Changes in vegetation and soil properties along a slope on overgrazed and eroded rangelands

Öztaş, Taşkın; Koç, Ali; Çomaklı, Binali

doi:10.1016/s0140-1963(02)00267-7

Cited by 61 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Certainly, particle size distribution varies with different slope positions (Changere and Lal 1997). Many researches (e.g., Hao et al 2002;Oztas et al 2003) reported that bulk density, soil moisture content, and organic matter content, playing a key role in variation of macropores, are related to slope position. Therefore, slope position is another source of the variability of soil macropores.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal change in soil macropores measured using tension infiltrometer under different land uses and slope positions in subtropical China

et al. 2015

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Purpose Soil macropores play a principal role in water infiltration but they are highly variable. The objectives of this study were (1) to investigate the temporal change in macropores of an Ultisol as affected by land use and slope position and (2) to analyze contribution of macropores to water infiltration. Materials and methods Water infiltration was measured at upper and lower slopes in citrus orchard and watermelon field once every 2 months for 1 year using tension infiltrometers at a successive pressure head from −12, −6, −3, to 0 hPa. Results and discussion Hydraulic conductivity (K) was significantly affected by land use and slope position except at 0 hPa pressure head, showing a significant temporal variation. Effective macroporosity, derived from the increment of hydraulic conductivity between −3 and 0 hPa, showed a significant temporal variation. Such temporal variation was land use (P<0.05) and slope position (P<0.001) dependent. Despite of low proportion in total soil volume (averaged 3.5 cm 3 m −3 ), the macropores contributed 47 % of water flux on average. The macroporosity was more stable and higher in the citrus orchard (2.43 cm 3 m −3 , coefficient of variance (CV)=75 %) than in the watermelon field (1.72 cm 3 m −3 , CV=117 %) and contributed more to infiltration in the citrus orchard (60 %, CV=16 %) than in the watermelon field (33 %, CV=43 %) as well, because tillage was operated only in the watermelon field.Conclusions No-tillage increased water conducting macropores but did not increase hydraulic conductivity irrespective of slope position.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal change in soil macropores measured using tension infiltrometer under different land uses and slope positions in subtropical China

et al. 2015

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“…Accumulation of nutrients and soil organic matter on the soil surface under plant canopies results from complex interactions between biotic processes moderated by plants and soil biota, and abiotic processes driven by atmospheric and biochemical processes (Whitford 1986;Fisher et al 1988;Moorhead et al 1988;Schlesinger et al 1996;Aguiar and Sala 1999). With the exception of climatic factors, changes in soil resources are important determinants of vegetation features at small spatial scales (El-Demerdash et al 1995;Dodd and Lauenroth 1997;Havstad et al 2000;Miki and Kondoh 2002;Dale and Adams 2003;Oztas et al 2003). Most recent studies of vegetation succession in arid regions have examined vegetative dynamics after human disturbance, such as recovery after construction (pipeline corridors, power transmission lines and transportation routes), mining, farming (old fields, abandoned fields and field management), abandonment of population centers (Carpenter et al 1986;Webb et al 1988;Harmer et al 2001;Warren et al 2002;Ejrnes et al 2003;EI-Sheikh 2005), and natural events such as landslides (Singh et al 2001;Sparling et al 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in soil and vegetation following stabilisation of dunes in the southeastern fringe of the Tengger Desert, China

et al. 2007

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Properties of the soil and sand-binding vegetation were measured at five sites plus a control on dunes of the Tengger Desert stabilized for periods of up to 50 years. In the topsoil, fine particles, total N, P, K and organic matter increased significantly with increasing site age. However, there were no significant changes in deeper soil profiles (>0.4 m depth). Soil pH, calcium carbonate content, and total salt content tended to increase with age. Soil water in the topsoil changed little with increasing age, but was closely related to rainfall during the 50-year period. For deeper soil layers (0.4-3.0 m) soil water decreased significantly with age. After revegetation, the number of herbaceous species increased up to 30 years and then levelled off to 12-14 species, whereas the number of shrub species decreased from the 10 initial sand-binding species to only 3 species. Shrub cover decreased from a highest average of about 33% to the current 9%, whereas cover and biomass of herbaceous species increased throughout succession from 1956 to 2006. The development of soil and cryptogamic crusts on the surface of stabilized dunes enhanced the colonization and establishment of herbaceous plants due to increasing water availability, clay and silt content and soil nutrients. We propose that changes in properties of the surface soil led to increased interception of water, favoring shallow rooted grasses and forbs over perennial shrubs.

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“…Due to impacts of global change and economic development, grassland degradation is getting serious. Besides the decrease of the forage production that resulted in a loss of their basic production materials of local residents (Chen et al, 2003), it might cause a lot of environmental problems, such as desertification (Su et al, 2005), loss of biodiversity (Foggin et al, 1996), soil degradation (Snyman et al, 2005;Oztas et al, 2003;Wu et al, 2002), soil erosion and water loss (Xu et al, 2002), carbon sink loss (Wang et al, 2002), etc.…”

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Characteristics of grassland degradation and driving forces in the source region of the Yellow River from 1985 to 2000

et al. 2006

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The source region of the Yellow River is located in the middle east of the Tibetan Plateau in northwest China. The total area is about 51,700 km 2 , mainly covered by grassland (79%), unused land (16%) and water (4%). The increasing land utilization in this area has increased the risk of environmental degradation. The land use/cover data (1985 and 2000) provided by the Data Center of Resources and Environment in the Chinese Academy of Sciences were used to analyze the land cover change in the source region of the Yellow River. DEM (1:250,000) data, roads and settlement data were used to analyze the spatial characteristics of grasslands degradation. The ArcGIS 9 software was used to convert data types and do the overlay, reclassification and zonal statistic analysis. Results show that grassland degradation is the most important land cover change in the study area, which occupied 8.24% of the region's total area. Human activities are the main causes of the grassland degradation in the source region of the Yellow River: 1) the degradation rate is higher on the sunny slope than on the shady slope; 2) the grassland degradation rate decreases with an increase in the elevation, and it has a correlation coefficient of -0.93; 3) the nearer to the settlements the grassland is, the higher the degradation rate. Especially within a distance range of 12 km to the settlements, the grassland degradation rate is highly related with the distance, with a coefficient of -0.99; and 4) in the range of 4 km, the degradation rate decreases with the increase of distance to the roads, with a correlation coefficient of -0.98. Besides some physical factors, human activities have been the most important driving forces of the grassland degradation in the source region of the Yellow River since 1985. To resolve the degradation problems, population control is essential, and therefore, it can reduce the social demand of livestock products from the grassland. To achieve sustainable development, it needs to improve the management of grassland ecosystem.

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Changes in vegetation and soil properties along a slope on overgrazed and eroded rangelands

Cited by 61 publications

References 3 publications

Temporal change in soil macropores measured using tension infiltrometer under different land uses and slope positions in subtropical China

Temporal change in soil macropores measured using tension infiltrometer under different land uses and slope positions in subtropical China

Changes in soil and vegetation following stabilisation of dunes in the southeastern fringe of the Tengger Desert, China

Characteristics of grassland degradation and driving forces in the source region of the Yellow River from 1985 to 2000

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