Pier Paolo Roggero

• Full prof of Agro-ecology
• Director at University of Sassari

Remote sensing with Unpiloted Aerial Systems can provide information on the Nitrogen status of forage crops more quickly than destructive sampling techniques, which are not compliant with the need for fast and sustainable methodologies to support farmers' decisions on livestock feeding. The study aimed to assess a remote sensing algorithm based on...

The provision of ecosystem services from Mediterranean permanent grasslands is threatened due to shifting management practices and environmental pressures. This observational study tested the hypothesis that Land Surface Phenology (LSP) parameters from high-resolution satellite data can characterize various permanent grasslands to support conservat...

Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) is known to tolerate high concentrations of soil contaminants which however can limit its biomass yield. On the other hand, organic-based amendments such as biochar can immobilize soil contaminants and assist hemp growth in soils contaminated by potentially toxic elements (PTEs), allowing for environmental recovery and inc...

The combination of soil amendments with plants can be a viable option for restoring the functionality of PTEs-contaminated soils. Soil recovery could be further optimized through the mixed cropping of plant species (e.g. legumes and grasses) with different physiological characteristics. The aim of this study was to assess the phytoremediation abili...

Compost from municipal solid waste (MSWC) can represent a resource for the environmental management of soils contaminated with potentially toxic elements (PTEs), since it can reduce their mobility and improve soil fertility. However, the long-term impact of compost on soil recovery has been poorly investigated. To this end, the influence of a MSWC...

Partial shifts from animal-based to plant-based proteins in human diets could reduce environmental pressure from food systems and serve human health. Grain legumes can play an important role here. They are one of the few agricultural commodities for which Europe is not nearly self-sufficient. Here, we assessed area expansion and yield increases nee...

Increased fluorine pollution represents a serious limitation for the productivity of important crops such as beans. The present study was conducted to detect antagonistic/synergistic ion mobility during seed germination in the presence of F contamination (KF and NaF). NaCl was used as a benchmark. The results showed that germination of Jesca, an Af...

Compost from municipal solid waste (MSWC) can represent a resource for the environmental management of soils contaminated with potentially toxic elements (PTEs), since it can reduce their mobility and improve soil fertility. However, the long-term impact of compost on soil recovery has been poorly investigated. To this end, the influence of a MSWC...

The oversowing of legume-rich mixtures is a management practice gaining importance in Mediterranean silvopastoral farms due to enhanced forage production, quality, and ecosystem service provision. However, the oversowing of legume species can be expensive in silvopastoral farms due to the high cost of legume seeds and seeding operations and low per...

Adaptive Multi-Paddock (AMP) is a grazing system which combines intensive, rapid grazing livestock rotation with relatively short grazing periods and long recovery time after grazing. The study assesses, under Mediterranean silvopastoral systems, changes in pasture phenology and spatial variability after adopting the AMP under contrasting land cove...

In forest ecosystems, soil-plant interactions drive the physical, chemical, and biological soil properties and, through soil organic matter cycling, control the dynamics of nutrient cycles. Parent material also plays a fundamental role in determining soil's chemical properties and nutrient availability. In this study, eight long-time coppice-manage...

In Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZ), the impact of animal effluent management on soil fertility is essential. A three-year study was carried out in a NVZ (Arborea, Central-western Sardinia, Italy), aiming to analyze the effect of different fertilization systems on soluble and total soil organic matter (SOM) within a silage maize-hay crop cropping sys...

This study assesses the ability of an ensemble of crop models (MME) to predict the impacts of fertilization and crop residue management on soil organic carbon (SOC) and aboveground biomass (AGB) in a long-term experiment (LTE) based on continuous maize cropping systems. Data from a LTE in Northern Italy were used. Treatments included continuous gra...

This research aims to test a Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) technique based on Forested Infiltration Areas (FIAs) to reduce the groundwater nitrate contamination of a sandy phreatic aquifer in the Arborea NVZ (Sardinia, Italy). The FIA system in Arborea will be supplied with drainage water having an average NO3 concentration of 70 mg L−1, pumped fr...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the vulnerability of groundwater to contamination in the Arborea Coastal Aquifer (ACA) on the Sardinia Island (Italy), which is a part of the Mediterranean basin, using the modified AHP-DRASTICLu method based on the Geographical Information System (GIS). In this context, in addition to the criteria, namely;...

Fluoride (F) pollution is a global environmental problem representing a severe risk for food and vegetables grown in contaminated soils. Phaseolus vulgaris L. is widely cultivated in arid and semi-arid regions and in F contaminated areas of the world. For that reason, F tolerance during germination and seedling growth was evaluated for four bean ge...

Coastal areas around the Mediterranean basin concentrate population, multi-sector economic activities and agricultural activities. This induces an important need in fresh water and high solicitation of coastal aquifers, which can lead to salt water intrusion. This issue, added to contaminated surface water percolating towards the aquifer, and along...

This study evaluated the influence of a municipal solid waste compost (MSWC) and monocalcium phosphate (MCP), alone or combined, on the mobility, toxicity, bioavailability and health risk of fluoride (1000 mg F− ·kg−1) in an artificially polluted soil (pH 7.85). The addition of MCP (0.2% w/w) and MSWC (1% w/w) (alone and combined) to the contaminat...

In forest ecosystems, a variety of abiotic and biotic soil forming factors drives soil organic matter (SOM) and nutrients cycling with a profitable outcome on climate change mitigation. As a consequence, type and intensity of forest management, through its impact on carbon (C) and nutrient soil stocks, can be considered as an additional soil formin...

The beef cattle livestock system in Sardinia is based on suckler cows, often belonging to autochthonous breeds such as Sarda, grazing in the context of silvopastoral systems (SPSs). The livestock grazing behaviour and spatial distribution are critical factors for the design of sustainable grazing management in SPSs. The Global Positioning System (G...

Background There is a long-term trend towards the abandonment of agro-pastoral activities in the mountain areas of Europe: the following encroachment process of semi-natural grasslands by shrubs is one of the main severe threats to the conservation of biodiversity in mountain environments. To better understand the impact of land abandonment, we ana...

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is one of the most cultivated oil crops in the world. Given its high dependence on water availability, its cultivation in the Mediterranean area is severely threatened by climate change: very hot and dry weather conditions currently occurring in the Mediterranean area have a negative impact on sunflower yield. Many...

Exploiting typical allelopathic molecules released from the glucosinolate-myrosinase system could represent a sustainable strategy for weed management in the near future. The present study investigates the potential bioherbicidal efficacy of Eruca sativa cv. Nemat defatted seed meals (EDSM) in two independent experiments: the first one explored air...

Although coppice forests represent a significant part of the European forest area, especially across southern Countries, they received little attention within the Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) processes and scenarios, whose guidelines have been mainly designed to high forests and national scale. In order to obtain “tailored” information on th...

Mediterranean silvopastoral systems provide a wide range of ecosystem services, among which soil C sequestration is one of the most relevant. Although the role of trees in enhancing soil C content of silvopastoral systems is widely recognized, the impacts of the tree cover on the overall soil C balance and hence the soil C sequestration rates are n...

Fluoride (F) pollution is a global environmental problem representing a severe risk for food and vegetables grown in contaminated soils. Phaseolus vulgaris L. is widely cultivated in arid and semi-arid regions and in F contaminated areas of the world. F tolerance during germination and seedling growth was evaluated for four bean ecotypes: Borlotto...

Water-repellent soils usually experience water flow impedance during the early stage of a wetting process followed by progressive increase of infiltration rate. Current infiltration models are not formulated to describe this peculiar process. Similarly, simplified methods of soil hydraulic characterization (e.g., BEST) are not equipped to handle wa...

Understanding linkages between heterogeneous soil structures and non-uniform flow is fundamental for interpreting infiltration processes and improving hydrological simulations. Here, we utilized ground-penetrating radar (GPR) as a non-invasive technique to investigate those linkages and to complement current traditional methods that are labor-inten...

In this work we report a lipidomics approach to study the effects of two diet systems on the composition of ovine milk. Milk from two groups of Sarda sheep grazing on 40% (P40) and 60% (P60) of pasture were analyzed by a UHPLC-QTOF-MS analytical platform and data submitted to multivariate statistical analysis. Pairwise partial least square discrimi...

The ongoing climate change, which is threatening grassland agroecosystems throughout Europe, is also evident in the Italian grasslands. These systems, often located in marginal areas, are species-rich ecosystems characterized by variable, and often unreliable, grass and forage production and strongly dependent on interactions between climate, soil...

Although a strong connection between the environmental fluoride contamination and the fluorosis disease is nowadays worldwide well documented, the knowledge on the fluoride contamination levels of cultivated crops at the basis of the human food-chain is limited and fragmented. Adopting a systematic approach, this study reviews the available literat...

Highlights - Water Treatment Residuals, Red Muds, Municipal Solid Waste Compost and Biochar can reduce labile PTE in contaminated soils. - When used as amendments, WTR, RM, MSWC and BCH improve soil chemical fertility of PTE-polluted soils. - WTR, RM, MSWC and BCH stimulate soil enzyme activity and heterotrophic bacterial abundance in PTE-polluted...

Assisted phytoremediation, i.e. the combination of amendment and plant cultivation to remove potentially toxic elements (PTE) from soil, or to reduce their mobility and toxicity, can represent an effective gentle remediation option for the recovery of PTE-contaminated soils. The aim of this study was to evaluate the suitability of different grass a...

Despite covering only 0.82% of the ocean’s surface, the Mediterranean Sea supports up to 18% of all known marine species, with 21% being listed as vulnerable and 11% as endangered. The acceler- ated spread of tropical non-indigenous species is leading to the “tropicalization” of Mediterranean fauna and flora as a result of warming and extreme heat...

The suitability for aided phytoremediation of Cynara cardunculus L. var. altilis and municipal solid waste compost (MSWC) applied at 2% and 4 % rates was evaluated in a multi potentially toxic element (PTE)-contaminated mining soil (Pb ~ 15,383 mg kg-1, Zn ~ 4076 mg kg-1, As ~ 49 mg kg-1, Cd ~ 67 mg kg-1, Cu ~ 181 mg kg-1, and Sb ~ 109 mg kg-1). Th...

To counteract fluoride (F) stress-induced adverse effects on plants, one approach is the application of exogenous potential osmoprotectants such as proline (Pro) and glycinebetaine (GB). This experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of exogenous application of Pro and GB on germination and growth of common bean seeds after potassium fluor...

Mediterranean Ecosystem report on Climate and Global changes. Balzan MV, Hassoun AER, Aroua N, Baldy V, Bou Dagher M, Branquinho C, Dutay J-C, El Bour M, Médail F, Mojtahid M, Morán-Ordóñez A, Roggero PP, Rossi Heras S, Schatz B, Vogiatzakis IN, Zaimes GN, Ziveri P 2020 Ecosystems. In: Climate and Environmental Change in the Mediterranean Basin –...

Marine ecosystems: Despite covering only 0.82% of the ocean’s surface, the Mediterranean Sea supports up to 18% of all known marine species, with 21% being listed as vulnerable and 11% as endangered. The accelerated spread of tropical non-indigenous species is leading to the “tropicalization” of Mediterranean fauna and flora as a result of warming...

Plant diversity and proxy indicators of ecosystem services were assessed for three structural components of Mediterranean silvopastoral agroforestry systems: WL = cork oak woodlands, WG = cork oak wood grasslands, and OG = open grasslands. Our study was conducted in a long-term observatory located in NE Sardinia, characterized by fragmented land ow...

BACKGROUND The East African Rift Valley (EARV) area is characterized by an intense volcanic activity, which largely influences the nature of soils, ground and surface waters causing a transfer of fluoride from volcanic emissions to the environment. Field experiments were conducted in fluorine‐contaminated areas of Ngarenanyuki (Arumeru district) in...

Softwood-derived biochar (5% w/w) was added to two mining soils (S1 and S2) contaminated with Cd (4.8–74 mg kg⁻¹), Pb (318–1899 mg kg⁻¹) and Zn (622–3803 mg kg⁻¹), to evaluate its immobilization capabilities towards such potentially toxic elements (PTEs). Biochar addition (S + B) increased soil pH, organic carbon content, extractable phosphorous an...

Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus L.) is a promising energy crop for marginal areas in Mediterranean environment. Temporary intercropping with cover crops can provide multiple services such as weed suppression, additional and diversified biomass production and soil physical quality (SPQ) improvement. A number of studies have demonstrated that the Beerka...

The aim of this study was to assess the influence of a municipal solid waste compost (MSWC) on the mobility, bioaccessibility and toxicity of several potentially toxic elements (PTE), i.e. Pb (15,383 mg kg-1), Zn (4076 mg kg-1), Cu (181 mg kg-1), Sb (109 mg kg-1), Cd (67 mg kg-1) and As (49 mg kg-1), present in a contaminated sub-acidic soil (pH =...

Fluoride food chain and drinking water contamination is at the base of severe diseases, such as dental and skeletal fluorosis, in the Eastern African countries of the Great Rift Valley. However available information on fluoride uptake and its effect on crops cultivated and irrigated in contaminated environments is still limited. To develop effectiv...

Barley is one of the most important cereals worldwide and is a key crop for Scotland’s agriculture due to its use in distilleries to produce whisky. Climatic variability, especially significant changes in rainfall patterns are a present challenge for barley production. Thus, the objectives of this study were: i) to evaluate the performance of a cro...

Due to the more frequent use of crop models at regional and national scale, the effects of spatial data input resolution have gained increased attention. However, little is known about the influence of variability in crop management on model outputs. A constant and uniform crop management is often considered over the simulated area and period. This...

Climate change poses a major challenge for farmers, but agricultural sustainability, mitigation, and adaptation can effectively decrease climate impacts on agricultural systems. Changes in farming practices are necessary to reduce emissions and to adapt to climate change. However, such modifications to common practices depend, to a large extent, on...

Several techniques for automatic parameterisation are explored using the software PEST. We parameterised the biophysical systems model APSIM with measurements from a maize cropping experiment with the objective of finding algorithms that resulted in the least distance between modelled and measured data (φ) in the shortest possible time. APSIM param...

Deliverable of LIFE14 ENV/it/000514 FutureForCoppiceS project: Scientific synthesis and evaluation of project results (with Synthesis for resource managers and policy makers). https://www.futureforcoppices.eu/en/documents/summary-report.html

Europe accounts for around 20% of the global cereal production and is a net exporter of ca. 15% of that production. Increasing global demand for cereals justifies questions as to where and by how much Europe’s production can be increased to meet future global market demands, and how much additional nitrogen (N) crops would require. The latter is im...

Process-oriented agro-ecosystem models are increasingly applied to assess crop management options or impacts of climate change on agricultural production, food security and ecosystem services. Thereby, the aggregation of initial soil and climate information is a widely used approach for performing simulations at larger scales such as regions, natio...

Mediterranean wooded grasslands that emerge from silvopastoral activities are multifunctional systems that result in high biodiversity and offer ecosystem services such as forage production and soil carbon sequestration. During 3 years, ten grazed wooded grassland fields were studied in the Berchidda–Monti long-term observatory, located in NE Sardi...

Data S1 A semi‐structured interview format

Under Mediterranean conditions, the impacts of both organic and mineral N fertilization on soil Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emission can be controversial. The aim of this study was to assess the soil GHG emissions and the net Global Warming Potential (GWP) in a Mediterranean irrigated forage system under different fertilization treatments. Three N ferti...

Soils are vital for supporting food security and other ecosystem services. Climate change can affect soil functions both directly and indirectly. Direct effects include temperature, precipitation, and moisture regime changes. Indirect effects include those that are induced by adaptations such as irrigation, crop rotation changes, and tillage practi...

This study assessed the suitability of Phragmites australis and Arundo donax for the aided phytostabilization of metal(loid)s in polluted soils treated with an iron-rich water treatment residue (Fe-WTR), a municipal solid waste compost (MSW-C) and their combination (Fe-WTR + MSW-C). The three soils under study (S1, S2, S3) showed very high total co...

A convoluted network of different water governance systems exists around the world. Collectively, these systems provide insight into how to build sustainable regimes of water use and management. We argue that the challenge is not tomake the systemless convoluted, but rather to support positive and promising trends in governance, creating a vision f...

An Agri-environmental measure (AEM) is a payment to farmers to reduce environmental risks or to preserve cultivated landscapes. The single farm scale that is the basis for the AEM has often inhibited the achievement of the environmental goals since many biophysical processes (e.g. soil erosion, water pollution, biodiversity losses) occur at landsca...

In up-scaling studies, model input data aggregation is a common method to cope with deficient data availability and limit the computational effort. We analyzed model errors due to soil data aggregation for modeled SOC trends. For a region in North West Germany, gridded soil data of spatial resolutions between 1 km and 100 km has been derived by maj...

Simulation models, informed and validated with datasets from long term experiments (LTEs), are considered useful tools to explore the effects of different management strategies on soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics and evaluate suitable mitigative options for climate change. But, while there are several studies which assessed a better prediction of...

Grasslands play important roles in agricultural production and provide a range of ecosystem services. Modelling can be a valuable adjunct to experimental research in order to improve the knowledge and assess the impact of management practices in grassland systems. In this study, the PaSim model was assessed for its ability to simulate plant biomass...

Arable soils are a large source of nitrous oxide (N2O) emission and several factors may affect the processes (nitrification and denitrification) responsible for its production. In particular, forage crop systems for dairy farming are among the cropping systems with highest N input, mainly because they are based on high yielding forage grasses such...

The final goals of this study are : i) to parameterize crop models considering two Long Term Agro-Ecosystem experiments (LTAE) located in experimental farms of Foggia (FG) and Papiano, Perugia (PG), in Southern and Central Italy, respectively and ii) to evaluate the crop residue (CR) management as a strategy of adaptation and/or mitigation to clima...

This paper presents an informal process inspired by a public practice of conflict mediation used until a few decades ago in Gallura (NE Sardinia, Italy), named La Rasgioni (The Reason). The aim is twofold: (i) to introduce an innovative method that translates the complexity of water-related conflicts into a "dialogical tool", aimed at enhancing soc...

Agronomic research is important to identify suitable options for improving soil carbon (C) sequestration and reducing soil CO2 emissions. Therefore, the objectives of this study were i) to analyse the on-farm effects of different nitrogen fertilization sources on soil respiration, ii) to explore the effect of fertilization on soil respiration sensi...

This article investigates the role played by social capital (in terms of bonding, bridging and linking social capital) in developing adaptive responses to contextual changes (environmental, social and economic) at the local scale. Three questions guided the research: can social capital produce resilience and collective action? Could environmental b...

Cistus monspeliensis shrublands are strongly exposed to fire hazard and are rapidly expanding on oligotrophic soils as a consequence of the abandonment of silvopastoral activities. We hypothesised that nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilisation could contribute to reduce Cistus cover and biomass and to direct the regeneration of the vegetation f...

Many Mediterranean countries have experienced water shortages during the last 20 years and future climate change projections foresee further pressure on water resources. This will have significant implications for irrigation water management in agricultural systems in the future. Through qualitative and quantitative empirical research methods carri...

This paper considers how learning for transformation of water governance in the context of climate change adaptation can be designed for and supported, drawing examples from the international climate change adaptation and water governance project (CADWAGO). The project explicitly set out to design for governance learning in the sense of developing...

In the context of environmental sustainability there has been an increasing interest in bioenergy production from renewable resources, and is expected that European biofuel production from energy crops will increase as a consequence of the achievement of policy targets. The aim of this paper is to assess the agronomic feasibility of biomass crop cu...

This paper reports the first results of a research developed in the context of the three-years (2013-16) research project “IC-FAR - Linking long term observatories with crop system modelling for better understanding of climate change impact and adaptation strategies for Italian cropping systems” (www.icfar.it).The goals are :i) to parameterize crop...

Research networks provide a framework for review, synthesis and systematic testing of theories by multiple scientists across international borders critical for addressing global-scale issues. In 2012, a GHG research network referred to as MAGGnet (Managing Agricultural Greenhouse Gases Network) was established within the Croplands Research Group of...

The Mediterranean region has always shown a marked inter-annual variability in seasonal weather, creating uncertainty in decisional processes of cultivation and livestock breeding that should not be neglected when modeling farmers' adaptive responses. This is especially relevant when assessing the impact of climate change (CC), which modifies the a...

Research networks provide a framework for review, synthesis and systematic testing of theories by multiple scientists across international borders critical for addressing global-scale issues. In 2012, a GHG research network referred to as MAGGnet (Managing Agricultural Greenhouse Gases Network) was established within the Croplands Research Group of...

Research networks provide a framework for review, synthesis and systematic testing of theories by multiple scientists across international borders critical for addressing global-scale issues. In 2012, a GHG research network referred to as MAGGnet (Managing Agricultural Greenhouse Gases Network) was established within the Croplands Research Group of...

Research networks provide a framework for review, synthesis and systematic testing of theories by multiple scientists across international borders critical for addressing global-scale issues. In 2012, a GHG research network referred to as MAGGnet (Managing Agricultural Greenhouse Gases Network) was established within the Croplands Research Group of...