Vegetation patterns affect soil aggregate loss during water erosion
Zhun Zhao
State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region of China, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Peng Shi
State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region of China, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, China
Key Laboratory of National Forestry Administration on Ecological Hydrology and Disaster Prevention in Arid Regions, Xi'an, China
Correspondence
Peng Shi, State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region of China, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an 710048, China.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorLulu Bai
State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region of China, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, China
Search for more papers by this authorJingbing Dong
State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region of China, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, China
Search for more papers by this authorZhanbin Li
State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region of China, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, China
Key Laboratory of National Forestry Administration on Ecological Hydrology and Disaster Prevention in Arid Regions, Xi'an, China
Search for more papers by this authorPeng Li
State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region of China, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, China
Key Laboratory of National Forestry Administration on Ecological Hydrology and Disaster Prevention in Arid Regions, Xi'an, China
Search for more papers by this authorWen Wang
State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region of China, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, China
Search for more papers by this authorLingzhou Cui
College of Life and Environmental Science, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, China
Search for more papers by this authorZhun Zhao
State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region of China, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Peng Shi
State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region of China, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, China
Key Laboratory of National Forestry Administration on Ecological Hydrology and Disaster Prevention in Arid Regions, Xi'an, China
Correspondence
Peng Shi, State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region of China, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an 710048, China.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorLulu Bai
State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region of China, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, China
Search for more papers by this authorJingbing Dong
State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region of China, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, China
Search for more papers by this authorZhanbin Li
State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region of China, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, China
Key Laboratory of National Forestry Administration on Ecological Hydrology and Disaster Prevention in Arid Regions, Xi'an, China
Search for more papers by this authorPeng Li
State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region of China, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, China
Key Laboratory of National Forestry Administration on Ecological Hydrology and Disaster Prevention in Arid Regions, Xi'an, China
Search for more papers by this authorWen Wang
State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region of China, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, China
Search for more papers by this authorLingzhou Cui
College of Life and Environmental Science, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, China
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Soil aggregates are important for improving the soil quality and structure. Soil erosion causes the fragmentation and migration of soil aggregates. Vegetation restoration is an effective method for controlling soil erosion, and the vegetation distribution on the slope changes the hydrological processes. However, there is a dearth of studies investigating the regulation of vegetation patterns in relation to soil aggregate loss. This study employed a physical model of a slope gully system to examine the characteristics of soil aggregates loss during erosion processes under four distinct vegetation patterns: no vegetation (pattern A), up-slope vegetation (pattern B), middle-slope vegetation (pattern C), and down-slope vegetation (pattern D), utilizing simulated rainfall experiments. The results showed that under various patterns of vegetation, the loss of soil aggregates is predominantly driven by microaggregates (<0.25 mm), A (65.2%) < B (72.4%) < C (77.7%) < D (87.7%). On the contrary, there is an opposite trend of change observed in macroaggregates(>0.25 mm). The vegetation pattern had different effects on the enrichment rate of aggregates in sediments: the enrichment ratio of macroaggregates decreased by 20.9%–64.7% and the enrichment ratio of microaggregates increased by 11.1%–34.5%. The cumulative loss of soil aggregates and the cumulative runoff volume can be described by a linear equation: y = ax + b, where ‘a’ denotes the rate of soil aggregate loss. Vegetation patterns had the capacity to decrease the rate of macroaggregate loss. Among these patterns, pattern D exhibits the lowest rate, followed by patterns C, B, and A. These results indicated that down-slope vegetation pattern is effective in reducing the loss of soil aggregates especially macroaggregates.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT
There are no conflicts of interest to declare.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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