The freeze-thaw phenomenon is one of the factors, which has an important role in increasing the qualitative and quantitative loss of soil. However, the dynamics and mechanism of freeze-thaw processes remain unknown. Therefore, adoption of appropriate conservation measures in the highland and mountains region and reduction of the effects of a freeze-thaw cycle on soil loss through application of environmentally friendly and feasible techniques of application of soil microenterprises is critical. Bacteria and cyanobacteria play an important role in the ecosystem function by improving soil physical and chemical properties. Nonetheless, the effectiveness of such microorganism on controlling soil loss has not been studied yet. The present study

Soil erosion control by amendments is an effective method to reduce runoff and soil loss. In this respect, application of nanofiber (NF) produced from recycled old paperboard containers as a novel approach has not been reported yet. Therefore, application of the produced lignocellulose NF suspension was carried out at various typical dosage levels (i.e., 0.5, 1, and 1.5 L m−2) at small plots of 50 ? 50 ? 30 cm3 dimensions. The plots were filled by 18 cm of mineral pumices as a drainage layer and the rest (upper 12 cm) was filled by fine soils. They were then subjected to rainfall simulation with intensity of 70 mm.h-? and duration of 30 min. The results showed that the NF amendment at all three levels increased time to runoff at tunes of

Assessing the impact of changes in rainfall and land use on flood is a key issue in watershed management. However, their simultaneous effect has received less attention. The aim of this study was to investigate the impressibility of flood from rainfall regime and land uses in Cheshmeh Kileh Tonekabon watershed. For the present study, data from five rain gauge stations in the region and Haratbar hydrometric station were used. First, the land use map of 1984, 2001 and 2017 was prepared using a Random Forest algorithm in the Google Earth Engine. Then, rainfall and discharge components were used to investigate the impressibility of flood on the rainfall regime. In order to quantitative estimate the minimum and maximum flood indices and Flow Dur

Evaluation of sensitivity of hydrograph components and landscape metrics extracted from various spatial resolutions reveals relationships between landscape metrics and outflow properties with the lowest error. In the present study, 14 Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) with different resolutions derived from a vector and raster-radar source were analyzed to evaluate sensitivity of relationships between simulated hydrograph components and landscape metrics using multiple regression methods in the Galazchai Watershed, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. To this end, DEM, slope, flow length and direction and time of concentration were developed in the vector and raster scales of 1:25000 and Advanced Land Observing Satellite-1 (ALOS) with different re

Today, biologic methods are considered as one of the effective approaches to control soil erosion at early stages. Biologic management is a scientific and applied approach to manage and control runoff and soil loss. However, there is no practical and specific algorithm for preparing and implementing biological programs for managing or controlling soil erosion in the watershed scale. Therefore, the present study was conducted as a pioneer study with the aim of developing a practical framework for the biologic management of soil erosion. In this regard, the erosion situation in the watershed was initially proposed to be assessed for designating the regions suitable for biologic management of soil erosion. The development of Ombrothermic and H

Iran, like most of the developing countries in the world, faces many issues with limiting water, energy, and food resources. On the other hand, the state of the watersheds is being destroyed due to the imbalance between human and the environment leading to different environmental, social, economic, and political consequences. This requires a change of mindset so that we can understand what we do every day on the water–energy–food (WEF) nexus. Balance establishment among various main components of the ecosystems based on the WEF nexus approach is considered as one of the important parts of integrated and adaptive watershed management. This chapter briefly discusses on the concept, standards, and methods of the WEF nexus. An example of th

The identification of the degree of linkage between sediment source and sink areas and also the channel network allows for prioritizing areas for sediment control measures at the watershed scale. The present study was therefore planned to investigate sediment connectivity based on structural and functional aspects. To that end, the index of connectivity (IC) and sediment delivery ratio (SDR) respectively were calculated based on the approaches of Borselli et al. (2008) and sediment contribution area (SCA) representing structural and functional sediment indices of connectivity. Results showed that high structural connectivity in an area does not necessarily result in high transportation of sediment, since structural connectivity only reflec

Neutralizing land degradation due to overexploitation of natural resources is an acceptable strategy under developing conditions. However, this important approach has not been adequately introduced and adopted in the world. The present study therefore aimed to calculate Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) for the Shazand Watershed with an area about 1740 km2 located in central arid and semi-arid region of Iran. The LDN status was basically assessed using three indicators, viz. land use and land cover, soil organic carbon and land productivity using Land Cover/Use Changes (LUC), Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) and Net Primary Productivity (NPP) metrics for two sub-periods during 2000 to 2016. Towards this, 140 soil samples were then taken from the