Cargando…

Effects of Revegetation on Soil Organic Carbon Storage and Erosion-Induced Carbon Loss under Extreme Rainstorms in the Hill and Gully Region of the Loess Plateau

Background: The Loess Plateau, an ecologically vulnerable region, has long been suffering from serious soil erosion. Revegetation has been implemented to control soil erosion and improve ecosystems in the Loess Plateau region through a series of ecological recovery programs. However, the increasing...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Li, Yujin, Jiao, Juying, Wang, Zhijie, Cao, Binting, Wei, Yanhong, Hu, Shu
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4881081/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27136573
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13050456
_version_ 1782433905495769088
author Li, Yujin
Jiao, Juying
Wang, Zhijie
Cao, Binting
Wei, Yanhong
Hu, Shu
author_facet Li, Yujin
Jiao, Juying
Wang, Zhijie
Cao, Binting
Wei, Yanhong
Hu, Shu
author_sort Li, Yujin
collection PubMed
description Background: The Loess Plateau, an ecologically vulnerable region, has long been suffering from serious soil erosion. Revegetation has been implemented to control soil erosion and improve ecosystems in the Loess Plateau region through a series of ecological recovery programs. However, the increasing atmospheric CO(2) as a result of human intervention is affecting the climate by global warming, resulting in the greater frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as storms that may weaken the effectiveness of revegetation and cause severe soil erosion. Most research to date has evaluated the effectiveness of revegetation on soil properties and soil erosion of different land use or vegetation types. Here, we study the effect of revegetation on soil organic carbon (SOC) storage and erosion-induced carbon loss related to different plant communities, particularly under extreme rainstorm events. Materials and methods: The erosion-pin method was used to quantify soil erosion, and soil samples were taken at soil depths of 0–5 cm, 5–10 cm and 10–20 cm to determine the SOC content for 13 typical hillside revegetation communities in the year of 2013, which had the highest rainfall with broad range, long duration and high intensity since 1945, in the Yanhe watershed. Results and discussion: The SOC concentrations of all plant communities increased with soil depth when compared with slope cropland, and significant increases (p < 0.05) were observed for most shrub and forest communities, particularly for natural ones. Taking the natural secondary forest community as reference (i.e., soil loss and SOC loss were both 1.0), the relative soil loss and SOC loss of the other 12 plant communities in 2013 ranged from 1.5 to 9.4 and 0.30 to 1.73, respectively. Natural shrub and forest communities showed greater resistance to rainstorm erosion than grassland communities. The natural grassland communities with lower SOC content produced lower SOC loss even with higher soil loss, natural secondary forest communities produced higher SOC loss, primarily because of their higher SOC content, and the artificial R. pseudoacacia community with greater soil loss produced higher SOC loss. Conclusions: These results indicate that natural revegetation is more effective in enhancing SOC storage and reducing soil erosion than artificial vegetative recovery on hillsides. However, natural secondary forest communities, with higher SOC content and storage capacity, may also contribute to larger SOC loss under extreme rainstorms.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4881081
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2016
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-48810812016-05-27 Effects of Revegetation on Soil Organic Carbon Storage and Erosion-Induced Carbon Loss under Extreme Rainstorms in the Hill and Gully Region of the Loess Plateau Li, Yujin Jiao, Juying Wang, Zhijie Cao, Binting Wei, Yanhong Hu, Shu Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Background: The Loess Plateau, an ecologically vulnerable region, has long been suffering from serious soil erosion. Revegetation has been implemented to control soil erosion and improve ecosystems in the Loess Plateau region through a series of ecological recovery programs. However, the increasing atmospheric CO(2) as a result of human intervention is affecting the climate by global warming, resulting in the greater frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as storms that may weaken the effectiveness of revegetation and cause severe soil erosion. Most research to date has evaluated the effectiveness of revegetation on soil properties and soil erosion of different land use or vegetation types. Here, we study the effect of revegetation on soil organic carbon (SOC) storage and erosion-induced carbon loss related to different plant communities, particularly under extreme rainstorm events. Materials and methods: The erosion-pin method was used to quantify soil erosion, and soil samples were taken at soil depths of 0–5 cm, 5–10 cm and 10–20 cm to determine the SOC content for 13 typical hillside revegetation communities in the year of 2013, which had the highest rainfall with broad range, long duration and high intensity since 1945, in the Yanhe watershed. Results and discussion: The SOC concentrations of all plant communities increased with soil depth when compared with slope cropland, and significant increases (p < 0.05) were observed for most shrub and forest communities, particularly for natural ones. Taking the natural secondary forest community as reference (i.e., soil loss and SOC loss were both 1.0), the relative soil loss and SOC loss of the other 12 plant communities in 2013 ranged from 1.5 to 9.4 and 0.30 to 1.73, respectively. Natural shrub and forest communities showed greater resistance to rainstorm erosion than grassland communities. The natural grassland communities with lower SOC content produced lower SOC loss even with higher soil loss, natural secondary forest communities produced higher SOC loss, primarily because of their higher SOC content, and the artificial R. pseudoacacia community with greater soil loss produced higher SOC loss. Conclusions: These results indicate that natural revegetation is more effective in enhancing SOC storage and reducing soil erosion than artificial vegetative recovery on hillsides. However, natural secondary forest communities, with higher SOC content and storage capacity, may also contribute to larger SOC loss under extreme rainstorms. MDPI 2016-04-29 2016-05 /pmc/articles/PMC4881081/ /pubmed/27136573 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13050456 Text en © 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Li, Yujin
Jiao, Juying
Wang, Zhijie
Cao, Binting
Wei, Yanhong
Hu, Shu
Effects of Revegetation on Soil Organic Carbon Storage and Erosion-Induced Carbon Loss under Extreme Rainstorms in the Hill and Gully Region of the Loess Plateau
title Effects of Revegetation on Soil Organic Carbon Storage and Erosion-Induced Carbon Loss under Extreme Rainstorms in the Hill and Gully Region of the Loess Plateau
title_full Effects of Revegetation on Soil Organic Carbon Storage and Erosion-Induced Carbon Loss under Extreme Rainstorms in the Hill and Gully Region of the Loess Plateau
title_fullStr Effects of Revegetation on Soil Organic Carbon Storage and Erosion-Induced Carbon Loss under Extreme Rainstorms in the Hill and Gully Region of the Loess Plateau
title_full_unstemmed Effects of Revegetation on Soil Organic Carbon Storage and Erosion-Induced Carbon Loss under Extreme Rainstorms in the Hill and Gully Region of the Loess Plateau
title_short Effects of Revegetation on Soil Organic Carbon Storage and Erosion-Induced Carbon Loss under Extreme Rainstorms in the Hill and Gully Region of the Loess Plateau
title_sort effects of revegetation on soil organic carbon storage and erosion-induced carbon loss under extreme rainstorms in the hill and gully region of the loess plateau
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4881081/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27136573
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13050456
work_keys_str_mv AT liyujin effectsofrevegetationonsoilorganiccarbonstorageanderosioninducedcarbonlossunderextremerainstormsinthehillandgullyregionoftheloessplateau
AT jiaojuying effectsofrevegetationonsoilorganiccarbonstorageanderosioninducedcarbonlossunderextremerainstormsinthehillandgullyregionoftheloessplateau
AT wangzhijie effectsofrevegetationonsoilorganiccarbonstorageanderosioninducedcarbonlossunderextremerainstormsinthehillandgullyregionoftheloessplateau
AT caobinting effectsofrevegetationonsoilorganiccarbonstorageanderosioninducedcarbonlossunderextremerainstormsinthehillandgullyregionoftheloessplateau
AT weiyanhong effectsofrevegetationonsoilorganiccarbonstorageanderosioninducedcarbonlossunderextremerainstormsinthehillandgullyregionoftheloessplateau
AT hushu effectsofrevegetationonsoilorganiccarbonstorageanderosioninducedcarbonlossunderextremerainstormsinthehillandgullyregionoftheloessplateau