Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effect of conversion of farmland to forest or grassland on soil erosion intensity changes in Yanhe River Basin, Loess Plateau of China

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Frontiers of Forestry in China

Abstract

Dynamic changes of soil erosion affected by conversion of farmland to forest or grassland in the Yanhe River Basin were analyzed based on the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE). The RUSLE variables were selected and calculated reasonably using the GIS technique. Results show that: 1) After the conversion of farmland to forest or grassland, soil erosion decreased greatly. Compared with soil erosion in period of 1986 to 1997, the soil erosion amount had been reduced on the average by 30.6% by 2000; 2) Of the different land uses, slope farmland, especially the steep slope land had the greatest impact on soil erosion. The conversion of forest or grassland was the main driving force for the reduction of soil erosion; 3) In the short term, soil erosion was mainly controlled by C-factor, implying that the adjustment of land use structure might be an effective approach to reduce soil erosion.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Fu B J, Qiu Y (2000). Land evaluation for sustainable use based on landscape ecologic theory. Resour Sci, 22(6): 1–8 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Fu B J, Zhao W W, Chen L D (2005). Assessment of soil erosion at large watershed scale using RUSLE and GIS: A case study in the Loess Plateau of China. Land Degrad Dev, 16: 73–85 (in Chinese)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hartemink A E (1998). Soil chemical and physical properties as indicators of sustainable land management under sugar cane in Papua New Guinea. Geoderma, 85: 283–306

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leng S Y, Li X B (1999). New progresses of international study on land quality indictors (LQIs). Acta Geogr Sin, 54(1): 177–185 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu B Y, Nearing M A, Risse L M (1994). Slope gradient effects on soil loss for steep slopes. Transact ASAE, 37(6): 1835–1840

    Google Scholar 

  • Lufafa A, Tenywa M M, Isabirye M (2003). Prediction of soil erosion in a Lake Victoria basin catchment using GIS based Universal Soil Loss model. Agr Sys, 76: 883–984

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peel T C (1937). The relation of certain physical characteristics to the erodibility of soils. Soil Sci Soc Proceed, 2: 79–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Renard K G, Foster G R, Weesies G A (1997). Predicting Soil Erosion by Water: A Guide to Conservation Planning with the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). Washington: US Department of Agriculture, 404–407

    Google Scholar 

  • Renard K G, Freimund J R (1994). Using monthly precipitation data to estimate the R-factor in the revised USLE. J Hydr, 157: 287–306

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shangguan Z P (2006). Consideration on soil and water conservation and ecological restoration in the Loess Plateau. Sci Soil Water Conserv, 4(1): 1–4 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Tang K L (2004). Soil and Water Conservation of China. Beijing: Science Press (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Tian J L, Liang Y M, Liu P L (2003). Research of Ecological Agriculture Construction at Middle Scale on Hilly Area in the Loess Plateau. Zhenzhou: Water Conservancy Publisher of the Yellow River (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • van Remortel R, Hamilton M, Hickey R (2001). Estimating the LS factor for RUSLE through iterative slope length processing of digital elevation data. Cartography, 30(1): 27–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang B W, Yang Q K, Liu Z H (2007). Extraction of RUSLE-LS factors using data and GIS techniques. Sci Soil Water Conserv, 5(2): 18–23 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang W Z, Jiao J Y (1996). Quantitative evaluation on factors influencing soil erosion in China. Bull Soil Water Conserv, 16(5): 1–20 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang D W, Kanae S J, Oki T K (2003). Global potential soil erosion with reference to land use and climate changes. Hydrol Proc, 17: 2913–2928

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Y, Liu B Y, Shi P J (2001). Crop cover factor estimating for soil loss prediction. Acta Ecol Sin, 27(7): 1050–1056 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zheng F L, Yang Q K, Wang Z L (2004). Water erosion prediction model. Res Soil Water Conserv, 11(4): 13–24 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jiangxi Provincial Research Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Nanchang, 330029, China

    Bangwen Wang

  2. Institute of Soil and Water Conversation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling, 712100, China

    Qinke Yang

  3. Chengdu University of Information Technology, Chengdu, 610225, China

    Zhihong Liu

Authors
  1. Bangwen Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Qinke Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Zhihong Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bangwen Wang.

Additional information

__________

Translated from Science of Soil and Water Conversation, 2007, 5(4): 27–33 [译自: 中国水土保持科学]

About this article

Cite this article

Wang, B., Yang, Q. & Liu, Z. Effect of conversion of farmland to forest or grassland on soil erosion intensity changes in Yanhe River Basin, Loess Plateau of China. Front. For. China 4, 68–74 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11461-009-0015-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11461-009-0015-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation