Runoff and soil erosion responses to rainfall and vegetation cover under various afforestation management regimes in subtropical montane forest

There are a multitude of factors that affect soil erosion and the process of sediment movement. One particular factor known to have a considerable impact is vegetation coverage within catchment areas.&#160; Previous studies have examined the impact of vegetation cover on erosion.&#160;However, there is a lack of research on how the spatial distribution of vegetation influences erosion rates.A greater understanding of hillslope erosion is fundamental in modelling previous and future topographic changes under various climate conditions. Here, the physical based erosion model EROSION 3D &#169; is used to evaluate the impact of a variety of vegetation patterns and degrees of vegetation cover on sediment erosion and transport. The model was applied on a natural catchment in La Campana (Central Chile). For this purpose, three different vegetation patterns were created: (i) random distribution, (ii) water-dependent distribution (TWIR) and (iii) banded vegetation pattern distribution. Additional to this, the areas covered by vegetation generated in the first step were expanded by steps of 10% [0...100%]. The Erosion3D &#169; model then was applied on all vegetation patterns and degrees of cover.Our results show an initial increase of soil erosion with increasing plant coverage within the catchment up to a certain cover threshold ranging between 10 and 40%. At larger vegetation cover soil erosion rates decline. The strength of increase and decline, as well as the cover-threshold is strongly conditioned by the spatial vegetation pattern. In the light of this, future research should pay particular attention to the properties of the plants and their distribution, not solely on the amount of biomass within catchment areas.

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GIS modelling for locating the risk zone of soil erosionin a deciduous forest

Journal of Forest Science ◽

10.17221/71/2012-jfs ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 59 (No. 2) ◽

pp. 87-91 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

M. Nasiri

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Soil Erosion ◽

Water Conservation ◽

Vegetation Cover ◽

Deciduous Forest ◽

Pairwise Comparison ◽

Geographical Information ◽

Conservation Areas ◽

Erosion Risk ◽

Highest Weight

The maps of altitude, geology, vegetation cover and land use were prepared and classified as the main criteria to locate soil and water conservation programs. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to determine the relative priorities of these criteria by pairwise comparison. All the thematic maps were then integrated using the overlay process in Geographical Information System (GIS) and the final map of soil erosion risk was produced. Results indicated that vegetation cover was given the highest weight (0.494). The geology was assigned the second highest weight (0.313), as the main cause of initiation of the erosion of erodible lands. Land-use change has a local influence on soil erosion, so it was assigned the third weight (0.151). Altitude is a low-impact variable for predicting the water and soil conservation areas.  

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Measurement of soil erosion on different spatial scales with vegetation cover of caatinga in the northeast of Brazil

10.13031/2013.41450 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Julio Cesar Neves dos Santos ◽

Eunice Maia de Andrade ◽

Helba Araújo de Queiroz Palácio ◽

José Ribeiro de Araújo Neto ◽

José Ailton da Silva Filho

Keyword(s):

Soil Erosion ◽

Vegetation Cover ◽

Spatial Scales

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Environmental effectiveness of GAEC cross-compliance Standard 1.1a (temporary ditches) and 1.2g (permanent grass cover of set-aside) in reducing soil erosion and economic evaluation of the competitiveness gap for farmers

Italian Journal of Agronomy ◽

10.4081/ija.2015.710 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 10 (1s) ◽

Author(s):

Paolo Bazzoffi ◽

Rosa Francaviglia ◽

Ulderico Neri ◽

Rosario Napoli ◽

Alessandro Marchetti ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Erosion ◽

Vegetation Cover ◽

Bare Soil ◽

Runoff Water ◽

Rusle Model ◽

Environmental Effectiveness ◽

Additional Costs ◽

Soil Erosion By Water ◽

Cross Compliance ◽

Made In

This paper shows the results of the monitoring carried out in three hilly farms of the MONACO project in order to verify the effectiveness of the Standard 1.1 (commitment a) (temporary ditches) and Standard 1.2 (commitment g) (Vegetation cover throughout the year in set-aside land) in the reduction in soil erosion, contained in Rule 1: ‘minimum land management that meets specific conditions’ of the decree Mipaaf 2009 and following modifications, until the recent decree No. 180 of January 23, 2015. In addition, the assessment of the competitiveness gap was done. That is the evaluation of the additional costs borne by the beneficiary of the single payment determined from agronomic commitments. Monitoring has also compared the erosion actually observed in the field with that predicted by RUSLE model (Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation) (Renard et al., 1997) in the two situations: with and without the presence of temporary ditches, i.e. assuming Factual (compliance rules) and in that Counterfactual (infringement). This comparison was made in view of the fact that the RUSLE model was chosen by the 'European Evaluation Network for Rural Development (EEN, 2013) as a forecasting tool for the quantification of' Common Indicator ‘soil erosion by water’. The results of soil erosion survey carried out by using a new UAV-GIS methodology on two monitoring farms in two years of observations have shown that temporary ditches were effective in decreasing erosion, on average, by 42.5%, from 36. 59 t ha-1 to 21.05 t ha-1 during the monitoring period. It was also evaluated the effectiveness of grass strips (at variance with the commitment of temporary ditches). The results showed a strong, highly significant, reduction in erosion by about 35% times respect soil erosion observed in bare soil and also a significant reduction in the volume of runoff water. With regard to Standard 1.2 (commitment g) the statistical analysis shows a strong and highly significant decrease in the erosion due to the vegetation cover of the soil compared to bare soil. The economic competitiveness gap of Standard 1.1(commitment a) stood at € 4.07±1.42 € ha-1 year-1, while CO2 emissions due to execution of temporary ditches was 2.58 kg ha-1year-1. As for the Standard 1.2 (commitment g) the average differential competitiveness gap amounted to 50.22±13.7 € ha-1 year-1 and an output of CO2 equal to 31.52 kg ha-1 year.

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Analysis of Weather-Type-Induced Soil Erosion in Cultivated and Poorly Managed Abandoned Sloping Vineyards in the Axarquía Region (Málaga, Spain)

Air Soil and Water Research ◽

10.1177/1178622119839403 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

pp. 117862211983940 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Jesús Rodrigo-Comino ◽

José María Senciales ◽

José Antonio Sillero-Medina ◽

Yeboah Gyasi-Agyei ◽

José Damián Ruiz-Sinoga ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Erosion ◽

Vegetation Cover ◽

Soil Loss ◽

Management Practices ◽

Soil Management ◽

Weather Conditions ◽

Surface Flow ◽

Weather Type ◽

Rainfall Event ◽

Management Options

New trends related to market incomes, cultural human development, non-sustainable soil management practices, and climate change are affecting land abandonment in Mediterranean sloping vineyards. It is generally accepted that hydrological processes and, subsequently, soil erosion rates are usually different between cultivated and abandoned soils. However, these alterations are still poorly studied in relation to the general weather conditions in vineyards and abandoned vineyards. Thus, the main goals of this research are to (1) estimate the differences in soil properties, (2) quantify water and soil losses due to rainfall and specific soil management practices, and (3) analyze which kind of weather type and rainfall event is able to generate specific surface flows and soil loss rates. To achieve these goals, we focused on the specific case of the sloping vineyards of the Montes de Málaga (South Spain). We used 4 paired-erosion plots with Gerlach troughs to quantify soil loss and surface flow and conducted an analysis of the weather conditions during each rainfall event. The weather types that generated the highest amount of rainfall in the studied area came from the western (32.6%) and southeast (28.2%) types. The low rainfall events came from the south type (5.9%) and at the 500 hPa level, whereas the rainiest ones came from the southwest (47.7%) and south (34.1%). It is confirmed that there is a bimodality in the rainfall patterns. The results of soil erosion showed that there is a mixed mechanism depending on the state of the soil (vegetation cover, compaction, and initial soil moisture), soil management (tillage, trampling effect, and the use of herbicides). It is observed that the intensity of surface flow is highly correlated to the total rainfall amount and intensity. In the poorly managed abandoned plot, it is important to remark that the effect of tillage in the past, the elimination of the vegetation cover to preserve the soil in bare condition, and its use as a grazing area by cultivating barley highly affects the generation of the highest erosive events. Therefore, it is confirmed that these soil management options are not the most sustainable way to conserve the soil after the abandonment of cultivation.

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Effects of Rainfall Intensity and Vegetation Cover on Erosion Characteristics of a Soil Containing Rock Fragments Slope

Advances in Civil Engineering ◽

10.1155/2019/7043428 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2019 ◽

pp. 1-14

Author(s):

Bingqin Zhao ◽

Lun Zhang ◽

Zhenyao Xia ◽

Wennian Xu ◽

Lu Xia ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Erosion ◽

Vegetation Cover ◽

Three Gorges Reservoir ◽

Rainfall Intensity ◽

Sediment Load ◽

Cynodon Dactylon ◽

Three Gorges ◽

Rock Fragments ◽

Runoff Volume ◽

The Three Gorges

Rainfall events coupled with shallow and gravelly sloping farmland have led to serious soil erosion and associated problems in the Three Gorges reservoir. Previous studies have shown that the use of vegetation is an effective way to control soil erosion. Therefore, an artificial, simulated rainfall experiment study is conducted to determine the effect of rainfall intensity and vegetation cover on runoff volume, sediment load, and runoff hydraulics characteristics. The experiment consists of seven vegetation treatments subjected to three rainfall intensities on a soil that contains rock fragments on a slope of 30°. The results indicate that the runoff volume and sediment load of the bare plot were greater than those of vegetation-covered plots under three different rainfall intensities. When Cynodon dactylon and Indigofera amblyantha were applied together, the plot displayed the best performance for soil loss control, with a reduction of 87.88%–99.11%. According to a redundancy analysis, the change in rainfall intensity had the least impact on the Reynolds number and the runoff volume of the herb-shrub mixed plot in this study. These findings suggest that the effect of combining Cynodon dactylon and Indigofera amblyantha and increasing the vegetation coverage is an effective solution for soil and water loss conservation. The application of this method can alleviate environmental stress on the Three Gorges reservoir.

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