Assessing soil degradation under land-use change: insight from soil erosion and soil aggregate stability in a small karst catchment in southwest China

PeerJ

article

Man Liu¹  Guilin Han¹ 

[1] Institute of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences

关键词: Soil aggregate stability;    Soil erodibility;    K factor;    Soil degradation;    Agricultural abandonment;    Karst catchment;    Southwest china;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.8908

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundSoil erodibility (K factor) and soil aggregate stability are often used to assess soil degradation in an erodible environment. However, their applicability under land-use change is uncertain, especially agricultural abandonment.MethodsDifferent land-use types, including cropland, abandoned cropland, and native vegetation land, were converted into the successive stages following agricultural abandonment by space-for-time substitution approach in a small karst catchment, Southwest China. The indexes of soil aggregate stability and K factor of the Erosion Productivity Impact Calculator (EPIC) model in soil profiles were calculated to identify which method is suitable to indicate soil degradation under land-use change.Results2%), the K factor was significantly correlated with silt and clay content ranging within a narrow scope of near 0.010 t hm2 h/hm2/MJ/mm. While in the SOC-poor soils, the K factor was significantly increased with decreasing SOC content and was significantly correlated with soil aggregate stability.ConclusionsSoil aggregate stability is more suitable to indicate soil degradation under land-use change. Sufficient SOC in erodible soils would restrain soil degradation, while SOC loss can significantly increase soil erosion risk.

【 授权许可】

CC BY