IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v13y2024i2p221-d1337130.html

Integrated Land-Use Systems Contribute to Restoring Water Cycles in the Brazilian Cerrado Biome

Author

Listed:
  • Sarah Glatzle

    (Institute of Agricultural Sciences in the Tropics (490), University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany)

  • Roberto Giolo de Almeida

    (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, EMBRAPA Beef Cattle, Rádio Maia Avenue, 830, Campo Grande 79106-550, MS, Brazil)

  • Mariana Pereira Barsotti

    (AgResearch Limited, Lincoln Research Center, Springs Road 1365, Lincoln 7674, New Zealand)

  • Davi José Bungenstab

    (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, EMBRAPA Beef Cattle, Rádio Maia Avenue, 830, Campo Grande 79106-550, MS, Brazil)

  • Marcus Giese

    (Institute of Agricultural Sciences in the Tropics (490), University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany)

  • Manuel Claudio M. Macedo

    (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, EMBRAPA Beef Cattle, Rádio Maia Avenue, 830, Campo Grande 79106-550, MS, Brazil)

  • Sabine Stuerz

    (Institute of Agricultural Sciences in the Tropics (490), University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany)

  • Folkard Asch

    (Institute of Agricultural Sciences in the Tropics (490), University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany)

Abstract

Cerrado, constituting native Brazilian vegetation in the tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome, has been extensively replaced by crop and pastureland, resulting in reduced water recycling to the atmosphere via evapotranspiration (ET). Re-introducing trees via integrated land-use systems potentially restores soil health and water-related processes; however, field data are scarce. During two years, we monitored soil moisture dynamics of natural Cerrado (CER), continuous pasture (COP), integrated crop-livestock (ICL), and integrated crop-livestock-forestry (ICLF) systems across 100 cm soil depth. Across years, mean soil moisture was highest for ICL, followed by COP and lowest in systems with trees (ICLF and CER). However, seasonal and spatial analyses revealed pronounced differences between soil layers and systems. COP and ICL mainly lost water from upper soil layers, whereas in ICLF, the strongest water depletion was observed at 40–100 cm depth, almost reaching a permanent wilting point during the dry season. CER was driest in the upper 40 cm, but water storage was highest below 60 cm depth. Our results suggest that compared to conventional land-use practices, integrated systems, including trees, increase water recycling to the atmosphere via ET and potentially compensate for the loss of key ecological functions of degraded or replaced Cerrado.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah Glatzle & Roberto Giolo de Almeida & Mariana Pereira Barsotti & Davi José Bungenstab & Marcus Giese & Manuel Claudio M. Macedo & Sabine Stuerz & Folkard Asch, 2024. "Integrated Land-Use Systems Contribute to Restoring Water Cycles in the Brazilian Cerrado Biome," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-16, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:2:p:221-:d:1337130
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/2/221/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/2/221/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sarah Glatzle & Sabine Stuerz & Marcus Giese & Mariana Pereira & Roberto Giolo de Almeida & Davi José Bungenstab & Manuel Claudio M. Macedo & Folkard Asch, 2021. "Seasonal Dynamics of Soil Moisture in an Integrated-Crop-Livestock-Forestry System in Central-West Brazil," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-20, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pereira Barsotti, Mariana & de Almeida, Roberto Giolo & Macedo, Manuel Claudio Motta & Gomes, Rodrigo da Costa & Palhares, Julio Cesar Pascale & Mazzetto, Andre & Dickhoefer, Uta, 2025. "A pathway for decreasing the water footprint from grazing-based beef production systems in the Tropics," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Aureane Cristina Teixeira Ferreira Cândido & Taiane Alves da Silva & Bruno Uéslei Ferreira Cândido & Raphael Tapajós & Siglea Sanna Noirtin Freitas Chaves & Arystides Resende Silva & Werlleson Nascime, 2024. "Carbon and Methane as Indicators of Environmental Efficiency of a Silvopastoral System in Eastern Amazon, Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-22, March.
    2. Barsotti, Mariana Pereira & de Almeida, Roberto Giolo & Macedo, Manuel C.M. & Laura, Valdemir A. & Alves, Fabiana V. & Werner, Jessica & Dickhoefer, Uta, 2022. "Assessing the freshwater fluxes related to beef cattle production: A comparison of integrated crop-livestock systems and a conventional grazing system," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:2:p:221-:d:1337130. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.