Effects of Erosional Landform on Soil Properties under Pinus massoniana Forest
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Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41201276)

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    Abstract:

    The knowledge of properties and distributions of soils is essential to planning and managing sustainable land use and preventing degradation of the lands, especially lands under Pinus massoniana forest, which are typical degraded lands in red-soil erosion areas of Southern China, reaching 1.42×105 km2 in area at the end of the 1980s. Soil is an important material basis for vegetation growth and its distribution and development is subject to the influence of soil erosion. The soil under Pinus massoniana forest in the hilly red soil area of South China is exposed to severe soil erosion, making the eco-environment therein very fragile. It is, therefore, of great significance to vegetation restoration and ecological rehabilitation in such areas, to determine impacts of erosional landform on distribution and properties of the soil. For that end, this study analyzed effects of erosional landform on properties of the soil under Pinus massoniana forests in the region (25°26′~26°17′N,114°42′~115°22′E) in Ganxian County of Jiangxi Province, China. The soil in the studied region is laterite derived from granite with the featured of a calcareous humid ferrisol, coarsein texture (60.8% of sand, 18.7% of silt, and 20.5% of clay). Located under the subtropical hilly humid monsoon climate, the region enjoys a mean annual precipitation of about 1423.4 mm concentrated mainly in the rainy season lasting from April to June. Soil sampling was carried out during the mid- and late-April and mid-October 2013. Four hills were selected typical of the study area. On the ridge, saddle and gully of each hill, a belt transect was laid out at random along the slope and on the upper, mid and lower slope, a sample plot (10 m×10 m)was delineated separately, making up a total of 36 sample plots. In order to keep the samples as consistent as possible in sampling condition, it must be made sure that there had been no rain for 2 weeks before sampling. Soil volumetric water content (SWC) of a sample plot was determined by averaging the soil water contents measured at 9 random sampling points across its topsoil layer (0~15 cm) with TDR-100 (a portable Time Domain Reflectometry), and the soil sample of a sample plot was a mixture of soil samples collected from its topsoil layer at 5 random sampling points. After collection, the soil samples were sieved, separately, to remove plant roots and large stones from the soil with a 2 mm mesh sieve, and then divided into two portions, one stored at 4℃ in an icebox and the other air-dried and sieved again, both ready for analysis of soil texture, enzyme, edaphon and chemical properties, etc. To improve precision of the analysis, each soil sample had three replicates in analysis and then means were worked. Statistics and the grey relational degree analysis were performed of the data obtained in the analysis with the aid of SPSS 19.0 and Excel 2007. In the end of study, the following conclusions were drawn. 1) The soil under Pinus massoniana forests varied significantly with erosional landform in soil properties. Compared with the soils on the ridge and saddle of the hill, the soil in the gully was higher in the most of the soil property indices, in number of soil microbes and in soil enzyme activity; 2) The correlativity between soil physical and chemical properties also varied sharply with erosional landform. Compared with the soils on the ridge and saddle of the hill, the soil in the gully had more soil physical and chemical property indices positively related to the indices of soil microbes and soil enzyme activity, and the relationship between soil properties and gully was the highest in correlativity, reaching 0.93; 3) The micro-environment formed in gullies improved soil properties, providing favorable natural conditions for restoration of vegetation. Therefore, the study on environment of erosional gullies may provide some scientific basis for rapid restoration of soil and vegetation in the hilly red soil areas of south China.

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WANG Bangwen, XIA Xiaolin, DUAN Jian. Effects of Erosional Landform on Soil Properties under Pinus massoniana Forest[J]. Acta Pedologica Sinica,2016,53(3):808-819.

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History
  • Received:June 01,2015
  • Revised:December 21,2015
  • Adopted:January 18,2016
  • Online: February 29,2016
  • Published: