The Green Revolution in India has achieved self-sufficiency in food production. However, in the state of Haryana this has resulted in continuous environmental degradation, particularly of soil, vegetation and water resources. Soil organic matter levels are declining and the use of chemical inputs is intensifying. Newly introduced crop varieties have been responsive to inputs but this has necess...

[1] Summer soil moisture increased significantly from 1958 to the mid 1990s in Ukraine and Russia. This trend cannot be explained by changes in precipitation and temperature alone. To investigate the possible contribution from solar dimming and upward CO2 trends, we conducted experiments with a sophisticated land surface model. We demonstrate, by imposing a downward trend in incoming shortwave ...

Extreme weather conditions with negative impacts can strongly affect agricultural production. In the Danjiangkou reservoir area, citrus yields were greatly influenced by cold weather conditions and drought stress in 2011. Soil straw mulching (SM) practices have a major effect on soil water and thermal regimes. A two-year field experiment was conducted to evaluate whether the SM practices can he...

We assess the significance of groundwater storage for seasonal streamflow forecasts by evaluating its contribution to interannual streamflow anomalies in the 29 tributary sub-basins of the Colorado River. Monthly and annual changes in total basin storage are simulated by two implementations of the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) macroscale hydrology model – the standard release of the mode...

Using a global model of continental water balance, forced by interannual variations in precipitation and near-surface atmospheric temperature for the period 1981-1998, we estimate the sea-level changes associated with climate-driven changes in storage of water as snowpack, soil water, and ground water; storage in ice sheets and large lakes is not considered. The 1981-1998 trend is estimated to ...

Understanding water uptake and transport through the soil-plant continuum is vital for ecosystem management and agricultural water use. Plant water uptake under natural conditions is a non-steady transient flow controlled by root distribution, plant configuration, soil hydraulics, and climatic conditions. Despite significant progress in model development, a mechanistic description of transient ...

Astiani D, Mujiman, Curran LM. 2017. Trees of tropical peatland forest influence on variability of water and carbon input through stemflow. Biodiversitas 18: 383-388. Hydrology controls the chemical and biotic processes in peatlands, influencing interactions among vegetation, nutrient dynamics, and carbon fluxes. The effects of forest degradation revealed severe changes in the hydrological cycl...

The soil mantle in Namaqualand is immature in terms of weathering. Despite or even because of this, the diversity and spatial variability of soil physical and chemical properties is exceptionally high and could be fundamental in governing biodiversity and ecosystem function. In arid landscapes, the way the soil sheds, admits, stores, diverts and transmits water is crucially important. Namaquala...

Automated electronic soil moisture sensors, such as time domain reflectometry (TDR) and capacitance probes are being used extensively to monitor and measure soil moisture in a variety of scientific and land management applications. These sensors are often used for a wide range of soil moisture applications such as drought forage prediction or validation of large-scale remote sensing instruments...