Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Effect on soil properties of conversion of Yellow River Delta ecosystems

  • Published:
Wetlands Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Using remote sensing and geographic information system technologies, we analyzed changes in ecosystem boundary conditions in the Yellow River Delta. We investigated variations in soil water, bulk density, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and organic matter, as well as concentrations of soluble Ca2+, K+, Mg2+ and Na+, under different ecosystem conversions. Results indicated that from 1992 to 2006, boundary characteristics became more complicated and ecosystem conversion was mainly from farmland to a mixed ecosystem supportingTamarix chinensis-Phragmites communis. These ecosystem conversions may be attributed to a combination of urban expansion, oil exploration and extraction, water interception, and soil salinization. Ecosystem conversion also affected soil properties. Organic matter differed among the ecosystems, as did the concentrations of the soil base cations. Ca2+ concentration was higher than concentrations of other cations, and significant differences existed in Ca2+ and Mg2+ concentrations among ecosystems. While the concentration of K+ and Mg2+ showed similar concentrations, mostly increasing, among different ecosystem conversions, Na+ concentrations decreased. In summary, the concentrations of soluble minerals were significantly influenced by ecosystem conversions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Literature Cited

  • Bai, J. H., W. Deng, D. H. Yan, and Z. Q. Luan. 2003. Conversion process of land use/land cover types of wetlands in Huolin River catchment. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 17: 112–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braimoh, A. K. and P. L. G. Vlek. 2004. The impact of landcover change on soil properties in northern Ghana. Land Degradation and Development 15: 65–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bunkei, M., M. Xu, and F. Takehiko. 2006. Characterizing the changes in landscape structure in the Lake Kasumigaura Basin, Japan using a high-quality GIS dataset. Landscape and Urban Planning 78: 241–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, L. D., J. Gong, B. J. Fu, Z. L. Huang, Y. L. Huang, and L. D. Gui. 2007. Effect of land use conversion on soil organic carbon sequestration in the loess hilly area, loess plateau of China. Ecological Research 22: 641–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Day, J. W., G. P. Shaffer, L. D. Britsch, D. J. Reed, S. R. Hawes, and D. Cahoon. 2000. Pattern and process of land loss in the Mississippi Delta: a spatial and temporal analysis of wetlands habitat change. Estuaries 23: 425–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dicka, D. A. and F. S. Gilliam. 2007. Spatial heterogeneity and dependence of soils and herbaceous plant communities in adjacent seasonal wetland and pasture sites. Wetlands 27: 951–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Falkengren-Grerup, U., D. J. Brink, and J. Brunet. 2006. Land use effects on soil N, P, C and pH persist over 40–80 years of forest growth on agricultural soils. Forest Ecology and Management 225: 74–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fang, H. L., G. H. Liu, and M. Kearhey. 2005. Georelational analysis of soil type, soil salt content, landform, and land use in the Yellow River Delta, China. Environmental Management 35: 72–83.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fennessy, M. S., A. Rokosch, and J. J. Mack. 2008. Patterns of plant decomposition and nutrient cycling in natural and created wetlands. Wetlands 28: 300–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferraro, D. O. and C. M. Ghersa. 2007. Quantifying the crop management influence on arable soil condition in the Inland Pampa (Argentina). Geoderma 141: 43–52.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fu, B. J., L. D. Chen, and K. M. Ma. 1999. The effect of land use change on the regional environment in the Yangjuangou catchment in the Loess Plateau of China. Acta Geographica Sinica 54: 241–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fu, B. J., L. D. Chen, K. M. Ma, H. F. Zhou, and J. Wang. 2000. The relationships between land use and soil conditions in the hilly area of the Loess Plateau in northern Shanxi, China. Catena 36: 69–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardner, L. R. and H. W. Reeves. 2002. Seasonal patterns in the soil water balance of aSpartina marsh site at North Inlet, South Carolina, USA. Wetlands 22: 467–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardner, W. H. 1986. Water content. p. 493–544.In A. Klute (ed.) Methods of Soil Analysis. Part 1, 2nd Ed. Agronomy, American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jiang, Y. J., D. X. Yuan, C. Zhang, M. S. Kuang, J. L. Wang, S. Y. Xie, L. L. Li, G. Zhang, and R. S. He. 2006. Impact of landuse change on soil properties in a typical karst agricultural region of Southwest China: a case study of Xiaojiang watershed, Yunnan. Environmental Geology 50: 911–18.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kalkhan, M. A., E. J. Stafford, P. J. Woodly, and T. J. Stohlgren. 2007. Assessing exotic plant species invasions and associated soil characteristics: a case study in eastern Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA, using the pixel nested plot design. Applied Soil Ecology 35: 622–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, G. S. and G. W. Ge. 2008. Discussion on the supervised classification of land use in remote sensing. City Reconnaissance (in Chinese) 3: 44–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu, H. Y., X. G. Lü, and S. K. Zhang. 2003. Progress on the study of process of wetland landscape changes and cumulative environmental effects. Progress in Geography 22: 60–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu, N. 2007. Spatial variability of soil characteristics on different land use types in the Yellow River Delta. MS Thesis, Shandong Agriculture University, Tai’an, China.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Q. S., G. H. Liu, and J. Zhao. 2008. The indication function of soil type and soil texture and land type to soil salinization levels. Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin 24: 297–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu, S. L., X. D. Guo, B. J. Fu, G. Lian, and J. Wang. 2007. The effect of environmental variables on soil characteristics at different scales in the transition zone of the Loess Plateau in China. Soil Use and Management 23: 92–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merot, P., H. Squicidant, P. Aurousseau, M. Hefting, T. Burt, V. Maitre, M. Kruk, A. Butturini, C. Thenail, and V. Viaud. 2003. Testing a climato-topographic index for predicting wetlands distribution along an European climate gradient. Ecological Modeling 163: 51–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michiro, F. and K. Takao. 2005. Changes in the landscape structure of the Nagara River Basin, central Japan. Landscape and Urban Planning 70: 271–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nanjing Institute of Soil Research. 1980. Analysis of Soil Physical and Chemical Features. Nanjing Institute of Soil Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Shanghai Science and Technology Press, Shanghai, China.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, D. W. and L. E. Sommers. 1975. A rapid and accurate method for estimating organic carbon in soil. Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science 84: 456–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pang, X. Y., W. K. Bao, and Y. M. Zhang. 2005. Effect of lowquality and benefit forest improvement on soil physical properties in middle-mountain of upper reaches of Minjiang River. Bulletin of Soil and Water Conservation 25: 12–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parkinson, J. A. and S. E. Allen. 1975. A wet oxidation procedure suitable for determination for nitrogen and mineral nutrients in biological material. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis 6: 1–11.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Qin, S. J., J. S. Liu, G. P. Wang, and W. M. Zhou. 2007. Phosphorus fractions under different land uses in Sanjiang plain. Journal of Environmental Science 28: 2777–82.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Qiu, S., A. J. McComb, R. W. Bell, and J. A. Davis. 2004. Phosphorus dynamics from vegetated catchment to lakebed during seasonal refilling. Wetlands 24: 828–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt, A. D., F. Chabaux, and P. Stille. 2003. The calcium riverine and hydrothermal isotopic fluxes and the oceanic calcium mass balance. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 6731: 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sernwal, R. L., S. Nautiyal, K. K. Sen, U. Rana, R. K. Maikhuri, K. S. Rao, and K. G. Saxena. 2004. Patterns and ecological implications of agricultural land-use changes: A case study from central Himalaya, India. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 102: 81–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shi, L. Q., J. F. Li, M. Ying, W. H. Li, S. L. Chen, and G. A. Zhang. 2005. Advances in researches on the modern Yellow River Delta development and evolution. Advances in Marine Science 23: 96–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smukler, S. M., L. E. Jackson, L. Murphree, R. Yokota, S. T. Koike, and R. F. Smith. 2008. Transition to large-scale organic vegetable production in the Salinas Valley, California. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 126: 168–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • SPSS. 1993. SPSS for Windows Based System, User’s Guide Release 6.0. Marja J. Norusis/SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steven, D. D. and M. M. Toner. 2004. Vegetation of upper coastal plain wetlands: environmental templates and wetland dynamics within a landscape framework. Wetlands 24: 23–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szilassi, P., G. Jordan, A. Rompaey, and G. Csillag. 2006. Impacts of historical land use changes on erosion and agricultural soil properties in the Kali Basin at Lake Balaton, Hungary. Catena 68: 96–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, T. L., E. Zaady, P. Huancheng, T. B. Wilson, and D. A. Martens. 2006. Soil C and N pools in patchy shrublands of the Negev and Chihuahuan Deserts. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 38: 1943–55.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, Y., B. C. Sandefur, J. O. Miller, and A. D. Karathanasis. 2007. Hydrologic and edaphic characteristics of three mountain wetlands in southeastern Kentucky, USA. Wetlands 27: 174–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Raij, B., J. A. Quaggio, H. Cantarella, M. E. Ferreira, A. S. Lopes, and O. C. Bataglia. 1987. Análise Química de Solos para Fins de Fertilidade. Fundacāo Cargill, Campinas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Venterink, H. O., T. E. Davidsson, K. Kiehl, and L. Leonardson. 2002. Impact of drying and re-wetting on N, P, and K dynamics in a wetland soil. Plant and Soil 243: 119–30.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wei, S. C., C. F. Wu, Y. Yang, M. Y. Huang, and Z. R. Yang. 2008. Land use change and ecological security in Yellow River Delta based on RS and GIS Technology. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 22: 185–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu, J. X. 2003. Sediment flux to the sea as influenced by changing human activities and precipitation: example of the Yellow River, China. Environmental Management 31: 328–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yao, R. J., J. S. Yang, and L. Jiang. 2006. Study on spatial variability and appropriate sampling quality of soil salinity in Yellow River Delta. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 20: 89–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yue, T. X., Y. L. Ji, S. E. Jørgensen, and H. Y. Qin. 2003. Landscape change detection of the newly created wetland in Yellow River Delta. Ecological Modelling 164: 21–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeng, H. and N. N. Kong. 2002. Landscape analysis based on boundary characteristics. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology 13: 81–86.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, G. X., X. J. Li, R. Y. Wang, T. Li, and Y. D. Yue. 2007. Soil nutrients in intensive agricultural areas with different landuse types in Qingzhou County, China. Pedosphere 17: 165–71.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, Beijing Normal University, 100875, Beijing, China

    Min Yang, Shiliang Liu, Zhifeng Yang & Tao Sun

  2. Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Cornell University, 14853, Ithaca, New York, USA

    Stephen Daniel DeGloria

  3. Department of Family Medicine, University of Rochester, 14620, New York, USA

    Kathleen Holt

Authors
  1. Min Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shiliang Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Zhifeng Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Tao Sun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Stephen Daniel DeGloria
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Kathleen Holt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Yang, M., Liu, S., Yang, Z. et al. Effect on soil properties of conversion of Yellow River Delta ecosystems. Wetlands 29, 1014–1022 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1672/08-168.1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1672/08-168.1

Key Words

Search

Navigation