Trade-off between vegetation type, soil erosion control and surface water in global semi-arid regions: A meta-analysis

Abstract

Soil erosion control and water resource protection can closely interact during restoration of terrestrial ecosystems. In semi-arid ecosystems, an urgent issue is how vegetation restoration can achieve the goal of soil erosion mitigation and water conservation, which in turn, feeds back to ecosystem functioning.We reviewed 78 articles from 22 countries in semi-arid areas to evaluate the effects of vegetation type (i.e. forest, grassland and scrubland) on runoff and sediment yields across different environmental conditions (i.e. vegetation coverage, rainfall intensity, slope gradient and soil texture).Our meta-analysis shows that runoff and sediment reduction both increased as the vegetation coverage increased, and tended to be stable when vegetation coverage exceeded 60%. Vegetation provided a greater benefit for sediment reduction than for runoff control under intense rainfall. Grasslands were generally more effective in reducing sediment than other vegetation types. Forests, grasslands and scrublands were most efficient in soil erosion control on 20 degrees-30 degrees, 0 degrees-25 degrees and 10 degrees-25 degrees slopes respectively. Grasslands and scrublands generally performed better with respect to soil erosion control on moderately coarse soils, whereas forests were most effective on medium-textured and moderately fine soils.Synthesis and applications. Effective restoration and soil erosion control in semi-arid ecosystems strongly depends on the selection of vegetation type. Our study further indicates that, for land managers, it is critical to consider local slope, and soil texture, and maintain appropriate vegetation coverage to achieve ecosystem sustainability. Grasslands might be particularly suitable to optimize the trade-off between soil erosion control and surface water resource in semi-arid regions.

Keywords

erosion control; meta-analysis; restoration; soil texture; surface water resource; vegetation coverage; vegetation restoration; vegetation type

Published in

Journal of Applied Ecology
2020, Volume: 57, number: 5, pages: 875-885
Publisher: WILEY

SLU Authors

• Kardol, Paul

  • Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG6 Clean water and sanitation
SDG13 Climate action
SDG15 Life on land


UKÄ Subject classification

Ecology


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13597

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/105148