Quantitative analysis of time scale effects is conducive to further understanding of vegetation water and soil conservation mechanism.Based on the observation data of the grass covered and bare soil( control) experimental plots located in Hetian Town,Changting County of Fujian Province from 2007 to 2010,the characteristics of 4 parameters( precipitation,vegetation,RE and SE) were analyzed at precipitation event,month,season,and annual scales,and then the linear regression models were established to describe the relationships between RE( SE)and its influencing factors of precipitation and vegetation. RE( SE) means the ratio of runoff depth( soil loss) of grass covered plot to that of the control plot. Results show that these 4 parameters presented different magnitude and variation on different time scales. RE and SE were relatively stable either within or among different time scales due to their ratios reducing the influence of other factors. The coupling of precipitation and vegetation led to better water conservation effect at lower RE( < 0. 3) at precipitation event scale as well as at season scale,while the water conservation effect was dominated by precipitation at slightly higher( 0. 3- 0. 4) and higher( > 0. 7) REs at precipitation event scale as well as at annual scale( R2> 0. 78). For the soil conservation effect,precipitation or / and vegetation was / were the dominated influence factor( s) at precipitation event and annual scales,and the grass LAI could basically describe the positive conservation effect( SE <1,R2> 0. 55),while the maximum 30 min intensity( I30) could describe the negative conservation effect more accurately( SE >1,R2> 0. 79). More uncertainties( R2≈0. 4) exist in the models of both RE and SE at two moderate time scales( month and season). Consequently,factors influencing water and soil conservation effect of grass present different variation and coupling characteristics on different time scales,indicating the importance of time scale at the study on water and soil conservation.
Assessing the effects of vegetation on water and soil conversation is the key basis for research and management of ecological restoration on water-eroded areas.In this study,the runoff depth,soil loss and corresponding precipitation of five plots planted respectively with Pueraria lobata,Lespedeza bicolor Turcz,Manglietia yuyuanensis Law,Paspalum natatu Fliigge,Paspalum wettsteinii Hackel and one control plot were observed monthly from 2003 to 2010 in Hetian Town of Changting County,Fujian Province,a typical water-eroded area in southern China.Then the effects of different vegetation on water/soil conversation(RE/SE)were determined using the ratios of runoff depth/soil loss between vegetated plots to the control plot.Meanwhile,the effect of precipitation on the water and soil loss was also analyzed.The results showed that,both the water and soil conservation effects of Pueraria lobata and Manglietia yuyuanensis Law are better than Lespedeza bicolor Turcz and Paspalum natatu,while Paspalum wettsteinii Hackel are the worst.The differences of effects of water conservation are more significantly than those of soil conversation between five kinds of vegetations.The runoff depth is mainly affected by precipitation,the determination coefficients(R2)of linear regression models between precipitation and runoff depth of all planted plots are all greater than 0.9,whereas the determination coefficients of the linear regression models between precipitation and soil loss vary form 0.3 to 0.8 for different vegetated plots.These results provide a reference for vegetation reconstruction in the current and similar areas.
There is growing concern about remote sensing of vertical vegetation density in rapidly expanding peri-urban interfaces.A widely used parameter for such density,i.e.,leaf area index (LAI),was measured in situ in Nanjing,China and then correlated with two vegetation indices (VI) derived from multiple radiometric correction levels of a SPOT5 imagery.The VIs were a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and a ratio vegetation index (RVI),while the four radiometric correction levels were i) post atmospheric correction reflectance (PAC),ii) top of atmosphere reflectance (TOA),iii) satellite radiance (SR) and iv) digital number (DN).A total of 157 LAI-VI relationship models were established.The results showed that LAI is positively correlated with VI (r varies from 0.303 to 0.927,p < 0.001).The R 2 values of "pure" vegetation were generally higher than those of mixed vegetation.The average R 2 values of about 40 models based on DN data (0.688) were higher than that of the routinely used PAC (0.648).Independent variables of the optimal models for different vegetation quadrats included two vegetation indices at three radiometric correction levels,indicating the potential of vegetation indices at multiple radiometric correction levels in LAI inversion.The study demonstrates that taking heterogeneities of vegetation structures and uncertainties of radiometric corrections into account may help full mining of valuable information from remote sensing images,thus improving accuracies of LAI estimation.
Quantifying the effects of forests on water and soil conservation helps further understanding of ecological functions and improving vegetation reconstruction in water-eroded areas.Studies on the effects of vegetation on water and soil conservation have generally focused on vegetation types or vegetation horizontal distribution densities.However,only a few studies have used indicators that consider the vegetation vertical distribution.This study used the leaf area index(LAI) to investigate the relationship between forests and water and soil conservation in experimental plots.From 2007 to 2010,rainfall characteristics,LAI,and water and soil loss in 144 natural erosive rainfall events were measured from five pure tree plots(Pinus massoniana).These tree plots were located in Hetian Town,Changting County,Fujian Province,which is a typical water-eroded area in Southern China.Quadratic polynomial regression models for LAI and water/soil conservation effects(RE/SE) were established for each plot.The RE and SE corresponded to the ratios of the runoff depth(RD) and the soil loss(SL) of each pure tree plot to those of the control plot under each rainfall event.The transformation LAIs of the LAI–RE and LAI–SE curves,as well as the rainfall characteristics for the different water/soil conservation effects,were computed.The increasing LAI resulted in descending,descending–ascending,ascending–descending,and ascending trends in the LAI–RE and LAI–SE curves.The rainfall frequencies corresponding to each trend of LAI–RE and LAI–SE were different,and the rainfall distributions were not uniform per year.The effects of soil conservation in the plots were superior to those of water conservation.Most of the RE and SE values presented a positive effect on water and soil conservation.The main factor that caused different effects was rainfall intensity.During heavy rains(e.g.,rainfall erosivity R = 145 MJ mm/ha h and maximum 30 min intensity I30 = 13 mm/h),the main effects were positive,whereas light rains(e.g.,R = 70 MJ m
