Soil erodibility affected by vegetation restoration on steep gully slopes on the Loess Plateau of China

Soil Research ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (7) ◽  
pp. 712 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bao-jun Zhang ◽  
Guang-hui Zhang ◽  
Han-yue Yang ◽  
Hao Wang ◽  
Ning-ning Li
Keyword(s):  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Mass Density ◽  
Organic Matter Content ◽  
Aggregate Stability ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Matter Content ◽  
Vegetation Restoration ◽  
Soil Erodibility ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
The Mean

Vegetation restoration influences near soil-surface characteristics and thus likely affects soil erodibility. This study was performed to quantify the effects of vegetation restoration on soil erodibility on steep gully slopes, and to identify the potential influencing factors on the Loess Plateau. Three shrub and four grass types distributed on different gully slopes were selected, and six erodibility indicators and an integrated erodibility index (IEI) were applied to indirectly evaluate the effects of vegetation restoration on soil erodibility. The former included the soil erodibility K factor, aggregate stability (the mean weight diameter, MWD, and the mean number of drop impacts, MND), saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks), cohesion (Coh), and penetration resistance (PR), and the latter was calculated using these indicators and a weighted integration method. The results showed that vegetation restoration on steep gully slopes was effective in reducing soil erodibility on the Loess Plateau, and grasses seemed more effective than shrubs. Compared with the control, the K of vegetation-restored gully slopes decreased by 4.1–24.0%, and MWD, MND, Ks, Coh, and PR increased by 64.0–284.3, 51.4–269.5, 100.5–417.4, 10.1–172.2, and 63.3–278.9% respectively. Consequently, the IEI of the vegetation-restored gully slopes declined by 33.1–81.9%, and the mean reduction percentage of the four grasses was 1.5 times that of the three shrubs. The variation in soil erodibility was closely related to the changes in the soil organic matter content and root mass density with vegetation restoration. The results will help in understanding the soil conservation mechanisms of vegetation restoration on steep gully slopes.

scholarly journals Effects of vegetation restoration on soil erodibility on different geomorphological locations in the loess-tableland and gully region of the Loess Plateau

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 387
Author(s):  
CHEN Zhuo-xin ◽  
WANG Wen-long ◽  
GUO Ming-ming ◽  
WANG Tian-chao ◽  
GUO Wen-zhao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Vegetation Restoration ◽  
Soil Erodibility ◽  
The Loess Plateau

scholarly journals Assessment of crusting effects on interrill erosion by laser scanning

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e8487
Author(s):  
Yaxian Hu ◽  
Wolfgang Fister ◽  
Yao He ◽  
Nikolaus J. Kuhn
Keyword(s):  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Laser Scanner ◽  
Organic Matter Content ◽  
Aggregate Stability ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Matter Content ◽  
Crust Formation ◽  
Essential Information ◽  
Erosion Processes ◽  
Interrill Erosion

Background Crust formation affects soil erosion by raindrop impacted flow through changing particle size and cohesion between particles on the soil surface, as well as surface microtopography. Therefore, changes in soil microtopography can, in theory, be employed as a proxy to reflect the complex and dynamic interactions between crust formation and erosion caused by raindrop-impacted flow. However, it is unclear whether minor variations of soil microtopography can actually be detected with tools mapping the crust surface, often leaving the interpretation of interrill runoff and erosion dynamics qualitative or even speculative. Methods In this study, we used a laser scanner to measure the changes of the microtopography of two soils placed under simulated rainfall in experimental flumes and crusting at different rates. The two soils were of the same texture, but under different land management, and thus organic matter content and aggregate stability. To limit the amount of scanning and data analysis in this exploratory study, two transects and four subplots on each experimental flume were scanned with a laser in one-millimeter interval before and after rainfall simulations. Results While both soils experienced a flattening, they displayed different temporal patterns of crust development and associated erosional responses. The laser scanning data also allowed to distinguish the different rates of developments of surface features for replicates with extreme erosional responses. The use of the laser data improved the understanding of crusting effects on soil erosional responses, illustrating that even limited laser scanning provides essential information for quantitatively exploring interrill erosion processes.

Soil erodibility as impacted by vegetation restoration strategies on the Loess Plateau of China

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 796-807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Wang ◽  
Guang-hui Zhang ◽  
Ning-ning Li ◽  
Bao-jun Zhang ◽  
Han-yue Yang
Keyword(s):  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Vegetation Restoration ◽  
Soil Erodibility ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Restoration Strategies

scholarly journals Vegetation Restoration Alleviated the Soil Surface Organic Carbon Redistribution in the Hillslope Scale on the Loess Plateau, China

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yipeng Liang ◽  
Xiang Li ◽  
Tonggang Zha ◽  
Xiaoxia Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Vegetation Restoration ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Loess Slope ◽  
Carbon Redistribution

The redistribution of soil organic carbon (SOC) in response to soil erosion along the loess slope, China, plays an important role in understanding the mechanisms that underlie SOC’s spatial distribution and turnover. Consequently, SOC redistribution is key to understanding the global carbon cycle. Vegetation restoration has been identified as an effective method to alleviate soil erosion on the Loess Plateau; however, little research has addressed vegetation restoration’s effect on the SOC redistribution processes, particularly SOC’s spatial distribution and stability. This study quantified the SOC stock and pool distribution on slopes along geomorphic gradients in naturally regenerating forests (NF) and an artificial black locust plantation (BP) and used a corn field as a control (CK). The following results were obtained: 1) vegetation restoration, particularly NF, slowed the migration of SOC and reduced the heterogeneity of its distribution effectively. The topsoil SOC ratios of the sedimentary area to the stable area were 109%, 143%, and 210% for NF, BP, and CK, respectively; 2) during migration, vegetation restoration decreased the loss of labile organic carbon by alleviating the loss of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and easily oxidized organic carbon (EOC). The DOC/SOC in the BP and NF increased significantly and was 13.14 and 17.57 times higher, respectively, than that in the CK (p < 0.05), while the EOC/SOC in the BP and NF was slightly higher than that in the CK. A relevant schematic diagram of SOC cycle patterns and redistribution along the loess slope was drawn under vegetation restoration. The results suggest that vegetation restoration in the loess slope, NF in particular, is an effective means to alleviate the redistribution and spatial heterogeneity of SOC and reduce soil erosion.

Vegetation restoration alleviated the soil surface organic carbon redistribution in the hillslope scale on the Loess Plateau, China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yipeng Liang ◽  
Tonggang Zha ◽  
Xiang Li ◽  
Xiaoxia Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Vegetation Restoration ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Loess Slope ◽  
Carbon Redistribution

<p><strong>ABSTRACT</strong> </p><p>Redistribution of soil organic carbon (SOC) in response to soil erosion along slopes plays an important role in understanding the mechanisms of SOC’s spatial distribution and turnover. Consequently, SOC redistribution has been considered in many conceptual or mathematical models of soil carbon stability and storage. Vegetation restoration has been identified as an effective method to alleviate soil erosion on the Loess Plateau, however, little research has addressed vegetation restoration’s effect on the SOC redistribution processes, particularly SOC’s spatial distribution and stability. This study quantified the SOC stock and pool distribution on slopes along geomorphic gradients in naturally regenerating forests (NF) and an artificial black locust plantation (BP), and used a corn field as a control (CK). The following results were as follows: (1) Vegetation restoration, particularly NF, slowed the migration of SOC and reduced the heterogeneity of its distribution effectively. The topsoil SOC ratios of the sedimentary area to the stable area were 109%, 143%, and 210% for NF, the BP and CK, respectively; (2) Vegetation restoration decreased the loss of labile organic carbon by alleviating the loss of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and easily oxidized organic carbon (EOC). The DOC/SOC in the BP and NF increased significantly, and were 13.14 and 17.57 times higher, respectively, than in the CK (p < 0.05), while the EOC/SOC in the BP and NF was slightly higher than in the CK. (3) A relevant schematic diagram of SOC cycle patterns and redistribution along the Loess slope was drawn under vegetation restoration. These results suggest that vegetation restoration in the Loess slope effectively alleviated the redistribution and spatial heterogeneity of SOC through reducing soil erosion. Thus, the effects of vegetation restoration on SOC redistribution should be pay more attention in regional carbon storage estimation, especially in the Loess gully regions.</p><p>Keywords: Vegetation Restoration, Soil Organic Carbon Redistribution, Loess Slope, Soil Erosion, Soil Organic Carbon Stability</p>

Revegetation induced change in soil erodibility as influenced by slope situation on the Loess Plateau

2021 ◽  
Vol 772 ◽  
pp. 145540
Author(s):  
Mingming Guo ◽  
Zhuoxin Chen ◽  
Wenlong Wang ◽  
Tianchao Wang ◽  
Wenxin Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Soil Erodibility ◽  
The Loess Plateau

scholarly journals Quantifying the Responses of Evapotranspiration and Its Components to Vegetation Restoration and Climate Change on the Loess Plateau of China

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 2358
Author(s):  
Linjing Qiu ◽  
Yiping Wu ◽  
Zhaoyang Shi ◽  
Yuting Chen ◽  
Fubo Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
Vegetation Restoration ◽  
Vegetation Coverage ◽  
Ecological Planning ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Canopy Interception ◽  
Community Land Model ◽  
Spatiotemporal Trends

Quantitatively identifying the influences of vegetation restoration (VR) on water resources is crucial to ecological planning. Although vegetation coverage has improved on the Loess Plateau (LP) of China since the implementation of VR policy, the way vegetation dynamics influences regional evapotranspiration (ET) remains controversial. In this study, we first investigate long-term spatiotemporal trends of total ET (TET) components, including ground evaporation (GE) and canopy ET (CET, sum of canopy interception and canopy transpiration) based on the GLEAM-ET dataset. The ET changes are attributed to VR on the LP from 2000 to 2015 and these results are quantitatively evaluated here using the Community Land Model (CLM). Finally, the relative contributions of VR and climate change to ET are identified by combining climate scenarios and VR scenarios. The results show that the positive effect of VR on CET is offset by the negative effect of VR on GE, which results in a weak variation in TET at an annual scale and an increased TET is only shown in summer. Regardless of the representative concentration pathway (RCP4.5 or RCP8.5), differences resulted from the responses of TET to different vegetation conditions ranging from −3.7 to −1.2 mm, while climate change from RCP4.5 to RCP8.5 caused an increase in TET ranging from 0.1 to 65.3 mm. These findings imply that climate change might play a dominant role in ET variability on the LP, and this work emphasizes the importance of comprehensively considering the interactions among climate factors to assess the relative contributions of VR and climate change to ET.

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