JRC compiled a Technical and Scientific Report (available at: http://agrienv.jrc.ec.europa.eu/publications/Updated-ANC-biophysical.pdf) for the identification (and delimitation) of areas with natural handicaps in the EU, where agricultural production is constrained by various natural limitations. The applied biophysical criterion system refers to the most relevant environmental factors having impact on agricultural productivity.

1. Indeed, slope is significantly important.  How much slope affects nutrient removals, any quantification possible?

2. Natural vegetation degradation, does it affect also  food crops yield?

3. Sunshine hours

4.Evaporation

5.Transpiration

Hello,

thank you for your reply.

Do you have specific references on the subject of nutrients removal and topographic variables?

So far, I have read something mainly related to the relation between some variables (like slope and aspect) and terrain moisture. For instance:

Famiglietti, J., Rudnicki, J., & Rodell, M. (1998). Variability in surface moisture content along a hillslope transect: Rattlesnake Hill, Texas. Journal of Hydrology, 210(1-4), 259–281. doi:10.1016/S0022-1694(98)00187-5

Qiu, Y., Fu, B., Wang, J., & Chen, L. (2001). Spatial variability of soil moisture content and its relation to environmental indices in a semi-arid gully catchment of the Loess Plateau, China. Journal of Arid Environments, 49(4), 723–750. doi:10.1006/jare.2001.0828

Do you know other relevant (or even more relevant) publication on that or other subject critical for understanding the relation between agricultural productivity and environmental variables?

Besides, it could be relevant to note that the area under my investigation (quotation) "is a good example of the Mediterranean type: hot dry summers, having a high rate of evaporation and no rain warm and showery autumns normally with a rain- fall deficit, short cool winters with enough rainfall for agriculture in most years, but leaving insufficient reserve in the soil to combat the warm drying springs again having a rainfall deficit."

Best Regards

Gm

Have you tried to search for "geomorphometry" or "terrain analysis", plus another keyword of interest to you (e.g. agriculture, soil) in Google Scholar? You'll find many relevant papers with pdf copies available

Hello José,

thanks for the reply. I will look straight away. Sometimes, besides raw bibliographical references, I find useful/stimulating to hear scholars elaborating on an issue (albeit concisely). Thanks again.

you can incorporate ground water table level and chemistry as interpolation.

other factors can be included: precipitation type and intensity, the slope and aspect of landforms, even human activity can be influenced by natural factors and have effects on productivity.

Well said, Mohammad Ali Nezammahalleh.

JRC compiled a Technical and Scientific Report (available at: http://agrienv.jrc.ec.europa.eu/publications/Updated-ANC-biophysical.pdf) for the identification (and delimitation) of areas with natural handicaps in the EU, where agricultural production is constrained by various natural limitations. The applied biophysical criterion system refers to the most relevant environmental factors having impact on agricultural productivity.

Gianmarco, there are several research articles about terrain analysis and soil attributes which affect land productivity.

Take a look at these as examples:

Soil Attribute Prediction Using Terrain Analysis

https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/sssaj/abstracts/57/2/SS0570020443

Digital terrain modelling for site productivity assessment and stand management in plantation forestry

http://www.nzjf.org/free_issues/NZJF53_1_2008/BFB7AF1C-0BDC-491a-8695-FE82A7C5CD07.pdf

Dear Gianmarco,

A study made in Portugal, that unfortunly exist only in portuguese, presents several soil attributes that are important for its suitability for different agricultural and forestal uses:

depth of soil, presence of active calcium carbonate (top soil), textural discontinuity (clay B horizon), clay soils, salinity levels, soil internal drainage (groundwater table level), soil external drainage (temporary accumulation of water due to topography), sandy soils.

Of course the topographic and climatic variables are also very important.

Best regards,

Luís Quinta-Nova

Thank you all!

Your replies are very stimulating indeed. And thanks also for the links provided. László Pásztor: the link direct me to an unavailable page. Could you check the link integrity or provide me with another link to the pdf you were pointing out? thank you.

Barbara: thanks for your insights. Any citable example? In other words, do you know of any article that I could read and, possibly, cite?

Gianmarco,

It is interesting. Just clicking on the link RG redirects to the proper site but it neither works for me, but if you copy and paste the link into your browser you will reach the document.

[email protected]

thanks

Gm

Hello!

I thank again all of you for having provided useful hints and for pointing out to me interesting references.

I just want to provide hereafter some of the references I have collected up till now, with the hope they can be of some use to anyone will jump in this discussion:

Bašić, F. (2013). Soils of Croatia. Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London: Springer.

Butler, D., Malanson, G., Walsh, S., & Fagre, D. (2009). The Changing Alpine Treeline: The Example of Glacier National Park, MT, USA (First.). Amsterdam: Elsevier Science; 1 edition

Collerton, H., Hock, B., Hawke, R., & Payn, T. (2008). Digital terrain modelling for site productivity assessment and stand management in plantation forestry. Journal of Forestry, 53(1), 33–41.

Costantini, E. A. C., & Dazzi, C. (2013). The Soils of Italy. Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London: Springer.

Defersha, M. B., Quraishi, S., & Melesse, A. (2011). The effect of slope steepness and antecedent moisture content on interrill erosion, runoff and sediment size distribution in the highlands of Ethiopia. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 15(7), 2367–2375. doi:10.5194/hess-15-2367-2011

Dorren, L., & Rey, F. (2004). A review of the effect of terracing on erosion. Soil Conservation And Protection for Europe, 97–108. Retrieved from http://139.191.1.96/projects/scape/transf/Dorren_Rey.pdf

Famiglietti, J., Rudnicki, J., & Rodell, M. (1998). Variability in surface moisture content along a hillslope transect: Rattlesnake Hill, Texas. Journal of Hydrology, 210(1-4), 259–281. doi:10.1016/S0022-1694(98)00187-5

Moore, I. D., & Gessler, P. E. (1993). Soil attribute prediction using terrain analysis. Soil Science Society …. Retrieved from https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/sssaj/abstracts/57/2/SS0570020443

Qiu, Y., Fu, B., Wang, J., & Chen, L. (2001). Spatial variability of soil moisture content and its relation to environmental indices in a semi-arid gully catchment of the Loess Plateau, China. Journal of Arid Environments, 49(4), 723–750. doi:10.1006/jare.2001.0828

Reid, I. (1973). The influence of slope orientation upon the soil moisture regime, and its hydrogeomorphological significance. Journal of Hydrology, 19(4), 309–321. doi:10.1016/0022-1694(73)90105-4

Sensoy, H., & Kara, O. (2014). Slope shape effect on runoff and soil erosion under natural rainfall conditions. iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, 7(2), 110–114. doi:10.3832/ifor0845-007

Shishkov, T., & Kolev, N. (2014). The Soils of Bulgaria. Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London: Springer Netherlands.

Smit, A., & Brouwer, F. (2009). Natural handicaps in Dutch agricultural areas: assessment of less favoured areas based on biophysical criteria. Alterra-report (Vol. 1970). Wageningen.

Sulebak, J., Tallaksen, L., & Erichsen, B. (2000). Estimation of areal soil moisture by use of terrain data. Geografiska Annaler. Series A, Physical Geography, 82(1), 89–105. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.0435-3676.2000.00009.x/abstract

Taghizadeh Mehrjardi, R., Akbarzadeh, A., Biniyaz, M., Mahmoodi, S., & Zare Chahouki, M. (2009). Studying the effect of elevation and edaphic variables on vegetation composition in Khezrabad rangelands using principal component analysis (PCA). Analele Universitatii Di Oradea, Fascicula Biologie, 16(2), 155–161. Retrieved from http://www.bioresearch.ro/bioresearch/2009-2/155-161 Taghizadeh.pdf

Tian, Y., Davies-Colley, R., Gong, P., & Thorrold, B. (2001). Estimating solar radiation on slopes of arbitrary aspect. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 109(1), 67–74. doi:10.1016/S0168-1923(01)00245-3

Tromp-van Meerveld, H. J., & McDonnell, J. J. (2006). On the interrelations between topography, soil depth, soil moisture, transpiration rates and species distribution at the hillslope scale. Advances in Water Resources, 29(2), 293–310. doi:10.1016/j.advwatres.2005.02.016

Van Orshoven, J., Terres, J., & Eliasson, A. (2008). Common bio-physical criteria to define natural constraints for agriculture in Europe. Luxembourg.

Van Orshoven, J., Terres, J. M., & Toth, T. (2013). Updated common bio-physical criteria to define natural constraints for agriculture in Europe. ams.jrc.it. Luxembourg. Retrieved from http://ams.jrc.it/publications/Updated-ANC-biophysical.pdf

Western, A. W., Grayson, R. B., Blöschl, G., Willgoose, G. R., & McMahon, T. A. (1999). Observed spatial organization of soil moisture and its relation to terrain indices. Water Resources Research, 35(3), 797–810.doi:10.1029/1998WR900065

Western, A. W., Zhou, S.-L., Grayson, R. B., McMahon, T. A., Blöschl, G., & Wilson, D. J. (2004). Spatial correlation of soil moisture in small catchments and its relationship to dominant spatial hydrological processes. Journal of Hydrology, 286(1-4), 113–134. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2003.09.014

Wilson, J., & Gallant, J. (2000). Terrain analysis: principles and applications. Wiley.

Zinko, U., Seibert, J., Dynesius, M., & Nilsson, C. (2005). Plant Species Numbers Predicted by a Topography-based Groundwater Flow Index. Ecosystems, 8(4), 430–441. doi:10.1007/s10021-003-0125-0

Hello!

I would like to thank again all of you who replied to my earlier question here on ResearchGate, providing useful and interesting suggestions.

Furthermore, I would also like to showcase a website that I have just put online reporting some of the achievements in the framework of a project called 'FRAGSUS' (Fragility and Sustainability in restricted island environments: Adaptation, Culture Change and Collapse in prehistory).

The website is meant to report the  goals achieved at the University of Malta-Department of Classics and Archaeology and Department of Biology,in the framework of the aforementioned project.

The website address is: http://fragsusuom.weebly.com/

The report on the 'Evolution of Historial Landscape' can be found at: http://fragsusuom.weebly.com/evolution-of-historical-landscape.html

The report on 'Environmental Researc' can be found at: http://fragsusuom.weebly.com/environmental-research.html

Thank for your attention and I hope the website could prove useful.

Best

Gianmarco