Responses of runoff, sedimentation, and induced nutrient loss to vegetation change in the Tengger Desert, northern China
Xiaojun Li A D E , Jinggang Zheng B , Xinrong Li A , Huijuan Tan A , Yanxia Pan A and Yongping Wei C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Shapotou Desert Research and Experiment Station, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, P.R. China.
B College of Urban Planning and Environmental Sciences, Xuchang University, Xuchang 461000, P.R. China.
C Australia-China Centre on Water Resources Research, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic. 3010, Australia.
D Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Donggang West Road, Lanzhou 730000, P.R. China.
E Corresponding author. Email: xiaojunli@lzb.ac.cn
Soil Research 51(2) 124-132 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR12234
Submitted: 23 August 2012 Accepted: 19 March 2013 Published: 22 April 2013
Abstract
Runoff and nutrient loss in drylands are closely related to vegetation cover. Simulated rainfall experiments with an intensity of 80 mm/h were conducted in sandy grassland and shrubland in the Tengger Desert, China, to investigate the responses of runoff and associated carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) losses to the replacement of grassland by shrubland. Times to ponding and to generate runoff, and the amount of rainfall for runoff commencement in bare, inter-shrub plots were significantly smaller than in shrub (ST) and grassland (GT) plots; no statistical differences were found for these parameters between ST and GT. Overall, this indicated a higher soil water infiltration rate in grassland than in shrubland. The volume-weighted concentrations of organic C (OC) and total N (TN) in runoff from shrubland (0.083 and 0.011 g/L, respectively) were lower than those from grassland (0.103 and 0.012 g/L, respectively). The cover-weighted runoff coefficients, and sediment, OC, and TN losses from shrubland (34.46%, and 44.95 1.72, and 0.23 g/m2, respectively) were greater than from grassland (15.22%, and 15.91, 0.94, and 0.11 g/m2). Vegetation degradation was accompanied by reduced nutrient retention capacity; both soil OC and TN of grassland (8.97 and 0.62 g/kg, respectively) were greater than those weighted values for shrubland (4.18 and 0.26 g/kg). Understanding of these processes suggests that decline or loss of vegetation cover, with the appearance of biological soil crust patches, inevitably leads to increases in runoff and induced soil loss, further accelerating desertification.
Additional keywords: biological soil crust, nutrient loss, runoff, Tengger Desert, vegetation degradation.
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