Soil erosion from agriculture and mining: A threat to tropical stream ecosystems
Open accessAbstract
In tropical countries soil erosion is often increased due to high erodibility of geologically old and weathered soils; intensive rainfall; inappropriate soil management; removal of forest vegetation cover; and mining activities. Stream ecosystems draining agricultural or mining areas are often severely impacted by the high loads of eroded material entering the stream channel; increasing turbidity; covering instream habitat and affecting the riparian zone; and thereby modifying habitat and food web structures. The biodiversity is severely threatened by these negative effects as the aquatic and riparian fauna and flora are not adapted to cope with excessive rates of erosion and sedimentation. Eroded material may also be polluted by pesticides or heavy metals that have an aggravating effect on functions and ecosystem services. Loss of superficial material and deepening of erosion gullies impoverish the nutrient and carbon contents of the soils; and lower the water tables; causing a “lose-lose” situation for agricultural productivity and environmental integrity. Several examples show how to interrupt this vicious cycle by integrated catchment management and by combining “green” and “hard” engineering for habitat restoration. In this review; we summarize current findings on this issue from tropical countries with a focus on case studies from Suriname and Brazil.
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In the upper parts of the catchment above cities, erosion mobilizes large amounts of sediments that scour biological surfaces or cover habitats and natural resources in water bodies.
“In the upper parts of the catchment above the cities, erosion mobilizes large amounts of sediments that scour biological surfaces or cover habitats and natural resources in water bodies (see Wantzen & Mol [129] for a recent review of siltation effects).”
From Urban Stream and Wetland Restoration in the Global South—A DPSIR Analysis (2019) · cites this paper as [129]
Urban impacts are superimposed with pollutions from agriculture and/or gold mining and from damming effects further upstream.
“Urban impacts are superimposed with pollutions from agriculture and/or gold mining [129,143] and from damming effects [144] further upstream.”
From Urban Stream and Wetland Restoration in the Global South—A DPSIR Analysis (2019) · cites this paper as [129]
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Wantzen, K. M., Ballouche, A., Longuet, I., Bao, I., Bocoum, H., Cissé, L., Chauhan, M., Girard, P., Gopal, B., Kane, A., et al. (2016) · Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology · doi:10.1016/j.ecohyd.2015.12.003 · Cited by 192 · see citing works
Self-citationUrban Stream and Wetland Restoration in the Global South—A DPSIR Analysis
Wantzen, K., Alves, C., Badiane, S., Bala, R., Blettler, M., Callisto, M., Cao, Y., Kolb, M., Kondolf, G., Leite, M., et al. (2019) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su11184975 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
Self-citationO’Mara, K., Venarsky, M., Stewart-Koster, B., McGregor, G. B., Schulz, C., Marshall, J., & Bunn, S. E. (2024) · Hydrobiologia · doi:10.1007/s10750-024-05676-2 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
“…from impacts of anthropogenic activities, such as farming and mining (which are occurring or have occurred in the past in the upland reaches of the Mitchell River and its tributaries), is therefore important for conserving fish diversity in the catchment (Meyer et al., 2007; Wantzen & Mol, 2013).”
- Authors
- Wantzen, K., & Mol, J.
- Affiliations
- Université de Tours (FR)
- Anton de Kom University of Suriname (SR)
- Corresponding author
- Wantzen, Karl
- Venue
- Agriculture
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2013-09-30
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 660-683
- ISSN
- 2077-0472 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1964144344
- Cited by
- 161
- References
- 63
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 4
- FWCI
- 7.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Agriculture (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil erosion and sediment transport
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Hydrology and Sediment Transport Processes
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Soil and Water Nutrient Dynamics
- Keywords
- soil erosion, tropical streams, agricultural land use, mining impacts, sedimentation, turbidity, riparian zones, aquatic biodiversity, habitat restoration, integrated watershed management, pesticide contamination, heavy metals, soil nutrient depletion, groundwater level decline, Suriname, Brazil
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