scholarly journals Cumulative effects of 20-year exclusion of livestock grazing on above- and belowground biomass of typical steppe communities in arid areas of the Loess Plateau, China

2011 ◽  
Vol 57 (No. 1) ◽  
pp. 40-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Cheng ◽  
G.L. Wu ◽  
L.P. Zhao ◽  
Y. Li ◽  
W. Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Belowground Biomass ◽  
Livestock Grazing ◽  
Cumulative Effects ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Typical Steppe ◽  
Steppe Communities ◽  
Positive Effect

Overgrazing affects typical steppe community in ways similar to grasslands in other areas. Exclusion of livestock grazing is one of the main management practices used to protect grasslands. However, it is not known if long-term exclusion of livestock grazing has positive effect on above- and belowground community properties in typical steppe of the Loess Plateau. We studied the long-term (20-year) cumulative effects of exclusion of livestock grazing on above- and belowground community properties compared with that before exclusion of livestock grazing in a typical steppe of the Loess Plateau, NW China. Our results show that twenty-year exclusion of livestock grazing significantly increased above- and belowground biomass, species richness, cover and height for five different communities. Most of belowground biomass was in the 0–20 cm horizon and grazing exclusion increased biomass especially at the depth of 0–10 cm. Our study suggests that long-term exclusion of livestock grazing can greatly improve community properties of typical steppe in the Loess Plateau.  

An evaluation of EPIC soil water and yield components in the gully region of Loess Plateau, China

2006 ◽  
Vol 144 (4) ◽  
pp. 339-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. HUANG ◽  
J. GALLICHAND ◽  
T. DANG ◽  
M. SHAO
Keyword(s):  
Root Mean Square Error ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Mean Square ◽  
Validation Period ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Calibration Period

The Erosion and Productivity Impact Calculator (EPIC) has been used to determine the effect of different cropping systems and management practices on soil productivity in the Loess Plateau of China. However, its crop growth and soil water balance submodels have not been verified in this region. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the ability of EPIC to estimate soil water content (θ in m3/m3), seasonal evapotranspiration (ET in mm/season) and crop yield (Y in t/ha) for winter wheat and maize. A 20-year field experiment was conducted at the Changwu Agro-ecological Experimental Station of the Loess Plateau, and divided into a calibration period and a validation period. Data from calibration (1984–94) were used to optimize the four most sensitive parameters of the EPIC crop yield submodel, whereas data from 1994 to 2004 were used for validation. For both crops, there were no significant differences between measured and estimated long-term means of the three variables (P=0·05) for either the calibration or validation periods. EPIC estimated all three variables with a small relative root mean square error (RRMSE), i.e. the ratio of root mean square error to the mean value. For wheat and maize, the calibration period resulted in respective RRMSE values of 0·112 and 0·100 for θ, 0·121 and 0·116 for ET, and 0·135 and 0·147 for Y. During the validation period, the RRMSE values obtained were 0·090 and 0·085 for θ, 0·129 and 0·135 for ET, and 0·169 and 0·149 for Y, for wheat and maize, respectively. The performance of EPIC in estimating annual values of θ, ET and Y was variable. For validation, EPIC explained 65, 79 and 64% of the measured variations of θ, ET and Y, respectively, for wheat, and 60, 70 and 67% for maize. The EPIC-estimated long-term average values of the three variables were not significantly different from measured values for winter wheat and maize during the calibration and validation periods. It can therefore be used in the gully region of the Loess Plateau to define alternative cropping systems and management practices.

Long-term vegetation restoration promotes the stability of the soil micro-food web in the Loess Plateau in North-west China

CATENA ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 202 ◽  
pp. 105293
Author(s):  
Yang Wu ◽  
WenJing Chen ◽  
Wulan Entemake ◽  
Jie Wang ◽  
HongFei Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Vegetation Restoration ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
West China ◽  
North West ◽  
The Stability

Long-term water balance and sustainable production of Miscanthus energy crops in the Loess Plateau of China

2014 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 47-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Liu ◽  
Jia Mi ◽  
Zhihong Song ◽  
Juan Yan ◽  
Jianqiang Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Balance ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Energy Crops ◽  
Sustainable Production ◽  
The Loess Plateau

scholarly journals Identification of the important environmental factors influencing natural vegetation succession following cropland abandonment on the Loess Plateau, China

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e10349
Author(s):  
Zhenguo Zhang ◽  
Mingming Wang ◽  
Jikai Liu ◽  
Xinwei Li
Keyword(s):  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Correspondence Analysis ◽  
Classification Tree ◽  
Detrended Correspondence Analysis ◽  
Vegetation Succession ◽  
Natural Vegetation ◽  
Vegetation Types ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Cropland Abandonment

Identification of typical vegetation succession types and their important influencing factors is an important prerequisite to implement differential vegetation and soil management after land abandonment on the Loess Plateau, China. However, there is no reported study specifically on the identification of vegetation types and their important factors as well as the thresholds of the important factors for classification of the vegetation types, based on the medium- to long-term succession of natural vegetation after cropland abandonment. We collected vegetation and soil data on the natural vegetation with the longest 60-year-old forest communities that developed after cropland abandonment and analyzed the data using two-way indicator species analysis, detrended correspondence analysis, direct canonical correspondence analysis and classification tree model. The vegetation communities were classified into five distinct vegetation types, including Artemisia scoparia, Lespedeza davurica and Stipa bungeana, Artemisia giraldii pamp, Sophora viciifolia, Quercus liaotungensis and Biota orientalis. The years after cropland abandonment and soil C/N were further identified as important factors determining the types of vegetation. Likewise, it was observed that most of the investigated soil nutrient variables and soil texture-related variables improved with the vegetation succession while soil water in the surface layers showed a decreasing trend. These findings may provide an ecological basis for site-specific management of vegetation types after cropland abandonment in the medium-long term on the Loess Plateau. Our results encourage further exploration of vegetation succession and their important factors based on longer periods of vegetation succession after cropland abandonment under more soil and climatic conditions on the mountainous areas as the Loess Plateau.

Effects of long-term fertilization on AM fungal community structure and Glomalin-related soil protein in the Loess Plateau of China

2010 ◽  
Vol 342 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 233-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fasi Wu ◽  
Maoxing Dong ◽  
Yongjun Liu ◽  
Xiaojun Ma ◽  
Lizhe An ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Fungal Community ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Fungal Community Structure ◽  
Soil Protein
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