| Issue |
E3S Web Conf.
Volume 599, 2024
6th International Conference on Science and Technology Applications in Climate Change (STACLIM 2024)
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 05004 | |
| Number of page(s) | 10 | |
| Section | Community Climate Resilience and Adaptation | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202459905004 | |
| Published online | 10 January 2025 | |
SpongeScapes: Understanding the role of nature-based solutions in improving sponge functioning of landscapes – the case of regenerative agriculture
1 UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, UK
2 Centro de Investigación en Ecosistemas de la Patagonia, Coyhaique, Chile
* Corresponding author: neesah@ceh.ac.uk
The SpongeScapes project aims to accelerate understanding Nature-based Solutions (NBS) that enhance the sponge functioning of soil, groundwater, and surface water ecosystems, improving landscape resilience against hydrometeorological extremes across diverse climates. One NBS being explored within SpongeScapes is the adoption of Regenerative Agricultural Practices (RAPs) such as reduced tillage and cover cropping. These practices can improve soil health and potentially increase water retention capacity, compared to conventional agriculture practices that degrade soil structure and porosity. However, quantifying RAP benefits is challenging due to the delayed soil response to management changes. This report discusses an exploratory approach of back-analysing long-term soil moisture datasets to assess the impacts of RAPs on soil water retention capacity. By inferring changes in saturated water content (proxy for porosity), findings from trend analyses on UK case studies provide insights into the potential of RAPs as an NBS for enhancing landscape water resilience through improved soil sponge functioning.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2024
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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