Desertification is a serious threat in arid ecosystems of Gulf Countries, including Qatar. Climate change, wind erosion, over-grazing and off-road vehicle traffic all contribute to desertification. A wide variety of desert soil habitats exist in Qatar, including Dune sands, Wadis, Rawdah depressions, Saline Sabkhas, Gypsum rich sands, and Rocky Hammada soils. Each of these has unique differences in soil texture and armoring, soil organic carbon, pH, water holding capacity and salt content that affect their vulnerability to desertification. These differences must be considered when embarking on restoration strategies. These strategies include water harvesting to promote growth of natural vegetation with contour rock bund and gabions across wadis, organic matter addition from treated sewage sludge or biochar, soil amendments such as rock phosphate, windbreaks to control soil erosion with Jatropha curcas or Tamarix aphylla, campaigns to promote native plantings and biological soil crust formation. Aside from restoration strategies, it is also important to manage risks of degradation arising from over-grazing of animals by Bedouin tribes and off-road vehicle traffic and camping activities by tourists. A few case studies of successful desert restoration projects are presented. Benefits of desert soil restoration are numerous, including protection of native plants and animals, and reductions in wind blown sediment towards populated urban centers, thereby protecting human respiratory health and reducing risks for vehicle crashes arising from poor visibility.
Biography
Dr. Mulla received a Ph.D. degree in Agronomy from Purdue University with emphasis in soil physics (1983). From 1983 to 1995 he was Assistant to Full Professor in the Dept. of Crop and Soil Sciences at Washington State Univ. Since 1995 he has been Professor and Larson Chair for Soil & Water Resources in the Dept. of Soil, Water, and Climate at the Univ. of Minnesota. Since January, 2004 he has been the Director of the Precision Agriculture Center at the Univ. of Minnesota. From 2007-2013 he was a consultant to the Millennium Challenge Corporation for a project to install erosion control practices and plant 8 million olive trees on 75,000 ha in Morocco. In addition, he helped organize two International Workshops on Wastewater Reuse in Rabat, Morocco and Muscat, Oman.
Dr. Mulla’s research emphasizes (1) the transport and modeling of water, solutes, trace metals, and organic chemicals in soil, surface and ground water, (2) impacts of biofuel and alternative crop production systems, (3) the measurement, modeling and management of soil erosion, (4) soil, landscape and terrain modeling for precision conservation, and (5) field-scale variability for precision farming.
Dr. Mulla and his coauthors (including 46 MS and PhD students) have produced over 230 publications, and have received funding of over $50 million. Dr. Mulla and his colleagues have extensive experience in applying geostatistics, remote sensing and GIS terrain analysis in agricultural, biological and ecological systems, including applications for development of targeted BMP placement and “management zones” in precision agriculture and precision conservation. Broadly speaking, Dr. Mulla’s pioneering research on precision agriculture contributed significantly to its adoption in the US and around the world, fostering business opportunities, job growth and greater economic and environmental efficiency in agriculture.
Dr. Mulla is an internationally recognized researcher and scholar. His research has taken him to over 20 countries. His peers elected him as a Fellow in the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA), and as a Fellow in the Agronomy Society of America. In 2012 he received the Pierre C. Robert Precision Agriculture Research Award from the International Society for Precision Agriculture. In 2013 he received the SSSA Soil Science Applied Research Award. He has served as Associate and Technical Editor for the Soil Science Society of America Journal, and as Associate Editor for the Journal of Precision Agriculture.