IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v3y2014i1p282-299d33993.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Interrelationships of Land Use/Cover Change and Topography with Soil Acidity and Salinity as Indicators of Land Degradation

Author

Listed:
  • Ramita Manandhar

    (Agriculture Biodiversity Section, Food Security and Environment Division, Ministry of Agriculture Development, Singha Durbar, Kathmandu 44600, Nepal)

  • Inakwu O. A. Odeh

    (Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia)

Abstract

As soil is the basis of all terrestrial ecosystems, degraded soil means lower fertility, reduced biodiversity and reduced human welfare. Therefore the focus of this paper is on elucidating the influence of land use and land cover (LULC) change on two important soil quality indicators that are fundamental to effective measures for ameliorating soil degradation; namely soil acidity and soil salinity in the Lower Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia. First, Analysis of Variance was used to elucidate the effects of LULC categories on soil acidity and salinity. The results indicate that soils under Vineyard have significantly higher pH. In contrast there is no significant effect of LULC or its change on soil salinity. To further elucidate the complex interactions of these soil quality indicators with landscape attributes over 20 years and other terrain attributes, multivariate ordination techniques (correspondence analysis and canonical correspondence analysis) were used. The results show that elevation exerted a more dominant influence on pH than the LULC types and their dynamics. In comparison, salinity of the soil appears to be higher in subsoil layers under woodland than under other LULC categories. The environmental implications of these interactions, as evidenced by this study, provide some insights for future land use planning in the region.

Suggested Citation

  • Ramita Manandhar & Inakwu O. A. Odeh, 2014. "Interrelationships of Land Use/Cover Change and Topography with Soil Acidity and Salinity as Indicators of Land Degradation," Land, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-18, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:3:y:2014:i:1:p:282-299:d:33993
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/3/1/282/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/3/1/282/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pannell, David J., 2001. "Dryland salinity: economic, scientific, social and policy dimensions," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 45(4), pages 1-30.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aliakbar Nazari Samani & Fatemeh Tavakoli Rad & Maryam Azarakhshi & Mohammad Reza Rahdari & Jesús Rodrigo-Comino, 2018. "Assessment of the Sustainability of the Territories Affected by Gully Head Advancements through Aerial Photography and Modeling Estimations: A Case Study on Samal Watershed, Iran," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-17, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ross Kingwell & Michele John & Michael Robertson, 2008. "A review of a community-based approach to combating land degradation: dryland salinity management in Australia," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 10(6), pages 899-912, December.
    2. Dilek Uz & Steven Buck & David Sunding, 2022. "Fixed or mixed? Farmer‐level heterogeneity in response to changes in salinity," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(4), pages 1343-1363, August.
    3. Amirhossein Hassani & Adisa Azapagic & Nima Shokri, 2021. "Global predictions of primary soil salinization under changing climate in the 21st century," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, December.
    4. Corey J. A. Bradshaw & Barry W. Brook, 2016. "Implications of Australia's Population Policy for Future Greenhouse Gas Emissions Targets," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(2), pages 249-265, May.
    5. Bennett, Jeffrey W., 2005. "Australasian environmental economics: contributions, conflicts and ‘cop-outs’," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 49(3), pages 1-19.
    6. Randall, Alan, 2008. "Is Australia on a sustainability path? Interpreting the clues," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 52(1), pages 1-19.
    7. M. Qadir & E. Quillérou & V. Nangia & G. Murtaza & M. Singh & R.J. Thomas & P. Drechsel & A.D. Noble, 2014. "Economics of salt‐induced land degradation and restoration," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 38(4), pages 282-295, November.
    8. Burt, Evan & Blake, John & McConnell, Graeme, 2003. "Poorer performing paddock areas; do we:- Invest in amelioration, Vary input rates or Cull areas from the cropping system (IVC)," 2003 Conference (47th), February 12-14, 2003, Fremantle, Australia 57839, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    9. Pannell, David J. & Ewing, Michael A., 2006. "Managing secondary dryland salinity: Options and challenges," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 80(1-3), pages 41-56, February.
    10. Pannell, David J. & Wilkinson, Roger, 2009. "Policy mechanism choice for environmental management by non-commercial "lifestyle" rural landholders," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(10), pages 2679-2687, August.
    11. Pannell, David J. & Roberts, Anna M. & Park, Geoff & Alexander, Jennifer, 2013. "Improving environmental decisions: A transaction-costs story," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 244-252.
    12. O'Connell, Michael & Young, John & Kingwell, Ross, 2006. "The economic value of saltland pastures in a mixed farming system in Western Australia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 89(2-3), pages 371-389, September.
    13. Kopke, Emma & Young, John & Kingwell, Ross, 2008. "The relative profitability and environmental impacts of different sheep systems in a Mediterranean environment," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 96(1-3), pages 85-94, March.
    14. Moore, A.D. & Robertson, M.J. & Routley, R., 2011. "Evaluation of the water use efficiency of alternative farm practices at a range of spatial and temporal scales: A conceptual framework and a modelling approach," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 104(2), pages 162-174, February.
    15. Pannell, David J. & Ewing, Michael A. & Ridley, Anna M., 2003. "Cursed by Too Much Water in a Dry Place: Implications of Dryland Salinity for Farm Management, Policy and Research in Australia," 14th Congress, Perth, Western Australia, August 10-15, 2003 24310, International Farm Management Association.
    16. Hadrich, Joleen C., 2011. "Managing the Economics of Soil Salinity," Agribusiness & Applied Economics Report 115630, North Dakota State University, Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics.
    17. Harris, E., 2007. "Historical regulation of Victoria's water sector: A case of government failure?," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 51(3), pages 1-10.
    18. M. Qadir & E. Quillérou & V. Nangia & G. Murtaza & M. Singh & R.J. Thomas & P. Drechsel & A.D. Noble, 2014. "Economics of salt‐induced land degradation and restoration," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 0(4), pages 282-295, November.
    19. Jones, Randall E., 2005. "Sustainability and integrated weed management in Australian winter cropping systems: a bioeconomic analysis," 2005 Conference (49th), February 9-11, 2005, Coff's Harbour, Australia 137930, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    20. repec:ags:aare05:137931 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Winter, Tennille & Pannell, David J. & McCann, Laura M.J., 2002. "The Economics of Desalination and It's Potential Application to Australia," 2002 Conference (46th), February 13-15, 2002, Canberra, Australia 125611, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:3:y:2014:i:1:p:282-299:d:33993. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.