Response of runoff and soil loss to reforestation and rainfall type in red soil region of southern China

• Published in: Journal of environmental sciences (China) Vol. 22; no. 11; pp. 1765 - 1773
• Main Authors: Huang, Zhigang, Ouyang, Zhiyun, Li, Fengrui, Zheng, Hua, Wang, Xiaoke
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01-11-2010; Department of Ecology & Agriculture, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China; State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China%State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China%Department of Ecology & Agriculture, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
• Subjects: China; Conservation of Natural Resources; Environmental Monitoring; Forests; Geologic Sediments - analysis; Pinus massoniana; Rainfall; rainfall type; red soil region; Reforestation; reforestation type; Runoff; Soil (material); Soil - analysis; Soil erosion; Vegetation; vegetation and soil property; Water Movements; 侵蚀性降雨; 南方红壤地区; 土壤侵蚀模数; 土壤流失量; 径流小区; 植树造林; 降雨类型; China, People's Rep; reforestation type; rainfall type; red soil region; vegetation and soil property; soil erosion
• ISSN: 1001-0742; 1878-7320
• DOI: 10.1016/S1001-0742(09)60317-X

To evaluate the long-term effects of reforestation types on soil erosion on degraded land, vegetation and soil properties under conventional sloping farmland （CSF） and three different reforestation types including a Pinus massoniana secondary forest （PSF）, an Eucommia ulmoides artificial economic forest （EEF） and a natural succession type forest （NST）, were investigated at runoff plot scale over a six-year period in a red soil region of southern China. One hundred and thirty erosive rainfall events generating runoff in plots were grouped into four rainfall types by means of K-mean clustering method. Erosive rainfall type I is the dominant rainfall type. The amount of runoff and the soil loss under erosive rainfall type III were the most, followed by rain-fall type II, IV and I. Compared with CSF treatment, reforestation treatments decreased the average annual runoff depth and the soil loss by 25.5%–61.8% and 93.9%– 96.2% during the study period respectively. Meanwhile, runoff depth at PSF and EEF treatments was significantly lower than that in NST treatment, but no significant difference existed in soil erosion modulus among the three reforestation treatments. This is mainly due to the improved vegetation properties （i.e., vegetation coverage, biomass of above- and below-ground and litter-fall mass） and soil properties （i.e., bulk density, total porosity, infiltration rate and organic carbon content） in the three reforestation treatments compared to CSF treatment. The PSF and EEF are recommended as the preferred reforestation types to control runoff and soil erosion in the red soil region of southern China, with the NST potentially being used as an important supplement.