ABSTRACT
Soil heterogeneity is at a high level in the karst areas, which resulted from the complex habitat. On the one hand, plants have some adaptive strategies to such special habitats by forming certain morphological and physiological characteristics, which result in higher diversity of functional traits. One the other hand, plants improve the physical and chemical properties of soil through a series of life activities. The interactions between plants and soil drive ecosystem structure and function and its responses to global climate change. Here, we summarized the characteristics of soil hete-rogeneity in the karst areas, and reviewed the response of plant functional traits to soil and the feedback of plants to soil. It revealed the coupling mechanism between plants and soil in karst eco-system. We provided a future outlook, including future research contents and directions based on the current research status in this field, which aimed to provide theoretical reference for maintaining the structural and functional stability of fragile karst ecosystems.
Subject(s)
Ecosystem , Soil , Plants , Soil MicrobiologyABSTRACT
Field sampling and indoor pipette method was used to analyze the variation of soil mechanical composition of shallow Karst fissures in response to rainfall under different land uses in Karst rocky desertification region in central Guizhou. Results would supply important scientific basis and direction for further research of soil leakage in the Karst areas. The results showed that silt was the dominant component in soil mechanical composition of shallow Karst fissures, with a content of 57%. In response to rainfall, the contents of silt and clay were increased and that of fine sand was reduced in slope cropland, while the content of fine sand was reduced and that of silt was increased in grassland. The changes of mechanical composition of shallow Karst fissures in forest and shrub land were irregular. Moreover, there was a positive correlation between rainfall and the sand content of shallow Karst fissures. The fissures of land use types had effects on the changes of silt and extremely coarse sand contents with the increase of soil depth, with a decreasing trend of silt.
Subject(s)
Conservation of Natural Resources , Soil , China , Clay , ForestsABSTRACT
Studying soil erosion process and mechanism on Karst slopes has important practical and guiding significance for controlling soil and water loss and preventing rocky desertification in Karst region. The soil erosion process and characteristics on Karst slopes were explored by artificial simulation rainfall experiment. Results showed that the soil and water loss largely came from underground hole (crack) when rainfall intensity was in the range of 30 and 50 mm·h-1, while soil erosion occurred primarily in soil surface when rainfall intensity was 80 mm·h-1. Surface runoff modulus and transport rate both increased with increasing slope, and decreased with increasing underground hole (crack) degree. The underground runoff modulus varied from 0.37 to 0.52, and the underground transport rate changed from 0.81 to 1.93 g·min-1. They both decreased with increasing slope while increased firstly and then decreased with increasing rainfall intensity.
