CONSULTATIVE RECOMMENDATIONS ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN KARST AND ROCK-NAKED MOUNTAIN AREAS OF SOUTHWEST CHINA

The serious degradation of the ecological environment and the rapid expansion of stone desert have had a serious effect on the economic development of karst and rock-naked mountain areas in Southwest China. Moreover, these areas are still at the initial stage of industrialization, characterized by a greater significance of agriculture to the economy, face sharp contradictions among the population, the arable land and resources, and are suffering because of a shortage of investment. On the basis of this current situation, three recommendations are made in this article: "coordinating the relations among grain, ecology, population and economic development", "increasing the input of science and technology", and "adopting policies consistent with social equity in areas of poverty".

Study on Soil Erosion Model Under Different Slopes in Southwest Karst Mountain Area

The aim was to further research soil erosion characteristics and accurately predict soil erosion amount in karst areas. Based on field surveys and research achievements available, yellow soils, which are widely distributed, were chosen as test soil samples and slope, rain intensity, vegetation coverage and bare-rock ratio were taken as soil erosion factors. Artificial rain simulation instruments （needle-type） were made use of to simulate correlation of rain intensity, vegetation coverage, and bare-rock ratio with soil erosion quantity. Furthermore, multiple-factor linear regression analysis, stepwise regression analysis and multiple-factor non-linear regression analy- sis were made to establish a multiple-factor formula of soil erosion modulus with dif- ferent slopes and select regression models with high correlation coefficients. The re- sults show that a non-linear regression model reached extremely significant level or significant level （0.692〈FF〈0.988） and linear regression model achieved significant lev- el （0.523〈FF〈0.634）. The effects of erosion modulus changed from decreasing to in- creasing and the erosion factors from high to low were rain intensity, vegetation cov- erage and bare-rock ratio when slope gradient was at 6~, 16~, 26~ and 36~. The mod- el is of high accuracy for predicting gentle slope and abtupt slope, which reveals correlation of erosion modulus with erosion factors in karst areas.

Characteristics and distributions of humic acids in two soil profiles of the southwest China Karst area

Characteristics and distributions of humic acid(HA) and soil organic matter(SOM) in a yellow soil profile and a limestone soil profile of the southwest China Karst area were systematically investigated to reveal their evolutions in different soils of the study area. The results showed that characteristics and distribution of SOM along the two soil profiles were notably different. Total organic carbon(TOC) contents of soil samples decreased just slightly along the limestone soil profile but sharply along the yellow soil profile. TOCs of the limestone soils were significantly higher than those of the corresponding yellow soils, and C/N ratios of SOMs showed a similar variation trend to that of TOCs, indicating that SOM can be better conserved in the limestone soil than in the yellow soil. The soil humic acids were exhaustively extracted and further fractionated according to their apparent molecular weights using ultrafiltration techniques to explore underlying conservation mechanisms. The result showed that C/N ratios of HAs from different limestone soil layers were relatively stable and that large molecular HA fractions predominated the bulk HA of the top soil, indicating that HA in the limestone profile was protected while bio and chemical degradations were retarded. Combined with organic elements contents and mineral contents of two soils, weconcluded that high calcium contents in limestone soils may play a key role in SOM conservation by forming complexation compounds with HAs or/and enclosing SOMs with hypergene CaCO_3 precipitation.