A comparative study on three methods of soil quality evaluation of microtopography in the semi-arid Loess Plateau, China.

Three soil property test data of microtopography in the semi-arid Loess Plateau were used to compare the following three soil quality evaluation methods: correlation coefficient method, factor analysis method and Nemoro index method. The results of these methods were analyzed and compared to determine the most suitable method for comprehensive evaluation of soil quality. While correlation coefficient method and factor analysis method produced similar results, Nemoro index method showed several differences from the othertwo methods and exhibited higher sensitivity in its assessment results. The soil quality index (SQI) parameters of three methods showed consistent scales and variation trends among the various microtopographies, and there was a highly significant linear positive correlation between the SQI parameters of any two given methods. This result suggested that the three methods were all reliable and could be employed for comprehensive assessment of soil quality of microtopography in the study region. However, the Nemoro index method involves relatively uncomplicated mathematics and is very easy to absorb, and thus should be preferentially employed when three grading standards can be identified. The factor analysis method is the next most preferable, followed by correlation coefficient method.

Characteristics of soil moisture in relation to microtopography in the Loess region of Northern Shaanxi, China.

Soil moisture is the primary factor limiting plant growth and vegetation rehabilitation in the loess region of northern Shaanxi, China. This 5-year (2008-2012) study investigated methods of selecting appropriate microsites for vegetation restoration based on efficient use of soil moisture; 5-year data were compared with 56 years of precipitation data using standardized precipitation index. In addition, the effects of microtopography on the spatiotemporal variations of soil moisture were analyzed at the Wuqi Ecological Station of Beijing Forestry University. Results showed that average annual precipitation during last 5 years fell by 12.4% during the growing season compared with 1957-2012 data and soil moisture content at depth of 0-160 cm under went dramatic changes and became relatively low in July and August. Soil moisture content varied in different microtopographical units as follows: gullies > gently-sloped terraces > collapsed soils > undisturbed slopes (control) > furrows > escarpments. The vertical distribution of soil moisture content in different microtopographical units showed dramatic changes at depth of 0-40 cm. Soil moisture content of gently-sloped terraces, gullies, collapsed areas, furrows, and undisturbed slopes was highest at depth of 80-160 cm with a level of instability at depth of 40-80 cm. For gently-sloped terraces and gullies, soil moisture content followed the order of 40-80 cm > 0-40 cm; for collapsed areas, furrows, and undisturbed slopes, soil moisture content follows the order of 0-40 cm > 40-80 cm. For escarpments, soil moisture content varied with depth in a different pattern: 0-40 cm > 80-160 cm > 40-80 cm. This study is of theoretical significance and will help guide the sustainable development of ecological restoration and vegetation rehabilitation in the Loess region.

Response of deep soil moisture to different vegetation types in the Loess Plateau of northern Shannxi, China.

Deep soil moisture is a highly important source of water for vegetation in the semiarid Loess Plateau of China, vegetation restoration reduced the deep soil moisture, but how to better quantify the impact of vegetation restoration on deep soil moisture is lack of certain understanding. To explore the impact exerted by different types of vegetation on deep layers of the soil moisture, the 0-10 m soil moisture content profile was measured before and after the rainy season in Armeniaca sibirica, Robinia pseudoacacia, Populus simonii, Pinus tabuliformis, Hippophae rhamnoides and in natural grassland in Wuqi County in Shannxi Province. These results showed that the highest soil moisture in the shallow layers (0-200 cm) was exhibited in the P. simonii forest, which was followed by that in the natural grassland. Both of these results were significantly higher than that those of the A. sibirica, P. tabuliformis, H. rhamnoides and R. pseudoacacia forests. The soil moisture in the deep layer (200-1000 cm) of the natural grassland was significantly higher than that of the other vegetation types. The annual precipitation that recharges the depth of soil moisture was the highest in natural grassland and the lowest in P. simonii. The inter-annual soil moisture replenishment is primarily affected by rainfall and vegetation types. Compared with the natural grassland, the CSWSD (the comparison of the soil moisture storage deficit) of different vegetation types varies. In the shallow soil layer, P. simonii is the lowest, and R. pseudoacacia is the highest. In the deep soil layer, R. pseudoacacia and P. simonii are the highest; H. rhamnoides is the second highest, and A. sibirica and P. tabuliformis are the lowest. These results indicate that vegetation restoration can significantly reduce the amount of water in the deep layers of the soil. In the future vegetation restoration, we suggest emphasizing natural development more strongly, since it can better maintain the local vegetation stability and soil moisture balance.

Remembering the ultimate goal of environmental protection: including protection of impoverished citizens in China's environmental policy.

The life of impoverished people can be damaged by adverse environmental conditions, but these people can also be harmed by environmental conservation programs, particularly when the guiding policy ignores their needs. To improve the social and economic effectiveness of environmental protection, governments must understand that the ultimate goal of environmental protection is to improve human livelihoods, not just restore vegetation. The elimination of poverty by the development of sustainable, long-term enterprises is a precondition for successful ecological restoration.

Change of precipitation characteristics in the water-wind erosion crisscross region on the Loess Plateau, China, from 1958 to 2015.

Precipitation plays an important and crucial role in processes in the water-wind erosion crisscross region of the Loess Plateau than in other parts of the region. We analyzed precipitation data and standardized precipitation index (SPI) at 14 representative synoptic stations from 1958 to 2015 used trend-free prewhitening, linear trend estimation, Spearman's rho test, the Mann-Kendall trend test, the Mann-Kendall abrupt change test and rescaled range analysis. The following conclusions were drawn. First, the analysis of monthly precipitation at all stations suggested that precipitation during the rainy season (July, August, September), especially rain in July and August, exhibited a general decreasing trend, while both increasing and decreasing trends were observed in other months. Moreover, the annual precipitation of all stations continued to exhibit decreasing trends except Wuzhai. Erosive rainfall frequency in the rainy season and the annual scale was weakly reduced but erosive force of single rainfall has been enhanced. Second, the SPI exhibited different increasing degrees in winter, while decreasing trends were observed in other seasons. Additionally, the annual-scale SPI at most stations exhibited a stable and sustained downward trend. Therefore, this region is currently associated with a drought trend, and the drought degree will likely continue to increase.

Climatic and drought characteristics in the loess hilly-gully region of China from 1957 to 2014.

The loess hilly-gully region is a focus region of the "Grain for Green" program in China. Drought is the main problem in the study region. Precipitation and temperature are two indicators that directly characterize climatic drought. A thorough analysis of the precipitation, temperature and drought characteristics of the loess hilly-gully region can clarify the current water and heat conditions in the region to improve regional water resource management and provide a reliable reference for effectively improving water use efficiency. In this study, we fully analyzed the precipitation and temperature characteristics at 11 representative synoptic stations in the loess hilly-gully region over the period from 1957 to 2014 using a combination of trend-free pre-whitening, linear trend estimation, Spearman's rho test, the Mann-Kendall (M-K) trend and abrupt change tests and wavelet analysis. The standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index was calculated and analyzed on different time scales. The following conclusions were drawn: (1) There were significant spatial differences and inter-annual variations in precipitation at the 11 synoptic stations in the study area between 1957 and 2014; the precipitation consistently decreased with fluctuations, and the extent of the decrease varied from a maximum of 17.74 mm/decade to a minimum of 2.92 mm/decade. Except for the downward trends of the autumn and winter mean temperatures at Hequ, the seasonal and annual mean temperatures at the stations showed upward trends, including highly significant upward trends. (2) Alternating drought and wetness occurred in the study area; the wet period mainly appeared in the 1960s, and the main dry period lasted from the late 20th century to 2012. There were fewer dry and wet years than normal years; however, the study area still showed a drying trend, and the severity of the drought was increasing. (3) The annual precipitation and annual mean temperature showed marked cyclical fluctuations at each synoptic station, and the first primary cycle was approximately 28 years. The seasonal precipitation and seasonal temperature showed different cycle lengths; the seasonal cycles of precipitation for spring, summer, autumn and winter were 10, 28, 10 and 26 years long, respectively, and the cycles of the temperature fluctuations for all four seasons were approximately 28 years long.

Fabrication of membrane absorbers based on amphiphilic carbonaceous derivatives for selective endotoxin clearance.

In this study, several novel blend membranes based on ligand-immobilized amphiphilic carbonaceous particles (ACPs) and matrix polymer polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) were prepared by an immersion phase inversion method. The effects of the ACP content on filtration performance of the membrane were investigated. Endotoxin removal with blend membranes at different pH values and ionic strengths was analyzed and discussed. The results indicated that the use of ACPs not only achieved uniform and stable incorporation of water-soluble ligands into the hydrophobic polymer membrane but also improved its filtration properties, including permeability, strength, hydrophilicity and antifouling ability. The blend membranes with the optimum particle content showed good performances in filtration and were highly effective in removing endotoxins from both buffer and protein solutions under properly chosen conditions. More than 99.8% of endotoxin removal and more than 90% of BSA recovery were achieved when 1 mg L-1 of BSA solution with 116 EU mL-1 of the endotoxin content was treated at pH 4.7. All the above suggested that the carrier-dispersed method described herein was one of the effective methods in constructing functionalized blend membrane absorbers.

Analysis of Precipitation Characteristics during 1957-2012 in the Semi-Arid Loess Plateau, China.

Precipitation is the only water supply and most important factor affecting vegetation growth on the slopes of semi-arid Loess Plateau of China. Based on precipitation data from 7 synoptic stations in the study area over the period 1957-2012, the trends of precipitation and standardized precipitation index (SPI) were analyzed by using linear regression, Mann-Kendall, and Spearman's Rho tests at the 5% significance level. The results show that (1) the precipitation fluctuation of monthly precipitation was intense (coefficients of variation> 100%), and the drier years were recorded as 1965 and 1995 at all stations. (2) The significant change trend of different stations varied on different time scales: the Changwu station had a significant decreasing trend in April (-0.488 mm/year) and November (-0.249 mm/year), while Luochuan station was in April (-0.457 mm/year); Changwu station displayed a significant increasing trends in winter (0.220 mm/year) and a significant decreasing trends in spring (-0.770 mm/year). The significant decreasing trends in annual precipitation were detected at the Suide (-2.034 mm/year) and Yan'an (-2.129 mm/year) stations. (3) The SPI-12 series analysis suggests that the drought degree of Yulin and Changwu was the lowest and that of Hengshan was the highest among the 7 synoptic stations.

[Differentiation of vegetation characteristics on slope micro-topography of fenced watershed in loess area of north Shaanxi Province, Northwest China].

Based on the investigation data of the vegetations in Hegou valley in Wuqi County of Shaanxi Province, this paper studied the vegetation characteristics on the five typical micro-topography categories including shallow gully, gully, collapse, platform, and scarp in the loess area of north Shaanxi, with the undisturbed slope as the control. There existed distinct differences in the species composition, quantitative characteristics, and species diversity of plant communities on the five typical micro-topography categories and the undisturbed slope. After twelve years of enclosure recovery, the study area formed herbaceous plant community, with Artemisia sacrorum and Artemisia giraldii as the dominant species. Among the main companion species, shrubs such as Prinsepia uniflora and Caragana korshinskii were found in scarp and gully, and hygrophyte Phragmites australis appeared in platform. The coverage, height, and biomass of the plant communities on most of the micro-topography categories, especially on the gully and collapse, were larger than those on the undisturbed slope. The Shannon index on the micro-topography categories and undisturbed slope was in the order of scarp > gully > shallow gully > undisturbed slope > platform > collapse.

[Dynamics of plant community species diversity in the process of ecological rehabilitation in north Shaanxi loess area].

Based on the vegetation survey on 18 sampling plots in Wuqi County of Shaanxi Province, and by using the methods of substituting space series for time series and of contrastive analysis, the dynamics of plant community species diversity in the process of ecological rehabilitation in the County was analyzed from the aspects of succession time, rehabilitation mode, and slope direction. The results showed that in the 25 years natural succession series, the natural restoration community on previous cropland experienced the sequence of Salsola collina, Artemisia scoparia, Lespedeza davurica, Artemisia sacrorum, and Bothriochloa ischcemum, with the dominant species tended to be changed from annual to perennial and from low-class to high-class. The variations of species number, Margalef index, Simpson index, Shannon-Wiener index, and Pielou index in the succession process could all be described by a quadratic function y = at2 + bt + c, suggesting that after the outside pressure removed, the degraded ecosystem in loess area could naturally restore to an advanced and steady state, but the restoration rate would be very slow. With the same site factors and restoration periods, the Margalef index, Shannon-Wiener index and Pielou index of herb layer decreased in the order of naturally restoring on previous cropland (I) > converting cropland to grassland (II) > converting cropland to forestland (III) > afforestation on barren hills (IV), while Simpson index changed in adverse. Comparing with natural restoration, the community types of herb layer in II and III were at the more advanced stage of natural succession series though the species diversity index was lower, indicating that artificial planting would accelerate the succession process. In the same period of rehabilitation, the Margalef index, Shannon-Wiener index and Pielou index of natural restoration community were obviously higher on shady slope than on sunny slope, and the community type was at the more advanced stage of natural succession series, suggesting that the basic ecological rehabilitation condition on sunny slope was worse, and the succession rate was slower.