Chapter 7
Effects of Conservation Practices on Soil,
Water, and Nutrients
Abstract To comprehensively assess the merits and demerits of the conservation
practices is of great importance in further supervising the conservation strategy for
the Loess Plateau. This chapter calculates the impact factors of conservation practices on soil, water, and nutrients during the period 1954–2004 in the Nanxiaohegou
Catchment, a representative catchment on the Loess Plateau, China. Soil erosion
and nutrient loss had been greatly mitigated through various conservation practices.
About half of the total transported water and 94.8% of the total transported soil and
nutrients had been locally retained in the selected catchment. The retention abilities
of the characteristic conservation practices were in the following order: dam farmland > terrace farmland > forest land or grassland. Hence the check dam was the most
appropriate conservation practice on the Loess Plateau. The conservation practices
were more powerful in retaining sediment than in reducing runoff from the Loess
Plateau.
Keywords Loess Plateau · Soil management · Soil · Runoff · Nutrient
7.1 Effects of Soil Conservation Practices
Soil erosion has been identified as one of the most significant threats to land productivity and environmental quality on the Loess Plateau of China (Fu et al. 2004).
Various measures, e.g., over 100,000 check dams, numerous terrace farmlands, forest
lands and grasslands, have been established to reduce soil erosion since the 1950s (Xu
et al. 2004). To comprehensively assess the environmental impacts of the practices
is of vital importance in further supervising the conservation strategies.
Since the practical effects varied with different conservation practices in different areas, it is essential to propose suitable conservation practices with low costperformance ratios. Vegetation was regarded as an important means of controlling
soil erosion (Castillo et al. 1997; Quinton et al. 1997). Forest management had
an obvious short-term (e.g., 2–5 years) impact on stream quality at local scales,
while its cumulative effect was not apparent at regional scales in the mid-Atlantic
Highlands (Thornton et al. 2000). On the steep slopes, the orchards worked better
than the arable lands in conserving soil in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, China
© Science Press and Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
X. Xu et al., Experimental Erosion,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3801-8_7
95
Effects of Conservation Practices on Soil,
Water, and Nutrients
Abstract To comprehensively assess the merits and demerits of the conservation
practices is of great importance in further supervising the conservation strategy for
the Loess Plateau. This chapter calculates the impact factors of conservation practices on soil, water, and nutrients during the period 1954–2004 in the Nanxiaohegou
Catchment, a representative catchment on the Loess Plateau, China. Soil erosion
and nutrient loss had been greatly mitigated through various conservation practices.
About half of the total transported water and 94.8% of the total transported soil and
nutrients had been locally retained in the selected catchment. The retention abilities
of the characteristic conservation practices were in the following order: dam farmland > terrace farmland > forest land or grassland. Hence the check dam was the most
appropriate conservation practice on the Loess Plateau. The conservation practices
were more powerful in retaining sediment than in reducing runoff from the Loess
Plateau.
Keywords Loess Plateau · Soil management · Soil · Runoff · Nutrient
7.1 Effects of Soil Conservation Practices
Soil erosion has been identified as one of the most significant threats to land productivity and environmental quality on the Loess Plateau of China (Fu et al. 2004).
Various measures, e.g., over 100,000 check dams, numerous terrace farmlands, forest
lands and grasslands, have been established to reduce soil erosion since the 1950s (Xu
et al. 2004). To comprehensively assess the environmental impacts of the practices
is of vital importance in further supervising the conservation strategies.
Since the practical effects varied with different conservation practices in different areas, it is essential to propose suitable conservation practices with low costperformance ratios. Vegetation was regarded as an important means of controlling
soil erosion (Castillo et al. 1997; Quinton et al. 1997). Forest management had
an obvious short-term (e.g., 2–5 years) impact on stream quality at local scales,
while its cumulative effect was not apparent at regional scales in the mid-Atlantic
Highlands (Thornton et al. 2000). On the steep slopes, the orchards worked better
than the arable lands in conserving soil in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, China
© Science Press and Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
X. Xu et al., Experimental Erosion,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3801-8_7
95