Tracked Vehicle Impacts to Vegetation Structure and Soil Erodibility

Grantham, William P.; Redente, Edward F.; Bagley, Calvin F.; Paschke, Mark W.

doi:10.2307/4003676

Cited by 31 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Cover showed a strong response to vehicle type, trafficking intensity, location within figure-8 segment, and their interactions. Other researchers have found similar results (Wilson, 1988;Grantham et al, 2001;Anderson et al, 2007). Regression equations relating trafficking intensity to reduction in cover were obtained.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

“…The amount of dust that can be blown by wind is partially dependent on the vegetation structure covering the soil surface. Grantham et al (2001) found a linear correlation between tracked vehicle trafficking intensity and the reduction in aerial cover, which in turn was linearly correlated to the threshold wind speed. WEPS uses different coefficients to account for the fact that flat vegetation provides less protection from wind erosion than standing vegetation (Hagen, 1996).…”

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confidence: 87%

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Military Vehicle Trafficking Impacts on Vegetation and Soil Bulk Density at Fort Benning, Georgia

Retta¹,

Wagner²,

Tatarko³

2014

Trans.ASABE

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Potential increases in wind erosion that might be brought about by military vehicles traveling off-road during training are of concern to the U.S. military because wind erosion and vehicle dust emissions contribute to land and air quality degradation and can cause adverse effects on respiratory health. Field studies were conducted in the summer of 2012 at Fort Benning, Georgia, to assess the effects of military vehicle trafficking intensity on susceptibility to dust emissions. Quantitative data on soil and vegetation parameters are needed to make appropriate estimates of the susceptibility to dust generation from the soil surface and the magnitude of those emissions. The experiment consisted of making multiple trafficking passes with both tracked and wheeled vehicles and then measuring wind erosion parameters. A tracked (M1A1) and wheeled (HMMWV) vehicle were driven in a figure-8 pattern within replicated 40 m × 80 m plots. On each plot, three levels of vehicle passes were made. On the tracked plots, the M1A1 was driven a cumulative total of 1, 5, and 10 passes. On the wheeled plots, the HMMWV was driven a cumulative total of 10, 25, and 50 passes. The vehicles were driven repeatedly over the same figure-8 path. Bulk density, aboveground biomass, and vegetative cover data were taken from the straight, curved, and cross-over sections of the vehicle tracks. Samples were also taken before the start of trafficking. Bulk density at three depths, total aboveground biomass, grass biomass, forb biomass, biomass by individual species, total cover, grass cover, and forb cover data were analyzed for differences between vehicles, vehicles passes, locations within the track sections, and their interactions. At the 5 cm depth, bulk density was significantly higher (p ≤ 0.05) than the control in both the M1A1 and HMMWV tracks. There was no significant evidence of soil compaction below 5 cm. At the end of all trafficking, grass and forb species biomass was reduced 65% to 100%. Vegetation cover showed strong response to vehicle type, trafficking intensity, location (within the vehicle tracks), and their interactions. Regression equations relating trafficking intensity by vehicle to reduction in cover and biomass were obtained.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

mentioning

confidence: 87%

Military Vehicle Trafficking Impacts on Vegetation and Soil Bulk Density at Fort Benning, Georgia

Retta¹,

Wagner²,

Tatarko³

2014

Trans.ASABE

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“…Hence, erosional issues need to be considered for effective land management (Miles and McTainish, 1994). Similarly, contaminant transport is of concern for many dryland ecosystems such as US Department of Energy facilities, military lands, and disposal facilities (Grantham et al, 2001;Arimoto et al, 2002;Whicker et al, 2002a, b). Wind erosion is a likely mechanism for transporting offsite contaminants at many of these sites, (e.g.…”

Section: Applications and Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, climate changes that effect wind characteristics at a site could have a large impact on wind erosion (Gregory et 1999). Both wind and water erosion increase dramatically following disturbance, including mechanical disturbances (Sehmel, 1980;Grantham et al, 2001), abandoned farmland , heavy grazing (Marticorena et al, 1997), fire (Baker and Jemison, 1991;Baker et al, 1995;Zobeck et al, 1989;Johansen et al, 2001a, b, in press;Wilson et al, 2001;Whicker et al, 2002a), and drought Rosenzweig and Hillel, 2000;Clark et al, 2002). Addressing these issues will require an improved understanding of erosion in dryland ecosystems.…”

Section: Applications and Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wind and water erosion and transport in semi‐arid shrubland, grassland and forest ecosystems: quantifying dominance of horizontal wind‐driven transport

Breshears

Whicker

Johansen

et al. 2003

Earth Surf Processes Landf

208

168

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Soil erosion is an important process in dryland ecosystems, yet measurements and comparisons of wind and water erosion within and among such ecosystems are lacking. Here we compare wind erosion and transport field measurements with water erosion and transport from rainfall-simulation for three different semi-arid ecosystems: a shrubland near Carlsbad, New Mexico; a grassland near Denver, Colorado; and a forest near Los Alamos, New Mexico. In addition to comparing erosion loss from an area, we propose a framework for comparing horizontal mass transport of wind-and water-driven materials as a metric for local soil redistribution. Median erosion rates from wind for vertical mass flux measurements (g m −2 d −1 ) were 1·5 × 10 −2 for the shrubland, 8·3 × 10 −3 for the grassland, and 9·1 × 10 −3 for the forest. Wind-driven transport from horizontal mass flux measurements was greatest in the shrubland (15·0 g m) followed by the grassland (1·5 g m −2 d −1 ) and the forest sites (0·17 g m −2 d −1 ). Annual projections accounting for longer-term site meteorology suggest that wind erosion exceeds water erosion at the shrubland by c. 33 times and by c. five times at the forest, but not the grassland site, where the high clay content of the soils contributed to greater amounts of water erosion: water erosion exceeded wind erosion by about three times. Horizontal transport by wind was greater than that by water for all three systems, overwhelmingly so in the shrubland (factor of c. 2200). Our results, which include some of the only wind erosion measurements to date for semi-arid grasslands and forests, provide a basis for hypothesizing trends in wind and water erosion among ecosystems, highlight the importance of wind erosion and transport in semi-arid ecosystems, and have implications for land surface geomorphology, contaminant transport, and ecosystem biogeochemistry.

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“…The focus of water erosion research has been to quantify soil loss (fluvial sediment erosion) at the hillslope and catchment scales to determine the impacts of management activities. This has included assessments of the types and intensities of impacts that rangelands can support, such as livestock grazing and military training activities (Vachta and Hutchinson 1990, Grantham et al 2001, Bartley et al 2010a. Adaptations of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE; Weltz et al 1998, Wang et al 2007), Manuscript received 25 July 2013; revised 30 January 2014; accepted 12 February 2014.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological site‐based assessments of wind and water erosion: informing accelerated soil erosion management in rangelands

Webb¹,

Duniway

2014

Ecological Applications

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Accelerated soil erosion occurs when anthropogenic processes modify soil, vegetation, or climatic conditions causing erosion rates at a location to exceed their natural variability. Identifying where and when accelerated erosion occurs is a critical first step toward its effective management. Here we explored how erosion assessments structured in the context of ecological sites (a land classification based on soils, landscape setting, and ecological potential) and their vegetation states (plant assemblages that may change due to management) can inform systems for reducing accelerated soil erosion in rangelands. We evaluated aeolian horizontal sediment flux and fluvial sediment erosion rates for five ecological sites in southern New Mexico, USA, using monitoring data and rangeland‐specific wind and water erosion models. Across the ecological sites, plots in shrub‐encroached and shrub‐dominated vegetation states were consistently susceptible to aeolian sediment flux and fluvial sediment erosion. Both processes were found to be highly variable for grassland and grass–succulent states across the ecological sites at the plot scale (0.25 ha). We identified vegetation thresholds that define cover levels below which rapid (exponential) increases in aeolian sediment flux and fluvial sediment erosion occur across the ecological sites and vegetation states. Aeolian sediment flux and fluvial erosion in the study area could be effectively controlled when bare ground cover was <20% of a site or the cover of canopy interspaces >100 cm in length was less than ∼35%. Land use and management activities that alter cover levels such that they cross thresholds, and/or drive vegetation state changes, may increase the susceptibility of areas to erosion. Land use impacts that are constrained within the range of natural variability should not result in accelerated soil erosion. Evaluating land condition against the erosion thresholds identified here will enable identification of areas susceptible to accelerated soil erosion and the development of practical management solutions.

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Tracked Vehicle Impacts to Vegetation Structure and Soil Erodibility

Cited by 31 publications

References 0 publications

Military Vehicle Trafficking Impacts on Vegetation and Soil Bulk Density at Fort Benning, Georgia

Military Vehicle Trafficking Impacts on Vegetation and Soil Bulk Density at Fort Benning, Georgia

Wind and water erosion and transport in semi‐arid shrubland, grassland and forest ecosystems: quantifying dominance of horizontal wind‐driven transport

Ecological site‐based assessments of wind and water erosion: informing accelerated soil erosion management in rangelands

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