Response of soil erodibility of permanent gully heads to revegetation along a vegetation zone gradient in the loess-table and gully region of the Chinese Loess Plateau

Zhuoxin Chen; Mingming Guo; Wenlong Wang; Wenxin Wang; Lanqian Feng

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164833

Response of soil erodibility of permanent gully heads to revegetation along a vegetation zone gradient in the loess-table and gully region of the Chinese Loess Plateau

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Sep 20:892:164833. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164833. Epub 2023 Jun 12.

Authors

Zhuoxin Chen¹, Mingming Guo², Wenlong Wang³, Wenxin Wang⁴, Lanqian Feng¹

Affiliations

¹ The Research Center of Soil and Water Conservation and Ecological Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Education, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China; Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China.
² Key Laboratory of Mollisols Agroecology, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150081, PR China.
³ The Research Center of Soil and Water Conservation and Ecological Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Education, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China; Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A & F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China. Electronic address: nwafu_wwl@163.com.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A & F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China.

PMID: 37315617
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164833

Abstract

Revegetation has been proven to significantly affect soil erodibility of gully heads, and climate conditions are expected to affect soil erodibility by determining the vegetation characteristic. However, there are crucial scientific/knowledge gaps regarding the change in the response of soil erodibility of gully heads to revegetation along a vegetation zone gradient. Therefore, we selected the gully heads with different restoration years along a vegetation zone gradient encompassing the steppe zone (SZ), forest-steppe zone (FSZ), and forest zone (FZ) on the Chinese Loess Plateau to clarify the variation in soil erodibility of gully head and its response to soil and vegetation properties from SZ to FZ. Furtherly, we systematically and comprehensively reveal driving factors of changes in soil erodibility in three vegetation zones. Results showed that: (1) Vegetation and soil properties were affected positively by revegetation and differed significantly in three vegetation zones. (2) Soil erodibility of gully heads in SZ was significantly higher than in FSZ and FZ, by 3.3 % and 6.7 % on average, respectively, and it showed a significantly different decrease with restoration years in three vegetation zones. (3) Standardized major axis analysis proved that the sensitivity of response soil erodibility to vegetation characteristics and soil characteristics presented a significant difference as the revegetation proceeded. Vegetation roots were the primary driver in SZ, but soil organic matter content dominated the change in soil erodibility in FSZ and FZ. (4) Structural equation modeling indicated that climate conditions played an indirect role in regulating soil erodibility of gully heads by mediating vegetation characteristics. This study offers essential insights for assessing the ecological functions of revegetation in the gully heads of the Chinese Loess Plateau under different climatic scenarios.

Keywords: Climate; Gully head; Revegetation; Soil erodibility; Standardized major axis analysis; Vegetation diversity.

MeSH terms

Forests*
Plant Roots
Soil* / chemistry

Substances

Soil