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Journal of Natural Resources and Development
Number of Followers: 2

This is an Open Access Journal

Open Access journal
ISSN (Online) 0719-2452
Published by Center for Natural Resources and Development

[1 journal]

Intrinsic restoration of a ferruginous ultisol using goosegrass (Eleusine
indica L. [Gaertn.]) obtained from different land use areas
- Authors: Beckley Ikhajiagbe, Chinazoputam A. Chukwujama, Matthew Ogwu
  Pages: 1 - 18
  Abstract: The study is an attempt to predict land restoration through changes in plant-soil characteristics. The capacity of goosegrass (Eleusine indica L. [Gaertn]) obtained from different land use areas in the rehabilitation and restoration of ferruginous ultisol was investigated. Fresh healthy tillers of E. indica from ten built environments and ferruginous utisol with iron content of 298.10 mg/kg were used in the study. The plants were grown for a period of seven weeks during which changes in the morphological characteristics of E. indica were assessed. Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and iron concentrations in the soil and plant parts were also determined. The morphological parameters revealed that there were no significant differences in the progression of plant height, spike length, number of primary roots. However, there was a significant decrease in the number of spikelets per plant, and root and shoot weight. Results suggest that rhizoacidity and phylloacidity of goosegrass roots and shoots result from the absorption and accumulation of iron from ferruginous utisols. E. indica shoots significantly accumulated more potassium compared to the roots. There were no significant differences in the residual iron content upon removal of E. indica from all locations, indicating that the introduction of the test plant did not significantly remove iron from the ferruginous soil. The concentration of nitrogen in the soil was not significantly impacted by the presence of E. indica as well as the root and shoot accumulation of nitrogen regardless of location. Overall, E. indica is capable of improving the fitness for agricultural use of ferruginous utisols.
  PubDate: 2022-06-03
  DOI: 10.18716/ojs/jnrd/2022.12.01
  Issue No: Vol. 12 (2022)
Evaluation of the water supply potential of nature-based and
reservoir-based drought adaptation measures under climate change scenarios
for a rural catchment in South-east Brazil
- Authors: Alexander Ley, Ian McNamara, Alexandra Nauditt, Rainer Mohn
  Pages: 19 - 40
  Abstract: Rural and unregulated catchments can be extremely affected by droughts due their lack of storage capacity and dependence on rainfed agricultural production. In 2014/2015 the Muriaé catchment in South-East Brazil suffered severe drought impacts. In this study we evaluated two adaptation measures representing conventional grey infrastructure and a nature-based solution. Using the rainfall-runoff model WEAP the effect of reservoir construction and widespread implementation of silvopasture on streamflow in the catchment was simulated using climate change projections for the RCP 2.6 and 8.5 emission scenarios. The results propose higher precipitation and lower temperature for the 2.6 scenario. Yet, for the 8.5 scenario droughts are expected to be more severe, still the modeled reservoir volume was sufficient to maintain the 90 percentile flow (Q90) during most of the modeled droughts. Instead, the implementation of silvopasture only increased streamflow leaving the catchment with a maximum of 4%, but also decreased streamflow peaks during the high streamflow flooding season.
  PubDate: 2022-06-17
  DOI: 10.18716/ojs/jnrd/2022.12.02
  Issue No: Vol. 12 (2022)
Using Open-Access Data to Determine Potential Rainwater Harvesting Sites
in the Blue Nile Basin, Sudan and Ethiopia
- Authors: Samah Mahmood Saif, Lars Ribbe, Bernd Frechen Franz
  Pages: 41 - 59
  Abstract: Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) is the systematic collection, storage, and utilization of rainwater, and it can contribute in satisfying current and future water demand in water-scarce regions. The main challenge to successfully implementing RWH applications is selecting the most suitable RWH sites and correctly assessing which methods to apply. Another challenge is the lack of reliable data in locations where RWH measures could improve the livelihood of the local population. A promising solution is the increasing number of online open-access data sources, such as remote sensing (RS) datasets that can substitute for in-situ observations and effectively identify potential RWH zones. This paper aims to identify potential RWH zones in the Blue Nile Basin (BNB) using such open-access data, which can help identify zones across the entire BNB. We used multi-criteria analysis (MCA), RS, and geographic information system (GIS). To achieve this aim, seven biophysical and socio-economic RWH criteria were selected. The results showed that using open-access data and the MCA approach to define potential RWH zones in the BNB is useful. High and moderate-suitability zones dominant in the BNB, with an area of 51% and 45%, respectively; the high-suitability zone is predominantly in Sudan and the moderate-suitability zone is mainly in Ethiopia. These results suggest that similar regions can apply our approach to efficiently identify potential RWH zones.
  PubDate: 2022-06-23
  DOI: 10.18716/ojs/jnrd/2022.12.03
  Issue No: Vol. 12 (2022)
Analysis of Droughts in South-West Indian Ocean Countries using SPI and
SPEI and their Relationship with Global SST
- Authors: Pulak Guhathakurta , Nilesh Wagh
  Pages: 60 - 81
  Abstract: Drought is a continuous period of dry weather and it is one of the most serious problem for human societies and ecosystems which caused by deficiency in rainfall in that region and the most affected are tropical monsoon dependent agriculture regions including Africa. Drought indices like Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Standardised Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) are very useful and well accepted drought indices representing the magnitude and severity of drought at a particular location by identifying the water stresses. In present study, eight coastal and one landlocked country in South West Indian Ocean (SWIO) are selected as a study region. An approach has been made to see rainfall variability of these countries using monthly rainfall climatology which showed maximum rainfall amount received by these countries is during months of December-January-February-March (D-J-F-M) and using decadal rainfall percent departure (PD) which delineated the multi-decadal dry and wet phases precisely for these countries, with PD ranging lower than -18% to higher than 16% in some cases. To understand drought magnitude and severity in these countries we have calculated 4 months cumulative SPI and SPEI for the months of D-J-F-M. In addition, correlation between both SPI and SPEI of all nine countries with global SST and various Nino and IOD SST regions is also analysed to understand various teleconnections responsible for drought.
  PubDate: 2022-07-01
  DOI: 10.18716/ojs/jnrd/2022.12.04
  Issue No: Vol. 12 (2022)