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Journal of Arid Land
Journal of Arid Land  2022, Vol. 14 Issue (3): 325-340    DOI: 10.1007/s40333-022-0007-y
Research article     
Effects of vegetation near-soil-surface factors on runoff and sediment reduction in typical grasslands on the Loess Plateau, China
LI Panpan1, WANG Bing1,2, YANG Yanfen1,2,*(), LIU Guobin1,2
1State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
2State 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, Yangling 712100, China
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Abstract  

Vegetation near-soil-surface factors can protect topsoil from erosion, however, their contributions to the reduction of soil erosion, especially under natural rainfall events, have not been systematically recognized. This study was performed to quantify the effects of near-soil-surface factors on runoff and sediment under natural rainfall events on grasslands dominated by Bothriochloa ischaemum (Linn.) Keng (BI grassland) and Artemisia gmelinii Thunb. (AG grassland) in two typical watersheds on the Loess Plateau, China in 2018. By successive removal of the plant canopy, litter, biological soil crusts (BSCs) and plant roots, we established five treatments including plant roots, plant roots+BSCs, plant roots+BSCs+litter, intact grassland and bare land in each grassland type. In total, twenty runoff plots (5 m×3 m) with similar slopes and aspects were constructed in the two types of grasslands. Results showed that plant canopy, litter and roots reduced runoff, while BSCs, which swelled in the presence of water, increased runoff. In contrast, all of these factors reduced sediment yield. In addition, the reductions in runoff and sediment yield increased with I30 (maximum 30-min rainfall intensity) for each vegetation near-soil-surface factor except for BSCs. Among these factors, plant canopy had the largest contribution to runoff reduction, accounting for 48.8% and 39.9% in the BI and AG grasslands, respectively. The contributions of these vegetation near-soil-surface factors to sediment yield reduction were similar (21.3%-29.9%) in the two types of grasslands except for BSCs in the AG grassland (10.3%). The total reduction in runoff in the BI grassland (70.8%) was greater than that in the AG grassland (53.1%), while the reduction in sediment yield was almost the same in both grasslands (97.4% and 96.7%). In conclusion, according to the effects of different vegetation near-soil-surface factors on runoff and sediment production, our results may provide more complete insight and scientific basis into the effects of various vegetation related factors in controlling soil erosion.

Key words： vegetation near-soil-surface factor      grassland      arid and semi-arid      soil erosion      Loess Plateau     
Received: 21 November 2021      Published: 31 March 2022
Corresponding Authors: *YANG Yanfen (E-mail: yfyang@ms.iswc.ac.cn)
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LI Panpan
WANG Bing
YANG Yanfen
LIU Guobin
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LI Panpan, WANG Bing, YANG Yanfen, LIU Guobin. Effects of vegetation near-soil-surface factors on runoff and sediment reduction in typical grasslands on the Loess Plateau, China. Journal of Arid Land, 2022, 14(3): 325-340.

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http://jal.xjegi.com/10.1007/s40333-022-0007-y     OR     http://jal.xjegi.com/Y2022/V14/I3/325

Fig. 1 (a), distribution of two experimental plots; (b), BI grassland is the grassland with B. ischaemum as the dominant species; (c), AG grassland is the grassland with A. gmelinii as the dominant species. A schematic diagram of T1-T4 treatments is shown in Figure S1. The treatments named T0, T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 indicate bare land, plant roots, plant roots+BSCs, plant roots+BSCs+litter, intact grassland and dead roots, respectively, and the T5 is not analyzed in the study. BSCs, biological soil crusts.
Fig. 2 Reduction of runoff amount and sediment yield of different near-soil-surface factors at each rainfall event in the BI grassland (a, c) and AG grassland (b, d). F1, F2, F3 and F4 refer to plant canopy, litter, BSCs and plant roots, respectively.
Near-soil-surface
factor		 Runoff Sediment yield
BI grassland AG grassland BI grassland AG grassland
Plant canopy (%) 48.8a 39.9a 21.3a 29.5a
Plant litter (%) 13.5b 23.9a 24.3a 29.9a
BSCs (%) -6.4c -16.1c 24.2a 10.3b
Plant roots (%) 14.8b 5.3b 27.7a 27.0a
Table 1 Average contribution of each near-soil-surface factor to runoff and sediment yield reduction
Fig. 3 Correlation analysis of rainfall characteristics with runoff and sediment yield under different near-soil-surface factors. P, precipitation; t, rainfall duration; IA, average rainfall intensity; I30, maximum 30-min rainfall intensity; E, rainfall kinetic energy; R, rainfall erosivity. RR_C and SR_C indicate runoff and sediment yield reduction caused by plant coverage; RR_L and SR_L indicate runoff and sediment yield reduction caused by litter; RR_B and SR_B indicate runoff and sediment yield reduction caused by BSCs (biological soil crusts); and RR_R and SR_R indicate runoff and sediment yield reduction caused by plant roots. **, P<0.01 level;*, P<0.05 level.
Fig. 4 Variations in runoff and sediment yield reduction with I30 (maximum 30-min rainfall intensity) under different near-soil-surface factors in the BI grassland and the AG grassland. (a, e), plant canopy; (b, f), litter; (c, g), BSCs (biological soil crusts); (d, h), plant roots.
Fig. 5 Contributions of grassland to runoff reduction (a) and sediment yield reduction (b)
Sample plot site Soil layer (cm) Soil organic carbon (g/kg) Total nitrogen
(g/kg)		 NO3--N
(mg/kg)		 NH4+-N
(mg/kg)		 Bulk density
(g/cm3)
BI
grassland		 0-10 6.33 0.39 3.16 3.98 1.22
10-20 3.09 0.21 0.79 2.71 1.41
20-30 2.68 0.18 0.77 4.79 1.46
30-40 2.50 0.16 0.58 2.59 1.44
AG
grassland		 0-10 7.67 0.41 0.55 3.64 1.16
10-20 4.19 0.29 0.82 2.67 1.19
20-30 3.17 0.18 0.66 3.18 1.33
30-40 2.76 0.17 0.63 3.44 1.31
Sample plot site Soil layer (cm) Soil water-stable aggregate (%)
>5.00 mm 2.00-5.00 mm 1.00-2.00 mm 0.50-1.00 mm 0.25-0.50 mm <0.25 mm
BI grassland 0-20 33.96 8.47 6.83 6.60 5.05 39.09
AG grassland 0-20 21.35 6.94 4.19 4.00 2.94 60.58
Table S1 Basic soil information of sample plots
Sample site Rainfall date Rainfall
(mm)		 Rainfall duration
(min)		 I30
(mm/h)		 Rainfall kinetic
energy (MJ/hm2)		 Rainfall erosivity
(MJ•mm/(hm2•h))
BI
grassland		 31 Jul 5.6 684 7.3 1.0 7.3
9 Aug 3.6 263 4.8 0.5 2.5
11 Aug 3.0 113 5.6 0.6 3.2
18 Aug 9.8 147 12.0 2.0 23.9
22 Aug 41.0 1383 11.6 6.3 73.1
31 Aug 15.8 890 5.8 2.2 12.7
2 Sep 16.0 351 10.6 2.7 28.5
14 Sep 15.8 542 11.6 2.5 28.6
19 Sep 13.2 3181 2.5 1.4 3.4
AG
grassland		 9 Aug 4.4 227 6.8 0.9 6.3
11 Aug 7.8 122 6.8 1.7 11.2
22 Aug 15.6 363 9.6 2.9 27.5
31 Aug 26.4 779 11.6 5.1 59.5
2 Sep 20.4 283 11.6 4.1 47.5
14 Sep 9.6 498 5.0 1.7 8.2
Table S2 Characteristics of rainfall events
Treatment Date Runoff
(mm)		 Sediment
(g/m2)		 Date Runoff
(mm)		 Sediment
(g/m2)		 Date Runoff
(mm)		 Sediment
(g/m2)
T0 31 Jul 0.1 6.1 18 Aug 5.3 1138.8 2 Sep 1.4 38.8
T1 0.1 1.8 3.2 416.0 1.0 13.4
T2 0.1 0.6 2.8 89.8 0.7 2.9
T3 0.1 0.6 1.3 15.4 0.3 0.5
T4 0.0 0.1 0.3 3.9 0.1 0.2
T0 9 Aug 0.0 0.4 22 Aug 5.1 359.4 14 Sep 2.7 102.8
T1 0.0 0.2 3.3 118.3 1.4 25.8
T2 0.0 0.1 3.3 22.2 1.3 8.8
T3 0.0 0.0 1.3 3.2 0.6 1.2
T4 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.6 0.1 0.3
T0 11 Aug 0.0 1.1 31 Aug 0.3 9.1 19 Sep 0.0 0.1
T1 0.0 0.3 0.2 2.4 0.0 0.0
T2 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.6 0.0 0.0
T3 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.0 0.0
T4 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.0 0.0
Table S3 Variations in runoff and sediment yield in the BI grassland under rainfall events
Treatment Date Runoff
(mm)		 Sediment
(g/m2)		 Date Runoff
(mm)		 Sediment
(g/m2)
T0 9 Aug 0.0 0.6 31 Aug 7.0 476.8
T1 0.0 0.1 5.5 202.3
T2 0.0 0.1 5.7 104.8
T3 0.0 0.0 3.3 30.1
T4 0.0 0.0 2.1 15.8
T0 11 Aug 0.0 0.5 2 Sep 2.3 46.0
T1 0.0 0.3 2.9 21.8
T2 0.0 0.3 2.7 19.2
T3 0.0 0.1 1.6 4.6
T4 0.0 0.0 0.5 1.0
T0 22 Aug 0.6 23.9 14 Sep 0.0 0.1
T1 0.4 9.9 0.0 0.1
T2 0.7 4.9 0.0 0.1
T3 0.3 0.3 0.0 0.1
T4 0.1 0.2 0.0 0.0
Table S4 Variations in runoff and sediment yield in the AG grassland under rainfall events
Fig. S1 Schematic diagram of vegetation near-soil-surface factors involved in different treatments (T1-T4). BSCs, biological soil crusts.
Fig. S2 Recorded rainfall events in the BI and AG grasslands during rainy season. BI grassland is the grassland with B. ischaemum as the dominant species, and AG grassland is the grassland with A. gmelinii as the dominant species. Non-effective rainfall events indicate that no runoff or sediment is generated. Effective rainfall events indicate that runoff and sediment are generated.
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