scholarly journals Plant litter estimation and its correlation with sediment concentration in the Loess Plateau

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Li ◽  
Ligang Ma ◽  
Suhong Liu ◽  
Adilai Wufu ◽  
Yinbo Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Predictive Models ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
Plant Litter ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Litter Cover

Background. Sediment concentration in the water of the loess Plateau region has dramatically decreased during the past two decades. Plant litter is considered to be one of the most important factors for this change. Existing remote sensing studies that focus on plant litter mainly use extraction methods based on vegetation indices or changes in the plant litter. Few studies have conducted time series analyses of plant litter or considered the correlation between plant litter and soil erosion. In addition, social factors are not given enough consideration in the remote sensing and soil community. Methods. This study performs time series estimation of plant litter by integrating three-scale remotely sensed data and a random forest (RF) modeling algorithm. Predictive models are used to estimate the spatially explicit plant litter cover for the entire Loess Plateau over the last two decades (2000–2018). Then, the sediment concentration in the water was classified into 9 grades based on environmental and social-economic factors. Results. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed predictive models at the regional scale. The areas with increased plant litter cover accounted for 67% of the total area, while the areas with decreased plant litter cover accounted for 33% of the total area. In addition, plant litter is demonstrated to be one of the top three factors contributing to the decrease in the river sediment concentration. Social-economic factors were also important for the decrease of the sediment concentration in the water, for example, the population of the rural area.

scholarly journals Plant litter estimation and its correlation with sediment concentration in the Loess Plateau

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Li ◽  
Ligang Ma ◽  
Suhong Liu ◽  
Adilai Wufu ◽  
Yinbo Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Predictive Models ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
Plant Litter ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Litter Cover

Background. Sediment concentration in the water of the loess Plateau region has dramatically decreased during the past two decades. Plant litter is considered to be one of the most important factors for this change. Existing remote sensing studies that focus on plant litter mainly use extraction methods based on vegetation indices or changes in the plant litter. Few studies have conducted time series analyses of plant litter or considered the correlation between plant litter and soil erosion. In addition, social factors are not given enough consideration in the remote sensing and soil community. Methods. This study performs time series estimation of plant litter by integrating three-scale remotely sensed data and a random forest (RF) modeling algorithm. Predictive models are used to estimate the spatially explicit plant litter cover for the entire Loess Plateau over the last two decades (2000–2018). Then, the sediment concentration in the water was classified into 9 grades based on environmental and social-economic factors. Results. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed predictive models at the regional scale. The areas with increased plant litter cover accounted for 67% of the total area, while the areas with decreased plant litter cover accounted for 33% of the total area. In addition, plant litter is demonstrated to be one of the top three factors contributing to the decrease in the river sediment concentration. Social-economic factors were also important for the decrease of the sediment concentration in the water, for example, the population of the rural area.

scholarly journals Effects of wheat stubble on runoff, infiltration, and erosion of farmland on the Loess Plateau, China, subjected to simulated rainfall

Solid Earth ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linhua Wang ◽  
Bo Ma ◽  
Faqi Wu
Keyword(s):  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
Simulated Rainfall ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Water Losses ◽  
Runoff Volume ◽  
Runoff Reduction ◽  
Wheat Stubble ◽  
Summer Fallow ◽  
Soil And Water

Abstract. Soil and water losses in agriculture are major environmental problems worldwide, especially on the Loess Plateau, China. Summer fallow management may help to control soil erosion and conserve water. This study investigated the effects of wheat stubble on runoff, infiltration, and soil loss in laboratory plots under simulated rainfall. The treatments comprised wheat stubble cover (WS) and traditional plowing (TP) in runoff plots (4.0 m  ×  1.0 m) with three slope gradients (5, 10, and 15°) under simulated rainfall at 80 mm h−1 for 1 h. The runoff volume from WS plots was significantly less than that from TP. The runoff reduction with WS ranged from 91.92 to 92.83 % compared with TP. The runoff rates varied with the runoff volume in the same manner. The infiltration amount was higher with WS (94.8–96.2 % of rainwater infiltrated) than TP (35.4–57.1 %). The sediment concentration was significantly lower with WS than TP. Compared with TP (304.31–731.23 g m−2), the sediment losses were reduced dramatically in WS (2.41–3.78 g m−2) and the sediment loss slightly increased with slope; however, it was greatly increased as slope increased in TP. These results revealed that the stubble cover was the main factor reducing runoff and sediment losses and improving infiltration and that stubble showed a great potential to control erosion and conserve soil and water resources during the summer fallow period in the Loess Plateau region.

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