Bequest of the Norseman—The Potential for Agricultural Intensification and Expansion in Southern Greenland under Climate Change
The increase of summer temperatures and a prolonged growing season increase the potential for agricultural land use for subarctic agriculture. Nevertheless, land use at borderline ecotones is influenced by more factors than temperature and the length of the growing season, for example soil quality,...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:5cd793d8574742228e4fc28f3c2e53af 2023-05-15T16:26:54+02:00 Bequest of the Norseman—The Potential for Agricultural Intensification and Expansion in Southern Greenland under Climate Change Chatrina Caviezel Matthias Hunziker Nikolaus J. Kuhn 2017-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/land6040087 https://doaj.org/article/5cd793d8574742228e4fc28f3c2e53af EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/6/4/87 https://doaj.org/toc/2073-445X 2073-445X doi:10.3390/land6040087 https://doaj.org/article/5cd793d8574742228e4fc28f3c2e53af Land, Vol 6, Iss 4, p 87 (2017) subarctic agriculture Greenland soil quality index farming at its limits air temperature increase increase of growing season Agriculture S article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/land6040087 2022-12-31T13:48:49Z The increase of summer temperatures and a prolonged growing season increase the potential for agricultural land use for subarctic agriculture. Nevertheless, land use at borderline ecotones is influenced by more factors than temperature and the length of the growing season, for example soil quality, as the increasing lengths of dry periods during vegetation season can diminish land use potential. Hence, this study focuses on the quality of the soil resource as possible limiting factor for land use intensification in southern Greenland. Physical and chemical soil properties of cultivated grasslands, reference sites and semi-natural birch and grassland sites were examined to develop a soil quality index and to identify the suitability of soils for a sustainable intensification and expansion of the agriculture. The study revealed that soils in the study area are generally characterized by a low effective cation exchange capacity (CECeff) (3.7 ± 5.0 meq 100 g−1), low pH CaCl2 (4.6 ± 0.4) and low clay and silt content (3.0 ± 1.0% and 38.2 ± 4.7%, respectively). Due to the high amount of coarse fraction (59.1 ± 5.8%) and the low amount of soil nutrients, an increasing threat of dry spells for soils and yield could be identified. Further, future land use intensification and expansion bears a high risk for concomitant effects, namely further soil acidification, nutrient leaching and soil degradation processes. However, results of the soil quality index also indicate that sites which were already used by the Norseman (980s–1450) show the best suitability for agricultural use. Thus, these areas offer a possibility to expand agricultural land use in southern Greenland. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Subarctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Greenland Land 6 4 87 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
subarctic agriculture Greenland soil quality index farming at its limits air temperature increase increase of growing season Agriculture S |
spellingShingle |
subarctic agriculture Greenland soil quality index farming at its limits air temperature increase increase of growing season Agriculture S Chatrina Caviezel Matthias Hunziker Nikolaus J. Kuhn Bequest of the Norseman—The Potential for Agricultural Intensification and Expansion in Southern Greenland under Climate Change |
topic_facet |
subarctic agriculture Greenland soil quality index farming at its limits air temperature increase increase of growing season Agriculture S |
description |
The increase of summer temperatures and a prolonged growing season increase the potential for agricultural land use for subarctic agriculture. Nevertheless, land use at borderline ecotones is influenced by more factors than temperature and the length of the growing season, for example soil quality, as the increasing lengths of dry periods during vegetation season can diminish land use potential. Hence, this study focuses on the quality of the soil resource as possible limiting factor for land use intensification in southern Greenland. Physical and chemical soil properties of cultivated grasslands, reference sites and semi-natural birch and grassland sites were examined to develop a soil quality index and to identify the suitability of soils for a sustainable intensification and expansion of the agriculture. The study revealed that soils in the study area are generally characterized by a low effective cation exchange capacity (CECeff) (3.7 ± 5.0 meq 100 g−1), low pH CaCl2 (4.6 ± 0.4) and low clay and silt content (3.0 ± 1.0% and 38.2 ± 4.7%, respectively). Due to the high amount of coarse fraction (59.1 ± 5.8%) and the low amount of soil nutrients, an increasing threat of dry spells for soils and yield could be identified. Further, future land use intensification and expansion bears a high risk for concomitant effects, namely further soil acidification, nutrient leaching and soil degradation processes. However, results of the soil quality index also indicate that sites which were already used by the Norseman (980s–1450) show the best suitability for agricultural use. Thus, these areas offer a possibility to expand agricultural land use in southern Greenland. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Chatrina Caviezel Matthias Hunziker Nikolaus J. Kuhn |
author_facet |
Chatrina Caviezel Matthias Hunziker Nikolaus J. Kuhn |
author_sort |
Chatrina Caviezel |
title |
Bequest of the Norseman—The Potential for Agricultural Intensification and Expansion in Southern Greenland under Climate Change |
title_short |
Bequest of the Norseman—The Potential for Agricultural Intensification and Expansion in Southern Greenland under Climate Change |
title_full |
Bequest of the Norseman—The Potential for Agricultural Intensification and Expansion in Southern Greenland under Climate Change |
title_fullStr |
Bequest of the Norseman—The Potential for Agricultural Intensification and Expansion in Southern Greenland under Climate Change |
title_full_unstemmed |
Bequest of the Norseman—The Potential for Agricultural Intensification and Expansion in Southern Greenland under Climate Change |
title_sort |
bequest of the norseman—the potential for agricultural intensification and expansion in southern greenland under climate change |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/land6040087 https://doaj.org/article/5cd793d8574742228e4fc28f3c2e53af |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Greenland Subarctic |
op_source |
Land, Vol 6, Iss 4, p 87 (2017) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/6/4/87 https://doaj.org/toc/2073-445X 2073-445X doi:10.3390/land6040087 https://doaj.org/article/5cd793d8574742228e4fc28f3c2e53af |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/land6040087 |
container_title |
Land |
container_volume |
6 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
87 |
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1766015913180528640 |