Degraded Landscapes in Hillside Systems with Agricultural Use: An Integrated Analysis to Establish Restoration Opportunities in Central Chile
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Manuscript Number: land-1994201
Title: Degraded landscapes in hillside systems with agricultural use: an integrated analysis to establish restoration opportunities in Central Chile.
General comments:
Hillside is an important natural support for human survival and development in mountainous countries. In this manuscript, the research on landscape degradation of agricultural hillsides in Chile is carried out, which is of great practical significance for maintaining regional development and ecological restoration. On the whole, the significance of this topic is clear, and the research content is also the focus of international attention. However, there are still some problems in the structure and content of the manuscript. In terms of the structure of the manuscript, there is a lack of research conclusions, in terms of the selection of research methods, there is a lack of sufficient basis for the selection of indicators, quantitative analysis content accounts for a small proportion, and there is no clear scientific basis for the selection of various indicator thresholds. The specific opinions are as follows:
Detailed comments:
1. English needs further improvement;
2. Line 13-22: The abstract needs to be further summarized, and the innovation and conclusion should be clearly summarized. In addition, pay attention to language accuracy and readability. For example, "A total of 0.29% of the slopes had potential agricultural use, and 0.3% responded to degraded slopes with potential agricultural use". The author is requested to check whether there is such a figure “0.3%" in the analysis of research results;
3. Line 27-91: "1. Introduction" is too divergent and redundant. It is suggested to focus on the actual situation in Chile and the key research contents of this research;
4. Line 70-71: "Specially due to the use of conventional soil preparation systems in annual laps, based on soil breaking and conversion". Please provide some survey photos of the systems;
5. Line 73-74: The article mentioned "In the north central zone, the landscape has experienced four hung years of changes, with...". Authors are requested to verify the accuracy of language expression in combination with the following text;
6. Line 149-160: In content 2.1.2, how many people are there in the study area and how agricultural activities lead to the degradation of mountain landscape should be described more clearly and more accurately;
7. Line 179: "2.2. Delimitation of the study area" refers to whether "a slope no greater than 25 or 30 °" is survey data or empirical data. Please explain the source of the data;
8. Line 184: The determination of indicator types and thresholds lacks quantitative basis, mainly through slope grade indicators. There is no quantitative establishment of correlation between farmland and terrain indicators. At present, most of the part directly give data conclusions, but there are few thresholds with clear production basis or quantitative scientific basis;
9. Line 208: "Areas that do not represent hills" only selects the indicator "Slopes<5%". Why is the terrain fluctuation, such as elevation difference, not considered here?
10. Line 227: Why there is no value for Total in "Table 4";
11. Line 230: Please use the table to express the classification standards in "Figure 2";
12. Line 241-242: Please add what data analysis is used for "the soils suitable for the vegetation"?
13. Line 267: The type and meaning of each photo in "Figure 4." should be described;
14. Line 311: "3.4. Actions for slides suitable for agriculture in the coastal mountain range" is inaccurate, and it is recommended to modify;
15. No research conclusion;
16. Line 425: The format of references is not standardized, such as Literature 3;
As a conclusion, major revision required.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments
Point 1: 1. English needs further improvement;
Response 1: English was reviewed)
Point 2: Line 13-22: The abstract needs to be further summarized, and the innovation and conclusion should be clearly summarized. In addition, pay attention to language accuracy and readability. For example, "A total of 0.29% of the slopes had potential agricultural use, and 0.3% responded to degraded slopes with potential agricultural use". The author is requested to check whether there is such a figure “0.3%" in the analysis of research results;
Response 2: Resolved summary and revised percentages.
Point 3: Line 27-91: "1. Introduction" is too divergent and redundant. It is suggested to focus on the actual situation in Chile and the key research contents of this research.
Response 3: Improved introduction.
Point 4: Line 70-71: "Specially due to the use of conventional soil preparation systems in annual laps, based on soil breaking and conversion". Please provide some survey photos of the systems;
Response 4: Incorporated photos. A photograph of the agricultural machinery used by conventional systems to prepare the soil and another image of the soil preparation by small farmers were incorporated.
Point 5: Line 73-74: The article mentioned "In the north central zone, the landscape has experienced four hung years of changes, with...". Authors are requested to verify the accuracy of language expression in combination with the following text;
Response 5: The text has been modified according to the evaluator's indications.
Point 6: 149-160: In content 2.1.2, how many people are there in the study area and how agricultural activities lead to the degradation of mountain landscape should be described more clearly and more accurately;
Response 6: The approximate number of people living in the study area and the agricultural activities that lead to the degradation of the mountain landscape were incorporated.
Point 7: "2.2. Delimitation of the study area" refers to whether "a slope no greater than 25 or 30 °" is survey data or empirical data. Please explain the source of the data;
Response 7: The source supporting the above information has been included.
Point 8: 184: The determination of indicator types and thresholds lacks quantitative basis, mainly through slope grade indicators. There is no quantitative establishment of correlation between farmland and terrain indicators. At present, most of the part directly give data conclusions, but there are few thresholds with clear production basis or quantitative scientific basis;
Response 8: Improved explanation of indicators.
Point 9 : Line 227: Why there is no value for Total in "Table 4";
Response 9: Table 4 modified.
Point 10: Line 230: Please use the table to express the classification standards in "Figure 2";
Response 10: Incorporated revision.
Point 11: Line 241-242: Please add what data analysis is used for "the soils suitable for the vegetation"?
Response 11: Explanation incorporated.
Point 12: Line 267: The type and meaning of each photo in "Figure 4." should be described;
Response 12: Description incorporated.
Point 13: Line 311: "3.4. Actions for slides suitable for agriculture in the coastal mountain range" is inaccurate, and it is recommended to modify;
Response 13: Descriptions have been added to each photograph included in the article.
Point 14: No research conclusion;
Response 14: A conclusion was incorporated.
Point 15: Line 425: The format of references is not standardized, such as Literature 3;
Response 15: The Reference was standardized.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Review of the article "Degraded landscapes in hillside systems with agricultural use: an integrated analysis to establish restoration opportunities in Central Chile."
The objective of the study was formulated by the authors at line 82-84
"...the objective of this work was to analyze the hillside (or mountainous) areas to identify those that are degraded and have thepotential to be used or reused for agriculture after a process of soil recovery."
The article is properly structured , the authors cite a wealth of literature. The results are presented in a clear manner , the authors present the results in maps and tables. The text is written in an understandable way , and the authors repeatedly link the results obtained with studies conducted by other authors.
The authors' main goal is to identify areas on slopes that are currently devastated and can be used for agriculture. The authors, based on established criteria (including morphometric parameters, land use and legal protection status), evaluated the areas of the Valparaíso and Metropolitan regions
Figures included in the manuscript indicate that the analysis was performed using gis tools. However, there is no description of the technology used to perform these analyses. What map primers were used in the analyses how up-to-date they were, at what scale, where they were obtained from. In what software were these analyses performed using what functions and tools. E.g. I am interested in how those parts of the slopes with northern exposure were determined. This information is essential and should be included in the article. The article will gain in quality.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 2 Comments
Point 1: Figures included in the manuscript indicate that the analysis was performed using gis tools. However, there is no description of the technology used to perform these analyses. What map primers were used in the analyses how up-to-date they were, at what scale, where they were obtained from. In what software were these analyses performed using what functions and tools. E.g. I am interested in how those parts of the slopes with northern exposure were determined. This information is essential and should be included in the article. The article will gain in quality.
Response 1: Added the explanation of the methodological process, which was performed with ArcGis 10.6 software, with the spatial analysis tool. using slope, aspect, reclass, extraction by mask and extraction by attributes. The sources of the data used were also included.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
The paper reads well. Nevertheless, the authors should improve the quality of Figures 2, 3, 4 and 6. The Discussion should be improved and more detailed. The authors do not make any Conclusions at the end of the paper. The authors should have cited some Brazilian papers, which contain valuable information and results to support this current paper. Follow, some Journals, which contain Brazilian contribution, which are missing here: Land, Catena, Pedosphere, Soil Systems.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments
Response: New bibliographic citations were added to reinforce the interpretation of the results obtained in the discussion.
Response: Publications on soil issues were found but no publications about degradation of rainfed slopes were found.
Response: Images 2,3,4,and 7 were improved and incorporated into the new version of the article.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Manuscript Number: land-1994201-peer-review-v2
Title: Degraded landscapes in hillside systems with agricultural use: an integrated analysis to establish restoration opportunities in Central Chile.
General comments:
From the revised version, there are still errors in the manuscript, which is hard to accept. In addition, the manuscript did not seriously treat the comments of the last round of review, and the reply to the comments was also very careless. The writing is not standardized, and the data format and logical consistency need to be improved. In addition, the author lacks the core theoretical basis and sufficient data basis, and many indicators mentioned in the manuscript lack the basis for investigation, practice or scientific data analysis. So, there is still a certain gap between the manuscript and the publication.
Detailed comments:
1. The writing of the manuscript is not standardized, and the data format is inconsistent, such as " 73%, 73.1% ";
2. line 22-23: represent a 3.262 ha or 0.3% of the landscape studied；line 22-23: altitude and degraded land 0.29% of the landscape could potentially be used for agriculture, representing a total area of 3262 ha；
3. The format is confused, and there is no way to read the table 3；
4. How is the data “Slopes in need of conservation, 67.25%” in Table 4 calculated?
5. The data format in Table 5 is inconsistent, for instance: "19,95; 60,89; 9,01; 13.91 ", and the logic is wrong, such as ” 19,95+60,89+9,01+13.91=103.76”;
6. The authors provide a very careless response to reviewer comments;
7. The research conclusion is not well summarized；
8. The format inconsistency of references still exists；
As a conclusion, it is recommended to reject.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments 1 and 2
Dear reviewer, we apologize for the short responses to your comments. This time we respond to all your comments of the first revision in a more detailed form, adding other modifications, taking in consideration the first and the second revision.
Second revision
General comments:
From the revised version, there are still errors in the manuscript, which is hard to accept. In addition, the manuscript did not seriously treat the comments of the last round of review, and the reply to the comments was also very careless. The writing is not standardized, and the data format and logical consistency need to be improved. In addition, the author lacks the core theoretical basis and sufficient data basis, and many indicators mentioned in the manuscript lack the basis for investigation, practice or scientific data analysis. So, there is still a certain gap between the manuscript and the publication.
Point 1: The writing of the manuscript is not standardized, and the data format is inconsistent, such as " 73%, 73.1% ";
Response 1: The document was revised and standardized to a single decimal, and the data were corrected for numbers with a comma separator and decimal separator with a period.
Point 2: line 22-23: represent a 3.262 ha or 0.3% of the landscape studied；line 22-23: altitude and degraded land 0.29% of the landscape could potentially be used for agriculture, representing a total area of 3262 ha；
Response 2: We modified this text to:
“The areas with slopes that are currently used for agriculture cover 13,474 ha, representing the 1.2% of the landscape and the areas that could potentially be used for agriculture is restoration actions are taken, altitude and degraded land 0.3% of the landscape could potentially be used for agriculture, representing a total area of 3,261.2 ha.”
Point 3: The format is confused, and there is no way to read the table 3；
Response 3: The lack of horizontal lines made hard to read the table 3, we apologize. Now they are included. Additional information was included to make simpler to read the table. Table 1. Criteria and exclusive areas for the identification of degraded hillsides and their sources.
|
Types of slopes in the study area |
Criteria for identification |
Sources for classification |
|
Areas that do not represent hillsides |
All areas with a slopes < 5% |
DEM Alos Palsar (raster data of 12.5- meters of spatial resolution. Available from https://www.ide.cl/index.php/imagenes-y-mapas-base/item/1571-dem-alos-palsar-region-de-valparaiso; https://www.ide.cl/index.php/imagenes-y-mapas-base/item/1576-dem-alos-palsar-region-metropolitana-de-santiago) |
|
Hillsides requiring conservation |
All officially protected natural areas. Hillsides with a concentration of ecosystems in a good ecological state (i.e. in advanced stage of ecological succession): ● sclerophyllous forests ● dense thickets ● xerophytic shrubs ● sclerophyllous shrubs |
Officially protected natural areas fromhttps://ide.minagri.gob.cl/geoweb/2019/11/21/medio-ambiente/. Land cover of Chile (raster data of land cover at the entire Chilean extension of 2014, at 30-meters of spatial resolution. Available from http://www.gep.uchile.cl/Landcover_CHILE.html [13 ] |
|
Hillsides that do not require immediate action |
Areas with active and permanent antropic uses: ● urban or industrial use ● forest plantations Areas that due to their characteristics cannot have vegetation: ● bodies of water ● Rocky or areas above the vegetation limit ● sandy soils ● wetlands |
Land cover of Chile (see above) [13] |
|
Hillsides that already have agriculture |
Areas with actual cultivated soils |
Land cover Chile (see above) [13] |
|
Degraded hillsides that are suitable for agriculture and require recovery |
Based on the historical practices in the study area and followin criteria: Slopes > 5% and <30% [31; 34; 32] + Sun and mixed exposure + feasibility of irrigation at a height of 500 m from the canals. There were excluded all the areas included in the previous rows of this table (see above). |
DEM Alos Palsar (see above) Network of channels National Irrigation Commission.
|
Point 4: How is the data “Slopes in need of conservation, 67.25%” in Table 4 calculated?
Response 4: Slopes in need of conservation are those with a slope greater than 5% and with native sclerophyllous and xerophyllous vegetation. There is an error in the calculation of the first two percentage values which were corrected. From 73.1% to 74% and 67.25 to 68.1.
Point 5: The data format in Table 5 is inconsistent, for instance: "19,95; 60,89; 9,01; 13.91 ", and the logic is wrong, such as ” 19,95+60,89+9,01+13.91=103.76”;
Response 5: The data format was standardized. The sum is not equal to 100% due to overlapping areas, i.e. there are hillsides with slopes between 5 and 30% in all classes of exposure, and at different altitudes. Therefore, they do not can be summed.
Table 2. Areas in hectares of the hillside area and areas of interest.
|
Classes of the hillside systems used as study area |
Area (ha) |
% |
|
Slopes >5% (Fig. 3a) |
823,339.6 |
74.0 |
|
Slopes in need of conservation (Fig. 3b) |
757,635.9 |
68.1 |
|
Slopes unsuitable for agriculture (Fig. 3c) |
8,980.6 |
0.8 |
|
Slopes that are currently used for agriculture (Fig. 3d) |
13,473.9 |
1.2 |
|
Total area of the study area (including slopes and plain areas) |
1,112,567.1 |
100% |
Point 6: The authors provide a very careless response to reviewer comments;
Response 6: We apologize for the short answers provided previously. Now we hope you will find a more detailed explanation of the changes performed in the last submission and some additional modifications.
Point 7: The research conclusion is not well summarized；
Response 7: The conclusion was revised and rewritten to:
“Small-scale agricultural activity on the slopes of the study area represents only 1.2% of the total area studied. The analysis performed show that this area could be incremented by 25%, due to the 0.3% of the studied landscape could be available to reactivate slopes for agricultural purposes, which would increase the productive area on a small scale and reactivate rainfed agriculture. This is positive, since these crops are located close to the main cities of Central Chile, which generate great demand for food. In addition, there are 198,481 ha that can be restored as centers of ecological and cultural diversity, reinforcing the ecological goods and services that can strength the agriculture processes, helping to maintain critical processes linked to the productivity of agricultural areas, especially in the context of climate change and recurrent droughts.”
Point 8: The format inconsistency of references still exists；
Response 8: The references were again checked and errors were corrected.
FIRST REVISION
Point 1: 1. English needs further improvement;
Response 1: English was reviewed considering the recommendations but also a deep revision of the manuscript.
Point 2: Line 13-22: The abstract needs to be further summarized, and the innovation and conclusion should be clearly summarized. In addition, pay attention to language accuracy and readability. For example, "A total of 0.29% of the slopes had potential agricultural use, and 0.3% responded to degraded slopes with potential agricultural use". The author is requested to check whether there is such a figure “0.3%" in the analysis of research results;
Response 2:
We we-wrote the second part of the abstract, improving the explanations and conclusions.
“Original abstract: Hillside systems are key centers of ecological and cultural diversity, providing humanity with goods (e.g., food) and vital services (e.g., risk prevention) and sustaining 25% of terrestrial biodiversity. However, historical poor land use practices have contributed to their degradation. In this work, the coastal slope system of the agricultural-rural zone of Central Chile (32°S-34°S) was analyzed and integrated analysis methods were used for the identification of degraded slopes with agricultural restoration potential. In the analyzed area, the hillsides covered 73% of the landscape, with 92% of the natural cover composed mainly of sclerophyllous and thorny forests and shrubs. A total of 0.29% of the slopes had potential agricultural use, and 0.3% corresponded to degraded slopes with potential agricultural use. Conservation efforts in areas with natural cover and soil restoration efforts for agricultural purposes should focus on these areas.
New abstract: Hillside systems are key centers of ecological and cultural diversity, providing humanity with goods (e.g., food) and vital services (e.g., risk prevention) and sustaining 25% of terrestrial biodiversity. However, historical poor land use practices have contributed to their degradation. In this work, the coastal slope system of the agricultural-rural zone of Central Chile (32°S-34°S) was analyzed and integrated analysis methods were used for the identification of degraded slopes with agricultural restoration potential, considering morphometric parameters, current land cover/use, and legal protection status. The results show that in the analyzed area, the hillsides represent a 73.1% of the landscape, however, most of them are unsuitable for agriculture. The areas with slopes that are currently used for agriculture cover 13,474 ha, representing the 1.2% of the landscape and the areas that could potentially be used for agriculture is restoration actions are taken, altitude and degraded land 0.3% of the landscape could potentially be used for agriculture, representing a total area of 3,261.2 ha. In contrast, there are 198,481 ha (88% of the study area) that require of conservation efforts in areas that can contribute to the resilience of the entire landscape helping to maintain critical processes linked to the productivity of agricultural areas, especially in context of climate change and recurrent droughts.”
Point 3: Line 27-91: "1. Introduction" is too divergent and redundant. It is suggested to focus on the actual situation in Chile and the key research contents of this research.
Response 3: We improved the structure of the introduction, modifying some paragraphs. Accordingly, we present the new introduction:
“1. Introduction
Globally, between 1,000 and 6,000 million hectares of ice-free land surface (up to 66%) are degraded to varying degrees [1]. This results in the loss of soil productivity due to erosion and other processes, such as nutrient depletion, acidity, salinity or deficiency of organic matter. The biophysical, socioeconomic and political aspects that influence the processes and factors of soil degradation [2] are worsened by the poor land use practices that have contributed to their degradation, estimating an average erosion rate on the order of 12.7 Mg ha−1 year−1 [3]. Agriculture is one of the main pressures that have led to unsustainable practices when is linked to resource depletion, decreased productivity, and excessive specialization, endangering the preservation of landscapes as an economic, cultural, and environmental resource. The industrialization of agriculture also degraded the traditional landscape and the biodiversity associated with it, resulting in the interrupted transmission of traditional knowledge necessary for the maintenance of the local landscape that produces socioeconomic destabilization in rural areas and the loss of the competitiveness of agriculture in relation to other economic sectors [4]. Besides, modern agriculture and the speed and dimension of the technological, economic and cultural changes that have occurred in recent decades have threatened not only the environment but also the associated rural landscapes [4] and the soil, especially due to agricultural abandonment, intensive agriculture and nutrients losses [5; 6; 7; 8]. The increase in population and the limited availability of land has caused crops to spread toward the hillsides in many countries, causing serious environmental damage [8], which generates adverse conditions that contribute to the degradation of the soil when there is an abandonment of these, and their geomorphological dynamics are not considered. Thus, it is necessary to consider the relationships between geographical, environmental and landscape factors, such as morphometric parameters of relief, land use and soil quality, especially in mountainous areas [10;11].
Hillside systems are key centers of ecological and cultural diversity. They cover 24% of the Earth’s land surface and are home to 12% of the world’s population, providing humanity with vital goods and services. They also support 25% of terrestrial biodiversity and have almost half of the world's biodiversity hotspots [12]. The recovery of hillside vegetation is being studied and practiced by researchers worldwide [13; 14; 15; 16]. Within Latin-America, Chile has one of the highest percentages of land with slopes (45%) (Benites, Saintraint, & Morimoto, 1992), but in addition 49% of its surface area is covered by with degraded soils, with the northern zone being three times more affected than the southern zone [17], but in addition 49% of its surface area is covered by with degraded soils, with the northern zone being three times more affected than the southern zone [17].In Chile, the agricultural lands cover an estimated area of 1.2 million hectares, between the regions of Coquimbo and Los Lagos (29°S-43°S), where live 14.3 million of inhabitants (81% of national population). However, this practice has meant a great loss of soil organic matter (carbon loss), especially due to the use of conventional soil preparation systems in annual crops, based on intensive processes with agricultural machinery [18] (see figure 1). In the north-central zone, the landscape has experienced 400 years of major changes, by the mis-preparation of farmland that involved the frequent clearing of vegetation (sometimes using fire), in some case transforming hillsides to ruit farming [19], in addition to other large landscape processes such as urban expansion, and the expansion of exotic forest plantations. Finally, there is another additional driver of landscape change, Chile is frequently affected by climatological, hydrological and geological disasters, and these changes should be added to the changes due to climate change and hydroclimatic disturbances, such as droughts, which have been quite recurrent and/or extensive in recent decades [20].
Considering this global and national problem, this work focuses in the agricultural-rural area of the coastal mountain range of the regions of Valparaíso and Santiago (32°S-34°S) of Central Chile, where live a 50.8% of the country population, due to this area has been historically occupied by crops in hillside systems. The objective of this work was to analyze hillside (or mountainous) areas formerly used by farmers to identify those that are currently degraded but have the potential to be used or reused for agriculture after a process of soil recovery. Likewise, this research aimed to identify other degraded areas with slopes that, due to their location, can be ecologically restored and can indirectly contribute to agricultural production through other ecological functions; additionally, areas that are in good ecological condition and therefore require conservation actions are identified.”
Point 4: Line 70-71: "Specially due to the use of conventional soil preparation systems in annual laps, based on soil breaking and conversion". Please provide some survey photos of the systems;
Response 4: Two photographies were incorporated. “A” (left) shows intensive processes with agricultural machinery; “B” (right) shows soil preparation performed processes performed by small farmers.
Point 5: Line 73-74: The article mentioned "In the north central zone, the landscape has experienced four hung years of changes, with...". Authors are requested to verify the accuracy of language expression in combination with the following text;
Response 5: The text has been modified in to the following form:
“In the north-central zone, the landscape has experienced 400 years of major changes, by the mis-preparation of farmland that involved the frequent clearing of vegetation (sometimes using fire), in some case transforming hillsides to fruit farming [19], in addition to other large landscape processes such as urban expansion, and the expansion of exotic forest plantations. Finally, there is another additional driver of landscape change, Chile is frequently affected by climatological, hydrological and geological disasters, and these changes should be added to the changes due to climate change and hydroclimatic disturbances, such as droughts, which have been quite recurrent and/or extensive in recent decades [20].”
Point 6: 149-160: In content 2.1.2, how many people are there in the study area and how agricultural activities lead to the degradation of mountain landscape should be described more clearly and more accurately;
Response 6: The population in the study area was incorporated: “The population in this area is 168,431 inhabitants.”. In addition, the agricultural activities that lead to the degradation of the mountain landscape were described:
“Historically, the main agricultural activity carried out in hillside systems is vegetable production, such as the traditional crops of lentils, wheat, chickpeas, peas and beans and potatoes, strawberry crops that were supplied only by seasonal rains throughout their growth cycle. In addition, charcoal was produced from Vachellia caven, a species associated with scrub and sclerophyllous forest, as well as tobacco (for the Compañía Chilena de Tabacos) which was grown in the areas with the highest rainfall. However, in recent years, these crops have been considerably reduced because it is not currently possible to carry out rainfed irrigation due to the scarcity of rainfall associated with climate change, desertification and the lack of strategies or technological solutions for farmers to face the current climate context, which has led agricultural producers to abandon this activity, or to carry it out on a small scale for their family production. However, in recent years, these crops have been considerably reduced because it is not currently possible to carry out rainfed irrigation due to the scarcity of rainfall associated with climate change, desertification and the lack of strategies or technological solutions for farmers to face the current climate context, which has led agricultural producers to abandon this activity, or to carry it out on a small scale for their family production. On the other hand, at the sociodemographic level, rural areas are facing an aging population and a lack of generational replacement due to the migration of young people to the city to continue studies and/or better job opportunities [22].”
Point 7: "2.2. Delimitation of the study area" refers to whether "a slope no greater than 25 or 30 °" is survey data or empirical data. Please explain the source of the data;
Response 7: The percentages between 5 to 30% are based on the historical practices in the study area and as mentioned in Youlton, C., Espejo, P., Biggs, J., Norambuena, M., Cisternas, M., Neaman, A., & Salgado, E. Quantification and control of runoff and soil erosion on avocado orchards on ridges along steep-hillslopes. Cienc Investig Agrar 2010, 37, 113–123. and Baeza G, E. Marco regulatorio aplicable a las plantaciones frutales en laderas de cerro en Chile y el extranjero. Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile 2019.
Point 8: 184: The determination of indicator types and thresholds lacks quantitative basis, mainly through slope grade indicators. There is no quantitative establishment of correlation between farmland and terrain indicators. At present, most of the part directly give data conclusions, but there are few thresholds with clear production basis or quantitative scientific basis;
Response 8: In several sections there were included better explanations of the sources used to select the indicators. Farmers in the area use these slope grades for planting and harvesting feasibility. Indeed, crops in slops (5-30%) cover 7,200 ha, crops in north solar exposure 6,233 ha and in the north-east and north-west 3,252 ha.
Point 9: Line 208: "Areas that do not represent hills" only selects the indicator "Slopes<5%". Why is the terrain fluctuation, such as elevation difference, not considered here?
Response 9: This was an unfortunately mistake of writing. The sentence refers to hillsides instead of hills. Therefore, areas that do not represent hillsides were mostly determined by slopes, based in the DEM data.
Point 10: Line 227: Why there is no value for Total in "Table 4";
Response 10: By mistake, table 4 did not mention the total, so we proceeded to correct it, explaining in detail what each value corresponds to and the relationship with figure 3.
Point 11: Line 230: Please use the table to express the classification standards in "Figure 2";
Response 11: We proceeded to correct the values in Table 4 and relate the values to Figure 3.
Point 12: Line 241-242: Please add what data analysis is used for "the soils suitable for the vegetation"?
Response 12: For vegetation we use the product Land cover Chile (raster data of land cover at the entire Chilean extension of 2014, at 30-meters of spatial resolution. Available from http://www.gep.uchile.cl/Landcover_CHILE.html
Point 13: Line 267: The type and meaning of each photo in "Figure 4." should be described;
Response 13: The description of the photographs was incorporated, correspond to degraded areas of the communes of Olmué and La Ligua.
Point 14: Line 311: "3.4. Actions for slides suitable for agriculture in the coastal mountain range" is inaccurate, and it is recommended to modify;
Response 14: We change the title to: Synthesis of actions for slopes areas in the coastal mountain range
Point 15: No research conclusion;
Response 15: A conclusion was incorporated.
“Small-scale agricultural activity on the slopes of the study area represents only 1.2% of the total area studied. The analysis performed show that this area could be incremented by 25%, due to the 0.3% of the studied landscape could be available to reactivate slopes for agricultural purposes, which would increase the productive area on a small scale and reactivate rainfed agriculture. This is positive, since these crops are located close to the main cities of Central Chile, which generate great demand for food. In addition, there are 198,481 ha that can be restored as centers of ecological and cultural diversity, reinforcing the ecological goods and services that can strength the agriculture processes, helping to maintain critical processes linked to the productivity of agricultural areas, especially in the context of climate change and recurrent droughts.”
Point 16: Line 425: The format of references is not standardized, such as Literature 3;
Response 16: The text was revised and the references were standardized.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors added information in the manuscript about the data sources (maps) used in the analysis conducted and their accuracy, as well as the sources for making these maps available. (table3) . I was interested in the Land cover map of Chile.
Also added in the manuscript is information on the use of ArcGIS 10.6 software.
A description of the technology used to perform these analyses was added in section 2.3 . although the information is quite general.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 2 Comments
Point 1: The authors added information in the manuscript about the data sources (maps) used in the analysis conducted and their accuracy, as well as the sources for making these maps available. (table3) . I was interested in the Land cover map of Chile.
Response 1: Thank you, actually the “Land cover of Chile” product is the most updated data about land cover/use in Chile that make easier to compare different regions. There are regional cadasters, but they present some issues that difficult integration between regions or monitoring over time, more information here: Miranda, A., Lara, A., Altamirano, A., Zamorano-Elgueta, C., Hernandez, H. J., Gonzalez, M. E., ... & Promis, Á. (2018). Monitoring Chilean native forest area: a pending challenge. Bosque, 39(2), 265-275.
Point 2: A description of the technology used to perform these analyses was added in section 2.3 . although the information is quite general.
Response 2: We added this scheme to provide more detail about the methodological process carried out.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 3
Reviewer 1 Report
Please see the attachment.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments 3
Dear reviewer, we thank you for your corrections, the details of the corrections will be presented below.
General comments:
Under the guidance of the reviewers, after two rounds of revision, the specific minor errors in the
article have been reduced, but the overall quality of the article has not been greatly improved.
The reason why the quality has not improved is on the one hand related to the topic selection
and design of the research, and on the other hand related to the writing habits and norms of the
manuscript organizers. It is not enough for the author to rigidly revise the review opinions and
specific revision opinions. Since each round of manuscript review requires the time of the author
and reviewer, it is very necessary to carefully read the manuscript from the perspective of a
reader after the revision is completed and before the submission of the manuscript, to confirm
that there are no errors, redundancies and inaccurate expressions.
Response: Dear reviewer, we thanks the time given to our work. We did several changes along the text, putting special attention to the fluidity, as you will can see in the tracked changes version. We also improved the use of concepts and modify almost all tables and figures.
Point 1: Because the data in this table changes greatly, the content arrangement of Table 2 needs to be redesigned, and the data in the table needs to be carefully verified;In the current table design, it is easy to think that the last row is the sum of the values in the above rows, which is easy to
cause misunderstanding. In addition, the modification needs to explain the relationship between
100% and each value in the last column, especially the spatial position relationship.
Response: We separated the table 2 in 3 tables to improve the Reading and understanding of values. For example class was changed by a more detailed description in each case. Figure 4 was also changed. Now phrases in tables and figures are coincident.
Point 2: The research conclusion of the article needs to be well summarized. At the same time,
attention should be paid to the accuracy, readability, and logic of front and back sentences. It has
been emphasized several times.
Response: The conclusion was summarized, reviewed by the authors and is presented below:
Agricultural activity on the hillside systems of the study area represents only 1.2% of the total area studied. This area could be increased by 25%, since 0.3% of the studied landscape could be available to reactivate the productive area and reactivate rainfed agriculture. This is positive, since these crops are located near the main cities of Central Chile, which generate great demand for food. In addition, there are 198,481 ha. that should be restored as centers of ecological diversity, reinforcing the ecological goods and services that can strengthen agricultural processes.
Point 3: The format and standardization of references need further verification, such as "(2019)" in Reference 19. These questions cannot be mentioned one by one. The author is requested to carefully verify the relevant questions.
Response: All references we checked again and some mistakes were corrected. Thank you for your detailed review.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
