Effects of ecological soil and water conservation measures on soil erosion control in China’s typical regions:A meta-analysis

[Background]As one of the most serious environmental issues in the world,soil erosion causes water pollution,reservoir siltation,soil productivity decline,thus threatens agricultural systems and even affects global climate.The benefits of ecological soil and water conservation measures(ESWCMs,such as micro basins tillage and contour tillage)are widely understood,including runoff and soil loss reducing to a certain extent when compared with traditional tillage.While few studies have focused on China’s different soil types and erosion characteristics.[Methods]We reviewed literature from Web of Science,Scopus,and China National Knowledge Infrastructure using terms like“Conservation practice”“Contour tillage”“Runoff”“Sediment”“Erosion”and“China”and retained literatures based on criteria such as natural or simulated precipitation,runoff or soil loss data,reported replications and statistics,recorded factors like location and slope,and at least two data pairs per group.Ultimately,49 literatures were selected to quantify the impacts on different ESWCMs and identify the slope and precipitation for the greatest runoff and sediment reduction by calculating the log response ratio(LRR).[Results]The three regions’soil and water conservation benefits varied due to the differences in climate,terrain,and soil properties:1)ESWCMs applied in the black soil region of Northeast China were the most effective in reducing runoff and soil loss(66.65%runoff and 75.83%sediment),followed by those applied in the purple soil region of Southwest China(39.98%runoff and 58.30%sediment)and loess soil region of Northwest China(16.36%runoff and 32.44%sediment).2)Micro basins tillage(MBT)(71.79%runoff and 87.03%sediment)no-tillage with mulch(NTM)(17.30%runoff and 32.51%sediment),collecting soil to form a ridge with no-till(CSNT)(55.78%runoff and 71.36%sediment reduction)were the most efficient soil and water conservation measures in controlling water erosion in the black soil of Northeast China,the loess soil region of Northwest China and the purple soil region of Southwest China,respectively.3)The slope gradients ranged from 0-3°,>3°-5°and>10°-15°(0-3°:97.09%;>3°-5°:74.62%;and>10°-15°:39.41%)caused the largest reduction of runoff in the black soil region of Northeast China,the loess soil region of Northwest China,and the purple soil region of Southwest China.Meanwhile,the effects of sediment reduction were the most obvious,ranging from 0-3°,>10°-15°,and>20°-25°(0-3°:89.32%;>10°-15°:75.94%;and>20°-25°:67.25%).4)The effect of ESWCMs under rainstorms was the most obvious in the black soil region of Northeast China.The effect on runoff reduction under light rain in the purple soil region of Southwest China was the most obvious,but it failed to pass the significance test in sediment reduction.[Conclusions]The results provided optimal conservation tillage measures for three regions,different slopes and different rainfalls,and provided data support for reducing regional soil and water loss in China.