The Impact of Vegetation Successional Status on Slope Runoff Erosion in the Loess Plateau of China

Slope vegetation restoration is known to influence erosion in the Loess Plateau region in China. The ability of vegetation to mitigate soil erosion under extreme runoff, however, has not been studied in great detail in this region. Here, we examine five typical vegetation communities in the Loess Plateau region that originated from restoration efforts enacted at different times (1, 11, 15, 25, and 40 years). Water scouring experiments were carried out to monitor vegetation community succession and its effects on erosion. These results indicate that the sum of plant importance values increased from 260.72 to 283.06, species density increased from 2.5 to 4.5 per m2, and the amount of litter and humus increased from 24.50 to 605.00 g/m2 during the 1 to 40 years of vegetation community succession. Root biomass and root diameter reached a maximum of approximately 10.80 mg·cm−3 and 0.65 mm at 40 years of recovery. Slope runoff velocity decreased by 47.89% while runoff resistance increased by 35.30 times. The runoff power decreased by 19.75%, the total runoff volume decreased by 2.52 times, and the total sediment yield decreased by 11.60 times in the vegetation community. Slope runoff velocity and power had the largest correlation with aboveground vegetation (0.76, 0.74), total runoff had the largest correlation with underground roots (0.74), and runoff resistance was most strongly correlated with soil structure (0.71). Studies have shown that the succession of vegetation communities can enhance the aboveground ecological functions of plants, thereby significantly reducing the runoff velocity and power. The development of plant root system significantly reduces the runoff volume; the improved soil structure significantly increased the runoff resistance coefficient.

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Vegetation Response to Goats Grazing Intensity in Semiarid Hilly Grassland of the Loess Plateau, Lanzhou, China

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13063569 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (6) ◽

pp. 3569

Author(s):

Hua Cheng ◽

Baocheng Jin ◽

Kai Luo ◽

Jiuying Pei ◽

Xueli Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Growth Rate ◽

Community Structure ◽

Plant Growth ◽

Loess Plateau ◽

Grazing Intensity ◽

Gps Tracking ◽

Growth Stages ◽

The Loess Plateau ◽

Vegetation Community ◽

Natural Grasslands

Quantitatively estimating the grazing intensity (GI) effects on vegetation in semiarid hilly grassland of the Loess Plateau can help to develop safe utilization levels for natural grasslands, which is a necessity of maintaining livestock production and sustainable development of grasslands. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), field vegetation data, and 181 days (one goat per day) of GPS tracking were combined to quantify the spatial pattern of GI, and its effects on the vegetation community structure. The spatial distribution of GI was uneven, with a mean value of 0.50 goats/ha, and 95% of the study area had less than 1.30 goats/ha. The areas with utilization rates of rangeland (July) lower than 45% and 20% made up about 95% and 60% of the study area, respectively. Grazing significantly reduced monthly aboveground biomass, but the grazing effects on plant growth rate were complex across the different plant growth stages. Grazing impaired plant growth in general, but the intermediate GI appeared to facilitate plant growth rate at the end of the growing seasons. Grazing had minimal relationship with vegetation community structure characteristics, though Importance Value of forbs increased with increasing GI. Flexibility in the number of goats and conservatively defining utilization rate, according to the inter-annual variation of utilization biomass, would be beneficial to achieve ecologically healthy and economically sustainable GI.

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ANALYSIS ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VEGETATION COVERAGE AND SOIL MOISTURE IN THE LOESS PLATEAU REGION OF CHINA

Advances in Geosciences - A 6-Volume Set - Volume 16: Atmospheric Science(AS) ◽

10.1142/9789812838124_0015 ◽

2010 ◽

pp. 165-178

Author(s):

WEIWEI SHAO ◽

DAWEN YANG

Keyword(s):

Soil Moisture ◽

Loess Plateau ◽

Vegetation Coverage ◽

The Loess Plateau ◽

Plateau Region ◽

The Relationship

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Effects of wheat stubble on runoff, infiltration, and erosion of farmland on the Loess Plateau, China, subjected to simulated rainfall

Solid Earth ◽

10.5194/se-8-281-2017 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 281-290 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Linhua Wang ◽

Bo Ma ◽

Faqi Wu

Keyword(s):

Loess Plateau ◽

Sediment Concentration ◽

Simulated Rainfall ◽

The Loess Plateau ◽

Water Losses ◽

Runoff Volume ◽

Runoff Reduction ◽

Wheat Stubble ◽

Summer Fallow ◽

Soil And Water

Abstract. Soil and water losses in agriculture are major environmental problems worldwide, especially on the Loess Plateau, China. Summer fallow management may help to control soil erosion and conserve water. This study investigated the effects of wheat stubble on runoff, infiltration, and soil loss in laboratory plots under simulated rainfall. The treatments comprised wheat stubble cover (WS) and traditional plowing (TP) in runoff plots (4.0 m  ×  1.0 m) with three slope gradients (5, 10, and 15°) under simulated rainfall at 80 mm h−1 for 1 h. The runoff volume from WS plots was significantly less than that from TP. The runoff reduction with WS ranged from 91.92 to 92.83 % compared with TP. The runoff rates varied with the runoff volume in the same manner. The infiltration amount was higher with WS (94.8–96.2 % of rainwater infiltrated) than TP (35.4–57.1 %). The sediment concentration was significantly lower with WS than TP. Compared with TP (304.31–731.23 g m−2), the sediment losses were reduced dramatically in WS (2.41–3.78 g m−2) and the sediment loss slightly increased with slope; however, it was greatly increased as slope increased in TP. These results revealed that the stubble cover was the main factor reducing runoff and sediment losses and improving infiltration and that stubble showed a great potential to control erosion and conserve soil and water resources during the summer fallow period in the Loess Plateau region.

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Moss-dominated biocrusts improve the structural diversity of underlying soil microbial communities by increasing soil stability and fertility in the Loess Plateau region of China

European Journal of Soil Biology ◽

10.1016/j.ejsobi.2019.103120 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 95 ◽

pp. 103120 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Tianli Bao ◽

Yunge Zhao ◽

Liqian Gao ◽

Qiaoyun Yang ◽

Kai Yang

Keyword(s):

Microbial Communities ◽

Loess Plateau ◽

Soil Microbial Communities ◽

Structural Diversity ◽

Soil Stability ◽

The Loess Plateau ◽

Plateau Region ◽

Soil Microbial ◽

Underlying Soil

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Evolutionary Characteristics and Trade-Offs’ Development of Social–Ecological Production Landscapes in the Loess Plateau Region from a Resilience Point of View: A Case Study in Mizhi County, China

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17041308 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (4) ◽

pp. 1308

Author(s):

Hang Zhang ◽

Hai Chen ◽

Tianwei Geng ◽

Di Liu ◽

Qinqin Shi

Keyword(s):

Loess Plateau ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Scientific Basis ◽

Production Optimization ◽

Evaluation Framework ◽

The Loess Plateau ◽

Plateau Region ◽

Social Ecological ◽

Trade Offs ◽

The Social

Social-ecological production landscape resilience (SELPR) is a significant representation of the continuous supply capacity of landscape services. It is a quantitative assessment of the spatial-temporal evolution of SELPR under internal and external disturbances that provides a scientific basis for regional ecological environments and socio–economic development. Taking Mizhi County for the study of the Loess Plateau region, a three-dimensional (social system, ecosystem, and production system) SELPR evaluation framework was constructed. Data integration was performed using the watershed as the evaluation unit. This study quantitatively evaluated the spatial–temporal differentiation of the social–ecological production landscape (SELPs) subsystem’s resilience and the total SELPR in the study area and classified the areas from the three-system resilience combination level to achieve regional development trade-offs. The results were as follows: (1) In 2009–2018, the change in the social–ecological production landscapes pattern in Mizhi County showed a significant reduction in agricultural production landscapes, relatively stable social living landscapes, and an increase in ecological landscapes; (2) in 2009–2018, the SELPR increased by 12.38%. The spatial distribution of resilience was significantly different, showing a distribution pattern of high central and low surrounding areas; (3) the county’s watershed development zones were divided into five partitions: synergistic promotion areas, ecological restoration areas, social development areas, production optimization areas, and comprehensive remediation areas. The five types of zones have a certain agglomeration effect. In addition, the main obstacle factors affecting the SELPR of each zone are quite different. The key issues and development directions of different types of watersheds are also proposed in this paper.

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