Soil and Water Research, 2008 (vol. 3), Special Issue 1
Analysis of land use change in the Eastern Ore Mts. regarding both nature protection and flood prevention
Mariusz Merta, Christina Seidler, Sylvi Bianchin, Herman Heilmeier, Elke Richert
Soil & Water Res., 2008, 3(10):S105-S115 | DOI: 10.17221/1193-SWR 
Two different models (WBS FLAB, WaSiM-ETH) were used in the project HochNatur (flood prevention and nature conservation in the Weißeritz catchment in the Eastern Ore Mts. - Erzgebirge) to determine risk areas with quick runoff processes and to simulate the discharge. It was done in different scales, in the mesoscale Weißeritz catchment as well as two selected subcatchments with different natural and urban conditions, the Weißbach subcatchment with a well-structured landscape, the Höckenbach subcatchment with a greater part of arable land. On the basis of selected scenarios, the effect of land use changes on the runoff generation processes of an area...
Miroslav Kutílek - Professor of soil science, soil physics and soil hydrology
Radka Kodešová
Soil & Water Res., 2008, 3(10):S5-S6 | DOI: 10.17221/1412-SWR
Wetting angle and water sorptivity in mineral soils
Henryk Czachor, Maria Flis-Bujak, Marcin Kafarski, Andrzej Król
Soil & Water Res., 2008, 3(10):S52-S57 | DOI: 10.17221/1201-SWR
Two simple models of a non-cylindrical (wavy) capillary have been applied to show the impact of pore shape and of wetting angle on water sorptivity in soils. Wetting angle derived from the Washburn approach gives an overestimated value because of pores are modelled as round capillary tubes, whereas in reality they are tortuous, wavy and interconnected. In wavy capillaries, the impact of wetting angle on water sorptivity and capillarity driven water transport can be much more pronounced in relation to Washburn approach. An observed wetting front movement can be seen as a superposition of micro jumps and rests. Experiments carried out with glass powder...
A Chernozem soil water regime response to predicted climate change scenarios
Csilla Farkas, Andrea Hagyó, Eszter Horváth, György Várallyay
Soil & Water Res., 2008, 3(10):S58-S67 | DOI: 10.17221/1410-SWR
Climate, hydrology and vegetation are closely linked at local, regional and global scales. The recent land use and plant production systems are adapted to the present climatic conditions. Thus, studies on the influence of possible climate change scenarios on the water and heat regimes of the soil-plant-atmosphere system are important in order to work out plant production strategies, adjusted to changed conditions. In this study the effect of two possible climate change scenarios on the soil water regime of a Chernozem soil was estimated for a Hungarian site. Soil water content dynamics simulated for different conventional and soil conserving soil tillage...
Pollutant concentrations in rime and fog water
Jaroslav Fišák, Miroslav Tesař, Daniela Fottová
Soil & Water Res., 2008, 3(10):S68-S73 | DOI: 10.17221/1406-SWR
: The present study deals with a comparison between the pollutant concentrations in the samples of rime and of fog water (so-called deposited or occult precipitation) collected at the Milešovka Observatory. Although rime can be observed during a limited part of the year, it still has an important share in the total amount of precipitation and can contribute significantly to a local increase in pollutant loads. The total sum of the selected free ions in the rime water represents approximately a half of the total sum of the selected free ions in the fog water. The relative contents of free ions in the mean sample were different in rime and fog water...
The structural porosity in soil hydraulic functions - a review
Miroslav Kutílek, Libor Jendele
Soil & Water Res., 2008, 3(10):S7-S20 | DOI: 10.17221/1190-SWR
Products of biological processes are the dominant factor of soil structure formation in A horizons, while in B horizons their role is less expressed. Soil structure influences dominantly the structural domain of the pore system in bimodal soils thus affecting soil hydraulic functions. The form of soil hydraulic functions depends upon the pore size distribution and generally upon configuration of the soil pore system. We used the functions derived for the lognormal pore size distribution and modified them to bi-modal soils. The derived equations were tested by experimental data of catalogued soils. The procedure leads to the separation of two mutually...
The impact of windthrow and fire disturbances on selected soil properties in the Tatra National Park
Erika Gömöryová, Katarína Střelcová, Jaroslav Škvarenina, Juraj Bebej, Dušan Gömöry
Soil & Water Res., 2008, 3(10):S74-S80 | DOI: 10.17221/9/2008-SWR
: In November 2004, forest stands in the Tatra National Park (TANAP) were affected by windthrow and in July 2005, the wildfire broke out on a part of the affected area. The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of the windthrow and fire disturbances on soil microbial activity. Basal and potential soil respiration, N-mineralisation, catalase activity, soil microbial biomass, and cellulase activity were measured in soil samples taken from the A-horizon (depth of 0-10 cm) along 100 m transects established on 4 plots (reference site, burnt, non-extracted, and extracted sites) in October 2006. Some soil microbial characteristics exhibited a...
Land suitability evaluation of bilverdy research station for wheat, barley, alfalfa, maize and safflower
Ali Asghar Jafarzadeh, Parisa Alamdari, Mohamed Reza Neyshabouri, Siamak Saedi
Soil & Water Res., 2008, 3(10):S81-S88 | DOI: 10.17221/15/2008-SWR
In the present study and research work, land suitability evaluation (qualitative classification) was made for the Bilverdy research station of the Islamic Azad University in East Azarbaijan for wheat, barley, alfalfa, maize and safflower. The Simple Limitation Method (SLM), the Limitation Method regarding Number and Intensity (LMNI) and the Parametric Methods (PM) such as the square-root and the Storie methods were used. The landscape, climate and soil and characteristics that influence suitability of the land for particular crops have been combined according to the adopted methodology. Economic factors were excluded and moderate level of management...
Entropy production by evapotranspiration and its geographic variation
Axel Kleidon
Soil & Water Res., 2008, 3(10):S89-S94 | DOI: 10.17221/1192-SWR
The hydrologic cycle is a system far from thermodynamic equilibrium that is characterized by its rate of entropy production in the climatological mean steady state. Over land, the hydrologic cycle is strongly affected by the presence of terrestrial vegetation. In order to investigate the role of the biota in the hydrologic cycle, it is critical to investigate the consequences of biotic effects from this thermodynamic perspective. Here I quantify entropy production by evapotranspiration with a climate system model of intermediate complexity and estimate its sensitivity to vegetation cover. For present-day conditions, the global mean entropy production...
Simulating nonequilibrium movement of water, solutes and particles using hydrus - a review of recent applications
Jiří Šimůnek, J. Maximilian Köhne, Radka Kodešová, Miroslav Šejna
Soil & Water Res., 2008, 3(10):S42-S51 | DOI: 10.17221/1200-SWR
Water and contaminants moving through the vadose zone are often subject to a large number of simultaneous physical and chemical nonequilibrium processes. Traditional modeling tools for describing flow and transport in soils either do not consider nonequilibrium processes at all, or consider them only separately. By contrast, a wide range of nonequilibrium flow and transport modeling approaches are currently available in the latest versions of the HYDRUS software packages. The formulations range from classical models simulating uniform flow and transport, to relatively traditional mobile-immobile water physical and two-site chemical nonequilibrium models,...
The role of soil in bioclimatology - a review
Kálmán Rajkai
Soil & Water Res., 2008, 3(10):S30-S41 | DOI: 10.17221/8/2008-SWR
Soil's part in bioclimatology is not defined and formulated yet. We interpret soil together with its plant cover as primary climate modifier for organisms living on, and within it. At the same time evaporating soil together with its transpiring vegetation is affecting the climate, and functioning as secondary climate modifier in context of bioclimatology. Selected Hungarian studies are used to highlight four primary and three secondary soil modifier actions connected to bioclimatology. Both primary and secondary soil modifier roles coupled mainly to soil hydro-physical properties. The first primary soil climate modifier action is the dew formation...
Using the sensitivity of biomass production to soil water for physiological drought evaluation
Viliam Novák
Soil & Water Res., 2008, 3(10):S116-S122 | DOI: 10.17221/1411-SWR
The analysis of drought as a phenomenon and the proposal of how to define and quantify the deficiency of water in soil for plants, so called physiological drought, are described. The presented approach is based on the theoretical considerations supported by empirically estimated relationships between the biomass production of a particular plant and the transpiration total of this plant during its vegetation period. This relationship is linear and is valid for particular plant and environmental conditions (nutrition, agrotechnics). Optimal plant production can be reached for maximum seasonal transpiration total, therefore the potential transpiration...
Spatial variability of water repellency in pine forest soil
Tomáš Orfánus, Zoltán Bedrna, Ľubomír Lichner, Paul D. Hallett, Karol Kňava, Michal Sebíň
Soil & Water Res., 2008, 3(10):S123-S129 | DOI: 10.17221/11/2008-SWR
The variability of water repellency of pine-forest arenic regosols and its influence on infiltration processes were measured in southwest Slovakia. The water drop penetration time (WDPT) tests of soil water repellency and infiltration tests with a miniature tension infiltrometer (3 mm diameter) were performed. Large differences in infiltration were observed over centimetre spatial resolution, with WDPT tests suggesting water repellency varying from extreme to moderate levels. For soils with severe to extreme water repellency determined with WDPT, steady state infiltration was not reached in tests with the miniature tension infiltrometer, making it...
Soil water retention and gross primary productivity in the Zábrod area in the Šumava Mts.
Miloslav Šír, Ľubomír Lichner, Miroslav Tesař, Miroslav Krejča, Jan Váchal
Soil & Water Res., 2008, 3(10):S130-S138 | DOI: 10.17221/12/2008-SWR
The synergy between the hydrologic extremes, plant transpiration, gross primary productivity, and soil water retention was studied in the experimental area Zábrod - Meadow in the Šumava Mts. (Bohemian Forest) during the vegetative seasons of 1983-2000. The heat balance, potential and actual transpiration, entropy production and gross primary productivity were evaluated. It was found that the global radiation, precipitation amount, and soil water retention are the crucial factors determining the hydrologic pattern and gross primary productivity. Insufficient soil water retention leads to low entropy production by evaporation and low gross primary productivity,...
Soil water regime estimated from the soil water storage monitored in time
Július Šútor, Milan Gomboš, Miroslav Kutílek, Miroslav Krejča
Soil & Water Res., 2008, 3(10):S139-S146 | DOI: 10.17221/13/2008-SWR
During the vegetation season, the water storage in the soil aeration zone is influenced by meteorological phenomena and by the vegetated cover. If the groundwater table is in contact with the soil profile, its contribution to water storage must be considered. This impact can be either monitored directly or the mathematical model of the soil moisture regime can be used to simulate it. We present the results of monitoring soil water content in the aeration zone of the East Slovakian Lowland. The main problem is the evaluation of the soil water storage in seasons and in years in the soil profile. Until now, classification systems of the soil water regime...
Extreme runoff formation in the Krkonoše Mts. in August 2002
Miroslav Tesař, Miloslav Šír, Ľubomír Lichner, Jaroslav Fišák
Soil & Water Res., 2008, 3(10):S147-S154 | DOI: 10.17221/14/2008-SWR
The role of the water movement and retention during extreme runoff formation was demonstrated in the Modrý Důl catchment (Krkonoše Mts., Czech Republic). A cyclone, which moved from Hungary to Poland, caused an extreme rainfall (120 mm) and subsequent extreme runoff in August, 2002. The precipitation, discharge, air and soil temperatures, tensiometric pressure, and soil moisture were recorded. The maximum retention capacity of the catchment was evaluated (70 mm). Depending on the actual retention capacity and the precipitation amount, two situations were recorded: (1) the precipitation amount lower than the actual retention capacity where the precipitation...
Variability of water repellency in sandy forest soils under broadleaves and conifers in north-western Jutland/Denmark
Niels Arne Wahl
Soil & Water Res., 2008, 3(10):S155-S164 | DOI: 10.17221/1407-SWR
Soil water repellency has important consequences for ecological and hydrological properties of soils and usually retards infiltration capacity and induces preferential flow. This phenomenon has been known to occur on a wide range of sites under a variety of climatic conditions. The objective of this study was to investigate and characterize soil water repellency on forest sites with identical substrate and climatic conditions, differing in tree age and species. In the Vester Torup Klitplantage, an area comprising a conifer dominated forest plantation stocking on sandy deposits in a coastal setting near the Jammer Bay in north-western Jutland/Denmark,...
Introduction to Special Issue on biohydrology
Ľubomír Lichner, Radka Kodešová, Miroslav Tesař
Soil & Water Res., 2008, 3(10):S2-S4 | DOI: 10.17221/1202-SWR
A brief overview of the causes, impacts and amelioration of soil water repellency - a review
Paul D. Hallett
Soil & Water Res., 2008, 3(10):S21-S29 | DOI: 10.17221/1198-SWR
This article describes the phenomenon of soil water repellency, starting from the fundamental principals of water transport and storage in soil. Soil water repellency is a reduction in the rate of wetting and retention of water in soil caused by the presence of hydrophobic coatings on soil particles. For crop production and the maintenance of amenity turf, water repellency can stress plants resulting in poorer yield quality or grass 'playability', respectively. The biological causes of water repellency, primarily the influence of fungi, will be discussed, as an understanding of the source of the problem will be beneficial in developing solutions. Exacerbation...
Drought stress tolerance of two wheat genotypes
András Lukács, Géza Pártay, Tamás Németh, Szilveszter Csorba, Csilla Farkas
Soil & Water Res., 2008, 3(10):S95-S104 | DOI: 10.17221/10/2008-SWR
Biotic and abiotic stress effects can limit the productivity of plants to great extent. In Hungary, drought is one of the most important constrains of biomass production, even at the present climatic conditions. The climate change scenarios, developed for the Carpathian basin for the nearest future predict further decrease in surface water resources. Consequently, it is essential to develop drought stress tolerant wheat genotypes to ensure sustainable and productive wheat production under changed climate conditions. The aim of the present study was to compare the stress tolerance of two winter wheat genotypes at two different scales. Soil water regime...