impacts on several services. The intensification of the agricultural sector is the main provision of the water resource within the Caia River basin, but we were able to identify several other ES that were positively impacted. The present study is in line with the conclusions of other authors who state that IRES constitute a valuable resource which should not be underestimated by society.
Article deals with a fractional and chemical composition of sediments from the sediment reservoir in Ilyash village, Ferghana region, Uzbekistan (Syr Darya river basin) and analyses their feasibility. As a key factor in the study of this process was considered the fractional and agrochemical composition of sediments moving with water in the sediment reservoir, and the change of their share in the water along the length of the reservoir. The main composition of the sediments in reservoir consists of fractions >0.25 and 0.25–0.01 mm, with the average fraction of 69% in the inlet and 60% in the outlet. The river sediments are rich in minerals important for the irrigated cropland. Based on the results we conclude that it is possible to regulate the number of chemical compounds in the water by controlling the exploitation regime of reservoir and the sedimentation process in it.
The intensity and frequency of occurrence of wind erosion have had an increasing tendency in recent years, exacerbating environmental and agricultural problems around the world. The question of whether climate change will have an accelerating impact on wind erosion might be answered by analyzing three driving parameters: wind erosion climatic erosivity (CE), standard precipitation index (SPI), and wind factor (Wf). A time series analysis of historical climatic data over a period of 58 years was performed using ArcGIS software and descriptive statistics, to detect spatiotemporal variations regarding climate change. The results of the analysis indicate that the number and intensity of drought periods are already increasing in Central Europe. Through the CE equation using the key indicators wind speed (U), temperature (T), humidity (r), and precipitation (P), we calculated decadal spatiotemporal variation and potential scenarios of climate change in terms of wind erosion intensity. The results of the study show that there has been a 1.75 °C increase in temperature since 1961 and fluctuating wind erosion intensity in recent decades. The frequency of drought periods has increased only slightly, but there has been an increase in the amount of precipitation in the last two decades of the study period, up to +6.63 and +6.53%. The wind analysis showed that mean maximum wind speed (Umaxmean) had a decreasing trend (R2 = 0.32), and the occurrence of erosive wind (Uer) (>5 m/s) exhibited seasonal changes toward spring. Wf exhibited a rise of 11.86 and 3.66% in the first two decades of the study period, followed by a decline of 8.49% in the last decade. CE analysis indicated oscillation in both directions, with decadal changes ranging between −16.95 and +15.21%. Wind erosion is becoming a more significant issue in Central Europe because of climate change, and the situation could worsen in the future. This study provides valuable insights into the impact of climate change on wind erosion in Europe and highlights the need for effective measures to mitigate its effects.
Sustainable landscape management involve also water reservoir management. The demand of their reconstruction represents a good opportunity for redesigning hydrotechnical structures and their parameters using recent methods and models. The estimation of wind-driven waves on small water reservoirs and their effects on water reservoir structures rarely are applied, although it is an important part of the dam height calculation. The analysis of wave run-up on the upstream face of the dam was performed by means of the Slovak Technical Standard (STN), Coastal Engineering Manual (CEM), Shore Protection Manual (SPM) and model designed by American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE). The estimations of the wave characteristics differ depending on the model; wave height (H13%) within the range 0.32–0.56 m, wave period 1.32–2.11 s and run-up (R2%) 0.84–1.68 m under conditions of design wind speed 25 m·s−1. Results obtained by CEM, SPM models predict lower values than STN and ASABE models. Since the height difference between the dam crest and still water level in the reservoir is only 0.90 m, we can expect overtopping of the crest by waves after the critical wind speed is exceeded.