Please wait a minute...
Journal of Arid Land
Journal of Arid Land  2014, Vol. 6 Issue (3): 352-360    DOI: 10.1007/s40333-013-0224-5     CSTR: 32276.14.s40333-013-0224-5
Research Articles     
Influence of vegetation parameters on runoff and sediment characteristics in patterned Artemisia capillaris plots
GuanHua ZHANG1,2,3, GuoBin LIU2,3*, PingCang ZHANG1, Liang YI4
1 Department of Soil and Water Conservation, Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute, Wuhan 430010, China;
2 State 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;
3 Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China;
4 Hubei Academy of Environmental Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China
Download:   PDF(425KB)
Export: BibTeX | EndNote (RIS)      

Abstract  Vegetation patterns are important in the regulation of earth surface hydrological processes in arid and semi-arid areas. Laboratory-simulated rainfall experiments were used at the State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Yangling, northwestern China, to quantify the effects of Artemisia capillaris patterns on runoff and soil loss. The quantitative relationships between runoff/sediment yield and vegetation parameters were also thoroughly analyzed using the path analysis method for identifying the reduction mechanism of vegetation on soil erosion. A simulated rainfall intensity of 90 mm/h was applied on a control plot without vegetation (C0) and on the other three different vegetation distribution patterns: a checkerboard pattern (CP), a banded pattern perpendicular to the slope direction (BP), and a single long strip parallel to the slope direction (LP). Each patterned plot received two sets of experiments, i.e. intact plants and roots only, respectively. All treatments had three replicates. The results showed that all the three other different patterns (CP, BP and LP) of A. capillaris could effectively reduce the runoff and sediment yield. Compared with C0, the other three intact plant plots had a 12%–25% less runoff and 58%–92% less sediment. Roots contributed more to sediment reduction (46%–70%), whereas shoots contributed more to runoff reduction (57%–81%). BP and CP exhibited preferable controlling effects on soil erosion compared with LP. Path analysis indicated that root length density and plant number were key parameters influencing runoff rate, while root surface area density and root weight density were central indicators affecting sediment rate. The results indicated that an appropriate increase of sowing density has practical significance in conserving soil and water.

Received: 07 May 2013      Published: 10 June 2014
Fund:  

National Natural Science Foun-dation of China (41301298), the State Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (41030532), and the Spe-cial Fund of Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA05060300).
Corresponding Authors:
Service
E-mail this article
Add to my bookshelf
Add to citation manager
E-mail Alert
RSS
Articles by authors
GuanHua ZHANG
GuoBin LIU
PingCang ZHANG
Liang YI
Cite this article:

GuanHua ZHANG, GuoBin LIU, PingCang ZHANG, Liang YI. Influence of vegetation parameters on runoff and sediment characteristics in patterned Artemisia capillaris plots. Journal of Arid Land, 2014, 6(3): 352-360.

URL:

http://jal.xjegi.com/10.1007/s40333-013-0224-5     OR     http://jal.xjegi.com/Y2014/V6/I3/352

Aguiar M R, Sala O E. 1999. Patch structure, dynamics and implications for the functioning of arid ecosystems. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 14: 273–277.

Bautista S, Mayor A G, Bourakhouadar J, et al. 2007. Plant spatial pattern predicts hillslope runoff and erosion in a semiarid Mediterranean landscape. Ecosystems, 10: 987–998.

Beard J S. 1967. A study of patterns in some Western Australian heath and mallee communities. Australian Journal of Botany, 15: 131–139.

Bedford D R, Small E E. 2008. Spatial patterns of ecohydrologic properties on a hillslope-alluvial fan transect, central New Mexico. Catena, 73: 34–48.

Bernstein L, Bosch P, Canziani O, et al. 2008. Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report: An Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Geneva: IPCC.

Boer M, Puigdefábregas J. 2005. Effects of spatially structured vegetation patterns on hill-slope erosion in a semiarid Mediterranean environment: a simulation study. Earth Surface Processes and Land-forms, 30: 149–167.

Braud I, Vich A I J, Zuluaga J, et al. 2001. Vegetation influence on runoff and sediment yield in the Andes region: observation and modeling. Journal of Hydrology, 254: 124–144.

Cerdà A. 1995. Factores y Variaciones Espacio-Temporales de la Infiltración en los Ecosistemas Mediterráneos. Logroño: Editorial Geo-forma, 159.

Cerdà A. 1997. The effect of patchy distribution of Stipa tenacissima L. on runoff and erosion. Journal of Arid Environments, 36: 37–51.

Chen H S, Shao M A, Li Y Y. 2008. Soil desiccation in the Loess Plateau of China. Geoderma, 143: 91–100.

De Baets S, Poesen J, Gyssels G, et al. 2006. Effects of grass roots on the erodibility of topsoils during concentrated flow. Geomorphology, 76: 54–67.

Dekker S C, Rietkerk M, Bierkens M F P. 2007. Coupling microscale vegetation-soil water and macroscale vegetation-precipitation feed-backs in semiarid ecosystems. Global Change Biology, 13: 671–678.

D’Odorico P, Porporato A. 2006. Ecohydrology of arid and semiarid ecosystems: an introduction. In: D'Odorico P, Porporato A. Dryland Ecohydrology. Netherlands: Springer, 1–10.

Erpul G, Norton L D, Gabriels D. 2002. The effect of wind on raindrop impact and rainsplash detachment. Transactions of the ASAE, 46: 51–62.

Fowler N. 1986. The role of competition in plant communities in arid and semiarid regions. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 17: 89–110.

Greenwood J E G W.1957. The development of vegetation patterns in Somaliland Protectorate. The Geographical Journal, 123: 465–473.

Guo Z S. 2000. Effective, critical and potential coverage of vegetation community for soil and water conservation. Bulletin of Soil and Water Conservation, 20(2): 60–62.

Gyssels G, Poesen J. 2003. The importance of plant root characteristics in controlling concentrated flow erosion rates. Earth Surface Proc-esses and Landforms, 28: 371–384.

Gyssels G, Poesen J, Knapen A, et al. 2007. Effects of double drilling of small grains on soil erosion by concentrated flow and crop yield. Soil and Tillage Research, 93: 379–390.

Lesschen J P, Cammeraat L H, Kooijman A M, et al. 2008. Development of spatial heterogeneity in vegetation and soil properties after land abandonment in semi-arid ecosystems. Journal of Arid Environments, 72: 2082–2092.

Li F M, Xu J Z, Sun G Z. 2003. Restoration of degraded ecosystems and development of water-harvesting ecological agriculture in the semi-arid Loess Plateau of China. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 23: 1901–1915.

Mamo M, Bubenzer G D. 2001a. Detachment rate, soil erodibility and soil strength as influenced by plant roots: Part I. Laboratory study. Transactions of the ASAE, 44: 1167–1174.

Mamo M, Bubenzer G D. 2001b. Detachment rate, soil erodibility and soil strength as influenced by plant roots: Part II. Field study. Transactions of the ASAE, 44: 1175–1181.

Martens D A. 2002. Relationship between plant phenolic acids released during soil mineralization and aggregate stabilization. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 66: 1857–1867.

Nobel S P. 1990. Physicochemical and Environmental Plant Physiology (2rd edition). Burlington: Elsevier Academic Press.

Pan C Z, Shangguan Z P. 2006. Runoff hydraulic characteristics and sediment generation in sloped grassplots under simulated rainfall conditions. Journal of Hydrology, 331: 178–185.

Pan C Z, Shangguan Z P, Lei T W. 2006. Influence of grass and moss on runoff and sediment yield on sloped loess surface under simulated rainfall. Hydrological Processes, 20: 3815–3824.

Puigdefábregas J. 2005. The role of vegetation patterns in structuring runoff and sediment fluxes in drylands. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 30: 133–147.

Rango A, Tartowski S L, Laliberte A, et al. 2006. Islands of hydrologi-cally enhanced biotic productivity in natural and managed arid ecosystems. Journal of Arid Environments, 65: 235–252.

Regües D, Torri D. 2002. Rainfall kinematics energy effect on physical properties dynamics and crusting of a clayey bare soil. Cuaternarioy Geomorfología, 16: 57–71.

Shi H, Shao M A. 2000. Soil and water loss from the Loess Plateau in China. Journal of Arid Environments, 45: 9–20.

Tang K L. 2004. Soil and Water Conservation in China. Beijing: Science Press, 885.

Vásquez-Méndez R, Ventura-Ramos E, Oleschko K, et al. 2010. Soil erosion and runoff in different vegetation patches from semiarid Central Mexico. Catena, 80: 162–169.

Vásquez-Méndez R, Ventura-Ramos E, Oleschko K, et al. 2011. Soil erosion processes in semiarid areas: the importance of native vegetation. In: Danilo G. Soil Erosion Studies. Shanghai: InTech.

Wainwright J, Parsons A J, Schlesinger W H, et al. 2002. Hydrology–vegetation interactions in areas of discontinuous flow on a semi-arid bajada, Southern New Mexico. Journal of Arid Environments, 51: 319–338.

Wei W, Chen L D, Fu B J, et al. 2007. The effect of land uses and rainfall regimes on runoff and soil erosion in the semi-arid loess hilly area, China. Journal of Hydrology, 335: 247–258.

Worrall G A. 1959. The Butana grass patterns. Journal of Soil Science, 10: 34–53.

Zhou Z C, Shangguan Z P. 2005. Soil anti-scouribility enhanced by plant roots. Journal of Integrative Plant Biology, 47: 676–682.

Zhou Z C, Shangguan Z P. 2007. The effects of ryegrass roots and shoots on loess erosion under simulated rainfall. Catena, 70: 350–355.
No related articles found!