Fabio Recanatesi

Agricultural nitrate monitoring in a lake basin in Central Italy: a further step ahead towards an integrated nutrient management aimed at controlling water pollution

Water pollution from point sources has been considerably reduced over the last few decades. Nevertheless, some water quality problems remain, which can be attributed to non-point pollution sources, and in particular to agriculture. In this paper the results of a study intended to assess the consequences, in terms of NO3 water pollution, of growing a crop, whose impact in terms of P pollution is already well known, are presented. The potential consequences, in terms of water pollution from nitrates of a BMP expressly applied to reduce P pollution are also discussed. The study site is the Lake Vico basin, Central Italy, which has suffered a shift in trophic state since the mid 1990s, caused by P compounds used for intensive cultivation of hazelnut trees. The results of the monitoring campaign described in this paper allow to assert that hazelnut tree cropping has probably caused a considerable increase in nitrate concentration in the groundwater, although not in the lake water, because of the specific hydrogeological characteristics of the basin. The main conclusion is that monitoring is essential to single out environmental characteristics peculiar of a specific area, which even the most sophisticated model would not have been able to highlight. This is why monitoring and model simulations should be integrated.

Land Use, Climate and Transport of Nutrients: Evidence Emerging from the Lake Vicocase Study

Soil erosion is a Europe-wide problem, causing both loss of soil fertility and pollution due to nutrient transport into water bodies. This process is particularly important in the Mediterranean area, where the climate, characterised by long periods of drought followed by intense precipitation, favours soil erosion. Research carried out in this field has amply described this process, showing that climate and land use/land cover (LU/LC) are the two main factors regulating this phenomenon. However, the interaction between these factors is complex and experimental research is needed to understand the nutrient loads deriving from different land uses. This paper shows the results of a long-term monitoring project carried out in the Lake Vico basin (central Italy), using high resolution data and runoff samples to determine the phosphorus (P) export from four different LU/LC classes resulting from the same climatic event. The results highlight the fundamental role that LU/LC plays in terms of phosphorus load. Furthermore, the results appear to indicate that the maximum rainfall registered for 30′ (I30, max), rather than the total quantity of precipitation, has the greatest effect on levels of erosion, and consequently on the migration of nutrients rather than the total quantity of precipitation can affect on erosion and therefore the migration of nutrients. These data could contribute to scientific planning support for land management choices aimed at controlling water pollution from non-point pollution sources.

Linking phosphorus export and hydrologic modeling: a case study in Central Italy

Soil erosion is an open topic, not only because soil fertility is lost, but also because nutrients are spilled into water bodies, thereby causing pollution. Research carried out in this field has amply described this process, but the interaction between these factors is complex and experimental research is needed to understand the production of loads of nutrients for different land uses. This paper describes a long-term monitoring case study using high-resolution rainfall data and runoff samples, carried out in the Lake Vico basin (Central Italy) to determine the phosphorus (P) export during erosive rainfall events. State of the art GIS-based basin characterization and advanced rainfall-runoff models are employed in order to describe the relationship between nutrient export and rainfall or runoff time distribution. Results show that the phosphorus export is strongly related to such time distributions, and less to the cumulative amount of rainfall or runoff.

Mathematical Analysis of Gasification Process Using Boubaker Polynomials Expansion Scheme

In this work, a mathematical model of gasification technology has been developed. The aim of the present paper is to analyze the total Gibbs free energy G(U) of the system during the process which strongly depends on the type of biomass CHMON. In order to reach this goal, the Boubaker Polynomial Expansion Scheme (BPES) is exploited as an efficient optimization protocol. The results lead to find out the optimal values for biomass composition and clearly show that the latter and its substrate ratio influence the free energy trend.

A Remote Sensing-Assisted Risk Rating Study to Monitor Pinewood Forest Decline: The Study Case of the Castelporziano State Nature Reserve (Rome)

The Multi-Spectral Instrument (MSI) aboard the ESA Sentinel-2 (S-2) allows satellite the Normalized Different Vegetation Index (NDVI) to be measured at much higher spatial resolution (10 m) than has been previously possible with space-borne sensors such as Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer aboard ENVISAT or Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus aboard Landsat. Therefore, multi-spectral analysis of remote sensing data today represents an efficient tool for monitoring vegetation in a Mediterranean environment, where spatial resolution often represents a limiting factor due to high fragmentation and spatial distribution of forest stand.

Erratum to: Land Use, Climate and Transport of Nutrients: Evidence Emerging from the Lake Vico Case Study

1. Unfortunately, the terms ‘‘Vico Case’’ in the article title was erroneously published as ‘‘Vicocase’’. It should read as ‘‘the Lake Vico Case Study’’, not ‘‘the Lake Vicocase Study’’. 2. The fourth and fifth authors name of given and family name was reversed mistakenly as ‘‘Perini Luigi and Salvati Luca’’. It should read as Luigi Perini, not Perini Luigi and Luca Salvati, not Salvati Luca. 3. And the affiliations of authors L. Perini and L. Salvati are updated as follows:

Integrated nutrient management to control water pollution. A further step ahead referred to an Italian lake basin

Water pollution from point sources has been reduced throughout Europe and in particular in Italy thanks to the improvement of the relative depuration technologies. Nevertheless, water quality problems remained and were attributed to non point pollution sources, and in particular to agriculture.