Pedosphere 25(1): 103--111, 2015
ISSN 1002-0160/CN 32-1315/P
©2015 Soil Science Society of China
Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science Press
| Effect of land use on soil erosion and nutrients in Dianchi Lake watershed, China |
NIU Xiao-Yin1,2, WANG Yan-Hua1, YANG Hao1 , ZHENG Jia-Wen2, ZOU Jun1, XU Mei-Na1, WU Shan-Shan1 and XIE Biao1 |
1College of Geography Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023 (China)
2College of Resource and Environmental Engineering, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo 255049 (China) |
| ABSTRACT |
| Soil erosion and loss of soil nutrients have been a crucial environment threat in Southwest China. The land use and its impact on soil qualities continue to be highlighted. The present study was conducted to compare soil erosion under four land use types (i.e., forestland, abandoned farmland, tillage, and grassland) and their effects on soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) in the Shuanglong catchment of the Dianchi Lake watershed, China. There were large variations in the erosion rate and the nutrient distributions across the four land use types. The erosion rates estimated by 137Cs averaged 2 133 t km-2 year-1 under tillage and abandoned farmland over the erosion rate of non-cultivated sites, and the grasslands showed a net deposition. For all sites, the nutrient contents basically decreased with the soil depth. Compared with tillage and abandoned farmland, grassland had the highest SOC and TN contents within 0–40 cm soil layer, followed by forestland. The significant correlations between 137Cs, SOC and TN were observed. The nutrient loss caused by erosion in tillage was the highest. These results suggested that grassland and forestland would be beneficial for SOC and TN sequestration over a long-term period because of their ability to reduce the loss of nutrients by soil erosion. Our study demonstrated that reduction of nutrient loss in the red soil area could be made through well-managed vegetation restoration measures. |
| Key Words: 137Cs, nutrient loss, soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, vegetation restoration |
| Citation: Niu, X. Y., Wang, Y. H., Yang, H., Zheng, J. W., Zou, J., Xu, M. N., Wu, S. S. and Xie, B. 2015. Effect of land use on soil erosion and nutrients in Dianchi Lake watershed, China. Pedosphere. 25(1): 103-111. |
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