Biological soil crusts(biocrusts)are important landscape components that exist in various climates and habitats.The roles of biocrusts in numerous soil processes have been predominantly recognized in many dryland regi...Biological soil crusts(biocrusts)are important landscape components that exist in various climates and habitats.The roles of biocrusts in numerous soil processes have been predominantly recognized in many dryland regions worldwide.However,little is known about their effects on soil detachment process by overland flow,especially in humid climates.This study quantified the effects of moss-dominated biocrusts on soil detachment capacity(Dc)and soil erosion resistance to flowing water in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area which holds a subtropical humid climate.Potential factors driving soil detachment variation and their influencing mechanism were analyzed and elucidated.We designed five levels of coverage treatments(1%–20%,20%–40%,40%–60%,60%–80%,and 80%–100%)and a nearby bare land as control in a mossdominated site.Undisturbed soil samples were taken and subjected to water flow scouring in a hydraulic flume under six shear stresses ranging from 4.89 to 17.99 Pa.The results indicated that mean Dc of mosscovered soil varied from 0.008 to 0.081 kg m^-2 s^-1,which was 1.9 to 21.0 times lower than that of bare soil(0.160 kg m^-2 s^-1).Rill erodibility(Kr)of mosscovered soil ranged from 0.0095 to 0.0009 s m^-1,which was 2 to 20 times lower than that of bare soil(0.0187 s m^-1).Both relative soil detachment rate and Kr showed an exponential decay with increasing moss coverage,whereas the critical shear stress(τc)for different moss coverage levels did not differ significantly.Moss coverage,soil cohesion,and sand content were key factors affecting Dc,while moss coverage and soil bulk density were key factors affecting Kr.A power function of flow shear stress,soil cohesion,and moss coverage fitted well to estimate Dc(NSE=0.947).Our findings implied that biocrusts prevented soil detachment directly by their physical cover and indirectly by soil properties modification.Biocrusts could be rehabilitated as a promising soil conservation measure during ecological recovery to enhance soil erosion resistance in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area.展开更多
Biocrusts affect soil detachment through above-ground(top crust’s surface covering)and below-ground(sub-crust’s binding and bonding,B&B)effects,which might vary with biocrust development or coverage.However,thes...Biocrusts affect soil detachment through above-ground(top crust’s surface covering)and below-ground(sub-crust’s binding and bonding,B&B)effects,which might vary with biocrust development or coverage.However,these effects in humid climates are still unclear.This study was conducted to apportion and quantify the surface covering and B&B effects of moss biocrusts with five coverage levels(1%–20%,20%–40%,40%–60%,60%–80%,and 80%–100%)on soil detachment by overland flow in a subtropical humid climate.Two treatments with one being intact moss crusts and one removing the aboveground moss tissues were designed for each coverage level,and bare soil was used as the baseline.The results indicated that soil detachment capacity(Dc)and rill erodibility(Kr)decreased with biocrust coverage.After removing the above-ground moss tissues,the impeding effect of biocrusts on soil detachment weakened,but still increasing soil erosion resistance relative to bare soil.For intact crust,Dc was reduced by 50%–95%compared with bare soil,wherein 36%–55%and 14%–40%were attributed to the surface covering and B&B,respectively.The top crust contributed more than sub-crust to the soil detachment reduction,which were related to but not linear with biocrust coverage.When biocrust coverage reached mid-to-higher level(40%–100%),both top crust and sub-crust steadily contributed to soil detachment reduction with 60%and 40%,respectively.The findings advance a better understanding of the influencing mechanism of biocrusts on soil erosion in humid climates and highlight the importance of saving biocrusts as ecosystem functions.展开更多
基金funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.41877082)the Fundamental Research Funds for Central Public Welfare Research Institutes(Grant No.CKSF2019410TB)+2 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation for Young Scientists of China(Grant No.41701316,51909011)the National Key R&D Program of China(Grant No.2017YFC050530302)the Demonstration Project of Water Conservancy Technology(Grant No.SF-201905)。
文摘Biological soil crusts(biocrusts)are important landscape components that exist in various climates and habitats.The roles of biocrusts in numerous soil processes have been predominantly recognized in many dryland regions worldwide.However,little is known about their effects on soil detachment process by overland flow,especially in humid climates.This study quantified the effects of moss-dominated biocrusts on soil detachment capacity(Dc)and soil erosion resistance to flowing water in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area which holds a subtropical humid climate.Potential factors driving soil detachment variation and their influencing mechanism were analyzed and elucidated.We designed five levels of coverage treatments(1%–20%,20%–40%,40%–60%,60%–80%,and 80%–100%)and a nearby bare land as control in a mossdominated site.Undisturbed soil samples were taken and subjected to water flow scouring in a hydraulic flume under six shear stresses ranging from 4.89 to 17.99 Pa.The results indicated that mean Dc of mosscovered soil varied from 0.008 to 0.081 kg m^-2 s^-1,which was 1.9 to 21.0 times lower than that of bare soil(0.160 kg m^-2 s^-1).Rill erodibility(Kr)of mosscovered soil ranged from 0.0095 to 0.0009 s m^-1,which was 2 to 20 times lower than that of bare soil(0.0187 s m^-1).Both relative soil detachment rate and Kr showed an exponential decay with increasing moss coverage,whereas the critical shear stress(τc)for different moss coverage levels did not differ significantly.Moss coverage,soil cohesion,and sand content were key factors affecting Dc,while moss coverage and soil bulk density were key factors affecting Kr.A power function of flow shear stress,soil cohesion,and moss coverage fitted well to estimate Dc(NSE=0.947).Our findings implied that biocrusts prevented soil detachment directly by their physical cover and indirectly by soil properties modification.Biocrusts could be rehabilitated as a promising soil conservation measure during ecological recovery to enhance soil erosion resistance in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area.
基金financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.41877082)the Fundamental Research Funds for Central Public Welfare Research Institutes(Grant No.CKSF2021487/TB,CKSF2021447/TB)。
文摘Biocrusts affect soil detachment through above-ground(top crust’s surface covering)and below-ground(sub-crust’s binding and bonding,B&B)effects,which might vary with biocrust development or coverage.However,these effects in humid climates are still unclear.This study was conducted to apportion and quantify the surface covering and B&B effects of moss biocrusts with five coverage levels(1%–20%,20%–40%,40%–60%,60%–80%,and 80%–100%)on soil detachment by overland flow in a subtropical humid climate.Two treatments with one being intact moss crusts and one removing the aboveground moss tissues were designed for each coverage level,and bare soil was used as the baseline.The results indicated that soil detachment capacity(Dc)and rill erodibility(Kr)decreased with biocrust coverage.After removing the above-ground moss tissues,the impeding effect of biocrusts on soil detachment weakened,but still increasing soil erosion resistance relative to bare soil.For intact crust,Dc was reduced by 50%–95%compared with bare soil,wherein 36%–55%and 14%–40%were attributed to the surface covering and B&B,respectively.The top crust contributed more than sub-crust to the soil detachment reduction,which were related to but not linear with biocrust coverage.When biocrust coverage reached mid-to-higher level(40%–100%),both top crust and sub-crust steadily contributed to soil detachment reduction with 60%and 40%,respectively.The findings advance a better understanding of the influencing mechanism of biocrusts on soil erosion in humid climates and highlight the importance of saving biocrusts as ecosystem functions.
