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Papers by Slaheddine Khlifi

Water, Feb 18, 2024

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

OurMED PRIMA-funded Project: Sustainable Water Storage and Distribution in the Mediterranean

LARHYSS Journal, Mar 1, 2015

Dans le but d'étudier l'impact du système Meskat sur le comportement de l'olivier adulte, un disp... more Dans le but d'étudier l'impact du système Meskat sur le comportement de l'olivier adulte, un dispositif expérimental a été retenu dans la région de Kroussia (M'Saken, Sousse, Tunisie). Il s'agit d'un dispositif formé de trois bandes, chacune composée de quatre casiers. L'étude a porté principalement sur six paramètres agronomiques de suivi d'une oliveraie adulte, de variété «chemlali», notamment le volume de la frondaison, la surface foliaire des feuilles âgées, la surface foliaire des feuilles jeunes, la conductance stomatique des feuilles, le diamètre des fruits et la longueur des fruits. Ces paramètres ont été évalués expérimentalement in situ et/ou au laboratoire avec deux répétitions par casier. Les résultats obtenus ont prouvé l'impact positif du système Meskat sur le comportement agronomique de l'olivier considéré. En effet, les atouts ont été relevés essentiellement pour le volume de la frondaison, la surface foliaire des feuilles âgées, la surface foliaire des feuilles jeunes et la conductance stomatique des feuilles avec une amélioration respective de 51, 25, 37 et 50%.

Revue Nature et Technologie, Jan 30, 2015

La surface agricole de la région de Sousse (Sahel tunisien) est caractérisée par la dominance de ... more La surface agricole de la région de Sousse (Sahel tunisien) est caractérisée par la dominance de l'oléiculture pluviale. Cette dernière est affectée par un déficit hydrique aigu et une dégradation intense du sol. Pour pallier cet obstacle, l'Etat a mis une stratégie de conservation des eaux et du sol. Cette stratégie vise, entre autres, la valorisation des aménagements antiérosifs traditionnels hérités du savoir faire paysan, notamment le système Meskat. En effet, les terrains en pente sont aménagés en meskats de façon à contrôler le ruissellement en le dirigeant vers les mankâas. Dans le but d'étudier l'impact de ce système sur le comportement végétatif de l'olivier «chemlali», un dispositif expérimental en bandes a été retenu dans la région de Kroussia (délégation de Msaken). L'étude a porté principalement sur les paramètres végétatifs suivants : longueur de la pousse (LP), nombre et longueur des entre-noeuds (NEN) et (LEN), surfaces foliaires des feuilles âgées(SFFA), moyennes (SFFM) et jeunes (SFFJ). Ces paramètres ont été évalués expérimentalement in situ et/ou au laboratoire avec deux répétitions par casier. Les résultats obtenus montrent l'impact positif du système Meskat sur l'ensemble des indicateurs étudiés. En effet, une amélioration selon le sens de l'écoulement de l'eau a été observé. Il est de 47, 25, 56, 25, 20 et 37% respectivement pour LP, NEN, LEN, SFFA, SFFM et SFFJ. Ceci est expliqué par le recueil d'une quantité d'eau importante au niveau des casiers les plus proches de l'impluvium qui ont révélé une amélioration au niveau des caractéristiques végétatives de l'olivier plus importante que celle au niveau des casiers éloignés du Meskat (témoins).

Together4Water: Testing a Citizen Science water monitoring project in Tunisia

EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts, Apr 1, 2019

Citizen Science (CS) has been emerging in the last decade as a new field of environmental monitor... more Citizen Science (CS) has been emerging in the last decade as a new field of environmental monitoring involving a direct collaboration between everyday citizens and scientists. The concept is now also introduced in hydrology. In Tunisia, several recent governmental efforts aimed at reinforcing the existing official water-related information through the renovation of the Tunisian monitoring systems. However, the lack of reliable hydrological data still an issue. This major point of concern can be partially addressed through a CS approach. In this study, we present results of the test phase of the Together4Water initiative, a water resources CS project that was launched in Tunisia in 2018. We monitored river flow, rainfall and water quality in a test area of the Medjerda catchment using cost-effective and/or public available sensors. For river flow we used the ‘Discharge app’, for rain simple manual pluviometers and for water quality simplified water quality strips. We used a stepby- step approach to target, to engage and to train citizens on using the monitoring tools and transmitting the data to a centralized online platform. The collected CS data are compared with data from the governmental reference stations. Preliminary results yield a good agreement between CS river flow data collected at two sites (Slouguia and Medjez) and the reference stations (correlation coefficient R ranges between 0.8 and 0.97 for all citizens). For rainfall, measurements collected by citizens in eight locations correlate well with reference data (R ranges between 0.95 and 0.98). Finally, CS water quality data (PH, NO3, NO2, KH, GH and Cl2) are also consistent with the laboratory measurements (R ranges between 0.75 and 0.8). In addition, uncertainty of the CS data are compared with the uncertainty associated with the official governmental data. We conclude that the Together4Water CS test phase delivered a consistent hydrometrological data set. The variability between the citizens’ measurements can be explained by many factors such as the location of pluviometers for rainfall observation, the wind and light reflection for river flow measurement using Discharge app, and colors identification for the water quality strips. The CS approach is considered promising to complement existing Tunisian monitoring systems, and also to enhance innovation, adaptation, and local capacity building in the Tunisian water sector

Involvement of Citizens in the Measurements of Water Salinity Using Test Kits in the Medjerda Watershed (Northern Tunisia)

Springer eBooks, 2022

Agronomy

This study focuses on the assessment of the impact of climate change on the efficiency of ambient... more This study focuses on the assessment of the impact of climate change on the efficiency of ambient air aeration and the dynamics of Rhyzopertha dominica, which is a major pest that infests wheat stored in Tunisia. To project future climate conditions for the period 2041–2070, two climate models, namely MPI-ESM1.2 and CNRMCM5.1, were used under two representative concentration pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). The study examined the historical and projected feasibility of aeration in six natural regions located in northwestern Tunisia, where wheat is the main crop, and investigated the potential consequences of climate change on the dynamics of R. dominica. Using a heat and mass transfer model in an unaerated wheat silo, the temperature and moisture distributions in the grain mass were used to predict the development, reproduction, and survival of R. dominica. The results revealed a decline in favorable aeration hours due to climate change, resulting in an average reduction of 25% across ...

Impact of land use land cover changes on flow uncertainty in Siliana watershed of northwestern Tunisia

CATENA

American Journal of Agricultural Science, Engineering, and Technology

In this work, a simulation of the climate change impact on the wheat grain storage process in Nor... more In this work, a simulation of the climate change impact on the wheat grain storage process in Northwestern regions of Tunisia was investigated based on grain aeration systems. This simulation was conducted by implementing the software package called Zephyrus for a period from 2041 to 2070 during storage season from the 01st of July to the 30th of November. The model estimates grain moisture content, grain temperature, and dry matter loss. The results showed a significant potential of the Zypherus strategy to maintain the grain moisture content around 12.2± 0.2% w.b. and to reduce grain temperatures from 35°C to 24 ± 1.5°C inside the silo. Consequently, under these values, the wheat storage process is considered safe and preserves wheat quality during the simulated storage period. Moreover, the wheat dry loss matter was about 0.8% during the whole storage period for each simulated year (approximately 0.15% per month).

Water

The Mediterranean region is increasingly recognized as a climate change hotspot but is highly und... more The Mediterranean region is increasingly recognized as a climate change hotspot but is highly underrepresented in hydrological climate change studies. This study aims to investigate the climate change effects on the hydrology of Lakhmass catchment in Tunisia. Lakhmass catchment is a part of the Medium Valley of Medjerda in northwestern Tunisia that drains an area of 126 km². First, the Hydrologiska Byråns Vattenbalansavdelning light (HBV-light) model was calibrated and validated successfully at a daily time step to simulate discharge during the 1981–1986 period. The Nash Sutcliffe Efficiency and Percent bias (NSE, PBIAS) were (0.80, +2.0%) and (0.53, −9.5%) for calibration (September 1982–August 1984) and validation (September 1984–August 1986) periods, respectively. Second, HBV-light model was considered as a predictive tool to simulate discharge in a baseline period (1981–2009) and future projections using data (precipitation and temperature) from thirteen combinations of General ...

Water resources management in the Medjerda basin (Tunisia): assessment of hydrological impacts of climatic change in the Siliana and Béja catchments

Under the current conditions, water resources in Tunisia are intensively exploited and mobilized ... more Under the current conditions, water resources in Tunisia are intensively exploited and mobilized to meet the increasing demands of all water users. While these resources are limited, approximately estimated to 4,5 Milliards of m3, more than 50% of the total volume of renewable water is withdrawn and mainly used for agricultural purposes (80%). With almost 11 Million of inhabitants, the average of the annual available water volume per person is about 470 m3 which is clearly below the threshold of water scarcity sets to 500 m3/inh/year. Furthermore, water resources are unevenly distributed within the country. About 56% of available waters are surface waters against 44% of groundwater including deep and shallow aquifers. In addition, more than 80% of surface water is mainly from the North, 12% from the center and 8% from the south. One of the most important watercourses in Tunisia is the Medjerda. This river basin covers an area about 23,700 km2 and extends from across the border in Al...

Assessment of rainfall and discharge data quality over a large southern Mediterranean catchment

The Medjerda catchment in Tunisia, as the only permanent waterway, has a high density of rainfall... more The Medjerda catchment in Tunisia, as the only permanent waterway, has a high density of rainfall and discharge network gauges in the country. The problem of data quantity was often discussed, however, the quality is not documented in our knowledge. The data quality affects directly the hydro-climatic model’s quality and the projected strategic adaptation and mitigations in the country. The main purpose here is to answer the following questions: *can we quantify the uncertainty in the gauges within the Medjerda? *What are the causes for these errors and which of them have the most influence on the data quality

Impact of Changes in Land Use and Land Cover on Predicted Flow Uncertainty in Siliana Catchment (Northwestern Tunisia)

SSRN Electronic Journal

Climate change induced impacts on hydrological extremes at the catchment scale: case of Wadi Siliana (North western Tunisia)

&lt;p&gt;High and low flows are hydrological flow extremes threatening human bein... more &lt;p&gt;High and low flows are hydrological flow extremes threatening human being by causing floods and droughts. They are caused by meteorological extremes and human activities.&amp;#160; Changes in meteorological conditions will inevitably impact the frequency of hydrological extremes and exacerbate their associated hydrological impacts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This study focuses on modelling projected change in both frequency and magnitude of flow extremes as consequence to change in climate condition in the Siliana catchment in Tunisia. The SWAT and HBV hydrological models were calibrated using historical data and fed with an ensemble of high resolution CORDEX climate models. Results project a warmer and drier hydrometeorological conditions in the Siliana catchment. The precipitation is expected to decrease in the future by an average of 10% in dry season and 12% in wet season. In contrast, temperature is expected to increase by an average of +2&amp;#176;C in dry season and 1.8&amp;#176;C in wet period.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The two models show that while magnitude and frequency of high flows are expected to decrease, low flows frequency is expected to increase which affirms that the&amp;#160;Siliana catchment is likely to experience severe hydrological conditions with reduction in water availability and increase in drought frequency.&lt;/p&gt;

Climate Change assessment to quantify current and future hydrological behavior of a small Mediterranean catchment

EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts, Apr 1, 2019

Assessment of Citizen's Measurements Using Test Strips for Water Quality in Medjerda Watershed (Northern Tunisia)

Water resources in Africa are subjected to many pressures related to urban growth and agricultura... more Water resources in Africa are subjected to many pressures related to urban growth and agricultural expansions which will be exarcebated by climate change. These pressures jeopardise achieving the UN-Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6)

Copyright © 2013 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Com... more Copyright © 2013 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT: The present work aims to study the importance of the hydrological Meskat system and its landscape insertion through the olive groves of Sousse region. The inventory of the anti-erosion works reveals that the management of watersheds by the Meskat system was performed on approximately 44 000 ha, so, 40.5 % of the supported area of the region by the erosion control structures (108 500 ha). This is an architectural and hydraulic heritage with a good quality rural landscape. This work aims to minimize the soil losses, to capture the surface runoff, to increase the soil fertility and to improve the crop yields. The current landscape of Meskats is an old as well as a current farmer’s work. There is a richness conceded by the ancestors t...

Essai d'application de modèles de réseau de neurones artificiels pour combler les données hydrométriques manquantes dans le bassin versant de la Medjerda: cas de la station Slouguia

The added value of generic remote-sensing data for assessing the Sustainable Development Goal's indicator related to water stress: A case study for the Medjerda catchment in Tunisia

International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, 2013

The present work aims to study the importance of the hydrological Meskat system and its landscape... more The present work aims to study the importance of the hydrological Meskat system and its landscape insertion through the olive groves of Sousse region. The inventory of the anti-erosion works reveals that the management of watersheds by the Meskat system was performed on approximately 44 000 ha, so, 40.5% of the supported area of the region by the erosion control structures (108 500 ha). This is an architectural and hydraulic heritage with a good quality rural landscape. This work aims to minimize the soil losses, to capture the surface runoff, to increase the soil fertility and to improve the crop yields.The current landscape of Meskats is an old as well as a current farmer's work. There is a richness conceded by the ancestors to their descendants. But this heritage is, in some cases, badly preserved. It should be noted that if, in the past, olive-tree left to the reconquest of the lowest parts of the hills to take advantage of the runoff, in the present, the urban population is...

Water, Feb 18, 2024

OurMED PRIMA-funded Project: Sustainable Water Storage and Distribution in the Mediterranean

LARHYSS Journal, Mar 1, 2015

Revue Nature et Technologie, Jan 30, 2015

Together4Water: Testing a Citizen Science water monitoring project in Tunisia

EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts, Apr 1, 2019

Involvement of Citizens in the Measurements of Water Salinity Using Test Kits in the Medjerda Watershed (Northern Tunisia)

Springer eBooks, 2022

Agronomy

Impact of land use land cover changes on flow uncertainty in Siliana watershed of northwestern Tunisia

CATENA

American Journal of Agricultural Science, Engineering, and Technology

Water

Water resources management in the Medjerda basin (Tunisia): assessment of hydrological impacts of climatic change in the Siliana and Béja catchments

Assessment of rainfall and discharge data quality over a large southern Mediterranean catchment

Impact of Changes in Land Use and Land Cover on Predicted Flow Uncertainty in Siliana Catchment (Northwestern Tunisia)

SSRN Electronic Journal

Climate change induced impacts on hydrological extremes at the catchment scale: case of Wadi Siliana (North western Tunisia)

Climate Change assessment to quantify current and future hydrological behavior of a small Mediterranean catchment

EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts, Apr 1, 2019

Assessment of Citizen's Measurements Using Test Strips for Water Quality in Medjerda Watershed (Northern Tunisia)

Essai d'application de modèles de réseau de neurones artificiels pour combler les données hydrométriques manquantes dans le bassin versant de la Medjerda: cas de la station Slouguia

The added value of generic remote-sensing data for assessing the Sustainable Development Goal's indicator related to water stress: A case study for the Medjerda catchment in Tunisia

International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, 2013