Effects of Urbanization,Soil Property and Vegetation Configuration on Soil Infiltration of Urban Forest in Changchun,Northeast China

Urban forest soil infiltration, affected by various factors, is closely related with surface runoff. This paper studied the effect of urban forest types, vegetation configuration and soil properties on soil infiltration. In our study, 191 typical plots were sampled in Changchun City, China to investigate the soil infiltration characteristics of urban forest and its influencing factors. Our results showed that the steady infiltration rates of urban forest soil were highly variable. High variations in the final infiltration rates were observed for different vegetation patterns and compaction degrees. Trees with shrubs and grasses had the highest infiltration rate and trees with bare land had the lowest infiltration rate. In addition, our results showed that the soil infiltration rate decreased with an increase in the bulk density and with a reduction in the soil organic matter content and non-capillary porosity. The soil infiltration rate also had significantly positive relationships with the total porosity and saturated soil water content. Urban soil compaction contributed to low soil infiltration rates. To increase the infiltration rate and water storage volume of urban forest soil, proper techniques to minimize and mitigate soil compaction should be used. These findings can provide useful information for urban planners about how to maximize the water volume of urban forest soil and decrease urban instantaneous flooding.

Changes in vegetation and soil properties during recovery of a subtropical forest in South China

Secondary forests account for a large amount of subtropical forest due to persistent anthropogenic disturbance in China.The interaction between vegetation and soil during recovery process is rather complex and dependent on forest conditions.Understanding how vegetation and soil properties changes and how their relationship develops in secondary forests is key to effective forest restoration and management.Here we explored the patterns of vegetation and soil properties as well as their correlations during forest recovery process in a subtropical forest in south China.Plots of three forest types,i.e.,broadleaf-conifermixedforest,broadleaved forest and old growth stand,were established to represent the recovery stages.The results showed that diversity patterns in the tree,shrub and herb layers were different:in the tree layer the species diversity peaked at the intermediate stage,while in the understory layers it decreased chronologically.Most of the soil factors showed an increasing trend,and different effects of soil factors were found for the three layers as well as for the two spatial scales.Together,our results suggested that vegetation and soil might be interdependent during the recovery course.Further studies are needed on exploring how vegetation interplays with soil at different scales and how nutrient limitations affects the vegetation development in a chronosequence.