Soil erosion response to demographic and land use changes in the Nisava river basin, Serbia

Abstract

In this paper the relationship between demographic and land use changes and their impact on the intensity of erosion processes in the Nisava River basin is examined by using quantitative typology. For the purposes of quantifying the erosion intensity changes, the erosion potential model (EPM) was used to calculate the annual gross erosion and spatial distribution of soil erosion in study area. The value of the erosion coefficient was reduced from Z(1) = 0.443 in 1971 to Z(2) = 0.356 in 2011. Specific annual gross erosion in the Nisava River basin was 765.3 m(3)/km(2)/year in 1971 while in 2011 it was 533.3 m(3)/km(2)/year. Therefore, due to changes in intensity of erosion processes the specific annual gross erosion in study area was decreased for 232.3 m(3)/km(2)/year. In 40-year period, there were no significant changes in natural conditions, so the anthropogenic influences were responsible for the reduced erosion intensity. Research results indicate three types of population and land use changes with different scale and intensity of erosion process: progressive type with favourable demographic potentials, huge land use transformation and intensive process of soil erosion; stagnant type with advanced agricultural and demographic dimension which imposed pressures to the environment and soil erosion; regressive type and dominant regressive sub-type with depopulation and deagrarization have significant decereasing effect on soil erosion. These results are basis for all integral soil and water management projects, forest ecosystems and environmental protection, spatial planning, agriculture and other human activities.