Clara Castellano’s research while affiliated with Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología and other places

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Publications (8)


Fig. 5. Results of Kruskal-Wallis test and Dunn post-hoc comparisons relative to the differences in (a) tree cover and (b) number of vegetation strata among land-use types. Letters (a, b, c, d) depict the significant differences found among them (Table A.7). The bold horizontal line denotes the median value, the box delimits the interquartile range, and the whisker lines extend to the observed maximum and minimum, except for the outliers symbolized by black dots. Blue dots represent individual values at each site. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
Fig. 6. Results of generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) and post-hoc paired comparisons relative to the differences in (a) microbial biomass, (b) organic C, (c) water infiltration, (d) sorptivity, (d) saturated soil water content, and (f) cation exchange capacity (CEC) among land-use types. Letters (a, b, c) depict the significant differences found among them (see Table A.8). The bold horizontal line denotes the median value, the box delimits the interquartile range, and the whisker lines extend to the observed maximum and minimum, except for the outliers symbolized by black dots. Blue dots represent individual values at each site.(For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
List of the nine studied regulating and supporting ecosystem services. See Ap- pendix B for detailed methods in data collection and laboratory analysis.
Best-fitting generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) selected to explain the four evaluated indicators of riparian revegetation success by environmental drivers.
Environmental drivers for riparian restoration success and ecosystem services supply in Mediterranean agricultural landscapes
  • Article
  • Full-text available

October 2022

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717 Reads

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17 Citations

Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment

Clara Castellano

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Riparian forests nestled in agricultural landscapes represent a small proportion in crop-intensive areas, while contributing remarkably to their biodiversity. This biodiversity supports several ecological processes crucially involved in the supply of ecosystem services (ES) complementary to that provided by agricultural lands and also relevant for designing biodiverse and multifunctional landscapes. Riparian forest is one of the most threatened ecosystems due to land-use intensification and associated water extraction, especially in Mediterranean semi-arid areas, and proper evaluation of the success of riparian restoration projects is usually lacking. Furthermore, there is little empirical evidence of the effects of riparian restoration on ES supply. In this study, we first investigated the effect of hydrological and soil features on survival and growth of saplings planted in degraded riparian areas in two Mediterranean watersheds. Then, we evaluated how riparian restoration affected the supply of ES, comparing nine regulating and supporting ES on these restored areas with other riparian areas spanning a gradient of conservation status, and with other natural and agricultural land-uses in the same watershed. We found that restoration success mainly depended on water table depth, soil salinity and soil nutrients (namely Mg⁺² and Olsen P). Moreover, we detected an antagonistic interaction between the latter two, and a synergetic interaction between water table depth and soil salinity. Forest patches provided meaningful regulating and supporting ES in agricultural landscapes. In particular, riparian restoration zones increased the supply of regulating and supporting ES (water purification, habitat provision, microclimate regulation and soil C storage) in comparison with degraded natural land-uses and crops. Nevertheless, they were still far from the magnitude and range of ES provided by mature riparian forests. These results highlight the importance of focusing management practices on conserving riparian forest patches and restoring the degraded ones to reconcile agricultural production with the maintenance or enhancement of ES in agricultural Mediterranean landscapes.

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Depopulation impacts on ecosystem services in Mediterranean rural areas

December 2021

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495 Reads

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56 Citations

Ecosystem Services

Despite the exponential increase in human population at global scale, some rural areas have experienced a progressive abandonment over the last decades. Under particular socioecological and policy contexts, changes in demography may promote land-use changes and, consequently, alter ecosystem services (ES) supply. However, most studies on this topic have targeted urban population increase, whereas depopulation has been rarely addressed. Here, we examined how shifts in demographic variables (human population, population density, and number of villages) affect provisioning (water supply, food and biomass production) and regulating (soil retention, water and nutrient regulation) ES in Mediterranean rural areas with contrasting environmental, socioeconomic and land-use contexts. When depopulation results in underuse of socio-ecological systems, we expected a decrease of provisioning and an increase of regulating ES, whereas we expected the opposite pattern when it results in land-use intensification. To test this hypothesis, we compared demographic data and ES estimated with Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) linked to land-use changes between the 1950s and 2000s in three rural areas of Aragón (NE Spain). Generalized Additive Mixed Models and Linear Mixed-Effect Models were used to analyze demographic trends, ES changes and the relationship between them. We found severe depopulation (−42% inhabitants) and associated land-use changes in the three areas, which was particularly evident in isolated mountainous zones (−63% inhabitants). Depopulation trends significantly affected land use and, consequently, all of the ES evaluated. In mountainous depopulated areas, land abandonment and rewilding resulted in the increase in water regulation (>1000%) and soil retention (>400%). In contrast, agriculture was intensified in more fertile and easy-to-access lowland areas, boosting the food production service (>600%). Accordingly, the interactions among depopulation, crop production and regulating ES should be considered in the management schemes and policies targeting rural areas for a balanced and sustainable supply of ES in the long term.


Estimation of the soil hydraulic properties from the transient infiltration curve measured on soils affected by water repellency

July 2019

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109 Reads

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18 Citations

CATENA

Estimation of soil sorptivity (S) and hydraulic conductivity (K) is fundamental to model the water infiltration into the soil. This process can be affected by soil water repellency, which is defined as a reduction in soil wettability due to coating of soil particles by hydrophobic substances. Unlike to wettable soils, this phenomenon can generate infiltration curves with double-slope shape: a transient infiltration curve followed by a steady-state section. Because the topsoil final volumetric water content (θ1) of the transient phase of the double-slope curve is not a measurable data, in principle, the standard model based on the Haverkamp et al. (1994) model cannot be used to estimate S and K. This work presents two different approaches based on the Haverkamp et al. (1994) equation, which allow estimating S and K from the first phase of a double-slope infiltration curve, when θ1 data are not available. The methods, which are based on the analysis of both short-medium time transient infiltration curve (Tr) and the combination of both short-medium transient and steady-state infiltration steps (Mx), were applied on 20 soils affected by different degrees of water repellency. The Haverkamp et al. (1994) model was also valid for infiltration curves measured on hydrophobic soils, and the final volumetric water content was not an essential data to estimate K and S. Although the steady-state infiltration rate (q1) calculated with Mx was about 26% larger than that estimated with Tr, comparable K and S values were obtained with both methods. Overall, a large dispersion on the estimate of θ1 was observed with both methods. The gravimetric time, tgrav, estimated in the studied soils was low, <500 s. While the Mx method required simpler numerical calculus, Tr looked like to be more robust and less subjective.


Development and analysis of the Soil Water Infiltration Global database

July 2018

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4,569 Reads

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120 Citations

In this paper, we present and analyze a novel global database of soil infiltration measurements, the Soil Water Infiltration Global (SWIG) database. In total, 5023 infiltration curves were collected across all continents in the SWIG database. These data were either provided and quality checked by the scientists who performed the experiments or they were digitized from published articles. Data from 54 different countries were included in the database with major contributions from Iran, China, and the USA. In addition to its extensive geographical coverage, the collected infiltration curves cover research from 1976 to late 2017. Basic information on measurement location and method, soil properties, and land use was gathered along with the infiltration data, making the database valuable for the development of pedotransfer functions (PTFs) for estimating soil hydraulic properties, for the evaluation of infiltration measurement methods, and for developing and validating infiltration models. Soil textural information (clay, silt, and sand content) is available for 3842 out of 5023 infiltration measurements (∼ 76%) covering nearly all soil USDA textural classes except for the sandy clay and silt classes. Information on land use is available for 76 % of the experimental sites with agricultural land use as the dominant type (∼ 40%). We are convinced that the SWIG database will allow for a better parameterization of the infiltration process in land surface models and for testing infiltration models. All collected data and related soil characteristics are provided online in *.xlsx and *.csv formats for reference, and we add a disclaimer that the database is for public domain use only and can be copied freely by referencing it. Supplementary data are available at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.885492 (Rahmati et al., 2018). Data quality assessment is strongly advised prior to any use of this database. Finally, we would like to encourage scientists to extend and update the SWIG database by uploading new data to it.


Development and Analysis of Soil Water Infiltration Global Database

June 2018

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7,762 Reads

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42 Citations

Earth System Science Data

In this paper, we present and analyze a global database of soil infiltration measurements, the Soil Water Infiltration Global (SWIG) database, for the first time. In total, 5023 infiltration curves were collected across all continents in the SWIG database. These data were either provided and quality checked by the scientists who performed the experiments or they were digitized from published articles. Data from 54 different countries were included in the database with major contributions from Iran, China, and USA. In addition to its global spatial coverage, the collected infiltration curves cover a time span of research from 1976 to late 2017. Basic information on measurement location and method, soil properties, and land use were gathered along with the infiltration data, which makes the database valuable for the development of pedo-transfer functions for estimating soil hydraulic properties, for the evaluation of infiltration measurement methods, and for developing and validating infiltration models. Soil textural information (clay, silt, and sand content) is available for 3842 out of 5023 infiltration measurements (~76 %) covering nearly all soil USDA textural classes except for the sandy clay and silt classes. Information on the land use is available for 76 % of experimental sites with agricultural land use as the dominant type (~40 %). We are convinced that the SWIG database will allow for a better parameterization of the infiltration process in land surface models and for testing infiltration models. All collected data and related soil characteristics are provided online in *.xlsx and *.csv formats for reference, and we add a disclaimer that the database is for use by public domain only and can be copied freely by referencing it. Supplementary data are available at doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.885492. Data quality assessment is strongly advised prior to any use of this database. Finally, we would like to encourage scientists to extend/update the SWIG by uploading new data to it.


Development and Analysis of Soil Water Infiltration Global Database

March 2018

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3,019 Reads

Download Abstract In this paper, we present and analyze a global database of soil infiltration measurements, the Soil Water Infiltration Global (SWIG) database, for the first time. In total, 5023 infiltration curves were collected across all continents in the SWIG database. These data were either provided and quality checked by the scientists who performed the experiments or they were digitized from published articles. Data from 54 different countries were included in the database with major contributions from Iran, China, and USA. In addition to its global spatial coverage, the collected infiltration curves cover a time span of research from 1976 to late 2017. Basic information on measurement location and method, soil properties, and land use were gathered along with the infiltration data, which makes the database valuable for the development of pedo-transfer functions for estimating soil hydraulic properties, for the evaluation of infiltration measurement methods, and for developing and validating infiltration models. Soil textural information (clay, silt, and sand content) is available for 3842 out of 5023 infiltration measurements (~76 %) covering nearly all soil USDA textural classes except for the sandy clay and silt classes. Information on the land use is available for 76 % of experimental sites with agricultural land use as the dominant type (~40 %). We are convinced that the SWIG database will allow for a better parameterization of the infiltration process in land surface models and for testing infiltration models. All collected data and related soil characteristics are provided online in *.xlsx and *.csv formats for reference, and we add a disclaimer that the database is for use by public domain only and can be copied freely by referencing it. Supplementary data are available at doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.885492. Data quality assessment is strongly advised prior to any use of this database. Finally, we would like to encourage scientists to extend/update the SWIG by uploading new data to it.


Figura 1: Ciclo anual de una reforestación riparia en un ambiente árido. Estado vital de los individuos plantados tras una situación estresante como función de la especie y la distancia al nivel freático (WTD -Water Table Distance)  
Figura 2: Plantación en tresbolillo (izq.) comparada con una plantación mediante RMN (dcha.)  
Figura 5: Probabilidades de transición medias entre estados vitales (valores de 0 a 1, fila superior), rango del intervalo de confianza de las medias (valores de 0 a 1, fila central) y p valor para el test T-Student de media distinta a 0 (valores de 0 a 1, fila inferior) para Salix alba en función del nivel freático (WTD – Water Table Distance).  
Figura 6: Probabilidades de transición medias entre estados vitales (valores de 0 a 1, fila superior), rango del intervalo de confianza de las medias (valores de 0 a 1, fila central) y p valor del test T-Student para media distinta a 0 (valores de 0 a 1, fila inferior) para Celtis australis en función del nivel freático (WTD – Water Table Distance).  
EVALUACIÓN TEMPRANA DE LAS PLANTACIONES MEDIANTE ALGORITMOS CASO-A-CASO BASADOS EN LA DISTANCIA AL FREÁTICO PARA DISTINTAS ESPECIES RIPARIAS

One of the largest efforts on riparian restoration is reforestation. Nevertheless, knowledge on the species response to varying hydrological conditions is needed to ensure successful establishment (Francis et al. 2005). Based on survival data of a riparian reforestation one year after plantation, an algorithm based on Markov chains has been develop, with the aim of using key factors as the species and the water table distance to extrapolate the development capacities of the plants. Simulated data has an accuracy of 68,44% (s.e.: +/- 0,13%) in predicting survival two years after plantation. Results show a fast reduction of the survival capacities for Salix alba at a distance to water table greater than 1m, meanwhile Celtis australis maintains a great performance at distances higher than 2m. Future surveys and the accumulation of survival data will be used for the development of a survival model as a tool for early detection of the reforestation success. Key words: Reforestation, Riparian forest, Water table, Markov’s chains


Improving riparian woodland restoration with case-by-case performance modeling in R language based on groundwater distance.

September 2014

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33 Reads

Nowadays riparian forests are one of the most threatened habitats in Europe, mainly because of the use of the area by traditional agriculture due to the high value of the riverbanks for crop growing. This let the present riparian areas to be unable to achieve most of the ecological functions expected as flood control, energy dissipation, carbon sequestration, habitat creation, water temperature regulation and many more. One of the biggest efforts concerning riparian restoration that has been done in the past decades is reforestation, in an attempt to recover part of the functionality of this ecosystem. Nevertheless long term survival has proven to be generally low or even extremely low (less than 10%) in some cases. The different performance of riparian species is mainly driven by its dependence on the groundwater, so the vertical distance of the final plantation point is of great importance for survival improving of the plantation. Here a model for phreatophyte woody species development is presented, based on the performance of each specie at at given distance to the groundwater. Field data is used to generate Markov chains probabilities linked to the vital status of each individual plant. R language is used to create a function that performs the calculations needed for the iterations, this allows the researcher and the manager to evaluate the performance of the different species directly and also to contribute to the work-in-progress development of a greater complexity model.

Citations (5)


... To assess the impact of riparian restoration on regulating and supporting ecosystem services (ES) relative to other natural and agricultural land-uses, (Castellano et al., 2022) conducted a comprehensive study evaluating nine ES across diverse riparian conditions and land-use types within a single watershed. Their analysis encompassed seven regulating ES (water purification, microclimate regulation, soil carbon storage, retention of soil organic pollutants, water holding capacity, soil water infiltration rate, and surface runoff mitigation) and two supporting ES (habitat provision and soil formation). ...

Reference:

Multi-year temporal analysis of sheath blight incidence in rice using geostatistical technique
Environmental drivers for riparian restoration success and ecosystem services supply in Mediterranean agricultural landscapes

Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment

... A reduction in population can restore the ecological environment within a region, especially with a significant increase in the biomass within the region [13]. Bruno et al. [14] utilized a linear mixed-effects model to analyze the impact of population decline in the northwestern region of Spain on the local ecosystem. The results showed that population decline in rural areas was conducive to soil conservation, food production, and water regulation. ...

Depopulation impacts on ecosystem services in Mediterranean rural areas

Ecosystem Services

... Li et al., 2018;P. Li et al., 2022;Moret-Fernández et al., 2019), the method still has the following problems. According to Kohler (1949), three conditions must be met for the application of the double mass curve method: (i) a high degree of correlation between the analysed elements; (ii) comparability of the observed data of the reference or benchmark variables over the study period; and (iii) a positive relationship between the two variables. ...

Estimation of the soil hydraulic properties from the transient infiltration curve measured on soils affected by water repellency
  • Citing Article
  • July 2019

CATENA

... Pachepsky and Park (2015) compiled more than 21,000 laboratory experiments with Ksat data for North American soils. Rahmati et al. (2018) compiled 5,023 results of infiltration tests and physical hydraulic properties of soils from several countries worldwide. Hohenbrink et al. (2023) compiled combined water retention and hydraulic conductivity information from 572 soil samples, mainly, in Germany using the HYPROP method, with wide application in modeling water flow and solute transport. ...

Development and analysis of the Soil Water Infiltration Global database

... On the other hand, Rahmati et al. (2018) established a Soil Water Infiltration Global database (SWIG) in which a large number of data infiltration curves have been provided for one-and three-dimensional cumulative infiltration curves. The cumulative infiltration points were appended with several complementary data describing physicochemical and geotechnical characteristics of the soil, the landscape conditions, and infiltration-measurement instruments. ...

Development and Analysis of Soil Water Infiltration Global Database

Earth System Science Data