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Evaluating relationships between soil chemical properties and vegetation cover at different slope aspects in a reclaimed dump

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Abstract

Conducting research about the relationships between soil chemical properties and vegetation coverage at different slope aspects is especially important in reconstructed ecosystems of vulnerable ecological regions. This study was conducted in the first reclaimed dump within the Pingshuo mining area of Shanxi Province, China, to analyze patterns of soil chemical properties (soil organic matter (SOM), soil total nitrogen (STN), soil available phosphorus (SAP) and soil available potassium (SAp) and vegetation coverage (NDVI) and their correlations at different slope aspects. In the reclaimed dump, 26 quadrats were established along four slope aspects (i.e., shady, semi-shady, sunny and semi-sunny slopes). There was no significant difference in SOM or STN among different slope aspects, while SAP differed between shady slopes compared to semi-shady, sunny and semi-sunny slopes; SAP differed significantly between semi-shady and semi-sunny slopes. The NDVI of semi-sunny slopes differed significantly from that of the other three aspects. There was variation in the relationships between NDVI and soil chemical properties, depending on the slope aspects. The logarithm of SOM and NDVI was related linearly on shady and semi-shady slopes, while NDVI was inversely related to the natural logarithm of the logarithm of SOM on sunny and semi-sunny slopes. STN and NDVI had a first-order function relationship on shady and semi-shady slopes, yet a quadratic function relationship on sunny and semi-sunny slopes. The relationships between SAP and NDVI were inverse on all types of slopes. On shady and semi-shady slopes, NDVI had a quadratic relationship with the logarithm of SAp, but it was well fitted by using a cubic function on sunny and semi-sunny slopes. The sensitivity coefficients of soil chemical properties and NDVI were different, and soil chemical properties changed differently depending on changes in NDVI at different slope aspects.

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Acknowledgements

The study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41701607, 41571508) and the Basic Scientific Research Foundation for Excellent Supervisors (2-9-2015-173, 2-9-2017-103). Yingui Cao would like to thank China Scholarship Council (201606405024) for the financial support and thank Xiang Ding, Yuanqing Lu, Zhili Yu, Hongdan Wang, Qian Qin, Wenwen Gao for the soil sampling.

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  1. School of Land Science and Technology, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Haidian District, Beijing, 100083, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaoyang Liu, Yingui Cao, Zhongke Bai, Jinman Wang & Wei Zhou

  2. Key Laboratory of Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation, Ministry of Land and Resources, Beijing, 100035, People’s Republic of China

    Yingui Cao, Zhongke Bai, Jinman Wang & Wei Zhou

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  1. Xiaoyang Liu
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Liu, X., Cao, Y., Bai, Z. et al. Evaluating relationships between soil chemical properties and vegetation cover at different slope aspects in a reclaimed dump. Environ Earth Sci 76, 805 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-017-7157-9

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