Soil erodibility affected by vegetation restoration on steep gully slopes on the Loess Plateau of China
Bao-jun Zhang A , Guang-hui Zhang
A B C , Han-yue Yang B , Hao Wang B and Ning-ning Li B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, No. 26, Xinong Road, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China.
B Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, No. 19, XinJieKouWai Street, HaiDian District, Beijing 100875, China.
C Corresponding author. Email: ghzhang@bnu.edu.cn
Soil Research 56(7) 712-723 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR18129
Submitted: 13 May 2018 Accepted: 4 August 2018 Published: 19 September 2018
Abstract
Vegetation restoration influences near soil-surface characteristics and thus likely affects soil erodibility. This study was performed to quantify the effects of vegetation restoration on soil erodibility on steep gully slopes, and to identify the potential influencing factors on the Loess Plateau. Three shrub and four grass types distributed on different gully slopes were selected, and six erodibility indicators and an integrated erodibility index (IEI) were applied to indirectly evaluate the effects of vegetation restoration on soil erodibility. The former included the soil erodibility K factor, aggregate stability (the mean weight diameter, MWD, and the mean number of drop impacts, MND), saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks), cohesion (Coh), and penetration resistance (PR), and the latter was calculated using these indicators and a weighted integration method. The results showed that vegetation restoration on steep gully slopes was effective in reducing soil erodibility on the Loess Plateau, and grasses seemed more effective than shrubs. Compared with the control, the K of vegetation-restored gully slopes decreased by 4.1–24.0%, and MWD, MND, Ks, Coh, and PR increased by 64.0–284.3, 51.4–269.5, 100.5–417.4, 10.1–172.2, and 63.3–278.9% respectively. Consequently, the IEI of the vegetation-restored gully slopes declined by 33.1–81.9%, and the mean reduction percentage of the four grasses was 1.5 times that of the three shrubs. The variation in soil erodibility was closely related to the changes in the soil organic matter content and root mass density with vegetation restoration. The results will help in understanding the soil conservation mechanisms of vegetation restoration on steep gully slopes.
Additional keywords: revegetation, soil erosion, soil physical properties.
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