Recovery Dynamics of Vegetation and Soil Properties in Karst Rocky Desertification Areas in Guizhou, China

2012 ◽  
Vol 518-523 ◽  
pp. 4532-4544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Yan Liu ◽  
Fang Liu
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Vegetation Structure ◽  
Vegetation Recovery ◽  
Native Forest ◽  
Forming Process ◽  
Karst Rocky Desertification ◽  
Rocky Desertification ◽  
Available Nitrogen ◽  
Dynamics Of Vegetation

Abstract. Dynamics of vegetation and soil properties responses to vegetation recovery in the selected 72 Karst desertification sites in Guizhou, China were studied. Six typical and representative vegetation types along a chronosequence of vegetation recovery (corn land, sparse grass, regeneration forest, shrub, grass and shrub, and native forest with 0, 3-5, 10-15, 20-30, 30-40, and >100 yrs, respectively) were selected for the study of the plant species, vegetation features as well as soil physical & chemical properties in order to assess interaction between soil properties and vegetation structure. It was found that vegetation species had dry-resistant characteristics because of their extensive exposure to the basement rocks and thinness soil. Grass community was always coarse grass, shrub was generally dominated by vines, thorn bushes and tree species were almost leather-like, single and mini-type leaf plants. Factor analysis showed that the 3 factors, soil fertility, pH and clay, explain 67.97 % of total variance among the 19 soil property parameters. Soil fertility changed significantly effects included the increasing of soil organic matter, total and available nitrogen, humic acid, CEC, fuvic acid, exchange Ca, porosity and total P but decreasing bulk density. This trend was followed by enhancing of bio-enrichment capacity along the chronosequence of vegetation recovering process. Soil pH had no significant correlation with the vegetation recovery stages because it was determined by soil forming process and characteristic of parent materials. The factor clay only decreased slightly in the recovery stages. Cluster analysis indicated that vegetation structure could develop within short time under anthropocentric interfering, but soil fertility only accumulated with annual litter decomposing. We can conclude that recovery of vegetation community structure proceeded restoration of soil function.

scholarly journals Evaluation of soil fertility in the succession of karst rocky desertification using principal component analysis

Solid Earth ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 515-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. W. Xie ◽  
J. Zhong ◽  
F. F. Chen ◽  
F. X. Cao ◽  
J. J. Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Principal Component Analysis ◽  
Microbial Biomass ◽  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Component Analysis ◽  
Data Matrix ◽  
Karst Rocky Desertification ◽  
Rocky Desertification ◽  
Microbial Biomass Nitrogen ◽  
Changing Trend

Abstract. Expanding of karst rocky desertification (RD) area in southwestern China is strangling the sustainable development of local agricultural economy. It is important to evaluate the soil fertility at RD regions for the sustainable management of karst lands. The changes in 19 different soil fertility-related variables along a gradient of karst rocky desertification were investigated in five different counties belonging to the central Hunan province in China. We used principal component analysis method to calculate the soil data matrix and obtained a standardized integrate soil fertility (ISF) indicator to reflect RD grades. The results showed that the succession of RD had different impacts on soil fertility indicators. The changing trend of total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), available phosphorus, microbial biomass carbon (MBC), and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) was potential RD (PRD) > light RD (LRD) > moderate RD (MRD) > intensive RD (IRD), whereas the changing trend of other indicators was not entirely consistent with the succession of RD. The degradation trend of ISF was basically parallel to the aggravation of RD, and the strength of ISF mean values were in the order of PRD > LRD > MRD > IRD. The TOC, MBC, and MBN could be regarded as the key indicators to evaluate the soil fertility.

scholarly journals Evaluation of soil fertility in the succession of karst rocky desertification using principal component analysis

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 3333-3359 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. W. Xie ◽  
J. Zhong ◽  
F. X. Cao ◽  
J. J. Li ◽  
L. C. Wu
Keyword(s):  
Principal Component Analysis ◽  
Microbial Biomass ◽  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Component Analysis ◽  
Hunan Province ◽  
Karst Rocky Desertification ◽  
Rocky Desertification ◽  
Microbial Biomass Nitrogen ◽  
Changing Trend

Abstract. Expanding of karst rocky desertification (RD) area in southwestern China has led to destructed ecosystem and local economic development lagging behind. It is important to understand the soil fertility at RD regions for the sustainable management of karst lands. The effects of the succession of RD on soil fertility were studied by investigating the stands and analyzing the soil samples with different RD grades in the central Hunan province, China, using the principal component analysis method. The results showed that the succession of RD had different impacts on soil fertility indicators. The changing trend of total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), available phosphorous (AP), microbial biomass carbon (MBC), and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) out of 19 selected indicators in different RD regions was: potential RD (PRD) > light RD (LRD) > moderate RD (MRD) > intensive RD (IRD), whereas the changing trend of other indicators was not entirely consistent with the succession of RD. The degradation trend of soil fertility was basically parallel to the aggravation of RD, and the strength of integrated soil fertility was in the order of PRD > MRD > LRD > IRD. The TOC, total phosphorus (TP), cation exchange capacity (CEC), MBC, MBN, microbial mass phosphorous (MBP), and bulk density (BD) could be regarded as the key indicators to evaluate the soil fertility due to their close correlations to the integrated fertility.

scholarly journals A 10-year monitoring of soil properties dynamics and soil fertility evaluation in Chinese hickory plantation regions of southeastern China

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Jin ◽  
Luoqi Wang ◽  
Karin Müller ◽  
Jiasen Wu ◽  
Hailong Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Soil Ph ◽  
Field Investigation ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Variation ◽  
Available Phosphorus ◽  
Fertility Level ◽  
Available Nitrogen ◽  
Management Measures ◽  
Spatial Dependencies

AbstractMonitoring the temporal and spatial variation of soil properties is helpful to understand the evolution of soil properties and adjust the management method in time. Soil fertility evaluation is an urgent need to understand soil fertility level and prevent soil degradation. Here, we conducted an intensive field investigation in Chinese hickory (Carya cathayensis Sarg.) plantation to clarify the spatial and temporal variation of soil properties and its influencing factors, and to evaluate the change of soil fertility. The results showed that the soil pH and soil organic carbon (SOC) significantly increased from 2008 to 2018, while available nitrogen (AN) significantly decreased from 2008 to 2018. The semi-variance revealed that except available phosphorus (AP), the spatial dependencies of soil properties increased from 2008 to 2018. An increasing south-north gradient was found for soil AN, AP, available potassium (AK) and SOC and a decreasing south-north gradient was found for soil pH. The average soil fertility in the whole area was increased from 2008 to 2018. Our findings demonstrated that the changes of the management measures were the reason for the change of soil properties from 2008 to 2018. Therefore, rational fertilization strategies and sod cultivation are recommended to maintain the long-term development of the producing forest.

scholarly journals The Effects of Vegetation Restoration and Season On Soil Enzyme Activity and Microbial Communities in Karst Rocky Desertification Area

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhang Guo ◽  
Chunyan Zheng ◽  
Zhu Chen ◽  
Jin Wang ◽  
Yanghua Yu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Enzyme Activity ◽  
Microbial Community ◽  
Microbial Biomass ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Southwest China ◽  
Vegetation Type ◽  
Soil Enzyme ◽  
Vegetation Types ◽  
Karst Rocky Desertification ◽  
Rocky Desertification

Abstract Aims The process of karst rocky desertification has been closely related to improper land use in southwest China. Now this habitat is the subject of an important ecological restoration project. However, the changes in soil properties and microbial characteristics in response to this vegetation restoration remain poorly understood.Methods We investigated four vegetation types, including dragon fruit, Chinese pepper, walnut teak, with corn as a control, in southwest China, in 2019. We measured the impacts of these vegetation types on soil properties and microbial biomass, enzyme activity, and microbial community composition (using high-throughput sequencing technology).Results The different vegetation types had significantly different impacts on soil exchangeable Ca2+, soil organic carbon and available nutrients. The vegetation types also significantly affected microbial biomass. Soil enzyme activity, including b-1,4-glucosidase, b-1,4-N-acetylglucosaminidase, alkaline phosphatase, and catalase, were significantly different among vegetation types. All vegetation types were dominated by the bacterial phyla Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria and the fungal phylum Ascomycota, except for corn which was dominated by the fungal phylum Mucoromycota. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) showed that the vegetation type exhibited different microbial b-diversity, especially in winter. The vegetation type, season, and soil properties collectively explained 46% and 59% of soil bacterial and fungal community composition, respectively. The bacterial-fungal interactions under the six vegetation types were distinctly different between summer and winter.Conclusions Compared with traditional corn, the restoration of natural vegetation partially reversed KRD by improving soil properties, increasing microbial biomass, and differentiating the microbial community structures in the different vegetation types.

The application of geospatial techniques in monitoring karst vegetation recovery in southwest China

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 450-477 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunhua Zhang ◽  
Xiangkun Qi ◽  
Kelin Wang ◽  
Mingyang Zhang ◽  
Yueming Yue
Keyword(s):  
Vegetation Dynamics ◽  
Landscape Heterogeneity ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Recovery Process ◽  
Vegetation Recovery ◽  
Karst Region ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Karst Rocky Desertification ◽  
Rocky Desertification ◽  
Geospatial Techniques

The karst region in southwestern China, one of the largest continuous karst areas in the world, is special for its high landscape heterogeneity, unique hydrology, high endemism among vegetation species and high intensity of human disturbance. The region had experienced severe degradation through karst rocky desertification (KRD) between the 1950s and 1990s. Starting in the late 1990s, various levels of the Chinese government conducted several ecological projects to recover degraded karst ecosystems. It was reported that the implementation of these projects had been successful in facilitating the recovery of karst vegetation in many areas. However, global climate changes may compromise the efficacy of recovery. Geospatial techniques had been employed to map and monitor karst ecosystem conditions during the recovery process. We examined the history and progress of the various geospatial techniques applied to monitor and evaluate karst vegetation conditions. In addition, we reviewed the techniques used to assess and monitor KRD, KRD influencing factors, vegetation community type, fractional vegetation cover, vegetation dynamics, vegetation productivity, ecosystem goods and services, vegetation biodiversity, ecosystem health and rural society changes. We also explored the potential to apply geospatial techniques for karst vegetation recovery in the future. It is projected that there will be more remotely sensed images for the vegetation dynamics monitoring at numerous scales. New techniques (e.g. image fusion and data assimilation) will be available to manage scale and heterogeneity issues in the karst landscape.

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