Land and Water Resources

Soil wind erosion and nutrient loss in typical rodent mounds in a degraded alpine grassland in the Yellow River source zone

  • YUE Dalin ,
  • LI Guorong ,
  • LI Jinfang ,
  • LI Xilai ,
  • ZHAO Jianyun ,
  • ZHU Haili ,
  • LIU Yabin ,
  • HU Xiasong
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  • 1. Department of Geological Engineering, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, Qinghai, China
    2. Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Resource & Environment in Northern Margin of the Tibetan Plateau, Xining 810016, Qinghai, China
    3. College of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, Qinghai, China

Received date: 2023-06-30

  Revised date: 2024-01-10

  Online published: 2024-04-26

Abstract

Numerous rodent mounds are found in areas with rodent activity in alpine grasslands in the Yellow River source zone, and soil wind erosion easily occurs owing to the dry and windy climate. The present study investigated the characteristics and trends of soil wind erosion in rodent mounds using plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) and plateau zokor (Eospalax baileyi) mounds in 14 test areas at different altitudes and with different vegetation coverage in the Yellow River source basin. Field-simulated wind erosion was used to determine the trends of soil loss and nutrient loss in rodent mounds in different regions under different wind speeds. The results showed a significant difference in the amount of soil loss from wind erosion between the different regions (P<0.05). When the wind speed was low, there was no significant difference in soil loss between the two types of rodent mounds. When the wind speed was increased to 12 m·s-1, the soil loss in the plateau pika mound was greater than that in the plateau zokor mound (P<0.05). When the wind speed increased from 3 to 12 m·s-1, the average increase in soil loss in the two types of mounds was 238.16% and 146.31%, respectively. (2) The wind erosion rate of the mound soil in each test area generally showed a decreasing trend with decreasing wind speed. Vegetation coverage was a significant factor affecting the mound soil loss at low wind speeds and was related to altitude. (3) With an increase in grassland degradation levels, the soil total nitrogen content, available nitrogen, available potassium, and organic matter content decreased significantly, whereas total phosphorus, total potassium, and available phosphorus showed an upward trend. This study shows that the difference in soil wind erosion in different regions of the Yellow River source zone is closely associated with soil moisture content, particle size, and wind speed.

Cite this article

YUE Dalin , LI Guorong , LI Jinfang , LI Xilai , ZHAO Jianyun , ZHU Haili , LIU Yabin , HU Xiasong . Soil wind erosion and nutrient loss in typical rodent mounds in a degraded alpine grassland in the Yellow River source zone[J]. Arid Zone Research, 2024 , 41(4) : 603 -617 . DOI: 10.13866/j.azr.2024.04.07

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