Abstract
A typical small-scale epikarst ecosystem usually consists of an epikarst zone, soil and vegetation. In this study, to determine the hydro-eco-geochemical effects of an epikarst ecosystem in subtropical humid area, the samples of vegetation, soil, soil microbes, rainfall, throughfall, stem flow, soil water and epikarst springs of Nongla Village, Mashan County, Guangxi in China were collected and analyzed. The research results have shown in the epikarst ecosystem, the conductivity, temporary hardness and total carbon increased continuously in hydro-ecochemical cycle; the vegetation–soil system conducted the transformation and transference of carbon in hydro-ecochemical cycle; the vegetation layer was the major source for organic carbon, while the soil layer was of the important chemical field for the conversion of organic/inorganic carbon and HCO3 –, which would affect the epikarst dynamical system; for most ions, the vegetation layer and shallow soil layer presented more leaching effect than absorption, in contrast, the deep soil layer behaved oppositely. The vegetation layer and shallow soil layer leached ions, and deep soil layer absorbed them. With the plant community presenting in a positive succession, the epikarst ecosystem trended to be stabilized gradually, which made the hydro-eco-geochemical effects to be adjusted and controlled more effectively.
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Acknowledgments
This research could not have been developed without the support of Key Technologies Research and Development Program of the State Tenth Five Year Plan Project (2006BAC01A10); National Key Technologies R&D Program (2008BAD98B07); the Hunan Education Office Excellence Youth Project (08B093); the Formation Processes and Evolution of Karst Secondary Forest in Guangxi (08KE01); NSFC (40872214); Preparation and Technology of Environmentally Friendly anti-UV PVA Film (2010GK2029). Many thanks are extended to Prof. F.N. Wei for his invaluable support in the identification of the botanical specimens. Thanks to Y.Q. Xie for his suggestion on illustrations. Prof. Derek Ford, Prof. Julia Ellis Burnet and Q.K. Luo kindly edited the text for English style.
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Shen, L., Deng, X., Jiang, Z. et al. Hydroecogeochemical effects of an epikarst ecosystem: case study of the Nongla Landiantang Spring catchment. Environ Earth Sci 68, 667–677 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-012-1770-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-012-1770-4