Upland agro-ecosystems - defined as the less favoured higher altitude environments including areas with low soil quality and/or limited access to water - will face three major challenges related to food security and climate change in the coming decades: increasing food production while protecting against soil erosion, adapting to climate change impact on soil resource, and contributing to climate change mitigation. This CRP aims to (i) develop combinations of nuclear techniques to assess impacts of changes on soil erosion, and (ii) distinguish and apportion impacts of climate variability and agricultural management on soil erosion in upland agro-ecosystems.Nuclear techniques including Fallout Radionuclides (FRNs) such as caesium-137 (137Cs), lead-210 (210Pb), beryllium-7 (7Be) and plutonium-239 and 240 (239+240Pu), Compound-Specific Stable Isotope (CSSI) techniques based on the measurement of carbon-13 (13C) natural abundance signatures of specific organic compounds (i.e. fatty acid) and Cosmic Ray Soil Moisture Neutron Probe (CRNP) will be used to fulfil these specific objectives.
The CRP has great impact on scientific community working on soil erosion and sustainable land management. During the lifetime of CRP there increased significantly interest in soil erosion research in many Member States. It can be demonstrated by increasing number of TC projects, during this period (mainly three great regional TC projects and several new national projects. Recently the number of TC projects is much greater than before this CRP.
CRP Publications
Type
peer-reviewed article
Year
2018
Publication URL
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2017.09.020
Description
Meusburger, K., Porto, P., Mabit, L., La Spada, C., Arata, L., Alewell, C. (2018). Excess Lead-210 and Plutonium-239+240: Two suitable radiogenic soil erosion tracers for mountain grassland sites. Environmental Research, 160, 195–202.
Country/Organization
SWI; ITA; FAO/IAEA
Type
FAO Methodological handbook
Year
2017
Description
Fulajtar, E., Mabit, L., Renschler, C.S., Lee Zhi Yi, A. (2017). Use of 137Cs for soil erosion assessment. 76 pages. FAO Publication, Rome. ISBN: 978-92-5-130050-3.
Country/Organization
FAO
Type
peer-reviewed article
Year
2018
Publication URL
https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.3016
Description
Mabit, L., Bernard, C., Lee Zhi Yi, A., Fulajtar, L., Dercon, G., Zaman, M., Toloza, A., Heng, L. (2018b). Promoting the use of isotopic techniques to combat soil erosion: an overview of the key role played by the SWMCN Subprogramme of the Joint FAO/IAEA Division over the last 20 years. Land Degradation & Development, 29, 3077–3091.
Country/Organization
FAO/IAEA; CAN
Type
peer-reviewed article
Year
2016
Publication URL
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.05.008
Description
Arata, L., Meusburger, K., Frenkel, E., A’Campo-Neuen, A., Iurian, A.R., Ketterer, M.E., Mabit, L., Alewell, C. (2016a). Modelling Deposition and Erosion rates with RadioNuclides (MODERN) - Part 1: a new conversion model to derive soil redistribution rates from inventories of fallout radionuclides. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 162-163, 45–55.
Country/Organization
SWI; FAO/IAEA
Type
peer-reviewed article
Year
2017
Publication URL
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.07.009
Description
Alewell, C., Pitois, A., Meusburger, K., Ketterer, M., Mabit, L. (2017). 239+240Pu from “contaminant” to soil erosion tracer: Where do we stand?. Earth-Science Reviews, 172, 107–123.
Country/Organization
SWI; FAO/IAEA
Type
peer-reviewed article
Year
2016
Publication URL
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.05.009
Description
Arata, L., Alewell, C., Frenkel, E., A’Campo-Neuen, A., Iurian, A.R., Ketterer, M.E., Mabit, L., Meusburger, K. (2016b). Modelling Deposition and Erosion rates with RadioNuclides (MODERN) - Part 2: A comparison of different models to convert 239+240Pu inventories into soil redistribution rates at unploughed sites. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 162-163, 97–106.
Country/Organization
SWI; FAO/IAEA
Type
peer-reviewed article
Year
2018
Publication URL
https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.2815
Description
Porto, P., Walling, D.E., Callegari, G. (2018). Using repeated 137Cs and 210Pbex measurements to establish sediment budgets for different time windows and explore the effect of connectivity on soil erosion rates in a small experimental catchment in Southern Italy. Land Degradation & Development.
Country/Organization
ITA; UK
Type
peer-reviewed article
Year
2019
Publication URL
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-018-2205-y
Description
Khodadadi, M., Mabit, L., Zaman, M., Porto, P., Gorji, M. (2019). Using 137Cs and 210Pbex measurements to explore the effectiveness of soil conservation measures in semi-arid lands: a case study in the Kouhin region of Iran. Journal of Soils and Sediments.
Country/Organization
IRA; FAO/IAEA; ITA
Type
Open source Springer methodological handbook
Year
2019
Publication URL
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10982-0
Description
Mabit, L., Blake, W. (Eds.) (2019). Assessing Recent Soil Erosion Rates through the Use of Beryllium-7 (Be-7). Springer, Cham
Country/Organization
Springer (international publisher)
Type
peer-reviewed article
Year
2018
Publication URL
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30905-9
Description
Blake, W., Boeckx, P., Stock, B., Smith, H.G., Bode, S., Upadahayay, H.R., Gaspar, L., Goddard, R., Lennard, A., Lizaga, I., Lobb, D., Owens, P.N., Petticrew, E., Kuzyk, Z.Z., Gari, B., Munishi, L., Mtei, K., Munishi, L., Nebiyu, A., Mabit, L., Navas, A., Semmens, B., Lizaga, I. (2018). A deconvolutional Bayesian mixing model approach for river basin sediment source apportionment. Scientific Reports, 8:13073.
Country/Organization
UK; SPA; FAO/IAEA
Type
IAEA TECDOC
Year
2019
Description
IAEA. (2019). Guidelines for Sediment Tracing Using Compound Specific Carbon Stable Isotope Technique. IAEA TECDOC-1881.
Country/Organization
IAEA
Type
peer-reviewed article
Year
2016
Publication URL
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.06.026
Description
Porto, P., Walling, D.E., Cogliandro, V., Callegari, G. (2016). Exploring the potential for using 210Pbex measurements within a re-sampling approach to document recent changes in soil redistribution rates within a small catchment in southern Italy. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 164, 158–168.
Country/Organization
ITA; UK
Type
peer-reviewed article
Year
2018
Publication URL
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-018-1957-8
Description
Altieri, V., De Franco, S., Lombardi, F., Marziliano P.A., Menguzzato, G., Porto, P. (2018). The role of silvicultural systems and forest types in preventing soil erosion processes in mountain forests: a methodological approach using cesium-137 measurements. Journal of Soils and Sediments.
Country/Organization
ITA
Type
peer-reviewed article
Year
2018
Publication URL
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apradiso.2017.06.048
Description
Iurian, A.R., Millward, G.E., Sima, O., Taylor, A., Blake, W. (2018). Self-attenuation corrections for Pb-210 in gamma-ray spectrometry using well and coaxial HPGe detectors. Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 134, 151–156.
Country/Organization
UK
Type
peer-reviewed article
Year
2016
Publication URL
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.04.025
Description
Taylor, A., Keith-Roach, M.J., Iurian, A.R., Mabit, L., Blake, W.H. (2016). Temporal variability of beryllium-7 fallout in southwest UK. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 160, 80–86.
Country/Organization
UK; FAO/IAEA
Type
peer-reviewed article
Year
2017
Publication URL
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-3-113-2017.
Description
Arata, L., Meusburger, K., Bürge, A., Zehringer, M., Ketterer, M.E., Mabit, L., Alewell, C. (2017). Decision support for the selection of reference sites using 137Cs as soil erosion tracer. SOIL, 3, 113–122.
Country/Organization
SWI; FAO/IAEA
Type
peer-reviewed article
Year
2016
Publication URL
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.06.035
Description
Meusburger, K., Mabit, L., Ketterer, M., Park, J.H., Sandor, T., Porto, P., Alewell, C. (2016). A multi-radionuclide approach to evaluate the suitability of 239+240Pu as soil erosion tracer. Science of the Total Environment, 566-567, 1489–1499.
Country/Organization
SWI; ITA; FAO/IAEA
Type
peer-reviewed article
Year
2018
Publication URL
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2017.12.008
Description
Mabit, L., Gibbs, M., Mbaye, M., Meusburger, K., Toloza, A., Resch, C., Klik, A., Swales, A., Alewell, C. (2018a). Novel application of a Compound Specific Stable Isotope (CSSI) technique to investigate on-site sediment origins across arable fields. Geoderma, 316, 19–26.
Country/Organization
FAO/IAEA; AUS; NZE; SWI
Type
peer-reviewed article
Year
2016
Publication URL
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265931X15301521
Description
Rabesiranana, N., Rasolonirina, M., Solonjara, A.F., Ravoson, H.N., Raoelina Andriambololona, Mabit, L. (2016). Assessment of soil redistribution rates by 137Cs and 210Pbex in a typical Malagasy agricultural field. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 152, 112–118.
Country/Organization
MAG; FAO/IAEA
