The effect of single vegetation elements on wind speed and sediment transport in the Sahelian zone of Burkina Faso

Soil loss caused by wind erosion is a widespread phenomenon in the Sahelian zone of West Africa. According to Sahelian farmers, scattered vegetation standing in amongst the crop has the potential for a wind erosion control strategy. This study was conducted to study the effect of single vegetation elements on the pattern of average wind speed and sediment transport. This was done by two experiments that were carried out during the rainy seasons of 2002 and 2003 in north Burkina Faso, West Africa. Wind speeds were measured using three sonic anemometers, at a sampling frequency of 16 Hz. Sediment transport was determined by calculating the mass fluxes from 17 MWAC catchers. In this study, a shrub was defined as a vegetation element with branches until ground and a tree as a vegetation element with a distinctive trunk below a canopy. Behind shrubs wind speed near the soil surface was reduced up to approximately seven times the height of the shrub. The observed reduction in wind speed in the area where wind speed was reduced was 15 per cent on average. At the sides of the shrub, wind speed was increased, by on average 6 per cent. As the area of increase in wind speed is one‐third of the area of decrease in wind speed, the net effect of a shrub is a reduction in wind speed. A similar pattern was visible for the pattern of sediment transport around a shrub. Downwind of a shrub, sediment transport was diminished up to seven times the height of the shrub. Probably most of this material was trapped by the shrub. Trees showed a local increase of wind around the trunk, which is expected to relate to an increase in sediment transport around the trunk. Mass flux measurements of sediment transport were not made, but visual observations in the field substantiate this. Behind the canopy of a tree, a tree acts similarly to a shrub regarding its effects on average wind speed, but as a tree is generally a larger obstacle than a shrub the extent of this effect is larger than for shrubs. Thus, whereas shrubs are more effective than trees regarding their direct effect on soil loss by trapping sand particles near the soil surface, trees are more effective in affecting soil loss indirectly by reducing the wind speed downwind more effectively than shrubs. Therefore, to reduce soil loss in an area, the presence of both trees and shrubs is crucial. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

BIFoR FACE: Water–soil–vegetation–atmosphere data from a temperate deciduous forest catchment,including under elevated CO2

The ecosystem services provided by forests modulate runoff generation processes, nutrient cycling and water and energy exchange between soils, vegetation and atmosphere. Increasing atmospheric CO₂ affects many linked aspects of forest and catchment function in ways we do not adequately understand. Global levels of atmospheric CO₂ will be around 40% higher in 2050 than current levels, yet estimates of how water and solute fluxes in forested catchments will respond to increased CO₂ are highly uncertain. The Free Air CO₂ Enrichment (FACE) facility of the University of Birmingham's Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR) is the only FACE in mature deciduous forest. The site specializes in fundamental studies of the response of whole ecosystem patches of mature, deciduous, temperate woodland to elevated CO₂ (eCO₂). Here, we describe a dataset of hydrological parameters – seven weather parameters at each of three heights and four locations, shallow soil moisture and temperature, stream hydrology and CO₂ enrichment – retrieved at high frequency from the BIFoR FACE catchment.     

Long-term precipitation and stream discharge records at seven forested experimental watersheds along a latitudinal transect in Japan: Jozankei,Kamabuchi, Takaragawa,Tsukuba, Tatsunokuchi-yama,Kahoku and Sarukawa

This data note introduces a database of long-term daily total precipitation and stream discharge data for seven forested watersheds in Japan that have been continuously monitored by the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute. Three of the watersheds started data collection in the 1930s. Forest cover across the sites ranges from cool to warm temperate regions with the latitude spanning from 31 to 44° N and annual precipitation ranging from 1200 to 3000 mm yr⁻¹. The effects of vegetation change via clearcutting, thinning and forest fire (among other stressors) on stream discharge can be analysed from the long-term observation sites. Moreover, this multi-site dataset allows for inter- and intra-site comparisons of annual water loss (difference of annual precipitation and stream discharge). These long-term datasets can provide comprehensive insights into the effects of climate change and other stressors on forested ecosystems, not only in Japan but across a spectrum of forest types, if combined with other long-term records from other forested watersheds across the world.     

The influence of geomorphological position and vegetation cover on the erosional and hydrological processes on a Mediterranean hillslope

Soil erosion and runoff rates are assumed to be highly dependent on slope position. However, little knowledge exists about the hydrogeomorphological processes at the pedon scale that support this idea. In order to assess the hydrological and erosional behaviour of soils at different slope positions, simulated rainfall experiments (55 mm was applied during one hour) were carried out on a south-facing slope with underlying limestone in south-east Spain. In the mean terms, the erosion rates (9 g m² hr⁻¹) and the runoff coefficients (12%) were very low at the scale of measurement (0·25 m²). The slope position does not affect erosion rates when the measurements are carried out under extreme dry conditions during summer. The low runoff rates found in summer under thunderstorms of high intensity (5 year return period) and the runon into surfaces with higher infiltration rates resulted in no detectable direct surface runoff (Hortonian) at the slope scale. This implies that erosion as a consequence of surface overland flow will only take place during events of high magnitude (55 mm hr⁻¹) and low frequency (>5 years). Vegetation is the most important factor determining the soil erosion and runoff rates within the slope. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental investigation of drag coefficients of gobi surfaces

The response of gobi surfaces to the near-surface air flow can be characterized quantitatively by drag coefficients. By using wind tunnel tests, an attempt is made to define the relationship between the drag coefficients of gobi surfaces and gravel size and coverage. It is concluded that the drag coefficients of gobi surfaces tend to be constants when gravel coverage is over 40%-50%. Consequently, we think that the gobi deflation planes expanding vastly in the arid Northwestern China are aerodynamically stable, at least not the supplying sources of current dust storms, and therefore the emphasis on dust storm control should be paid on the so-called "earth gobi" that has low gravel coverage. The prediction model for drag coefficients of gobi surfaces has been developed by regressing drag coefficients on gravel size and coverage, the predicted results are in reasonably good agreement with wind tunnel results (R 2 = 0.94). The change of drag coefficients with gravel friction Reynolds number implies that the development extent of drag effect increases with gravel size and coverage.     

Quantitative relationship between pollen and vegetation in northern China

205 surface pollen samples from different communities in Northern China were analyzed to understand the quantitative relationship between pollen and its original vegetation. Pollen analysis and vegetation investigation show that the pollen assemblages differ a lot in different vegetation regions. Arboreal pollen account for more than 30% in temperate broad-deciduous forests region. In temperate steppe regions, herb pollen percentages are more than 90%, where Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae are domi- nant pollen types with Artemisia percentages more than 30%. In temperate desert, Chenopodiaceae pollen percentages are more than Artemisia, where ferns are rare. Cyperaceae pollen percentages are more than 20% in sub-alpine or cold meadows. The relations between pollen percentages and vegeta- tion cover indicate that most arboreal pollen shows a close relationship with parent plant covers, most shrubby pollen types have more or less correlations, but most herbs do not show clear correlations. For arboreal pollen types, Picea pollen shows the closest correlation with spruce trees coverage, then is Quercus and Carpinus. Betula, Larix and Juglans have also high correlation coefficients with their plants coverage, but Betula pollen is of overrepresented pollen type and more than 40% in birch forest, while Larix and Juglans pollen is underrepresented and pollen percentages are more than 10% in Larix or Juglans pure forests. Pinus is of overrepresented pollen type, and pollen percentages have some relations with plants cover. Pine forest might present when Pinus pollen percentages are more than 30%. The relations between Ulmus and Populus pollen percentages and vegetation cover are not close, where they are mixed with other arbors, they cannot be recorded easily, but if their pollen percentages are more than 1%, Ulmus or Populus trees should exist. For shrubby pollen types, the correlation be- tween Vitex pollen percentages and vegetation cover is the highest, then is Corylus, Tamariaceae and Nitraria, and their pollen percentages are less than 1% where original plant are absent. Caragana and Spiraea pollen percentages have some relations with vegetation cover. The relations between pollen percentages and vegetation cover are not clear for Rosaceae and Saxifragaceae. For herb pollen types, Cyperaceae pollen has the closest correlation with vegetation cover, where pollen percentages are more than 20% when Cyperaceae are constructive or dominant species in vegetation, and pollen per- centages are less than 5% where Cyperaceae are not constructive or dominant species (cover less than 30%). Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae pollen percentages mainly have close relations with ecological regions. The relations between pollen percentages and cover are not clear for Gramineae, Legumi- nosae and Compositae.     

Stochastic modelling of soil moisture dynamics in a grassland of Qilian Mountain at point scale

Stochastic modeling of soil moisture dynamics is crucial to the quantitative understanding of plant responses to water stresses,hydrological control of nutrient cycling processes,water competition among plants,and some other ecological dynamics,and thus has become a hotspot in ecohydrology at present.In this paper,we based on the continuously monitored data of soil moisture during 2002―2005 and daily precipitation date of 1992―2006,and tried to make a probabilistic analysis of soil moisture dynamics at point scale in a grassland of Qilian Mountain by integrating the stochastic model improved by Laio and the Monte Carlo method.The results show that the inter-annual variations for the soil moisture patterns at different depths are very significant,and that the coefficient of variance(CV) of surface soil moisture(20 cm) is almost continually kept at about 0.23 whether in the rich or poor rainy years.Interestingly,it has been found that the maximal CV of soil moisture has not always appeared at the surface layer.Comparison of the analytically derived soil moisture probability density function(PDF) with the statistical distribution of the observed soil moisture data suggests that the stochastic model can reasonably describe and predict the soil moisture dynamics of the grassland in Qilian Mountain at point scale.By extracting the statistical information of the historical precipitation data in 1994―2006,and inputting them into the stochastic model,we analytically derived the long-term soil moisture PDF without considering the inter-annual climate fluctuations,and then numerically derived the one when considering the inter-annual fluctuation effects in combination with a Monte-Carlo procedure.It was found that,though the peak position of the probability density distribution significantly moved towards drought when considering the disturbance forces,and its width was narrowed,accordingly its peak value was increased,no significant bimodality was observed in the soil moisture dynamics under the given intensity of random fluctuation disturbance.     

天山北坡天然草场牧草干旱指标研究

通过降水,土壤水分,天然草场产草量之间建立的统计关系,来说明水分供应是影响牧草产量的重要因素,并依据降水和土壤水分与牧草产草量的关系划分出牧草生长中水分供给的正常,干旱等指标。     

柴达木河都兰区植被覆盖率变化特征

柴达木河都兰区位于青海柴达木盆地东南部,干旱少雨,生态环境脆弱。基于MODIS NDVI数据,应用遥感方法,对都兰区2000—2011年的植被覆盖率进行了计算,并分析了其影响因素。结果表明：研究区内裸土和低覆盖率植被的面积逐年减小,而较低覆盖率、中等覆盖率、较高覆盖率及高覆盖率植被的面积均逐年增加;研究区植被覆盖率与降水及相对湿度呈正相关关系,区域植被生长与地下水埋深的关系较为密切;宗加-诺木洪植被区的地下水埋深范围为0.7～3.5 m,在水埋深为1.7 m的地方,植被长势最好;当研究区的地下水水质矿化度小于3 g·L^-1时,植被发育较好。     

米槠次生林内4种植物叶片DOM的数量和质量特征

选取福建省三明市米槠次生林内的4种植物,即米槠(CAC),木荷(SCS),山杜英(ELS),芒萁(DID)为研究对象,对其叶片进行了室内淋溶处理,并分析了淋溶液中的可溶性有机碳(DOC)和可溶性有机氮(DON)含量及pH值,芳香性指标(AI)和荧光效率指数(Feff)等,以揭示其淋溶液中可溶性有机质(DOM)的数量和质量特征。结果表明:4种植物叶片DOM含量总体随淋溶次数的增加逐渐减小,其中首次淋溶后淋溶液中的DOC和DON含量最大,分别占总淋溶量的平均值为67.90%和44.51%;淋溶液中前3次DOC和DON淋溶量总和分别占10次淋溶总量的87.40%~94.77%和68.46%~72.49%;且前3次淋溶次数间呈极显著差异(P0.01),其后差异性不显著。DOM的pH值和光谱指标随着淋溶次数的增加逐渐上升.总体上乔木树种DOM的数量和质量比林下植被要高,这是由于乔木树种的DOM含有更多的养分和芳香类和腐殖化的高分子量化合物,而林下植被的DOM含有较多低分子量化合物和易分解组分。