Acacia cyanophylla for forage and fuelwood in North Africa

Forage and wood yield of Acacia cyanophylla, also known as Acacia saligna, was studied in a 300–400 mm precipitation zone in Tunisia. Yields were measured during and after drought. This short (2–8 m) evergreen leguminous tree is used as a forage drought reserve in frost free regions where mean annual precipitation exceeds 250 mm. The standing crop of leafy forage builds up year after year for at least four years or until the tree is cut. It rapidly regrows after cutting from coppice shoots. The leaves provide high protein forage for sheep and goats during the long dry summer season typical of the Mediterranean climate as well as emergency forage during drought. The tree is used to stabilize moving sand dunes, and as a windbreak to protect cropland. It also provides fuelwood and increasaes soil nitrogen by fixation. The need for supplemental irrigation during establishment is a major constraint. Research in the 350 mm precipitation zone of Tunisia found 3.2 year old trees to yield over 1400 kg of forage standing crop per hectare after a severe drought. Trees harvested at 2.5 years of age in May, during the worst drought in over 30 years, yielded a standing forage crop of 724 kg per hectare. Forage regrowth 8 months after cutting and 4 months after rains returned was 700 kg/ha. The forage standing crop for trees harvested only once during the 3.2 year period was double the amount of forage regrowth from trees harvested the previous year, but mean annual forage yield similar. This demonstrates that it is possible for forage to be conserved as a living forage reserve for later use during drought. Total wood yield was only 1621 kg/ha for trees cut twice compared to 3683 kg/ha for trees cut only once. Annual cutting will substantially reduce the amount of forage available during drought and reduce the production of fuelwood. It may also reduce the vigor, productivity and life of the tree. Acacia cyanophylla alley cropped on cereal farmland can protect the soil from erosion, protect the associated crop from wind damage, fix nitrogen, provide fuelwood and provide a reserve of high quality forage for use during drought. This work was supported by the Government of Tunisia and the U.S.A.I.D. Tunisia Range Development and Management Project (664-0312.8).     

作物残茬覆盖对农田土壤风蚀的影响

为定量评价干旱半干旱地区农田土壤抗风蚀效果,采用移动式风洞及其配套测试系统对内蒙古武川县上秃亥乡农田地表进行了原位测试研究。结果表明,不同风速下土壤风蚀量随作物残茬盖度的增加呈指数规律减少;40%以上残茬盖度可明显提高土壤颗粒起动风速并减少风蚀量;当风速为14~18 m/s时,地表作物残茬盖度为60%~80%具有较好的抗风蚀效果。     

新疆31年来耕地格局时空演变研究

利用新疆1978～2008年84个县市的耕地数据和人口经济数据,采用因子分析与GIS技术相结合的方法,对新疆耕地面积的时间特征、空间特征和动力机制进行分析,结果表明:①新疆自改革开放以来,耕地面积经历了波动变化,总体呈增加的趋势,但人均耕地面积呈小幅减少趋势;②各县市与全区耕地变化相比存在明显的空间差异.依据相对变化率...     

A Biophysical and Economic Assessment of a Community‐based Rehabilitated Gully in the Ethiopian Highlands

Gully erosion reduces agricultural productivity by destroying valuable land resources, increases sediment concentrations, reduces water quality, and fills up reservoirs. Gully rehabilitation has proven to be challenging especially in the high‐rainfall areas of the Ethiopian Highlands and has therefore had limited success. This paper describes a successful low‐cost gully rehabilitation effort with community participation in the Birr watershed in the Blue Nile basin that begun in early 2013. Initially, farmers were reluctant to participate for religious reasons, but with the aid of local priests and respected elders, community discussions, and a visit to a rehabilitated gully, a consensus was reached to rehabilitate a 0·71‐ha upland gully. The rehabilitation measures consisted of regrading the gully head at a 45° slope, constructing low‐cost check dams from locally available materials, and planting Pennisetum purpureum grass and Sesbania sesban. At the end of the first post‐implementation rainy season, 2,200 tons of soil was conserved by the constructed check dams and newly planted vegetation, compared with soil losses of 680 and 560 tons in two untreated, nearby gullies. In 2014, an additional 3,100 tons of soil was conserved. In 2013, the marginal rate of return (MRR) on the gully rehabilitation investment was 2·6 based on the value of increased forage production alone. When we include trapped soil nutrient values, the rehabilitation MRR was increased to 10. Although these numbers are impressive, the best proof of the success was that farmers on their own initiative rehabilitated an additional five gullies in 2014. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influences of sand cover on erosion processes of loess slopes based on rainfall simulation experiments

Aeolian-fluvial interplay erosion regions are subject to intense soil erosion and are of particular concern in loess areas of northwestern China.Understanding the composition,distribution,and transport processes of eroded sediments in these regions is of considerable scientific significance for controlling soil erosion.In this study,based on laboratory rainfall simulation experiments,we analyzed rainfall-induced erosion processes on sand-covered loess slopes(SS)with different sand cover patterns(including length and thickness)and uncovered loess slopes(LS)to investigate the influences of sand cover on erosion processes of loess slopes in case regions of aeolian-fluvial erosion.The grain-size curves of eroded sediments were fitted using the Weibull function.Compositions of eroded sediments under different sand cover patterns and rainfall intensities were analyzed to explore sediment transport modes of SS.The influences of sand cover amount and pattern on erosion processes of loess slopes were also discussed.The results show that sand cover on loess slopes influences the proportion of loess erosion and that the compositions of eroded sediments vary between SS and LS.Sand cover on loess slopes transforms silt erosion into sand erosion by reducing splash erosion and changing the rainfall-induced erosion processes.The percentage of eroded sand from SS in the early stage of runoff and sediment generation is always higher than that in the late stage.Sand cover on loess slopes aggravates loess erosion,not only by adding sand as additional eroded sediments but also by increasing the amount of eroded loess,compared with the loess slopes without sand cover.The influence of sand cover pattern on runoff yield and the amount of eroded sediments is larger than that of sand cover amount.Furthermore,given the same sand cover pattern,a thicker sand cover could increase sand erosion while a thinner sand cover could aggravate loess erosion.This difference explains the existence of intense erosion on slopes that are thinly covered with sand in regions where aeolian erosion and fluvial erosion interact.     

The Warrumbungle Post‐Fire Recovery Project—raising the profile of soils

The impacts of a wildfire and subsequent rainfall event in 2013 in the Warrumbungle National Park in New South Wales, Australia were examined in a project designed to provide information on post‐fire recovery expectations and options to land managers. A coherent suite of sub‐projects was implemented, including soil mapping, and studies on soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (N), erosion rates, groundcover recovery and stream responses. It was found that the loss of SOC and N increased with fire severity, with the greatest losses from severely burnt sandstone ridges. Approximately 2.4 million t of SOC and ~74,000 t of N were lost from soil to a depth of 10 cm across the 56,290 ha affected. Soil loss from slopes during the subsequent rainfall event was modelled up to 25 t ha^?1, compared to a long‐term mean annual soil loss of 1.06 t ha^?1 year^?1. Groundcover averages generally increased after the fire until spring 2015, by which time rates of soil loss returned to near pre‐fire levels. Streams were filled with sand to bank full levels after the fire and rainfall. Rainfall events in 2015–2016 shifted creek systems into a major erosive phase, with incision through the post‐fire sandy bedload deposits, an erosive phase likely related to loss of topsoils over much of the catchment. The effectiveness of the research was secured by a close engagement with park managers in issue identification and a communications programme. Management outcomes flowing from the research included installation of erosion control works, redesign of access and monitoring of key mass movement hazard areas.     

Effect of time resolution of rainfall measurements on the erosivity factor in the USLE in China

Rainfall erosivity, one of the factors in the Universal Soil Loss Equation, quantifies the effect of rainfall and runoff on soil erosion. High-resolution data are required to compute rainfall erosivity, but are not widely available in many parts of the world. As the temporal resolution of rainfall measurement decreases, computed rainfall erosivity decreases. The objective of the paper is to derive a series of conversion factors as a function of the time interval to compute rainfall erosivity so that the R factor computed using data at different time intervals could be converted to that computed using 1-min data. Rainfall data at 1-min intervals from 62 stations over China were collected to first compute the ‘true’ R factor values. Underestimation of the R factor was systematically evaluated using data aggregated at 5, 6, 10, 15, 20, 30, and 60-min to develop conversion factors for the R factor and the 1-in-10-year storm EI₃₀ values. Compared with true values, the relative error in R factor using data at fixed intervals of ≤10min was <10% for at least 44 out of 62 stations. Errors increased rapidly when the time interval of the rainfall data exceeded 15 min. Relative errors were >10% using 15-min data for 66.1% of stations and >20% using 30-min data for 61.3% of stations. The conversion factors for the R factor, ranging from 1.051 to 1.871 for 5 to 60-min data, are higher than those for the 1-in-10-years storm EI₃₀, ranging from 1.034 to 1.489 for the 62 stations.     

基于InVEST模型的祁连山国家级自然保护区土壤保持现状与功能

运用InVEST模型,对甘肃祁连山自然保护区土壤保持现状与功能进行了定量评估,分析了不同土地利用、海拔高度、坡度以及土壤类型下的保土状况。结果表明:2015年甘肃祁连山自然保护区土壤侵蚀量与土壤保持量分别为1. 67×10^8t、4.21×10^8t。从侵蚀面积来看,保护区以微度和轻度侵蚀为主,占总面积的63.95%;虽草地的土壤保持能力弱于其他自然植被类型,但草地是土壤保持总量最高的土地利用类型;不同海拔梯度下的土壤保持总量随海拔增加呈现先增后减的趋势,保护区内海拔2 500~3 500 m的土壤保持功能最好;栗钙土的土壤保持量最高,黑毡土在草原土壤类型中土壤保持强度较低;坡度为15°~25°的区域土壤保持量最大,占土壤保持总量的31.93%;甘肃祁连山保护区生态系统减少泥沙淤积和减少土地废弃的价值分别为5. 76×10^8元和1. 44×10^8元,保护区内林草地保肥价值为9. 03×10^10元。     

Assessing the effects of vegetation and precipitation on soil erosion in the Three-River Headwaters Region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,China

Soil erosion in the Three-River Headwaters Region (TRHR) of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China has a significant impact on local economic development and ecological environment. Vegetation and precipitation are considered to be the main factors for the variation in soil erosion. However, it is a big challenge to analyze the impacts of precipitation and vegetation respectively as well as their combined effects on soil erosion from the pixel scale. To assess the influences of vegetation and precipitation on the variation of soil erosion from 2005 to 2015, we employed the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model to evaluate soil erosion in the TRHR, and then developed a method using the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index model (LMDI) which can exponentially decompose the influencing factors, to calculate the contribution values of the vegetation cover factor (C factor) and the rainfall erosivity factor (R factor) to the variation of soil erosion from the pixel scale. In general, soil erosion in the TRHR was alleviated from 2005 to 2015, of which about 54.95% of the area where soil erosion decreased was caused by the combined effects of the C factor and the R factor, and 41.31% was caused by the change in the R factor. There were relatively few areas with increased soil erosion modulus, of which 64.10% of the area where soil erosion increased was caused by the change in the C factor, and 23.88% was caused by the combined effects of the C factor and the R factor. Therefore, the combined effects of the C factor and the R factor were regarded as the main driving force for the decrease of soil erosion, while the C factor was the dominant factor for the increase of soil erosion. The area with decreased soil erosion caused by the C factor (12.10×10³ km²) was larger than the area with increased soil erosion caused by the C factor (8.30×10³ km²), which indicated that vegetation had a positive effect on soil erosion. This study generally put forward a new method for quantitative assessment of the impacts of the influencing factors on soil erosion, and also provided a scientific basis for the regional control of soil erosion.     

土壤侵蚀下黑龙江省人地系统适应性研究

为缓解人地关系,以对黑龙江省威胁最大的土壤侵蚀为切入点,从"三生"视角分析区域人地系统适应性,并提出基于不同修复优先级的人地系统修复方案。首先,在总结、梳理适应性内涵,整合适应性理论与方法基础上,从"三生"视角提出了基于风险扰动的适应性分析框架,将系统适应性分解为扰动、影响、响应、能力4方面,并从土壤侵蚀风险扰动出发,构建了系统适应性评价指标体系与评价模型;其次,采用极差标准化法、克里格插值法、蔡崇法法和DEA-CCR模型处理数据,利用土壤侵蚀方程测算土壤侵蚀风险,利用适应性评价模型测算适应性指数,分析土壤侵蚀风险和人地系统适应性分布情况;最后,提出基于不同修复优先级组合模式的人地系统修复方案。结果表明:黑龙江省土壤侵蚀风险区面积为1 366.61万hm2,占区域耕地面积的85.74%,高、中、低级别风险规模分别为324.02、596.33、446.26万hm2。高、较高级别人地系统适宜程度区分布在三江平原东北部和松嫩平原东南部地区,中级别分布在大兴安岭和松嫩平原南部地区,低、较低级别分布在东南部山地和松嫩平原北部地区。形成了基于不同修复优先级组合模式的人地系统修复方案,其中53个地区仅存在1种人地系统修复方案,其余27个地区在不同优先级组合模式下形成了不同的人地系统修复方案,为区域人地系统修复提供了多种选择方案。