Effects of vegetation cover and slope on soil erosion in the Eastern Chinese Loess Plateau under different rainfall regimes

Sun, Congjian; Hou, Huixin; Chen, Wei

doi:10.7717/peerj.11226

Cited by 21 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…43% of the regional total land area and is the dominant vegetation type on the Plateau [ 2 ]. It provides essential ecosystem functions and services such as carbon sequestration, soil and water conservation, and biodiversity [ 3 , 4 ]. Grassland management and restoration are of great ecological and economic significance in the region.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leaf Photosynthetic and Functional Traits of Grassland Dominant Species in Response to Nutrient Addition on the Chinese Loess Plateau

Jin

Lai

Chen

et al. 2022

Plants

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Leaf photosynthetic and functional traits of dominant species are important for understanding grassland community dynamics under imbalanced nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) inputs. Here, the effects of N (N0, N50, and N100, corresponding to 0, 50, and 100 kg ha−1 yr−1, respectively) or/and P additions (P0, P40, and P80, corresponding to 0, 40, and 80 kg ha–1 yr–1) on photosynthetic characteristics and leaf economic traits of three dominant species (two grasses: Bothriochloa ischaemum and Stipa bungeana; a leguminous subshrub: Lespedeza davurica) were investigated in a semiarid grassland community on the Loess Plateau of China. Results showed that, after a three-year N addition, all three species had higher specific leaf area (SLA), leaf chlorophyll content (SPAD value), maximum net photosynthetic rate (PNmax), and leaf instantaneous water use efficiency (WUE), while also having a lower leaf dry matter content (LDMC). The two grasses, B. ischaemum and S. bungeana, showed greater increases in PNmax and SLA than the subshrub L. davurica. P addition alone had no noticeable effect on the PNmax of the two grasses while it significantly increased the PNmax of L. davurica. There was an evident synergetic effect of the addition of N and P combined on photosynthetic traits and most leaf economic traits in the three species. All species had relatively high PNmax and SLA under the addition of N50 combined with P40. Overall, this study suggests that N and P addition shifted leaf economic traits towards a greater light harvesting ability and, thus, elevated photosynthesis in the three dominant species of a semiarid grassland community, and this was achieved by species–specific responses in leaf functional traits. These results may provide insights into grassland restoration and the assessment of community development in the context of atmospheric N deposition and intensive agricultural fertilization.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leaf Photosynthetic and Functional Traits of Grassland Dominant Species in Response to Nutrient Addition on the Chinese Loess Plateau

Jin

Lai

Chen

et al. 2022

Plants

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“…In the future, researchers could explore the trade-offs between soil erosion and other ecological services at multiple scales, which would be valuable references for effective and sustainable management and policy decisions for minimizing trade-offs and maximizing synergies of ecological services. Land managers in the Hubei government need to optimize the land-use structure, pay attention to sloping land improvement [ 48 ], increase vegetation coverage [ 49 , 50 ], and increase ecological restoration projects in the west of Hubei. Besides, land policymakers should consider the scale effect of soil and water conservation projects when making land-use plans.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Link between Landscape Characteristics and Soil Losses Rates over a Range of Spatiotemporal Scales: Hubei Province, China

Yong

Wang

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Controlling soil erosion is beneficial to the conservation of soil resources and ecological restoration. Understanding the spatial distribution characteristics of soil erosion helps find the key areas for soil control projects and optimal scale for investing in a soil and water conservation project at the lowest cost. This study aims to answer the question of how the spatial distribution of soil erosion in Hubei Province changed between 2000 and 2020. Moreover, how do the effects of natural factors and human activities on soil erosion vary over the years? What are the differences in landscape pattern characteristics and the spatial cluster of soil erosion at multiple administrative scales? We simulated the spatial distribution of soil erosion in Hubei province from 2000 to 2020 by the Chinese Soil Loss Equation model at three administrative scales. We investigated the relationship between soil erosion and driving factors by Geodector. We explored the landscape pattern and hotspots of land at different levels of soil erosion by Fragstat and hotspot analysis. The results show that: (1) The average soil erosion rate decreased from 2000 to 2020. Soil erosion is severe in the mountainous areas of western Hubei province, while it is less severe in the central plains. (2) Land-cover type, precipitation, and normalized difference vegetation index are the most influencing factors of soil erosion in 2000–2010, 2015, and 2020, respectively. (3) The aggregation index values at the town scale are higher than those at the city and county scales, while the fractal dimension index values at the town scale are lower, which indicates that soil erosion projects are most efficient when the project unit is ‘town’. (4) At the town scale, if the hotspot area (6.84% of the total area) is treated as the protection target, it can reduce 50.42% of the total soil erosion of Hubei province. Hotspots of soil erosion overlap with high erosion zones, mainly in the northwestern, northeastern, and southwestern parts of Hubei province in 2000, while the hotspots in northwestern Hubei disappear in 2020. In conclusion, land managers in Hubei should optimize the land-use structure, soil and water conservation in slope land, and eco-engineering controls at the town scale.

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“…Runoff and sediment processes had a great signi cance to the study of soil erosion characteristics, which could express the dynamic results of soil erosion processes, and response the changes of runoff and sediment with rainfall Vegetation like arbors and grasses can signi cantly promote soil physical and chemical properties, and improve water in ltration velocity, nevertheless, different vegetation types had different effects on the reduction of runoff and sediment (Liu et al, 2019a). Sun et al studied the runoff and sediment loss rates of ve vegetation types, they found that the arbor trees type was the optimum for soil and water conservation, the arbors on soil controlling soil and water conservation has been veri ed in various areas (Sun et al, 2021a). Jia et al found that the combined effect of planting grass and shrub could achieve highly e cient runoff and sediment reduction effect (Jia et al, 2020).…”

Section: Improvement Impact Of Different Ecological Restoration Patte...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Laminated vegetation community was able to effectively reduce runoff and soil erosion compared with the single species community (Chen et al, 2018). The bene ts of arbor-grass in soil and water conservation can be attributed to a large canopy, surface grass, litter layers and root system (Sun et al, 2021a). Dense canopy was effective in intercepting rainfall, and reduce the runoff, and litter layers can be decomposed into the surface soil and affect soil erosion (Liu et al, 2017).…”

Section: Improvement Impact Of Different Ecological Restoration Patte...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of ecological restoration patterns on runoff and sediment in abandoned coal mine of southern China

Chen

2023

Preprint

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Evaluating the ecological economical benefits of different ecological restoration patterns in abandoned mines is important in ecological restoration study. Taking the abandoned coal mines in Luoshi Township of Fengcheng county, Jiangxi province as case, this study conducted 4 different ecological restoration patterns (Pattern I- grapefruit with grass vegetation, Pattern II - pine with grass vegetation, Pattern III - only grapefruit, Pattern IV - bare slope) to study the runoff and sediment yield under natural rainfall condition. The results showed that the ecological restoration patterns and rainfall intensity significantly affect runoff and sediment yield. The runoff and sediment yield increased as rainfall intensity increased: Pattern IV > Pattern III > Pattern II > Pattern I. At the optimal ecological restoration Pattern I, the average runoff and sediment reduction was 59.01% and 77.1%, respectively, in all rainfall intensities. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) showed that runoff and sediment were significantly affected by ecological restoration patterns and rainfall intensity (P < 0.05). Correlation analysis of runoff and sediment yields indicated that the reduction effect on sediment yield increased with the decrease in runoff, and the relationships between runoff and sediment at different ecological restoration patterns could be fitted with a linear function. Moreover, the vegetation configuration that combines fruit farming with grass can be not only beneficial to control soil and water conservation but produce considerable economic benefits and good ecological benefits.

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Effects of vegetation cover and slope on soil erosion in the Eastern Chinese Loess Plateau under different rainfall regimes

Cited by 21 publications

References 44 publications

Leaf Photosynthetic and Functional Traits of Grassland Dominant Species in Response to Nutrient Addition on the Chinese Loess Plateau

Leaf Photosynthetic and Functional Traits of Grassland Dominant Species in Response to Nutrient Addition on the Chinese Loess Plateau

The Link between Landscape Characteristics and Soil Losses Rates over a Range of Spatiotemporal Scales: Hubei Province, China

Effects of ecological restoration patterns on runoff and sediment in abandoned coal mine of southern China

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