Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2004. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, 2004. / Härtill 8 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2001. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2007. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (p.238-254).

The Dolores River in Utah and the Virgin River in Nevada are ecosystems under pressure from increased groundwater withdrawal due to growing human populations, climate change and introduced species such as Tamarix spp. (tamarisk). Tamarisk is reputed to take excessive water from its environment. Controlling tamarisk is of concern in the western United States where plants grow quickly in already fragile and diminishing riparian areas. For this reason, biologic control beetles Chrysomelidae: Diorhabda carinulata were released to weaken the tamarisk population, thus reducing its water use. The studies for this dissertation were conducted between 2010 and 2011. We quantified tamarisk water use over multiple cycles of annual defoliation using sap flow measurements, leaf area index (LAI), well data, allometry and satellite imagery from EOS-1 Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) sensor. Study objectives for the Virgin River were to measure evapotranspiration (ET) before beetles ever arrived and to examine the effects on tamarisk ET in the year after beetle arrival. This site showed plant ET from sap flow averaged about 4.3 mm m⁻² leaf day⁻¹ in 2010. In 2011, ET from sap flow averaged 6.4 mm m⁻² leaf area day⁻¹ pre beetle arrival, but dropped to 3-4 mm m⁻² leaf area day⁻¹ after beetle arrival. Stand level ET measured by MODIS was 2.2 mm d⁻¹ in 2010 and approximately 1.5 mm day⁻¹ when beetle arrival was measured in 2011. Significant visual change was apparent as the trees senesced. Results showed the first year of beetle arrival resulted in reduced ET but did not result in significant water savings. We also compared the reaction of the newly defoliated (in 2011) Virgin River site to the long-term defoliated (since 2007) Dolores River site to explore if all beetle invasions were created equal. This paper views the two sites as fairly extreme examples of tamarisk stand reaction to the beetle. While no mortality was reported at the Dolores River site, the site is much older, less photosynthetically active and covers far less ground when compared to the younger tamarisk monoculture on the Virgin River. Pre-beetle arrival Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values were higher on the Virgin River than on the Dolores River. Beetle arrival at each site was captured with Landsat NDVI and a reduced NDVI signal (13% drop in NDVI at Dolores River, 5% drop at Virgin River) was seen after beetle arrival.

O conhecimento de propriedades do solo ligadas diretamente à produtividade das culturas é uma busca incessante. As propriedades fortemente correlacionadas com o espaço poroso do solo tornam-se muito importantes, principalmente porque têm ação direta no desenvolvimento vegetal: é pelo espaço poroso que ocorre o deslocamento de água e ar para a rizosfera das plantas. Cada tipo de solo e mesmo cada horizonte pedológico possui uma geometria de poros que o caracteriza e que permite uma maior ou menor facilidade de transportar água e, consequentemente, o ar. Como as propriedades do solo relacionadas ao transporte de água e de ar são altamente variáveis no espaço, o objetivo deste trabalho foi estudar a variabilidade espacial: a) dos parâmetros da equação que correlaciona a condutividade hidráulica com o conteúdo de água no solo e b) da permeabilidade do solo ao ar. Para tanto, foi instalado um experimento no campo, num Latossolo Vermelho Amarelo textura média, constituído por 60 tubos de acesso a uma sonda de nêutrons, numa malha regular de 5 x 5 m, com a finalidade de medir o conteúdo de água em função do tempo, nas profundidades de 0,20; 0,40; 0,60; 0,80 m e, então, determinar-se a condutividade hidráulica pelo método do perfil instantâneo. A permeabilidade do solo ao ar (ka) foi determinada pelo método da pressão decrescente, realizada em laboratório, utilizando amostras de solo com estrutura indeformada, equilibradas nas tensões de 6 e 10 kPa. De posse desses atributos do solo, realizou-se o estudo da variabilidade espacial. Os valores mais elevados de condutividade hidráulica do solo saturado e de permeabilidade intrínseca do solo ao ar foram encontrados nas porções da área experimental com menores cotas altimétricas, o que indica uma influência da morfologia do terreno na estrutura do solo, principalmente porque nessas porções há uma maior quantidade de argila. Os mapas de predição mostram que a condutividade hidráulica do solo saturado está correlacionada diretamente com o conteúdo de água do solo saturado e inversamente com o coeficiente angular da reta do logaritmo da condutividade hidráulica em função do conteúdo de água no solo. Os mapas de predição das permeabilidades do solo ao ar foram semelhantes quanto à localização dos maiores e menores valores, mas houve um aumento das porções de área com valores mais elevados de ka(m=-10 kPa) em comparação ao de ka(m=-6 kPa), devido ao esvaziamento de poros com raios menores, que aumenta a conectividade e consequentemente o fluxo de ar. / The knowledge of soil properties directly related to crops yield is na incessant search. The soil properties strongly correlated with the soil porosity are very important for their direct action on plant development: it is through the soil porous space that occurs water and air displacement to plant rhizosfere. Each kind of soil and even each soil horizont have a pore geometry that the chracterizes and permits a higher or lower facility in transporting water and air. Since these soil properties are highly variable in space, the objective of this work was to study the spatial variability: a) of the parameters of the equation correlating soil hydraulic conductivity and soil water content and, b) of the soil air permeability. For this, 60 acess tubes for a neutron probe were installed in a medium texture Yellow Red Latosol, in a regular grid of 5 x 5 m, in order to measure the soil water content a long the time, in depths of 0.2; 0.4; 0.6; 0.8 m and to determine the hydraulic conductivity by instantaneous profile method. The soil air permeability was determined by the decreasing pressure method in laboratory, using undisturbed soil samples under stabilized matric soil water potentials of -6 and -10 kPa. The higher values of saturated hydraulic conductivity and soil air permeability were found in the lower altitudes of the experimental area, showing that topography can influence soil structure, due mainly the higher amount of clay in lower altitudes. The predict map of saturated hydraulic conductivity shows that this soil propertie is directly correlated with the saturated soil water content and inversely correlated with the slope of the curve of logarithm of hydraulic conductivity as a function of soil water content. Predict maps of soil air permeability were similar, since the higher and lower values were found in the same place. However, there were an increase of the area with higher air permeability, measured under -10 kPa, due to higher amount of air filled pores, increasing the porous connectivity and the air flow.

abstract: The infrastructure is built in Unsaturated Soils. However, the geotechnical practitioners insist in designing the structures based on Saturated Soil Mechanics. The design of structures based on unsaturated soil mechanics is desirable because it reduces cost and it is by far a more sustainable approach. The research community has identified the Soil-Water Characteristic Curve as the most important soil property when dealing with unsaturated conditions. This soil property is unpopular among practitioners because the laboratory testing takes an appreciable amount of time. Several authors have attempted predicting the Soil-Water Characteristic Curve; however, most of the published predictions are based on a very limited soil database. The National Resources Conservation Service has a vast database of engineering soil properties with more than 36,000 soils, which includes water content measurements at different levels of suctions. This database was used in this study to validate two existing models that based the Soil-Water Characteristic Curve prediction on statistical analysis. It was found that although the predictions are acceptable for some ranges of suctions; they did not performed that well for others. It was found that the first model validated was accurate for fine-grained soils, while the second model was best for granular soils. For these reasons, two models to estimate the Soil-Water Characteristic Curve are proposed. The first model estimates the fitting parameters of the Fredlund and Xing (1994) function separately and then, the predicted parameters are fitted to the Fredlund and Xing function for an overall estimate of the degree of saturation. Results show an overall improvement on the predicted values when compared to existing models. The second model is based on the relationship between the Soil-Water Characteristic Curve and the Pore-Size Distribution of the soils. The process allows for the prediction of the entire Soil-Water Characteristic Curve function and proved to be a better approximation than that used in the first attempt. Both models constitute important tools in the implementation of unsaturated soil mechanics into engineering practice due to the link of the prediction with simple and well known engineering soil properties. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Civil and Environmental Engineering 2011

Para a determinação do comportamento de um solo não saturado, é necessária a identificação da sua curva característica, que representa a capacidade de armazenamento de água pelo solo em função do valor de sucção imposto. Quando este solo é submetido a algum processo de contaminação, a sua estrutura interna pode ser alterada por processos físico-químicos, modificando, por conseqüência, o seu comportamento. Esta dissertação propõe uma metodologia de ensaio para a determinação de curvas características de sucção total em um solo artificialmente contaminado com diferentes teores de óleo diesel. O programa experimental proposto consiste basicamente na realização do método do papel filtro, através da técnica sem contato entre a amostra e o papel, com algumas modificações em relação às metodologias anteriormente descritas na literatura geotécnica. Foram também executados ensaios para controle e quantificação da evaporação do contaminante ao longo do tempo, e sua possível absorção pelo papel filtro utilizado. Além disso, foram realizados ensaios para a caracterização física, mineralógica e química do solo, antes e após a adição do óleo, com o intuito de constatar as alterações causadas pela contaminação. O material estudado é constituído por sedimentos coluvionares provenientes de arenito da Formação Botucatu, sendo que sua curva característica, sem contaminação, já foi determinada em um estudo anterior, através do método do papel filtro com contato. Para possibilitar comparações entre estes resultados, foram medidos também alguns pontos em amostras não contaminadas, através da técnica proposta nesta dissertação. Estes apresentaram uma satisfatória concordância em relação à curva anteriormente ajustada. Na análise das curvas características do solo contaminado com 2%, 5%, 10% e 15% de óleo diesel, constatou-se a permanência do formato bimodal, sugerindo que a microestrutura e a macroestrutura continuam influenciando na entrada e saída de água do meio. Entretanto, foram identificadas alterações na forma da curva e na extensão dos patamares resultantes, em relação à curva característica sem contaminação, assim como as diferentes localizações dos valores de entrada de ar. Foi verificado que, conforme o aumento do teor de contaminante, há uma gradual tendência ao formato unimodal da curva característica, induzindo a um comportamento de solo tipicamente granular. Este fato foi comprovado nos resultados de microscopia eletrônica, onde se verifica que, com teores menores de óleo, a estrutura do solo encontra-se mais fechada e, à medida que este teor aumenta, a estrutura torna-se mais porosa. Os tempos de equalização para o método de ensaio proposto variaram entre 7 e 30 dias, conforme o nível de sucção da amostra. A avaliação da histerese revelou que, com o aumento do teor de contaminante, há uma pequena redução deste fenômeno. Além disso, os ensaios complementares comprovaram a existência de uma pequena porcentagem de evaporação do óleo diesel, assim como a absorção do mesmo pelo papel filtro, que se apresentou praticamente nula. / The unsaturated soil behavior can be determined through its soil-water characteristic curve, which represents the capacity of the soil to store water when submitted to different suction levels. When this soil is contaminated, its internal structure can be modified according to physical and chemical processes, thus changing the initial behavior. This dissertation proposes a test methodology to determine the total-suction soil-water characteristic curves of a contaminated soil at different diesel oil contents. The experimental program consisted of using the filter-paper method without contact between the sample and the paper, but with some modifications in relation to previously studied techniques. Some control tests were also carried out to check oil evaporation and its absortion by the filter paper. Besides, the samples were submitted to physical, mineralogical and chemical characterization, before and after contamination, to verify the possible changes. The studied material is a colluvium soil, constituted basically by sandstone, from the Botucatu Formation. This soil was previously studied by the filter-paper method with contact, and its soil water characteristic curve without contamination was already known. To compare the results, the proposed test methodology was also performed with non contaminated samples, showing a satisfactory agreement with the initial curve. The soil-water characteristic curves of this soil with a diesel oil content of 2%, 5%, 10% and 15% showed a "saddle" shape, indicating that both the microstructure and the macrostructure were influenced by the entrance and exit of water through the soil. However, the shape of the curve and the extent of its plateau changed according to the level of contamination. Increasing the oil content, the curve tends to a unimodal shape, with a behavior similar to granular soils. This statement was proved by the microstruture photographs, which showed an increase of sample porosity due to the increase of oil content. The time required to reach suction equilibrium during the tests varied between 7 to 30 days, according to the initial water content of the samples. The observed hysteresis had a small reduction with the increase of oil content. The control tests proved that oil evaporation and its absortion by the filter paper were insignificant in the whole test program.

SANTOS, Carlos Levi Anastacio dos. Curva característica de água no solo: relações com estrutura e volume da amostra. 2014. 33 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em agronomia)- Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza-CE, 2016. / Submitted by Elineudson Ribeiro (elineudsonr@gmail.com) on 2016-08-29T21:43:41Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_dis_clasantos.pdf: 14059895 bytes, checksum: edc08497c5a4bd633796c0c1c87947e0 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Jairo Viana (jairo@ufc.br) on 2016-08-31T23:40:33Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_dis_clasantos.pdf: 14059895 bytes, checksum: edc08497c5a4bd633796c0c1c87947e0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-31T23:40:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_dis_clasantos.pdf: 14059895 bytes, checksum: edc08497c5a4bd633796c0c1c87947e0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / A curva característica de água no solo (CCAS) é considerada uma propriedade físico-hídrica do solo, uma vez que modificações na granulometria ou na estrutura do solo alteram o seu formato. A partir dela é possível manejar a irrigação de uma cultura e inferir acerca da qualidade física do solo. No entanto, sua determinação é lenta e onerosa. Uma abordagem para tal inconveniente consiste em reduzir o volume da amostra de solo, pressupondo que o tempo para obtenção da CCAS seja proporcional ao quadrado da altura da amostra. Mas até que ponto a redução do volume da amostra não altera a representatividade da CCAS? Para tanto admite-se as seguintes hipóteses: 1- O comportamento da CCAS é coincidente para amostras que possuem a mesma textura e estrutura, independente do volume, considerando que mudanças na textura e/ou estrutura provocam alterações na curva; e 2- O comportamento da CCAS é coincidente para amostras que apresentam a mesma textura e estruturas diferente, apenas na faixa de alta tensão (33 – 1500 kPa), considerando que nessa faixa o fenômeno responsável pela retenção de água seja a adsorção, cuja ação independe da estrutura e do volume da amostra. Afim de testar as hipóteses, coletaram-se amostras com estrutura deformada e indeformada com volume de 20, 50 e 100 cm3, aproximadamente, para diferentes classes texturais. Assim estabeleceu-se o delineamento inteiramente casualizado com 8 repetições para cada tratamento e aplicou-se os testes de Jarque-Bera para normalidade, F para a análise de variância e de Dunnett para comparação de médias. Afora isso, foram feitas análises de regressão e correlação entre o log neperiano do potencial mátrico e conteúdo de água no solo, o que possibilitou a obtenção de retas para então aplicar testes de coincidência a 5%. Verifica-se que é possível obter a CCAS com um volume mínimo de 50 cm3, sem a perda da sua representatividade, considerando amostras com estrutura indeformada e textura franco argiloarenosa e que amostras com estrutura deformada não podem substituir amostras com estrutura indeformada na parte mais úmida da curva (0 – 10 kPa), independente da textura e do volume da amostra; enquanto na parte mais seca da curva característica de água (33 – 1500 kPa) é possível, desde que se considere a textura e o volume da amostra.

Autumn-olive (Elaeagnus umbellata Thunb.) is an exotic species that was introduced in the U. S. in the 1800's and widely promoted as an ideal plant for erosion control, wildlife habitat and soil remediation. N-fixation by autumn-olive through a symbiotic relationship with actinomycete Frankia, can alter nitrogen cycling and potentially impair water quality through nitrate leaching. Furthermore, legacy effects of accumulated N following vegetative management and restoration efforts are unknown in areas invaded by autumn-olive. The first objective of this research was to determine if there was a relationship between autumn-olive cover and stream nitrate-N (NO3--N) concentration in twelve forested headwater watersheds in southern Illinois. Secondly, changes in autumn-olive cover and stream nitrogen concentrations were assessed by comparing current results to data collected 6 years prior. Nine of the study watersheds had significantly greater autumn-olive percent cover in 2012 compared to 2006 and mean stream NO3--N concentration significantly increased from 2006 to 2012 in all watersheds. Also, a significant exponential relationship was found between stream NO3--N concentration and autumn-olive percent cover. The long term effects of autumn-olive management on N cycling were also investigated by implementing three different vegetation treatments on invaded areas: cutting of autumn-olive trees (CU), cutting and stump herbicide application (CH) and a no treatment application or control (CO). Treated plots showed that soil NO3--N increased temporarily due to the disturbance. However, after the initial post treatment period of one year, soil water NO3--N concentrations on treated plots shifted, so that CH plots had significantly lower levels of NO3--N than in CO plots. Soil water NO3--N in CU plots also decreased, but it was not significantly different from CH plots. Subsequently, soil water NO3--N declined on CH plots, reaching the lowest levels in the third and fourth year after treatment. Reduction in soil water NO3--N in CH plots was not accompanied by differences among treatments in soil N mineralization rates or soil C:N ratios indicating persistent high nitrification rates contributing to mineralization under treated and control plots. These results demonstrate that encroachment of autumn-olive can transform N cycles in natural areas and affect water quality by saturating the soil with mobile forms of N that are leached out of the system. Significant rates of soil N cycling can persist for years after removal of autumn-olive due to the cycling of legacy N in soils and litter. Nevertheless, the cut and stump herbicide application treatment produced positive vegetation management results by halting N-fixation, controlling autumn-olive re-sprouting and by gradually decreasing N availability and NO3--N flushing in treated areas. Treatment of autumn-olive should have an impact on stream water quality in headwater watersheds, given the significant observed relationship between autumn-olive cover and stream nitrogen levels.