Degradation and Revitalization of Soil and Landscape

Dear Colleagues,

Soil is an integral part of the landscape and ecosystems. Agroecosystems provide a range of ecosystem services relating to soil, water, and the landscape, including its biodiversity. However, the quality of soil deteriorates under increasing pressure from human society, along with the loss of its productive and non-productive functions. The most serious factors of soil degradation include erosion, but manifestations of physical and chemical degradation are also significant. Individual degradation factors can also trigger other processes that worsen the condition of the soil, water, and the landscape. The deteriorating quality of the soil, caused by pressure from human society, is further threatened by global climate change. Long-term persistent climate trends are being replaced by uneven weather patterns, typical for many local extremes of precipitation, or temperature, resulting in a range of problems which need to be addressed.

With the development of computer technology and methods of remote sensing, new monitoring methods and more precise models for calculating degradation processes are emerging. Based on these, many monitoring studies are created, which document the deteriorating condition of the landscape. Nevertheless, in many countries, there is still a gap between accurate data, indicating the constant deterioration of landscape, and actual corrective measures, whether implemented or conceptual. In many cases, however, despite the same methodological approach, there are discrepancies in the parametrization of models, which result in more or less distorted facts about the current state of the landscape. This Special Issue aims to publish articles providing information on modern methods of monitoring and modeling of degradation processes on agricultural land, as well as new concepts of remedial measures, especially those that not only address the preservation of land quality but also positively influence other off-site effects relating to the soil and organization of the soil fund, such as biodiversity or landscape water management.

Prof. Dr. Bořivoj Šarapatka
Dr. Marek Bednář
Guest Editors

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• soil
• degradation
• erosion
• climate change
• modeling
• revitalization