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| Evaluation of soil quality during vegetation restoration in the Ziwuling Area of Loess Plateau |
| Lü Chunhua1,2,Zheng Fenli1,2 |
| 1.College of Resources and Environmental Sciences,Northwest A & F University; 2.State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on Loess Plateau: 712100,Yangling,Shaanxi,China |
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Abstract Taking research sites located at sunny hillslopes of natural vegetation restoration with different age(1-140 a) in the Ziwuling Area of Loess Plateau as a case study,selecting sensitive indicators from 16 soil physical,chemical and biological attributes of topsoil(0-20 cm) through correlation analysis,the paper assessed soil quality index(ISQ) during vegetation restoration in the Ziwuling Area through statistic analysis method and principal component analysis.Results indicated that,during vegetation natural succession in the Ziwuling Area,soil total porosity,mean weight diameter(MWD),organic matter,available P,invertase activity,alkaline phosphatase activity,fungi,and microbial biomass were selected as soil quality assessment indicators.Soil quality index increased with vegetation restoration during over 140 years.ISQ shifted from 0.155 9 to 0.850 9 during more than 140 years' natural vegetation succession,and ISQ was 4.2-27.5 times greater than that on bare and fallow land.Based on ISQ change trend,evolution process of ISQ could be divided into 3 stages,that were,ISQ increased rapidly at the beginning of vegetation restoration(1-20 a);ISQ increased fluctuant in the mid-term of vegetation restoration(20-40 a);ISQ increased steadily in the later period of vegetation restoration(40-140 a).For different vegetative types during vegetation restoration,ISQ followed the order: forest land>shrub land>grassland.
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Received: 24 September 2008
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