The impact of vegetation successional status on slope runofferosion in the Loess Plateau of China

Abstract

Slope vegetation restoration is known to influence erosion in the Loess Plateau region in China. The ability of vegetation to mitigate soil erosion under extreme runoff, however, has not been studied in great detail in this region. Here, we examine five typical vegetation communities in the Loess Plateau region that originated from restoration efforts enacted at different times (1, 11, 15, 25, and 40 years). Water scouring experiments were carried out to monitor vegetation community succession and its effects on erosion. These results indicate that the sum of plant importance values increased from 260.72 to 283.06, species density increased from 2.5 to 4.5 per m2, and the amount of litter and humus increased from 24.50 to 605.00 g/m2 during the 1 to 40 years of vegetation community succession. Root biomass and root diameter reached a maximum of approximately 10.80 mg·cm-3 and 0.65 mm at 40 years of recovery. Slope runoffvelocity decreased by 47.89% while runoffresistance increased by 35.30 times. The runoffpower decreased by 19.75%, the total runoffvolume decreased by 2.52 times, and the total sediment yield decreased by 11.60 times in the vegetation community. Slope runoffvelocity and power had the largest correlation with aboveground vegetation (0.76, 0.74), total runoffhad the largest correlation with underground roots (0.74), and runoffresistance was most strongly correlated with soil structure (0.71). Studies have shown that the succession of vegetation communities can enhance the aboveground ecological functions of plants, thereby significantly reducing the runoffvelocity and power. The development of plant root system significantly reduces the runoffvolume; the improved soil structure significantly increased the runoffresistance coefficient.