Depressional wetlands in the Great Plains are experiencing watershed alterations that impact the provisioning of important ecosystem services, which are unmonitored on a large scale (Smith et al. 2011). The Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS) Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) determines the effects of conservation programs on ecosystem service provisioning across the nation

Soil erosion is a natural process, and the erosion potential of a site is the result of complex interactions among soil, vegetation, topographic position, land use and management, and climate. Soil erosion occurs when aeolian and hydrologic processes exceed a soil’s inherent resistance to these forces (figures 1 and 2). Soil erosion was recognized as a significant problem at both local and national

The dairy farm sector has been the backbone of rural communities throughout the northeastern United States for more than 100 years. Beyond this important heritage, the region’s dairy farms drive economic activity in its rural communities. However, from late 2014 through September of 2020, the farmgate price of milk has been below the cost of production for most dairy farms in the region (Farm Credit

The Wetlands Component of the USDA’s Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP-Wetlands) is a multi-agency effort advancing science related to quantifying and interpreting effects and effectiveness of conservation practices and programs on ecosystem services provided by wetlands in agricultural landscapes. This special section originated from a symposium held at the 73rd Soil and Water Conservation

This paper provides an overview of studies conducted under the USDA Mid-Atlantic Regional Wetland Conservation Effects Assessment Project (MIAR study). Under the MIAR effort, numerous studies were conducted to (1) quantify ecosystem functions provided by restored wetlands by comparing functions within depressional nontidal wetlands with a varying degree of alteration (i.e., natural wetlands, restored

The intermixed cropland, grassland, and wetland ecosystems of the upper mid-western United States combine to provide a suite of valuable ecological services. Grassland and wetland losses in the upper midwestern United States have been extensive, but government-funded conservation programs have protected and restored hundreds of thousands of acres of wetland and grassland habitat in the region. The

Considerable effort and resources have been placed into conservation programs designed to reduce or alleviate negative environmental effects of crop production and into evaluation of the benefits of these programs. Wetlands are an important source of ecosystem services, but modeling wetland plants is an emerging science. To date, wetland plant growth has not been explicitly accounted for in ecosystem

Since most wetlands in the Sacramento Valley of California are dependent on artificial water delivery, supplying water for wetland management is the greatest challenge to wetland managers, especially during drought years. Efforts are needed to improve the security of water supplies for optimal habitat management and water quality improvement. This study contributes to these efforts by developing an

As anthropogenic disturbance continues to degrade wetland condition in many geographic areas, it is imperative to inventory wetland functions to monitor potential loss of associated ecosystem services. Field-based functional assessments are resource intensive, prohibiting their widespread application at landscape scales. This obstacle can be avoided by basing functional assessments on publicly available

Rapid water infiltration is important for improving water storage and reducing erosion potential in arid and semiarid areas. Taprooted crops are sometimes credited with improving water infiltration. In a study repeated over three years, we tested whether adding a single brassica crop year to the traditional wheat ( Triticum aestivum )–summer fallow rotation would improve water infiltration. We found

Check dams are widely distributed and abundant on the Chinese Loess Plateau and play an important role both in reducing damage from flash floods and in retaining sediment. Some check dams are destroyed either partially or fully during rainstorms. The investigation of the actual damage caused to check dams as a result of specific rainstorm floods is of great value for analyzing their effects and failure

Soil hydraulic properties are important for water management in salt and sodium (Na) affected soils. The soil saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) has been found to decrease when high soil solution Na adsorption ratio (SAR) is coupled with low solution electrical conductivity (EC). Soil clay type plays an important role in changes to soil Ksat when the soil solution composition has a high SAR and

Excessive sediment loading to streams can harm benthic species habitat. Human driven land cover and land use changes increase soil erosion and sediment loading rates over time. Conservation and management agencies are increasingly restoring vegetation along riparian zones as a means to protect water quality and instream habitat; however, time and funding are limited. Widespread habitat degradation

Volume 75(4), p. 518: Table 2 should appear as follows: View this table: Table 2 Physicochemical properties of mine soil (MS) and artificial soil …

D ense networks of rivers, canals, ditches, dikes, sluice gates, and compartmented fields have enabled the farms of the Red River Delta to produce 18% of Vietnam's rice ( Oryza sativa ) crop (figure 1), 26% of the country's vegetable crops, and 20% of capture and farmed aquaculture (Redfern et al. 2012). Agriculture in this fertile delta was transformed in the 11th and 13th century AD by large-scale

W ater resources throughout the north central region of the United States have traditionally been abundant and of high quality. However, increasing demands from agriculture and urban growth, exacerbated by a changing climate, are putting pressures on water quality. Holistic and science-based management strategies can improve water quality, although the definition of “water quality” might depend on

C an regenerative agriculture (RA) produce an adequate amount of nutritious food for the growing and increasingly affluent world population while also reducing and offsetting some anthropogenic emissions? The question may be reframed: how can RA be adapted to produce enough food, be a negative emission technology, and advance Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (2015)? System-based

The southeastern United States observed a widespread expansion in area under irrigation over the past half century, primarily due to inadequate rainfall during crop growing season. In this region, El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a seasonal-to-interannual climate-variability phenomena, may result in bringing suitable precipitation in any year while generating extremes of too much or too little

One of the major causes of poverty globally is land degradation and poor natural resource conservation, leading to reduced agricultural productivity. This degradation is often caused by a mismatch between land use and land potential, specifically using marginal lands for agriculture. For over 50 years the Land Capability Classification (LCC) system has been used globally for land evaluation to support

In this study, we analyzed changes in the water and sediment properties in the Yellow River during the flood season, which is the period with the largest runoff yield and sediment load in this river. The aim of this study was to understand the impact of water and soil conservation measures during this crucial season, and we focused on the Huangfuchuan drainage basin as the study region. We analyzed

Sustainability of agriculture with no-tillage (NT) production requires appropriate cover cropping and not a simple and random approach of any cover crop species. However, relatively little is known of the long-term soil surface impacts of different cover crops in rotation with soybean ( Glycine max ) under NT in the tropics. We evaluated the impacts of different cover crops on soil aggregation, soil

The purpose of the study was to assess the possibility of cultivation of maize ( Zea mays L.) on marginal soils polluted by heavy metals. The research was conducted on a Stagnic Luvisol soil that varied in terms of pH and the degree of heavy metal (cadmium [Cd], copper [Cu], and zinc [Zn]) contamination. The usefulness of maize for cultivation on contaminated soils was assessed on the basis of indicators

Excess agricultural nitrogen (N) in the environment is a persistent problem in the United States and other regions of the world, contributing to water and air pollution, as well as to climate change. Efforts to reduce N from agricultural sources largely rely on voluntary efforts by farmers to reduce inputs and improve uptake by crops. However, research has failed to comprehensively depict farmers'

Saline water irrigation has been widely used for crop production where agriculture is short of freshwater. To reveal the responses of soil environment and cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum L.) growth to long-term irrigation with saline water, a 10-year (2006 to 2015) experiment was carried out to study the effects of saline water irrigation on soil physico-chemical properties, as well as the yield and fiber

Agricultural nutrient runoff and leaching into groundwater can impose societal costs that may be external to farmer decisions. Farmers can reduce the environmental impact of nutrient losses by adopting conservation and precision nutrient diagnostic and application practices. We examine the determinants of adoption decisions of such practices using mail survey data from a large, stratified sample of

Erosion pavements occur commonly in many semiarid watersheds due to selective erosion. However, quantitative information regarding the dynamic feedback between soil erosion, surface morphology, and flow hydraulics as erosion pavement develops is limited. In order to quantify the spatiotemporal evolution of rock cover and surface roughness, and measure their effects on flow velocities as erosion pavement

Conversion of grassland to cropland in the US Prairie Pothole Region is of longstanding concern. The region's grasslands are carbon (C) sinks and provide important breeding grounds for many migratory bird species. Crop production requires more input use, potentially increasing pollution in the greater Mississippi watershed. Previous analyses of land conversion in the Prairie Pothole Region generally

T he fast-moving coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic engulfed the world within four months from December to March of 2020, with long-lasting impacts on social, economic, political, educational, and scientific programs. It exacerbated risks of food and nutritional insecurity for a large segment of society, and threats of disruption in the food supply chain may be aggravated by climate change

I n the United States, roads are prominent across the landscape, negatively impacting wildlife and ecological processes via road mortality (Brady and Richardson 2017). The extensive roadway system in the United States requires consistent maintenance that results in soil erosion potential. For example, as of August of 2019 in Texas, there were 6,739 active roadway projects, with another 6,448 projects

I mproving soil health is increasingly recognized by farmers, researchers, policymakers, and agribusiness as a solution to a number of challenges facing agriculture, including rising soil degradation, growing climate change risks, and declining water quality (FAO 2011; Webb et al. 2017; Zimnicki et al. 2020). As a result of this additional focus on soil health, a number of new policy initiatives are

V egetated riparian buffers can trap and treat pollutants in runoff from agricultural uplands, thereby protecting stream water quality and the integrity of aquatic systems (Liu et al. 2008; Dosskey et al. 2010). The effectiveness of a buffer in achieving these goals depends on buffer design, buffer extent (i.e., stream length occupied), distributions of hydrologic flows through the buffer in time and

T he state of Iowa is a national leader in applying the watershed approach to improve water quality. In addition to protecting and improving local water resources, this effort is inspired by calls from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) for states in the Mississippi River Basin to reduce hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico (Stoner 2011; Beauvais 2016). The Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy

The Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF) is an approach to precision conservation for agricultural watershed planning, which is supported by high-resolution watershed data providing spatial detail on land use, soil survey, and topography, which, in turn, are analyzed using an ArcGIS toolbox to identify conservation practice placement options for water quality improvement. A variety of

Increases in the frequency of floods are leading watershed planners to encourage practices that can attenuate surface runoff. Water detention practices that are distributed watershed wide are one approach being considered. Several water detention practices also provide wetlands that carry habitat and water quality benefits. How should planners set planning goals to realize these benefits? This editorial

Farmer engagement is an integral component of conservation planning, with increased emphasis on precision placement of conservation practices. Conservation planners are increasingly turning to tools like the Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF)—a decision support tool (DST) that provides a menu-driven approach to conservation planning. Scholarship on human dimensions of precision conservation

The saturated riparian buffer (SRB) is a new and cost-effective conservation practice that diverts agricultural tile drainage toward subsurface discharge within riparian buffers to achieve nitrate (NO3-N) removal. Conservation planners want to understand the potential role of the SRB practice for reducing NO3-N loads from tile-drained agricultural watersheds. The Agricultural Conservation Planning

Precision conservation planning tools can use high-resolution data to identify conservation practice-placement options for watershed improvement plans. Use of these tools across multiple watersheds could help to identify regional conservation strategies. This study evaluated practice-placement options determined using the Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF) ArcGIS tools for controlled

The emergence of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has resulted in a new era of remote sensing, especially for applications requiring accurate image classification. This paper describes an automatic method for identifying soil and water conservation (SWC) measures from the centimeter-resolution imagery of UAVs using an object-based image analysis (OBIA) approach and machine learning models, and a support

Sustainable agricultural production requires an inclusive framework that concurrently considers the impacts of production methods on soil health, crop productivity, and crop nutritional quality. However, few studies have directly examined the potential associations among management impacts on soil health (SH), crop productivity, and crop quality. We evaluated these linkages in a continuous maize experiment

Soil health (SH) is important to the economics and environmental impacts of crop production, including coffee ( Coffea spp.) culture. This study was conducted to gain insights into farmers' perceptions related to SH concepts and their realities on Colombian coffee farms. A total of 223 soil samples were collected from 145 coffee farms in Cauca, Colombia, that vary by municipality, their membership

Cover cropping is an effective management practice for reducing nitrogen (N) losses to the environment from agriculture fields in the Upper Mississippi River Basin (UMRB). Cereal rye (CR; Secale cereale L.) and hairy vetch (HV; Vicia villosa Roth) are two of the most common cover crop species grown in the UMRB. Few studies have examined the effect of corn ( Zea mays L.) or soybean ( Glycine max L.)

Eroded mine soils are a serious environmental problem in many parts of the world. Coal gasification slag, a byproduct of the coal gasification process, was modified with sludge-derived amino acids for the purpose of remediating eroded mine soils. Amino acid–modified magnetic coal gasification slag (AMS) was evaluated for its ability to decrease heavy metal erosion, improve soil aggregate structure

Liquid manures are typically applied via surface broadcasting; however, subsurface injection is an alternative characterized by greater nutrient retention and a spatially distinct application pattern, altering management strategies and nutrient cycling dynamics. Thus, a field study was conducted from spring of 2016 through fall of 2018 on seven sites to assess pre-sidedress nitrate test (PSNT) methodology

Soil erosion by water is a serious ecological and environmental problem worldwide. Rainfall erosivity (RE), as well as its relationship to rainfall amount (erosivity density [ED]), is one of the most important factors influencing soil erosion as it measures the capability of rainfall to erode soils. Improving knowledge of the changing characteristics of RE and ED and their response to extreme precipitation

Freezing saline water irrigation (FSWI) in winter has been shown to be an effective way to reclaim heavy saline soils. In this four-year experiment, the salt leaching process during saline ice melting and infiltration after FSWI was investigated. Saline water was frozen in saline ice on top of soil after irrigation. Over 70 or 80 days of ice melting and infiltration, ice and soil samples were taken

Pollutants can be reduced, ameliorated, or assimilated when riparian ecosystems have the vegetation, water, and soil/landform needed for riparian functions. Loss of physical form and ecological function unravels assimilation processes, increasing supply and transport of pollutants. Water quality and aquatic organisms are response measures of accumulated upstream discharges, and ultimately of changes