Large-scale modeling of soil erosion with rusle for conservationist planning of degraded cultivated brazilian pastures.

Pasture degradation is one of the major environmental and economic problems of Brazilian livestock production. Based on the estimates of soil loss in 140,297 km2 pasturelands of Goiás State and the Federal District, the effects of land use and management and conservation practices on soil erosion by...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: GALDINO, S., SANO, E. E., ANDRADE, R. G., GREGO, C. R., NOGUEIRA, S. F., BRAGANTINI, C., FLOSI, A. H. G.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2015
País:Brasil
Institución:Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Embrapa)
Repositorio:Repositório Institucional da EMBRAPA (Repository Open Access to Scientific Information from EMBRAPA - Alice)
Idioma:portugués
OAI Identifier:oai:www.alice.cnptia.embrapa.br:doc/1028371
Acceso en línea:http://www.alice.cnptia.embrapa.br/alice/handle/doc/1028371
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Soil loss
Geographic Information System
RUSLE
USLE
Remote sensing
Descripción
Sumario:Pasture degradation is one of the major environmental and economic problems of Brazilian livestock production. Based on the estimates of soil loss in 140,297 km2 pasturelands of Goiás State and the Federal District, the effects of land use and management and conservation practices on soil erosion by water were evaluated. Soil loss was estimated with the empirical revised universal soil loss equation model under four scenarios of land use and management of pastures and the implementation of terraces. The effects of converting hilly areas into permanently preserved areas were also evaluated. Well-managed pastures planted in terraces and highly sloped areas with native vegetation featured a reduction of 709% in the rate of soil erosion by water in comparison with poorly managed pastures without soil conservation practices. The environmental consequences of pasture degradation become particularly important when they are associated with land use in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes because farmers in these regions are forced to open new natural areas. In addition, the high indices of bare soil in degraded pastures contribute significantly to sediment deposition in rivers and dams. The modeling of soil loss is demonstrated to be an important tool for land use planning and supporting public policies focused on the sustainable use of natural resources. The results of these simulations demonstrate the importance of actions to recover degraded pastures, such as the Federal Government?s program known as ABC (Low Carbon Agriculture).