Dataset Information

Rehabilitation time has greater influences on soil mechanical composition and erodibility than does rehabilitation land type in the hilly-gully region of the Loess Plateau, China.

ABSTRACT: Background:The major landscape in the hilly-gully region of the Loess Plateau is greatly affected by vegetation rehabilitation on abandoned cropland. Although many studies have shown that the rehabilitation have greatly improved soil conditions and protected them from erosion, these effectiveness were not always in consensus possibly due to the land type of vegetation or to the rehabilitation time. To close this gap, we conducted a long term experiment as follows. Methods:In this study, we analysed four land types of vegetation rehabilitation (shrub land, woodland, naturally revegetated grassland, and orchard land) with different rehabilitation times and investigated the mechanical composition and erodibility of the soil. Areas of slope croplandand natural forest were selected as controls. Results:The results showed that soil depth, rehabilitation time and rehabilitation land type had strong impacts on soil mechanical composition, micro-aggregation and erodibility. Following rehabilitation, naturally revegetated grassland and shrub land had lower fractal dimensions of particle size distribution (fractal dimensions of PSD), fractal dimensions of micro-aggregation, and erodibility (K factor) than did cropland. Compared to the positive effects of rehabilitation mainly happened in the topsoil layer at other rehabilitation land type, that of woodland happened in the deeper soil layer. Besides, the indispensable rehabilitation time for the significant improvement of soil condition was shorter at naturally revegetated grassland than that at shrub land and woodland. Discussion:Although rehabilitation time was more influential than was rehabilitation land type or soil depth, the differences among the rehabilitation land types showed that naturally revegetated grassland with native plants is the most time-saving rehabilitation vegetation for the Loess Plateau in the conversion from slope cropland. The success of rehabilitation in this forestry practice was mainly contributed by the suited species of rehabilitation land type to the local climate and soil. Based on the differences of rehabilitation effectiveness resulting from land type, we should be cautious to choose land types for the rehabilitation of soil conditions in the Loess Plateau.

SUBMITTER: Qiao L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6875390 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Rehabilitation time has greater influences on soil mechanical composition and erodibility than does rehabilitation land type in the hilly-gully region of the Loess Plateau, China.

Qiao Leilei L Chen Wenjing W Wu Yang Y Liu Hongfei H Zhang Jiaoyang J Liu Guobin G Xue Sha S

PeerJ 20191121

<h4>Background</h4>The major landscape in the hilly-gully region of the Loess Plateau is greatly affected by vegetation rehabilitation on abandoned cropland. Although many studies have shown that the rehabilitation have greatly improved soil conditions and protected them from erosion, these effectiveness were not always in consensus possibly due to the land type of vegetation or to the rehabilitation time. To close this gap, we conducted a long term experiment as follows.<h4>Methods</h4>In this ...[more]

PMID: 31772842

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Project description:The loess hilly-gully region is a focus region of the "Grain for Green" program in China. Drought is the main problem in the study region. Precipitation and temperature are two indicators that directly characterize climatic drought. A thorough analysis of the precipitation, temperature and drought characteristics of the loess hilly-gully region can clarify the current water and heat conditions in the region to improve regional water resource management and provide a reliable reference for effectively improving water use efficiency. In this study, we fully analyzed the precipitation and temperature characteristics at 11 representative synoptic stations in the loess hilly-gully region over the period from 1957 to 2014 using a combination of trend-free pre-whitening, linear trend estimation, Spearman's rho test, the Mann-Kendall (M-K) trend and abrupt change tests and wavelet analysis. The standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index was calculated and analyzed on different time scales. The following conclusions were drawn: (1) There were significant spatial differences and inter-annual variations in precipitation at the 11 synoptic stations in the study area between 1957 and 2014; the precipitation consistently decreased with fluctuations, and the extent of the decrease varied from a maximum of 17.74 mm/decade to a minimum of 2.92 mm/decade. Except for the downward trends of the autumn and winter mean temperatures at Hequ, the seasonal and annual mean temperatures at the stations showed upward trends, including highly significant upward trends. (2) Alternating drought and wetness occurred in the study area; the wet period mainly appeared in the 1960s, and the main dry period lasted from the late 20th century to 2012. There were fewer dry and wet years than normal years; however, the study area still showed a drying trend, and the severity of the drought was increasing. (3) The annual precipitation and annual mean temperature showed marked cyclical fluctuations at each synoptic station, and the first primary cycle was approximately 28 years. The seasonal precipitation and seasonal temperature showed different cycle lengths; the seasonal cycles of precipitation for spring, summer, autumn and winter were 10, 28, 10 and 26 years long, respectively, and the cycles of the temperature fluctuations for all four seasons were approximately 28 years long.

Dataset Information

Rehabilitation time has greater influences on soil mechanical composition and erodibility than does rehabilitation land type in the hilly-gully region of the Loess Plateau, China.

Publications

Rehabilitation time has greater influences on soil mechanical composition and erodibility than does rehabilitation land type in the hilly-gully region of the Loess Plateau, China.

Similar Datasets

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