Effects of fencing on vegetation and soil restoration in a degraded alkaline grassland in northeast China

In order to restore a degraded alkaline grassland, the local government implemented a large restoration project using fences in Changling county, Jilin province, China, in 2000. Grazing was excluded from the protected area, whereas the grazed area was continuously grazed at 8.5 dry sheep equivalent（DSE）/hm2. In the current research, soil and plant samples were taken from grazed and fenced areas to examine changes in vegetation and soil properties in 2005, 2006 and 2008. Results showed that vegetation characteristics and soil properties improved significantly in the fenced area compared with the grazed area. In the protected area the vegetation cover, height and above- and belowground biomass increased significantly. Soil pH, electrical conductivity and bulk density decreased significantly, but soil organic carbon and total nitrogen concentration increased greatly in the protected area. By comparing the vegetation and soil characteristics with pre-degraded grassland, we found that vegetation can recover 6 years after fencing, and soil pH can be restored 8 years after fencing. However, the restoration of soil organic carbon, total nitrogen and total phosphorus concentrations needed 16, 30 and 19 years, respectively. It is recommended that the stocking rate should be reduced to 1/3 of the current carrying capacity, or that a grazing regime of 1-year of grazing followed by a 2-year rest is adopted to sustain the current status of vegetation and soil resources. However, if N fertilizer is applied, the rest period could be shortened, depending on the rate of application.

Biomass production and carbon balance in two hybrid poplar(Populus euramericana)plantations raised with and without agriculture in southern France

Poplar is useful in different climates for bioenergy production and carbon sequestration when planted as a single species or in agroforestry. Europe has large areas potentially suitable for poplar forestry and a bioenergy policy that would encourage poplar forestry. In this study I estimated biomass production and carbon sequestration in poplar monoculture plantation and poplar-wheat agroforestry, in the Mediterranean region of France. A single-tree harvesting method was used to estimate biomass and an empirical conversion factor was adopted to calculate sequestered carbon. Total biomass was higher in agroforestry trees(1223 kg tree) than in monoculture plantation trees(1102 kg tree).Aboveground and belowground biomass distributions were similar in both cases(89 and 88% aboveground, and 11 and12% belowground, respectively in agroforestry and monoculture). The partitioning of total biomass in an agroforestry tree in leaves, branch, and trunk(aboveground), and fine roots, medium roots, coarse roots and underground stem(belowground) was 1,22,and 77,and 6,9, 44 and 40%,respectively. Except for branch and trunk, all other compartments were similarly distributed in a monoculture tree.Storage of C was higher in agroforestry trees(612 kg tree)than in monoculture trees(512 kg tree). In contrast, C storage on a per hectare basis was lower in agroforestry(85 Mg ha) than in monoculture(105 Mg ha) due to the lower density of trees per hectare in agroforestry(139 trees in agroforestry vs 204 trees in monoculture). On a per hectare basis, soil C stocks pattern were similar to per tree stocking:They were higher in agroforestry at 330 Mg hathan in monoculture 304 Mg ha. Higher C accumulation by agroforestry has a direct management implication in the sense that expanding agroforestry into agriculture production areas with short rotation and fast growing trees like poplar would encourage quicker and greater C sequestration. This could simultaneously fulfil the requirement of bioenergy plantation in Europe.

Response of runoff and soil loss to reforestation and rainfall type in red soil region of southern China

To evaluate the long-term effects of reforestation types on soil erosion on degraded land, vegetation and soil properties under conventional sloping farmland （CSF） and three different reforestation types including a Pinus massoniana secondary forest （PSF）, an Eucommia ulmoides artificial economic forest （EEF） and a natural succession type forest （NST）, were investigated at runoff plot scale over a six-year period in a red soil region of southern China. One hundred and thirty erosive rainfall events generating runoff in plots were grouped into four rainfall types by means of K-mean clustering method. Erosive rainfall type I is the dominant rainfall type. The amount of runoff and the soil loss under erosive rainfall type III were the most, followed by rain-fall type II, IV and I. Compared with CSF treatment, reforestation treatments decreased the average annual runoff depth and the soil loss by 25.5%–61.8% and 93.9%– 96.2% during the study period respectively. Meanwhile, runoff depth at PSF and EEF treatments was significantly lower than that in NST treatment, but no significant difference existed in soil erosion modulus among the three reforestation treatments. This is mainly due to the improved vegetation properties （i.e., vegetation coverage, biomass of above- and below-ground and litter-fall mass） and soil properties （i.e., bulk density, total porosity, infiltration rate and organic carbon content） in the three reforestation treatments compared to CSF treatment. The PSF and EEF are recommended as the preferred reforestation types to control runoff and soil erosion in the red soil region of southern China, with the NST potentially being used as an important supplement.