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Soil and water erosion under different plant species in a semiarid river valley, SW China: the effects of plant morphology
Author(s) -
Xu XianLi,
Ma KeMing,
Fu BoJie,
Liu Wen,
Song ChengJun
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
ecological research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.628
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1440-1703
pISSN - 0912-3814
DOI - 10.1007/s11284-008-0479-z
Subject(s) - surface runoff , environmental science , vegetation (pathology) , arid , erosion , shrub , agronomy , hydrology (agriculture) , soil water , soil science , ecology , biology , geology , geotechnical engineering , medicine , paleontology , pathology
The small‐scale effects of plant morphology in improving soil quality and reducing runoff and soil loss have remained unclear, especially in some arid environments with sparse vegetation. We selected three representative species with contrasting morphologies ( Artemisia gmelinii ; Ajania potaninii ; Pulicaria chrysantha ) to examine the effects of plant morphology on soil quality, runoff, and soil loss in the dry‐warm river valley of the upper reach of Minjiang River, SW China. Runoff events were monitored from July through October 2006 using runoff plots on a micro scale (<40 × 40 cm 2 ) on a south‐facing slope. The observation duration for rainfall and runoff events can be divided into two stages. Higher runoff depth, but lower soil loss per event occurred at the second stage as compared with the first stage due to the differences in rainfall, plant, and soil surface characteristics. The two herbs, A. gmelinii and P. chrysantha , had greater improvements on soil quality yielding high soil nutrient content and low soil compactness, while the effectiveness of the small shrub, A. potaninii , was minimal. Relative to bare surface (control treatment), the effectiveness of reducing runoff depth per event was 64.9, 66.6 and 38.0%, and reducing soil loss 65.5, 59.3 and 69.9% for A. gmelinii , A. potaninii , and P. chrysantha , respectively. All three plant species can improve soil quality and reduce runoff and soil loss, but their effects vary, which implies that plant morphology has to be considered while selecting species for ecosystem restoration.