Soil Degradation

Introduction The distribution and development of human societies due to the increasing need for infrastructure development has always been associated with a decrease in vegetation and as a result led to landscape changes, soil erosion, and soil instability. In this regard, the rill detachment capacity is a key factor in concentrated flow erosion. Rill erosion generally turns into gully erosion with severe environmental impacts. To this end, its control is highly important in landscape management and conservation. However, the effects of different vegetation species on topsoil resistance against concentrated flow erosion are much less studied. Due to the interception of raindrops by the canopy and the plant bodies, it reduces the kinetic energy of raindrops, and due to the organic carbon in the soil, it causes the formation of sticky aggregates, which results in soil protection against detachment of particles. Towards this, the current study was conducted to introduce some of the suitable species to control rill erosion.
Materials and Methods This study is a review of research conducted in the field of reducing and controlling rill erosion, biologically. Therefore, through a deep literature review and considering climatic and environmental criteria, the most suitable plants in order to reduce and control the rill erosion have been introduced. The biological characteristics affecting the reduction of rill erosion, including the continued importance of vegetation stems, canopy and roots in controlling soil erosion, were discussed. Strength resistances in controlling soil erosion were discussed and then issues related to climate adaptation were examined. Finally, after the process of determining suitable species to reduce rill erosion, the list and characteristics of suitable plant species in controlling rill erosion were presented and described.
Results and Discussion The suitable plant species introduced to soil erosion control according to the canopy importance, stress, and climatic resistance were included Vetiveria zizanioides, Tamarix, Populus uphratica Olive, Haloxylon, Parrotia persica, Diospyros lotus, Medicago spp, Olea europaea, Platanus orientalis, Cercis siliquastrum. The introduced species can be used by examining their compatibility with the specific regional Considering the results of this study and the importance of problems caused by soil erosion, general recommendations including diagnosis and evaluation of the efficiency of established tree species have been presented. Explaining the positive and negative consequences of planting and rehabilitating them, collecting information about tree species suitable for reducing and controlling other forms of erosion, their ecological characteristics in order to prevent and reduce erosion have been examined.
Conclusion Identifying areas prone to rill erosion and explaining the bioengineering strategy is necessary to prevent the destruction of forest and rangeland cover, and increase planting, rehabilitation and establishment of suitable plant species. It is recommended to strengthen biological measures such as buffer establishment, coastal strips, seeding, cutting, planting, vegetation and implementation of conservation plans and enclosure of pastures characteristics, to take advantage of biological methods to reduce erosion.

One of the most important goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development concerns life on land (SDG15). It seems that among the issues mentioned in SDG15, soil degradation and preservation is the matter which is least studied in theory and most neglected in practice. “Soil is the key to life on this planet – the foundation for all terrestrial ecosystems”. For centuries, soil has mainly been seen as a source of goods. However, with the increasing human impact on the environment, the close links between soil and a number of environmental issues, such as sustainability, climate change, and loss of soil organic matter and nutrients, have been recognized. All soil functions depend on its physical, chemical and biological properties. They determine the quality of the soil. This in turn guarantees whether or not the soil can provide its services.

In this investigation, we utilize remote sensing data (four Landsat and Spot images were analyzed for a fifteen year period: 1987 - 2002) and a GIS for the quantitative evaluation as well as developing the spatial patterns of erosion and deposition within the Oued Tlata basin (123 km2) located in north-east of Morocco. This contribution's primary objective is to integrate RUSLE's output data into a flow model (sedimentation) to access the net soil erosion and to identify priority areas (zones of high soil loss or deposition) for possible interventions to curtail and ameliorate land degradation. Analysis of these satellite data allowed the identification of six main land cover types (highly degraded lands, cereal (annual) crops fields, mixed farmlands, olive trees, reforested areas, and natural protected forest). After the determination of the areal distribution of each land type for each date, soil losses were estimated through the incorporation of a developed RUSLE (Revis...