Risk of soil degradation and desertification in Europe's Mediterranean
may be more serious than realized

Date:
February 16, 2022
Source:
KTH, Royal Institute of Technology
Summary:
Due to human-caused pressures and global warming, some soils in
Europe's Mediterranean region are reaching what the researchers
refer to as 'critical limits for their ability to provide ecosystem
services,' which include farming and absorbing carbon, among
others. Perhaps even more troubling, the problem could be even
more extensive than we realize, says an author of a new study.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Europe's Mediterranean countries produce a significant portion of the
world's wines, olives, nuts and tomatoes. But research shows that the
region's farms and orchards are the most susceptible in Europe to soil degradation and desertification.


==========================================================================
In an analysis of agriculture research and data from the dozen European countries that line the Mediterranean coast, researchers from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, Stockholm University and the Navarino Environmental Observatory in Greece found that the Mediterranean region
has the overall highest soil erosion rates within Europe, the lowest
levels of soil organic matter and severe salinisation problems.

The findings were published in the scientific journal, Science of the
Total Environment.

Due to human-created pressures and global warming, some soils in Europe's Mediterranean region are reaching what the researchers refer to as
"critical limits for their ability to provide ecosystem services,"
which include farming and absorbing carbon.

Perhaps even more troubling, the problem could be more extensive than
we realize, says the study's co-author Zahra Kalantari, an associate
professor at KTH.

The degrading soil is a multi-dimensional problem, involving physical,
chemical and biological processes, and there are significant gaps in
the understanding of the depth and extent of the threat, the authors
report. While some studies have investigated economic impacts of declines
in crop yields caused by soil erosion, there remains a lack of economic assessments of the impacts of other soil degradation processes in the Mediterranean, Kalantari says.

The researchers point to a Romanian study from 2017, which identified
25 percent of the land in the EU half of the Mediterranean basin as
facing high or very high risk of desertification, mainly due to erosion, declining organic matter and biodiversity, contamination, salinisation,
sealing (for example, as a result of road or building construction)
and compaction from farm machinery and animals.

Many of the physical, chemical and biological degradation processes are
well- documented, while others -- such as the loss of soil biodiversity --
are not.

The abundance of organisms and species -- such as worms and ants --
which provide biodiversity and enrich the soil are under threat from
depletion of organic matter, pollution from pesticides and from urban
and industrial areas, compaction and erosion, she says.

The threats against soil cannot be tackled without better information
about where, when and how these processes are taking place, Kalantari
says.

The study recommends compiling of soil assessments "within a harmonised, continuous monitoring system (that) would provide comparable datasets."
"A coordinated network is needed to investigate soil biodiversity and
assess its spatial and temporal trends as means for preventing future degradation in the Mediterranean region," Kalantari says.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
KTH,_Royal_Institute_of_Technology. Original written by David
Callahan. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Carla S.S. Ferreira, Samaneh Seifollahi-Aghmiuni, Georgia Destouni,
Navid
Ghajarnia, Zahra Kalantari. Soil degradation in the
European Mediterranean region: Processes, status and
consequences. Science of The Total Environment, 2022; 805: 150106
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150106 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220216112227.htm

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