Variation in soil erosion resistance of slips deposition zone with progressive vegetation succession on the Loess Plateau, China

Large-scale vegetation restoration greatly changed the soil erosion environment in the Loess Plateau since the implementation of the “Grain for Green Project” (GGP) in 1999. Evaluating the effects of vegetation restoration on soil erosion is significant to local soil and water conservation and vegetation construction. Taking the Ansai Watershed as the case area, this study calculated the soil erosion modulus from 2000 to 2015 under the initial and current scenarios of vegetation restoration, using the Chinese Soil Loess Equation (CSLE), based on rainfall and soil data, remote sensing images and socio-economic data. The effect of vegetation restoration on soil erosion was evaluated by comparing the average annual soil erosion modulus under two scenarios among 16 years. The results showed: (1) vegetation restoration significantly changed the local land use, characterized by the conversion of farmland to grassland, arboreal land, and shrub land. From 2000 to 2015, the area of arboreal land, shrub land, and grassland increased from 19.46 km2, 19.43 km2, and 719.49 km2 to 99.26 km2, 75.97 km2, and 1084.24 km2; while the farmland area decreased from 547.90 km2 to 34.35 km2; (2) the average annual soil erosion modulus from 2000 to 2015 under the initial and current scenarios of vegetation restoration was 114.44 t/(hm²·a) and 78.42 t/(hm²·a), respectively, with an average annual reduction of 4.81 × 106 t of soil erosion amount thanks to the vegetation restoration; (3) the dominant soil erosion intensity changed from “severe and light erosion” to “moderate and light erosion”, vegetation restoration greatly improved the soil erosion environment in the study area; (4) areas with increased erosion and decreased erosion were alternately distributed, accounting for 48% and 52% of the total land area, and mainly distributed in the northwest and southeast of the watershed, respectively. Irrational land use changes in local areas (such as the conversion of farmland and grassland into construction land, etc.) and the ineffective implementation of vegetation restoration are the main reasons leading to the existence of areas with increased erosion.

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Assessing the impact of land use change on soil erosion on the Loess Plateau of China from the end of the 1980s to 2010

Journal of Soil and Water Conservation ◽

10.2489/jswc.72.5.452 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 72 (5) ◽

pp. 452-462 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

J. Xi ◽

X. Zhao ◽

X. Wang ◽

Z. Zhang

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Soil Erosion ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Loess Plateau ◽

The Loess Plateau ◽

The Impact

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Effect of Rainwater Harvesting Agriculture on Soil Erosion in the Loess Plateau

Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming ◽

10.1201/9781482274523-41 ◽

2000 ◽

pp. 341-346

Keyword(s):

Soil Erosion ◽

Loess Plateau ◽

Rainwater Harvesting ◽

The Loess Plateau

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Productivity Impact of Soil Erosion on the Loess Plateau—A Modeling Approach

Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming ◽

10.1201/9781482274523-35 ◽

2000 ◽

pp. 281-294

Keyword(s):

Soil Erosion ◽

Loess Plateau ◽

The Loess Plateau ◽

Modeling Approach

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

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.10349 ◽

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.

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