Natural Resource Ecology and Management Natural Resource Ecology and Management Conference Papers, Posters and Presentations 2016 Improving Soil Erosion Prevention in Greece with New Tools G. N. Zaimes Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology K. Ioannou Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology V. Iakovoglou Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology I. Kosmadakis Aristotle University of Thessaloniki P. Koutalakis Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/nrem_conf Part of the Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons, Environmental Monitoring Commons, Natural Resources and Conservation Commons, and the Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons Recommended Citation Zaimes, G. N.; Ioannou, K.; Iakovoglou, V.; Kosmadakis, I.; Koutalakis, P.; Ranis, G.; Emmanouloudis, D.; and Schultz, R. C., "Improving Soil Erosion Prevention in Greece with New Tools" (2016). Natural Resource Ecology and Management Conference Papers, Posters and Presentations. 25. http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/nrem_conf/25 This Conference Proceeding is brought to you for free and open access by the Natural Resource Ecology and Management at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Natural Resource Ecology and Management Conference Papers, Posters and Presentations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Improving Soil Erosion Prevention in Greece with New Tools Abstract Unsustainable anthropogenic activities such as agriculture and urbanization have caused excessive erosion rates that exceed soil formation rates. The eM diterranean region has and continues to experience severe erosion because of the inappropriate agricultural management, overgrazing, deforestation, wildfires, land abandonment, intense road construction and other construction activities. The forecasted increase of intensive rainfall events and prolonged drought periods due to climate change, will enhance surface runoff nda sediment transport capacity. The bjo ective of this study was to develop new tools to help land managers mitigate erosion in the country of Greece. One of the tools was a new sensor (ASEMS) that is based on the physical properties of ultrasound to detect erosion locally with great accuracy (1 mm), while simultaneously measuring precipitation, soil moisture, and soil and air temperature. The other tool was the development of the Soil Erosion Integrated Information System (SE-I2S) that enables land managers through a series of questions to understand if they are facing erosion problems and what type of erosion. This tool can be applied to large areas. Overall, both new tools are user friendly and help land managers mitigate soil erosion cost- effectively. Keywords climate change, integrated information system, automated measurements, continuous measurements, dissemination Disciplines Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment | Environmental Monitoring | Natural Resources and Conservation | Natural Resources Management and Policy Comments This proceeding was published as Zaimes, G.N., K. Ioannou, V. Iakovoglou, I. Kosmadakis, P. Koutalakis, G. Ranis, D. Emmanouloudis, & R.C. Schultz. 2016. Improving soil erosion prevention in Greece with new tools. Journal of Engineering Science and Technology Review 9 (2): 66-71. Posted with permission. Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License Authors G. N. Zaimes, K. Ioannou, V. Iakovoglou, I. Kosmadakis, P. Koutalakis, G. Ranis, D. Emmanouloudis, and R. C. Schultz This conference proceeding is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/nrem_conf/25 JOURNAL OF Journal of Engineering Science and Technology Review 9 (1) (2016) 66-71 Engineering Science and estr Technology Review J Research Article www.jestr.org Improving Soil Erosion Prevention in Greece with New Tools G. N. Zaimes1*, K. Ioannou1, V. Iakovoglou1, I. Kosmadakis2, P. Koutalakis1, G. Ranis3, D. Emmanouloudis1, and R. C. Schultz4 1Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology, Dept. of Forestry and Natural Environment Management, Drama, Greece; 2 Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Sciences, School of Physics, Thessaloniki, Greece; 3 Greek Forest Service, Thasos, Greece; 4 Iowa State University, Depts. of Natural Resource Ecology and Management and the Global Resource Systems, Environmental Science and Sustainable Agriculture Programs, Ames. Iowa, USA; Received 1 April 2016; Accepted 22 May 2016 ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract Unsustainable anthropogenic activities such as agriculture and urbanization have caused excessive erosion rates that exceed soil formation rates. The Mediterranean region has and continues to experience severe erosion because of the inappropriate agricultural management, overgrazing, deforestation, wildfires, land abandonment, intense road construction and other construction activities. The forecasted increase of intensive rainfall events and prolonged drought periods due to climate change, will enhance surface runoff and sediment transport capacity. The objective of this study was to develop new tools to help land managers mitigate erosion in the country of Greece. One of the tools was a new sensor (ASEMS) that is based on the physical properties of ultrasound to detect erosion locally with great accuracy (1 mm), while simultaneously measuring precipitation, soil moisture, and soil and air temperature. The other tool was the development of the Soil Erosion Integrated Information System (SE-I2S) that enables land managers through a series of questions to understand if they are facing erosion problems and what type of erosion. This tool can be applied to large areas. Overall, both new tools are user friendly and help land managers mitigate soil erosion cost-effectively. Keywords: climate change, integrated information system, automated measurements, continuous measurements, dissemination ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Introduction loss of aquatic and land biodiversity, land degradation and desertification [6,7]. Soil erosion threatens the Soil erosion is one of the most serious threats worldwide sustainability of natural and water resources as well as the [1] because of the multiplier effects it can have on society environment. (decrease in food production, environmental problems The Mediterranean region has been inhabited by etc.). The exponential increase of the world's population humans for thousands of years and many believe that it has led to the transformation of naturally vegetated area has been impacted by humans more than any other region into agricultural (because of the need to increase food [8]. In addition, it is a semi-arid and arid region that production) and urban areas (areas to house people). limits vegetation growth and cover making it even more These anthropogenic activities have increased soil susceptible to erosion. Soil erosion rates can be very high erosion rates that substantially exceed soil formation rates since large areas on steep slopes with fragile soils have [2, 3]. Pimentel and Kounang [4] reported that 75 billion limited vegetation cover, while the long dry periods make metric tons of soil are removed yearly, primarily from them even more vulnerable to intensive erosive rainfall agricultural lands. Consequently many scientists consider events [9, 10, 11]. In addition, socio-economic changes soil erosion as serious a threat as climate change. during the past century in the region has led to the Soil erosion can cause many and diverse problems. frequent abandonment of agricultural fields that can be The most obvious is the loss of the fertile topsoil of heavily impacted by erosion [12]. Finally, the frequent agricultural areas that ultimately decrease its productivity wildfires that this region experiences also exacerbates soil [5, 6]. As a result more fertilizers are used thus increasing erosion [13]. Conservation measures should be a priority food cost or in the worst case the lands are abandoned. in order to maintain sustainability, especially in areas that With 99% of the world food coming from the soil [6] its are subject to inappropriate agricultural practices, protection is a necessity in association with the overgrazing, deforestation, wildfires, land abandonment, exponential growth of the world's population. intense road construction and other construction activities Excessive soil erosion also leads to the siltation of [14, 15]. streams and lakes, eutrophication of surface water bodies, Another important issue that should be considered is the forecasted climate change for the Mediterranean ______________ * E-mail address: [email protected] region. It has been forecasted that precipitation intensities ISSN: 1791-2377 © 2016 Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology. will increase [16] that should lead to higher surface All rights reserved. runoff volumes and increased sediment transport capacity. In addition, prolonged droughts have also been G. N. Zaimes, K. Ioannou, V. Iakovoglou, I. Kosmadakis, P. Koutalakis, G. Ranis, D. Emmanouloudis, and R. C. Schultz/ Journal of Engineering Science and Technology Review 9 (2) (2016) 66-71 forecasted [16] that should