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Land Use, Climate and Transport of Nutrients: Evidence Emerging from the Lake Vicocase Study

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An Erratum to this article was published on 10 August 2013

Abstract

Soil erosion is a Europe-wide problem, causing both loss of soil fertility and pollution due to nutrient transport into water bodies. This process is particularly important in the Mediterranean area, where the climate, characterised by long periods of drought followed by intense precipitation, favours soil erosion. Research carried out in this field has amply described this process, showing that climate and land use/land cover (LU/LC) are the two main factors regulating this phenomenon. However, the interaction between these factors is complex and experimental research is needed to understand the nutrient loads deriving from different land uses. This paper shows the results of a long-term monitoring project carried out in the Lake Vico basin (central Italy), using high resolution data and runoff samples to determine the phosphorus (P) export from four different LU/LC classes resulting from the same climatic event. The results highlight the fundamental role that LU/LC plays in terms of phosphorus load. Furthermore, the results appear to indicate that the maximum rainfall registered for 30′ (I 30, max), rather than the total quantity of precipitation, has the greatest effect on levels of erosion, and consequently on the migration of nutrients rather than the total quantity of precipitation can affect on erosion and therefore the migration of nutrients. These data could contribute to scientific planning support for land management choices aimed at controlling water pollution from non-point pollution sources.

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Acknowledgments

This research was financed by the Financial development office of Lazio (F.I.L.A.S.) as one of the action of the project “Environmental Sustainability of Land use”. The authors would like to thank reviewers for the useful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department Land Management Engineering Group (DAFNE), Tuscia University, Via S.Camillo de Lellis, 01100, Viterbo, VT, Italy

    F. Recanatesi, M. N. Ripa & A. Leone

  2. Unit of Climatology and Meteorology applied to Agriculture, Italian National Agricultural Research Council, Via del Caravita 7a, 00186, Rome, Italy

    Perini Luigi

  3. Centre for the Study of Soil–Plant Interactions, Italian National Agricultural Research Council, Via dellaNavicella 2-4, 00186, Rome, Italy

    Salvati Luca

  4. Department of Agriculture, Forests, Nature and Energy (DAFNE), Tuscia University, Via S.Camillo de Lellis, 01100, Viterbo, Italy

    F. Recanatesi

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  1. F. Recanatesi
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  2. M. N. Ripa
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  3. A. Leone
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  4. Perini Luigi
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  5. Salvati Luca
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Correspondence to F. Recanatesi.

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Recanatesi, F., Ripa, M.N., Leone, A. et al. Land Use, Climate and Transport of Nutrients: Evidence Emerging from the Lake Vicocase Study. Environmental Management 52, 503–513 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-013-0060-6

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