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Effects of land use on phosphorus loss in the hilly area of the Loess Plateau, China

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Abstract

The hilly area of Loess Plateau has some of the highest soil erosion rates in the world, and serious soil erosion causes great losses of plant nutrients. As the most common land use in Loess Plateau, slope farmland contributed most of the erosion soils. This study was designed to examine the effects of land use and slope angle of farmland on phosphorus (P) loss in the hilly area of loess plateau. Farmland (FR), barrenland (BR), and four forest treantment (seabuckthorn+ poplar (SP), immature seabuckthorn (IS), mature seabuckthorn (MS), immature Chinese pine (ICP)) were the types of land use; 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 degrees were the slope angles of FR that were compared. The results showed a larger proportion of P loss occurred in erosion soil fraction of FR, ICP, ICP, and the five slope treatments of FR; in SP, IS, and MS, P loss was primarily through runoff. FR produced more P loss than SP, IS, ICP, BR, and MS. 20∼30 degrees may be the slope ranges for P loss of FR; FR in this ranges would loss more P with soil erosion. SP, IS, and MS were reasonable land uses for their less runoff, soil loss, and P loss. Farmlands over 15 degrees should be abandoned or reforested for it would produce more runoff, soil loss, and P loss.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Academy of Forest Inventory and Planning, State Forestry Administration, Beijing, 100714, China

    Qinghua Meng, Xiaoping Tang & Hongchang Ren

  2. State Key Lab. of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P. O. Box 2871, Beijing, 100085, China

    Bojie Fu

Authors
  1. Qinghua Meng
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  2. Bojie Fu
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  3. Xiaoping Tang
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  4. Hongchang Ren
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Correspondence to Bojie Fu.

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Meng, Q., Fu, B., Tang, X. et al. Effects of land use on phosphorus loss in the hilly area of the Loess Plateau, China. Environ Monit Assess 139, 195–204 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-007-9826-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-007-9826-8

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