Lech Ryszkowski

Landscape Ecology in Agroecosystems Management

The Functional Approach to Agricultural Landscape Analysis, Lech Ryszkowski Development of Agriculture and Its Impacts on Landscape Functions, Lech Ryszkowski and Janusz Jankowiak Mitigation of Radiation and Heat Balance Structure by Plant Cover Structure, Janusz Olejnik, Andrzej Kedziora, and Frank Euleinstain Water Balance in Agricultural Landscape and Options for its Management by Change in Plant Cover Structure of Landscape, Andrzej Kedziora, Janusz Olejnik, and Frank Euleinstain Control of Diffuse Pollution by Mid-Field Shelterbelts and Meadow Strips, Lech Ryszkowski, Lech Szajdak, Alina Bartoszewicz, and Irena Zyczynska-Baloniak Implementation of Riparian Buffer Systems for Landscape Management, Richard Lowrance and Susan R. Crow Dissolved Organic Substances in Water Bodies of Agricultural Landscape, Barbara Szpakowska Influence of Landscape Mosaic Structure on Diversity of Wild Plant and Animal Communities in Agricultural Landscapes of Poland,Lech Ryszkowski, Jerzy Karg, Krzysztof Kujawa, Hanna Goldyn, and Ewa Arczynska-Chudy Field Boundary Habitats for Wildlife, Crop, and Environmental Protection, E. J. P. Marshall, J. Baudry, F. Burel, W. Joenje, B. Gerowitt, M. G. Paoletti, C. F. G. Thomas, D. Kleijn, and D. Le Coeur Changes of Landscape Diversity Patterns in the Province of Wielkopolska, Poland, Under Influence of Agriculture, Andrzej Mizgajski The Impact of Agriculture on the Environment of the Northern Parisian Basin, Stanislas Wicherek Models Assessing the Impact of Land-Use Change in Rural Areas on Development of Environmental Threats and Their Use for Agricultural Politics, Armin Werner and Peter Zander Ecological Guidelines for the Management of Afforestations in Rural Areas, Stanislaw Balazy Land Units and the Biodiversity of Tree Clumps from Satellite Images to Ground Analysis, Marc Galochet, Vincent Godard, Micheline Hotyat, and Stanislaw Balazy Agrolandscape Ecology in the Twenty-First Century, Gary W. Barrett and Laura E. Skelton Agriculture and Landscape Ecology, Lech Ryszkowski Index

Impact of agricultural landscape structure on cycling of inorganic nutrients

Increased application of mineral fertilizers resulted in an increase in leaching of nitrogen and other elements from the investigated arable soils. Differences in the depth of the groundwater table were ascertained in order to determine the directions of subsurface water flows influenced by gravity. Biogeochemical barriers chosen for study included shelterbelt, forests and meadows situated so that the groundwater outflow from neighbouring cultivated fields passed under them. The analyses of element concentrations in subsurface water flows showed that shelterbelts, forests and meadows had a strong influence on the chemistry of water draining from the arable fields. The most pronounced effects concerned nitrate. All direct and indirect evidence indicates that by manipulating the plant cover in agricultural landscapes the chemistry of subsurface and surface water can be greatly influenced.

Management of matter fluxes by biogeochemical barriers at the agricultural landscape level

Long-term studies of the influence of biogeochemical barriers (shelterbelts and stretches of meadows) on water cycling and control of ground water pollution in an agricultural landscape have shown that more solar energy is used for evapotranspiration in shelterbelts than in cultivated fields or meadows. Therefore, annual water runoff from cultivated fields is about 170% higher than from coniferous forest, 60% higher than deciduous forest and 16% higher than meadows. The differences in evapotranspiration rates between shelterbelts and meadows increases when additional energy input for evapotranspiration is provided by transport of heat from cultivated fields to these habitats by advection. The average water percolation time through the unsaturated zone of soils varies by 100%. A shelterbelt, having a mixed species composition, more effectively screens the passage of chemical compounds dissolved in ground water than shelterbelts composed of one tree species. Peat soils have a very high cation exchange capacity which increases the efficiency of riparian meadows for the control of ground water pollution. Natural landscape features which assist in controlling matter cycles are of great importance for modifying chemical outputs from agricultural watersheds.

Energy control of matter fluxes through land-water ecotones in an agricultural landscape

Ecotones play and important role in control of matter input into water bodies. The impacts of shelterbelt and meadow ecotones on ground water passage from cultivated fields to pond were studied. The reduction of water flux due to evapotranspiration by shelterbelts and meadows on slopes of different steepness were estimated. The horizontal passage of heat energy between cultivated fields and ecotones, which enhances evaporation in shelterbelts and meadows was demonstrated. The reduction of ground water flux by a ten meter wide shelterbelt or meadow surrounding a pond can reach as much as 100 per cent when the slope is about 1 degree, during a sunny day. Shelterbelts are a more effective measure for control of cycling matter than meadows. The greater the slope of the water table and the more intensive the radiation and advective processes, the more distinct the differences between shelterbelt and meadow impacts on groundwater flow are.

The influence of plant cover structures on water fluxes in agricultural landscapes

Water shortages, as well as floods and problems of water quality, especially its pollution by nitrates, have become worldwide threats to the sustainable development of human populations. In many regions of the world, water abstractions exceed available supplies (WMO, 1997). There is a prevailing premise that the best way to manage water resources is via large-scale technical interventions, such as new dams, aqueducts, pipelines, reservoirs and other devices for water withdrawals, storage, distribution or diversion (Gleick, 2003). Demand for water grew at more than twice the rate of global population growth in the 20th century, leading to many regional water crises (about 80 countries, constituting 40% of the world’s population, showed serious water shortages) and to a situation in which people presently use about half of the world’s available fresh water (WMO, 1997). It is no surprise then that water lies at the heart of many national and international conflicts globally. In an effort to address these problems, the UN Millennium Development Goals calls for a halving of the number of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015. It also calls for the implementation of strategies for sustainable water exploitation. The limited success so far of this initiative has compelled administrations to look for alternative water policies. Besides large water management constructions, so-called ‘soft-path solutions’ are proposed, which require much lower funding inputs and rely on decentralized decision making and use of more efficient technologies (Gleick, 2003). Stress is placed on the efficiency of water use for sanitation, food production, irrigation and other activities in small enterprises. In order to develop a strategy for sustainable water management, one has to grasp the system of relationships between the climatic constraints on water balance and the patterns of main water fluxes in landscapes, including the kinetics of water cycling and recycling and its uptake for human populations. Relying only on a single characteristic of a water regime often leads to incorrect conclusions. Thus, for example, the average annual precipitation in Finland amounts to about 550 mm and in Poland to 700 mm, but Poland is a more waterstressed country than Finland because evapotranspiration here is much higher than in Finland. Thus, the amount of precipitated water alone has little informative value for an evaluation of water conditions. Besides alreadyknown technical solutions for water storage and recycling, new options have been provided by the recent advances in landscape ecology (Ryszkowski and Kedziora, 1987; Olejnik and Kedziora, 1991; Ryszkowski et al., 1999; Kedziora and Olejnik, 2002).

The Coming Change in the Environmental Protection Paradigm

Human beings have long regarded nature as a hostile power, as both an unpredictable and alien force. Securing food and shelter was an arduous and indeed often dangerous task. More recently, with the growth in human population and the emergence of powerful technologies, we have started to regard nature as a material resource to be exploited for substantial gains. Exploiting nature was the main goal of military conquest and of industrial and commercial development.

The influence of agricultural landscape diversity on biological diversity

Until recently, the aim of agricultural activity was to provide food and fiber supplies for human communities. The possibility that farmers could play an important role in nature protection activities, mitigate threats to the environment, increase water retention and carry on many other activities important for the sustainable development of rural areas were not considered by farmers themselves, decision makers or the general public. However, increasing environmental problems in various parts of the world showed that neglecting ecological and sociological aspects of economic development had led to environmental degradation hindering not only economic systems but also threatening living natural resources.

Studies on Agricultural Landscape Management in Western Poland Plain

Increasing production farmers subsidise energy in order to simplify plant cover structure both within cultivated fields (selection of genetically uniform cultivates and elimination of weeds) and within agricultural landscape (elimination of hedges, stretches of meadows and wetlands, small mid-field ponds). Animal communities are also impoverished in cultivated fields. Fanners interfere with the matter cycling in agroecosystems directly by inputs of fertilisers, pesticides, etc., or indirectly by changing water cycling and decreasing holding capacities of soils for chemical compounds. In addition agricultural activity often leads to decrease of humus contents. Powerful machines used in modern tillage technologies not only strongly affect upon soil properties but also enable land surface levelling, modification of water drainage systems etc., which leads to changes in geomorphological characteristics of the terrain. All these effects of farming activity result in the development of a less complex network of interrelations among the components of agroecosystems. As a consequence of this simplification, relationships among agroecosystem components are altered, so that there is less tie-up in local cycles of matter. Thus increased leaching, blowing off, volatilisation and escape of various chemical compounds and materials from agroecosystems should be expected (Ryszxowski 1992, 1994, Ryszkowski et al. 1996).

Impact of climatic change on eco-hydrology: a case study for Poland

The impact of climatic change on variables of concern to eco-hydrology was examined. Long time series of records of temperature, precipitation and river flow for Poznan were analyzed and forecasts of tendencies were made. Spatial distribution of runoff and of the ratio of evapotranspiration to precipitation was obtained for the country. It was found likely that the dynamics of the hydrological cycle will accelerate. Annual precipitation, runoff and evapotranspiration will increase. The joint effect, including estimated growth in water demand, is likely to be a decrease in the amount of soil moisture.