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Afforestation and Reforestation Drivers, Dynamics, and Impacts
Gang Dong, Jingfeng Xiao, Ge Sun, Lu Hao and Zhiqiang Zhang
www.mdpi.com/journal/forests
Afforestation and Reforestation
Special Issue Editors
Jingfeng Xiao
Zhiqiang Zhang
China
USA
China
MDPI St. Alban-Anlage 66 4052 Basel, Switzerland
This is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal Forests
(ISSN 1999-4907) from 2018 to 2019 (available at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/forests/special
issues/afforestation reforestation)
For citation purposes, cite each article independently as indicated on the article page online and as
indicated below:
LastName, A.A.; LastName, B.B.; LastName, C.C. Article Title. Journal Name Year, Article Number,
Page Range.
Cover image courtesy of Feng Zhang.
c© 2019 by the authors. Articles in this book are Open Access and distributed under the Creative
Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon
published articles, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum
dissemination and a wider impact of our publications.
The book as a whole is distributed by MDPI under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons
license CC BY-NC-ND.
Preface to ”Afforestation and Reforestation: Drivers, Dynamics, and Impacts” . . . . . . . . . ix
Xi Wei, Huaxing Bi, Wenjun Liang, Guirong Hou, Lingxiao Kong and Qiaozhi Zhou
Relationship between Soil Characteristics and Stand Structure of Robinia pseudoacacia L. and Pinus tabulaeformis Carr. Mixed Plantations in the Caijiachuan Watershed: An Application of Structural Equation Modeling Reprinted from: forests 2018, 9, 124, doi:10.3390/f9030124 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Cai Ren, Yajuan Wu, Tianshan Zha, Xin Jia, Yun Tian, Yujie Bai, Charles P.-A. Bourque, Jingyong Ma and Wei Feng
Seasonal Changes in Photosynthetic Energy Utilization in a Desert Shrub (Artemisia ordosica Krasch.) during Its Different Phenophases Reprinted from: forests 2018, 9, 176, doi:10.3390/f9040176 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Kai Schwarzel, Lulu Zhang, Andreas Strecker and Christian Podlasly
Improved Water Consumption Estimates of Black Locust Plantations in China’s Loess Plateau Reprinted from: forests 2018, 9, 201, doi:10.3390/f9040201 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Ying Wang, Yuanbo Liu and Jiaxin Jin
Contrast Effects of Vegetation Cover Change on Evapotranspiration during a Revegetation Period in the Poyang Lake Basin, China Reprinted from: forests 2018, 9, 217, doi:10.3390/f9040217 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Hao Wang, Guohua Liu, Zongshan Li, Pengtao Wang and Zhuangzhuang Wang
Assessing the Driving Forces in Vegetation Dynamics Using Net Primary Productivity as the Indicator: A Case Study in Jinghe River Basin in the Loess Plateau Reprinted from: forests 2018, 9, 374, doi:10.3390/f9070374 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Dan Zhang, Xiaomang Liu and Peng Bai
Different Influences of Vegetation Greening on Regional Water-Energy Balance under Different Climatic Conditions Reprinted from: forests 2018, 9, 412, doi:10.3390/f9070412 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Fazhu Zhao, Jieying Wang, Lu Zhang, Chengjie Ren, Xinhui Han, Gaihe Yang, Russell Doughty and Jian Deng
Understory Plants Regulate Soil Respiration through Changes in Soil Enzyme Activity and Microbial C, N, and P Stoichiometry Following Afforestation Reprinted from: forests 2018, 9, 436, doi:10.3390/f9070436 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Jie Wang, Shaowei Ning and Timur Khujanazarov
Modeling Hydrological Appraisal of Potential Land Cover Change and Vegetation Dynamics under Environmental Changes in a Forest Basin Reprinted from: forests 2018, 9, 451, doi:10.3390/f9080451 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Dong Zhang, Jinhua Cheng, Ying Liu, Hongjiang Zhang, Lan Ma, Xuemei Mei and Yihui Sun
Spatio-Temporal Dynamic Architecture of Living Brush Mattress: Root System and Soil Shear Strength in Riverbanks Reprinted from: forests 2018, 9, 493, doi:10.3390/f9080493 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
v
Lei Ouyang, Shiyu Liu, Jingping Ye, Zheng Liu, Fei Sheng, Rong Wang and Zhihong Lu
Quantitative Assessment of Surface Runoff and Base Flow Response to Multiple Factors in Pengchongjian Small Watershed Reprinted from: forests 2018, 9, 553, doi:10.3390/f9090553 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Mara Monica Gonzalez-Orozco, Jose Angel Prieto-Ruz, Arnulfo Aldrete, Jose Ciro Hernandez-Daz, Jorge Armando Chavez-Simental and Rodrigo Rodrguez-Laguna Nursery Production of Pinus engelmannii Carr. with Substrates Based on Fresh Sawdust Reprinted from: forests 2018, 9, 678, doi:10.3390/f9110678 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
vi
About the Special Issue Editors
Gang Dong is currently Postdoc at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and Researcher
at Shanxi University. He earned his Ph.D. in Ecology from Northeast Normal University in 2011.
As Co-Chair of the United States–China Carbon Consortium (USCCC), Dr. Dong’s research mainly
focuses on synthetic observations of eddy flux towers and remote sensing. He is particularly
interested in understanding the ecohydrological processes under global climate change and land
use/cover change scenarios, particularly in rainfall pattern changes and vegetation restoration
feedback on water and carbon cycling.
Jingfeng Xiao is currently Research Associate Professor in Global Ecology at the Earth Systems
Research Center, University of New Hampshire. Dr. Xiao’s research interests include terrestrial
carbon cycle, remote sensing, ecological modeling, vegetation dynamics, land cover/land use change,
disturbances, and human–environment interactions. He is particularly interested in understanding
the impacts of climate change, land cover/land use change, and disturbances in terrestrial carbon
cycling as well as their feedback into the climate. He combines remote sensing, ecological modeling,
field measurements (e.g., eddy covariance measurements), model–data fusion, and statistical analysis
to answer important carbon cycle, climate change, and ecology-related questions. He has served on
the review committee of the 2nd State of Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR-2) of the National Academies
of Sciences, and was a Co-Chair of the United States–China Carbon Consortium (USCCC). He earned
his Ph.D. from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 2006, M.Sc. from Peking University in
2000, and B.Sc. from Lanzhou University in 1997.
Ge Sun is a Research Hydrologist with the Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center,
USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station, and an Adjunct Professor at North Carolina State
University. Dr. Sun has conducted forest hydrological research on various ecosystems, from Florida’s
cypress swamps in the humid southeastern United States to northern China’s Loess Plateau drylands.
Currently Dr. Sun’s research focuses on the effects of climate change, land use change, and wildland
fires on water and carbon resources at multiple scales. Dr. Sun has authored more than 250 journal
articles and book chapters. Dr. Sun has received several distinguished awards, including Fellow of
the American Water Resources Association and the US Forest Service Chief’s Distinguished Science
Awards. He is a co-founder of the US–China Carbon Consortium and has served as a forestry expert
for the Forest Service International Programs mission in Asia, Africa, and Mexico. He received
degrees in forest hydrology from Beijing Forestry University (B.Sc. in 1985 and M.Sc. in 1988) and the
University of Florida (Ph.D. in 1995).
Lu Hao is Professor at the College of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science
and Technology. Dr. Hao obtained both her Ph.D. and Master degrees in Physical Geography from
Beijing Normal University. She was a visiting scholar at CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and
Industrial Research Organization), Australia, in 2013, and worked as a senior meteorological engineer
at the Inner Mongolia Meteorological Bureau, China, from 1992 to 2009. Dr. Hao has authored more
than 70 journal articles and book chapters. Her current research interests focus on the effects of
climate change and land use and land cover change on evapotranspiration, and water and energy
balance, and applications of ecohydrological simulation models, GIS, and remote sensing to assess
water supply and demand relations at basin and regional scales. Her current projects study the
impacts of urbanization on evapotranspiration and associated ecohydrological processes in a paddy
vii
wetland-dominated basin, and the coupling of hydrology and carbon cycling in terrestrial ecosystems
in response to climate change and land use management.
Zhiqiang Zhang is Professor of Ecohydrology and currently serving as Dean at the College of Soil and
Water Conservation at Beijing Forestry University, China. He received his Bachelor, Master, and Ph.D.
degrees in forestry from Beijing Forestry University in 1988, 1991, and 1999, respectively. Dr. Zhang’s
research interests include ecohydrological processes and modeling, water yield and land use change,
carbon and water flux coupling of managed forest ecosystems, and urban forestry. Dr. Zhang has led
a number of research projects supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, National Science
Foundation of China, the State Forestry and Grassland Administration, as well as International
Cooperation Projects. Dr. Zhang has authored over 180 journal articles and book chapters and
received several national, provincial, and ministry awards for his academic achievements. He is a
co-founder of the US–China Carbon Consortium.
viii
Dynamics, and Impacts”
Afforestation and reforestation have been implemented worldwide as an effective measure
towards sustainable ecosystem services. The conversion of grasslands, croplands, shrublands, or bare
lands to forests can dramatically alter forest water, energy, and carbon cycles, e.g., through carbon
sequestration, soil erosion control, and water quality improvement. Large-scale afforestation/
reforestation is typically driven by policies and, in turn, can also have substantial socioeconomic
impacts. To enable success, forestation endeavors require novel approaches that involve a series of
complex processes and interdisciplinary sciences. For example, exotic or fast-growing tree species
are often used to improve the soil conditions of degraded lands or maximize productivity, and it
often takes a long time to understand and quantify the consequences of such practices at watershed
or regional scales. Maintaining the sustainability of man-made forests is becoming increasingly
challenging under a changing environment and disturbance regime changes such as wildland fires,
urbanization, drought, air pollution, climate change, and socioeconomic change.
This book is a collection of 11 papers published as a Special Issue of Forests in 2018.
These studies provide an in-depth understanding of the ecosystem changes and driving forces
following afforestation and explore how plants regulate water consumption, energy utilization,
and carbon exchange in different phenophases and climatic conditions, in addition to proposing new
quantitative models and appraisal approaches for sustaining forests under a changing environment.
We have organized the 11 papers into four major themes that address emerging issues about
afforestation/reforestation in several unique regions. The first theme provides an overview of
the grand challenges and opportunities facing vegetation greening in the Loess Plateau region
of northern China and Yangtze River basin of southern China [1–3]. The second theme presents
process-based studies on the effects of vegetation cover change on ecohydrological processes,
including evapotranspiration [4] and net primary productivity [5] by remote sensing, transpiration
by Granier’s sap flow [6], surface runoff and base flow [7], and chlorophyll fluorescence [8]. The third
theme is represented by a case study that uses modeling to demonstrate land cover change and
vegetation dynamics under environmental changes [9]. The fourth and last theme covers studies
that focus on innovative research methodology that are being used in ecological engineering [10]
and nursery production [11]. In summary, these studies provide an update on the scientific advances
related to forestation and show that human-dominated vegetation restoration activities will further
exacerbate vegetation water demand, resulting in contrasting effects on ecosystem services in
both magnitude and direction. We recommend that future ecological restoration programs pay
more attention to maintaining the balance between ecosystem restoration and water resource
demand to maximize the benefits of human activities and ensure that vegetation restoration
is ecologically sustainable. We hope that the information provided by this book is timely and
helpful for land managers and policy makers to better manage forest resources under rapidly
changing environments. We would also like to thank the authors for sharing their research, and the
reviewers and editors for their dedication, which were vital to the success of this Forests Special Issue.
ix
References
1. Zhang, D.; Liu, X.; Bai, P. Different Influences of Vegetation Greening on Regional Water-Energy
Balance under Different Climatic Conditions. Forests 2018, 9, 412.
2. Zhao, F.; Wang, J.; Zhang, L.; Ren, C.; Han, X.; Yang, G.; Doughty, R.; Deng, J. Understory
Plants Regulate Soil Respiration through Changes in Soil Enzyme Activity and Microbial C, N, and P
Stoichiometry Following Afforestation. Forests 2018, 9, 436.
3. Wei, X.; Bi, H.; Liang, W.; Hou, G.; Kong, L.; Zhou, Q. Relationship between Soil Characteristics
and Stand Structure of Robinia pseudoacacia L. and Pinus tabulaeformis Carr. Mixed Plantations in
the Caijiachuan Watershed: An Application of Structural Equation Modeling. Forests 2018, 9, 124.
4. Wang, Y.; Liu, Y.; Jin, J. Contrast Effects of Vegetation Cover Change on Evapotranspiration during
a Revegetation Period in the Poyang Lake Basin, China. Forests 2018, 9, 217.
5. Wang, H.; Liu, G.; Li, Z.; Wang, P.; Wang, Z. Assessing the Driving Forces in Vegetation Dynamics
Using Net Primary Productivity as the Indicator: A Case Study in Jinghe River Basin in the Loess
Plateau. Forests 2018, 9, 374.
6. Schwarzel, K.; Zhang, L.; Strecker, A.; Podlasly, C. Improved Water Consumption Estimates of
Black Locust Plantations in China’s Loess Plateau. Forests 2018, 9, 201.
7. Ouyang, L.; Liu, S.; Ye, J.; Liu, Z.; Sheng, F.; Wang, R.; Lu, Z. Quantitative Assessment of Surface
Runoff and Base Flow Response to Multiple Factors in Pengchongjian Small Watershed. Forests 2018,
9, 553.
8. Ren, C.; Wu, Y.; Zha, T.; Jia, X.; Tian, Y.; Bai, Y.; Bourque, C.; Ma, J.; Feng, W. Seasonal Changes in
Photosynthetic Energy Utilization in a Desert Shrub (Artemisia ordosica Krasch.) during Its Different
Phenophases. Forests 2018, 9, 176.
9. Wang, J.; Ning, S.; Khujanazarov, T. Modeling Hydrological Appraisal of Potential Land Cover
Change and Vegetation Dynamics under Environmental Changes in a Forest Basin. Forests 2018,
9, 451.
10. Zhang, D.; Cheng, J.; Liu, Y.; Zhang, H.; Ma, L.; Mei, X.; Sun, Y. Spatio-Temporal Dynamic
Architecture of Living Brush Mattress: Root System and Soil Shear Strength in Riverbanks. Forests
2018, 9, 493.
Sawdust. Forests 2018, 9, 678.
Gang Dong, Jingfeng Xiao, Ge Sun, Lu Hao, Zhiqiang Zhang
Special Issue Editors
Relationship between Soil Characteristics and Stand Structure of Robinia pseudoacacia L. and Pinus tabulaeformis Carr. Mixed Plantations in the Caijiachuan Watershed: An Application of Structural Equation Modeling
Xi Wei 1, Huaxing Bi 1,2,3,4,*, Wenjun Liang 5, Guirong Hou 1, Lingxiao Kong 1 and
Qiaozhi Zhou 1
1 School of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China; [email protected] (X.W.); [email protected] (G.H.); konglx958 @163.com (L.K.); [email protected] (Q.Z.)
2 Beijing Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-Environmental Improvement with Forestry and Fruit Trees, Beijing 102206, China
3 Ji County Station, Chinese National Ecosystem Research Network (CNERN), Beijing 100083, China 4 Beijing Forestry University, Key Laboratory of State Forestry Administration on Soil and Water
Conservation, Beijing 100083, China 5 College of Forestry, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu 030801, China; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +86-10-6233-6756
Received: 20 December 2017; Accepted: 3 March 2018; Published: 6 March 2018
Abstract: In order to study the multi-factor coupling relationships between typical Robinia pseudoacacia L. and Pinus tabulaeformis Carr. mixed plantations in the Caijiachuan basin of the Loess Plateau of Shanxi Province, West China, 136 sample plots were selected for building a structural equation model (SEM) of three potential variables: terrain, stand structure, and soil characteristics. Additionally, the indicators (also known as observed variables) were studied in this paper, including slope, altitude, diameter at breast height (DBH), tree height (TH), tree crown area, canopy density, stand density, leaf area index (LAI), soil moisture content, soil maximum water holding capacity (WHC), soil organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), ammonia-nitrogen (NH3-N), nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N), and available phosphorus (AP). The results showed that terrain was the most important factor influencing soil moisture and nutrients, with a total impact coefficient of 1.303 and a direct path coefficient of 0.03, which represented mainly positive impacts; while correspondingly stand structure had a smaller negative impact on soil characteristics, with a total impact coefficient of −0.585 and a direct path coefficient of −0.01. The terrain also had a positive impact on the stand structure, with a total impact coefficient of 0.487 and a direct path coefficient of 0.63, indicating that the topography factors were more suitable for site conditions and both the stand structure and the soil moisture and nutrient conditions were relatively superior. By affecting the stand structure, terrain could restrict some soil, water, and nutrient functions of soil and water conservation. The influence coefficients of the four observed variables of DBH, stand density, soil water content, and organic matter, and potential variable topography reached 0.686, −0.119, 1.117, and 0.732, respectively; and the influence coefficients of soil moisture, organic matter and stand structure were −0.502 and −0.329, respectively. Therefore, besides observing the corresponding latent variables, the observed variables had a considerable indirect influence on other related latent variables. These relationships showed that the measures, such as changing micro-topography and adjusting stand density, should effectively maintain or enhance soil moisture and nutrient content so as to achieve improved soil and water conservation benefits in the ecologically important Loess Area.
Forests 2018, 9, 124; doi:10.3390/f9030124 www.mdpi.com/journal/forests1
Forests 2018, 9, 124
1. Introduction
Large-scale afforestation in the Western Shanxi Loess Area started in the early 1990s, and the area has been covered by larger-sized plantations over the past 20 years. Mixed afforestation methods—with plantations consisting of two or more tree species—are often used. In the mixed plantations, tree species other than the main tree species represent over 20% of the plantation, in terms of number of trees, cross-sectional area, or volume. The impact of vegetation construction on soil and water resources has also aroused great attention, both at home and abroad, particularly in the Loess Plateau—an area known for soil and water loss, a lack of water resources, a fragile ecological environment, and a lack of a strong conservation ethics. The main reasons for the creation of large-scale plantations in this region, and their impacts on soil and water conservation, water resources security, and regional sustainable development, have been a particular cause for concern. The relationships between the stand structures of the plantations and soil and water conservation have also gradually become the foci of academic research.
Many studies on the stand structure and soil and water conservation functions of the Loess Plateau, as well as other ecologically sensitive areas, have been carried out, usually aimed at one, or several, dimensions. For example, Bi Huaxing et al. utilized the principle of water balance to establish a suitable coverage calculation model based on spatial and temporal differentiation of soil moisture and water consumption [1]; Brzostek et al. proposed that chronic water stress could reduce the tree growth of forests, and also considered the extent to which forests ameliorate climate warming [2]; and Panagos et al. presented an assessment of soil loss due to water erosion in Europe, and also suggested some policy measures that should be targeted [3]. Other scholars have also presented research results on some factors related to the stand structure, soil moisture…
Gang Dong, Jingfeng Xiao, Ge Sun, Lu Hao and Zhiqiang Zhang
www.mdpi.com/journal/forests
Afforestation and Reforestation
Special Issue Editors
Jingfeng Xiao
Zhiqiang Zhang
China
USA
China
MDPI St. Alban-Anlage 66 4052 Basel, Switzerland
This is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal Forests
(ISSN 1999-4907) from 2018 to 2019 (available at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/forests/special
issues/afforestation reforestation)
For citation purposes, cite each article independently as indicated on the article page online and as
indicated below:
LastName, A.A.; LastName, B.B.; LastName, C.C. Article Title. Journal Name Year, Article Number,
Page Range.
Cover image courtesy of Feng Zhang.
c© 2019 by the authors. Articles in this book are Open Access and distributed under the Creative
Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon
published articles, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum
dissemination and a wider impact of our publications.
The book as a whole is distributed by MDPI under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons
license CC BY-NC-ND.
Preface to ”Afforestation and Reforestation: Drivers, Dynamics, and Impacts” . . . . . . . . . ix
Xi Wei, Huaxing Bi, Wenjun Liang, Guirong Hou, Lingxiao Kong and Qiaozhi Zhou
Relationship between Soil Characteristics and Stand Structure of Robinia pseudoacacia L. and Pinus tabulaeformis Carr. Mixed Plantations in the Caijiachuan Watershed: An Application of Structural Equation Modeling Reprinted from: forests 2018, 9, 124, doi:10.3390/f9030124 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Cai Ren, Yajuan Wu, Tianshan Zha, Xin Jia, Yun Tian, Yujie Bai, Charles P.-A. Bourque, Jingyong Ma and Wei Feng
Seasonal Changes in Photosynthetic Energy Utilization in a Desert Shrub (Artemisia ordosica Krasch.) during Its Different Phenophases Reprinted from: forests 2018, 9, 176, doi:10.3390/f9040176 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Kai Schwarzel, Lulu Zhang, Andreas Strecker and Christian Podlasly
Improved Water Consumption Estimates of Black Locust Plantations in China’s Loess Plateau Reprinted from: forests 2018, 9, 201, doi:10.3390/f9040201 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Ying Wang, Yuanbo Liu and Jiaxin Jin
Contrast Effects of Vegetation Cover Change on Evapotranspiration during a Revegetation Period in the Poyang Lake Basin, China Reprinted from: forests 2018, 9, 217, doi:10.3390/f9040217 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Hao Wang, Guohua Liu, Zongshan Li, Pengtao Wang and Zhuangzhuang Wang
Assessing the Driving Forces in Vegetation Dynamics Using Net Primary Productivity as the Indicator: A Case Study in Jinghe River Basin in the Loess Plateau Reprinted from: forests 2018, 9, 374, doi:10.3390/f9070374 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Dan Zhang, Xiaomang Liu and Peng Bai
Different Influences of Vegetation Greening on Regional Water-Energy Balance under Different Climatic Conditions Reprinted from: forests 2018, 9, 412, doi:10.3390/f9070412 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Fazhu Zhao, Jieying Wang, Lu Zhang, Chengjie Ren, Xinhui Han, Gaihe Yang, Russell Doughty and Jian Deng
Understory Plants Regulate Soil Respiration through Changes in Soil Enzyme Activity and Microbial C, N, and P Stoichiometry Following Afforestation Reprinted from: forests 2018, 9, 436, doi:10.3390/f9070436 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Jie Wang, Shaowei Ning and Timur Khujanazarov
Modeling Hydrological Appraisal of Potential Land Cover Change and Vegetation Dynamics under Environmental Changes in a Forest Basin Reprinted from: forests 2018, 9, 451, doi:10.3390/f9080451 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Dong Zhang, Jinhua Cheng, Ying Liu, Hongjiang Zhang, Lan Ma, Xuemei Mei and Yihui Sun
Spatio-Temporal Dynamic Architecture of Living Brush Mattress: Root System and Soil Shear Strength in Riverbanks Reprinted from: forests 2018, 9, 493, doi:10.3390/f9080493 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
v
Lei Ouyang, Shiyu Liu, Jingping Ye, Zheng Liu, Fei Sheng, Rong Wang and Zhihong Lu
Quantitative Assessment of Surface Runoff and Base Flow Response to Multiple Factors in Pengchongjian Small Watershed Reprinted from: forests 2018, 9, 553, doi:10.3390/f9090553 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Mara Monica Gonzalez-Orozco, Jose Angel Prieto-Ruz, Arnulfo Aldrete, Jose Ciro Hernandez-Daz, Jorge Armando Chavez-Simental and Rodrigo Rodrguez-Laguna Nursery Production of Pinus engelmannii Carr. with Substrates Based on Fresh Sawdust Reprinted from: forests 2018, 9, 678, doi:10.3390/f9110678 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
vi
About the Special Issue Editors
Gang Dong is currently Postdoc at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and Researcher
at Shanxi University. He earned his Ph.D. in Ecology from Northeast Normal University in 2011.
As Co-Chair of the United States–China Carbon Consortium (USCCC), Dr. Dong’s research mainly
focuses on synthetic observations of eddy flux towers and remote sensing. He is particularly
interested in understanding the ecohydrological processes under global climate change and land
use/cover change scenarios, particularly in rainfall pattern changes and vegetation restoration
feedback on water and carbon cycling.
Jingfeng Xiao is currently Research Associate Professor in Global Ecology at the Earth Systems
Research Center, University of New Hampshire. Dr. Xiao’s research interests include terrestrial
carbon cycle, remote sensing, ecological modeling, vegetation dynamics, land cover/land use change,
disturbances, and human–environment interactions. He is particularly interested in understanding
the impacts of climate change, land cover/land use change, and disturbances in terrestrial carbon
cycling as well as their feedback into the climate. He combines remote sensing, ecological modeling,
field measurements (e.g., eddy covariance measurements), model–data fusion, and statistical analysis
to answer important carbon cycle, climate change, and ecology-related questions. He has served on
the review committee of the 2nd State of Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR-2) of the National Academies
of Sciences, and was a Co-Chair of the United States–China Carbon Consortium (USCCC). He earned
his Ph.D. from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 2006, M.Sc. from Peking University in
2000, and B.Sc. from Lanzhou University in 1997.
Ge Sun is a Research Hydrologist with the Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center,
USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station, and an Adjunct Professor at North Carolina State
University. Dr. Sun has conducted forest hydrological research on various ecosystems, from Florida’s
cypress swamps in the humid southeastern United States to northern China’s Loess Plateau drylands.
Currently Dr. Sun’s research focuses on the effects of climate change, land use change, and wildland
fires on water and carbon resources at multiple scales. Dr. Sun has authored more than 250 journal
articles and book chapters. Dr. Sun has received several distinguished awards, including Fellow of
the American Water Resources Association and the US Forest Service Chief’s Distinguished Science
Awards. He is a co-founder of the US–China Carbon Consortium and has served as a forestry expert
for the Forest Service International Programs mission in Asia, Africa, and Mexico. He received
degrees in forest hydrology from Beijing Forestry University (B.Sc. in 1985 and M.Sc. in 1988) and the
University of Florida (Ph.D. in 1995).
Lu Hao is Professor at the College of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science
and Technology. Dr. Hao obtained both her Ph.D. and Master degrees in Physical Geography from
Beijing Normal University. She was a visiting scholar at CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and
Industrial Research Organization), Australia, in 2013, and worked as a senior meteorological engineer
at the Inner Mongolia Meteorological Bureau, China, from 1992 to 2009. Dr. Hao has authored more
than 70 journal articles and book chapters. Her current research interests focus on the effects of
climate change and land use and land cover change on evapotranspiration, and water and energy
balance, and applications of ecohydrological simulation models, GIS, and remote sensing to assess
water supply and demand relations at basin and regional scales. Her current projects study the
impacts of urbanization on evapotranspiration and associated ecohydrological processes in a paddy
vii
wetland-dominated basin, and the coupling of hydrology and carbon cycling in terrestrial ecosystems
in response to climate change and land use management.
Zhiqiang Zhang is Professor of Ecohydrology and currently serving as Dean at the College of Soil and
Water Conservation at Beijing Forestry University, China. He received his Bachelor, Master, and Ph.D.
degrees in forestry from Beijing Forestry University in 1988, 1991, and 1999, respectively. Dr. Zhang’s
research interests include ecohydrological processes and modeling, water yield and land use change,
carbon and water flux coupling of managed forest ecosystems, and urban forestry. Dr. Zhang has led
a number of research projects supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, National Science
Foundation of China, the State Forestry and Grassland Administration, as well as International
Cooperation Projects. Dr. Zhang has authored over 180 journal articles and book chapters and
received several national, provincial, and ministry awards for his academic achievements. He is a
co-founder of the US–China Carbon Consortium.
viii
Dynamics, and Impacts”
Afforestation and reforestation have been implemented worldwide as an effective measure
towards sustainable ecosystem services. The conversion of grasslands, croplands, shrublands, or bare
lands to forests can dramatically alter forest water, energy, and carbon cycles, e.g., through carbon
sequestration, soil erosion control, and water quality improvement. Large-scale afforestation/
reforestation is typically driven by policies and, in turn, can also have substantial socioeconomic
impacts. To enable success, forestation endeavors require novel approaches that involve a series of
complex processes and interdisciplinary sciences. For example, exotic or fast-growing tree species
are often used to improve the soil conditions of degraded lands or maximize productivity, and it
often takes a long time to understand and quantify the consequences of such practices at watershed
or regional scales. Maintaining the sustainability of man-made forests is becoming increasingly
challenging under a changing environment and disturbance regime changes such as wildland fires,
urbanization, drought, air pollution, climate change, and socioeconomic change.
This book is a collection of 11 papers published as a Special Issue of Forests in 2018.
These studies provide an in-depth understanding of the ecosystem changes and driving forces
following afforestation and explore how plants regulate water consumption, energy utilization,
and carbon exchange in different phenophases and climatic conditions, in addition to proposing new
quantitative models and appraisal approaches for sustaining forests under a changing environment.
We have organized the 11 papers into four major themes that address emerging issues about
afforestation/reforestation in several unique regions. The first theme provides an overview of
the grand challenges and opportunities facing vegetation greening in the Loess Plateau region
of northern China and Yangtze River basin of southern China [1–3]. The second theme presents
process-based studies on the effects of vegetation cover change on ecohydrological processes,
including evapotranspiration [4] and net primary productivity [5] by remote sensing, transpiration
by Granier’s sap flow [6], surface runoff and base flow [7], and chlorophyll fluorescence [8]. The third
theme is represented by a case study that uses modeling to demonstrate land cover change and
vegetation dynamics under environmental changes [9]. The fourth and last theme covers studies
that focus on innovative research methodology that are being used in ecological engineering [10]
and nursery production [11]. In summary, these studies provide an update on the scientific advances
related to forestation and show that human-dominated vegetation restoration activities will further
exacerbate vegetation water demand, resulting in contrasting effects on ecosystem services in
both magnitude and direction. We recommend that future ecological restoration programs pay
more attention to maintaining the balance between ecosystem restoration and water resource
demand to maximize the benefits of human activities and ensure that vegetation restoration
is ecologically sustainable. We hope that the information provided by this book is timely and
helpful for land managers and policy makers to better manage forest resources under rapidly
changing environments. We would also like to thank the authors for sharing their research, and the
reviewers and editors for their dedication, which were vital to the success of this Forests Special Issue.
ix
References
1. Zhang, D.; Liu, X.; Bai, P. Different Influences of Vegetation Greening on Regional Water-Energy
Balance under Different Climatic Conditions. Forests 2018, 9, 412.
2. Zhao, F.; Wang, J.; Zhang, L.; Ren, C.; Han, X.; Yang, G.; Doughty, R.; Deng, J. Understory
Plants Regulate Soil Respiration through Changes in Soil Enzyme Activity and Microbial C, N, and P
Stoichiometry Following Afforestation. Forests 2018, 9, 436.
3. Wei, X.; Bi, H.; Liang, W.; Hou, G.; Kong, L.; Zhou, Q. Relationship between Soil Characteristics
and Stand Structure of Robinia pseudoacacia L. and Pinus tabulaeformis Carr. Mixed Plantations in
the Caijiachuan Watershed: An Application of Structural Equation Modeling. Forests 2018, 9, 124.
4. Wang, Y.; Liu, Y.; Jin, J. Contrast Effects of Vegetation Cover Change on Evapotranspiration during
a Revegetation Period in the Poyang Lake Basin, China. Forests 2018, 9, 217.
5. Wang, H.; Liu, G.; Li, Z.; Wang, P.; Wang, Z. Assessing the Driving Forces in Vegetation Dynamics
Using Net Primary Productivity as the Indicator: A Case Study in Jinghe River Basin in the Loess
Plateau. Forests 2018, 9, 374.
6. Schwarzel, K.; Zhang, L.; Strecker, A.; Podlasly, C. Improved Water Consumption Estimates of
Black Locust Plantations in China’s Loess Plateau. Forests 2018, 9, 201.
7. Ouyang, L.; Liu, S.; Ye, J.; Liu, Z.; Sheng, F.; Wang, R.; Lu, Z. Quantitative Assessment of Surface
Runoff and Base Flow Response to Multiple Factors in Pengchongjian Small Watershed. Forests 2018,
9, 553.
8. Ren, C.; Wu, Y.; Zha, T.; Jia, X.; Tian, Y.; Bai, Y.; Bourque, C.; Ma, J.; Feng, W. Seasonal Changes in
Photosynthetic Energy Utilization in a Desert Shrub (Artemisia ordosica Krasch.) during Its Different
Phenophases. Forests 2018, 9, 176.
9. Wang, J.; Ning, S.; Khujanazarov, T. Modeling Hydrological Appraisal of Potential Land Cover
Change and Vegetation Dynamics under Environmental Changes in a Forest Basin. Forests 2018,
9, 451.
10. Zhang, D.; Cheng, J.; Liu, Y.; Zhang, H.; Ma, L.; Mei, X.; Sun, Y. Spatio-Temporal Dynamic
Architecture of Living Brush Mattress: Root System and Soil Shear Strength in Riverbanks. Forests
2018, 9, 493.
Sawdust. Forests 2018, 9, 678.
Gang Dong, Jingfeng Xiao, Ge Sun, Lu Hao, Zhiqiang Zhang
Special Issue Editors
Relationship between Soil Characteristics and Stand Structure of Robinia pseudoacacia L. and Pinus tabulaeformis Carr. Mixed Plantations in the Caijiachuan Watershed: An Application of Structural Equation Modeling
Xi Wei 1, Huaxing Bi 1,2,3,4,*, Wenjun Liang 5, Guirong Hou 1, Lingxiao Kong 1 and
Qiaozhi Zhou 1
1 School of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China; [email protected] (X.W.); [email protected] (G.H.); konglx958 @163.com (L.K.); [email protected] (Q.Z.)
2 Beijing Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-Environmental Improvement with Forestry and Fruit Trees, Beijing 102206, China
3 Ji County Station, Chinese National Ecosystem Research Network (CNERN), Beijing 100083, China 4 Beijing Forestry University, Key Laboratory of State Forestry Administration on Soil and Water
Conservation, Beijing 100083, China 5 College of Forestry, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu 030801, China; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +86-10-6233-6756
Received: 20 December 2017; Accepted: 3 March 2018; Published: 6 March 2018
Abstract: In order to study the multi-factor coupling relationships between typical Robinia pseudoacacia L. and Pinus tabulaeformis Carr. mixed plantations in the Caijiachuan basin of the Loess Plateau of Shanxi Province, West China, 136 sample plots were selected for building a structural equation model (SEM) of three potential variables: terrain, stand structure, and soil characteristics. Additionally, the indicators (also known as observed variables) were studied in this paper, including slope, altitude, diameter at breast height (DBH), tree height (TH), tree crown area, canopy density, stand density, leaf area index (LAI), soil moisture content, soil maximum water holding capacity (WHC), soil organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), ammonia-nitrogen (NH3-N), nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N), and available phosphorus (AP). The results showed that terrain was the most important factor influencing soil moisture and nutrients, with a total impact coefficient of 1.303 and a direct path coefficient of 0.03, which represented mainly positive impacts; while correspondingly stand structure had a smaller negative impact on soil characteristics, with a total impact coefficient of −0.585 and a direct path coefficient of −0.01. The terrain also had a positive impact on the stand structure, with a total impact coefficient of 0.487 and a direct path coefficient of 0.63, indicating that the topography factors were more suitable for site conditions and both the stand structure and the soil moisture and nutrient conditions were relatively superior. By affecting the stand structure, terrain could restrict some soil, water, and nutrient functions of soil and water conservation. The influence coefficients of the four observed variables of DBH, stand density, soil water content, and organic matter, and potential variable topography reached 0.686, −0.119, 1.117, and 0.732, respectively; and the influence coefficients of soil moisture, organic matter and stand structure were −0.502 and −0.329, respectively. Therefore, besides observing the corresponding latent variables, the observed variables had a considerable indirect influence on other related latent variables. These relationships showed that the measures, such as changing micro-topography and adjusting stand density, should effectively maintain or enhance soil moisture and nutrient content so as to achieve improved soil and water conservation benefits in the ecologically important Loess Area.
Forests 2018, 9, 124; doi:10.3390/f9030124 www.mdpi.com/journal/forests1
Forests 2018, 9, 124
1. Introduction
Large-scale afforestation in the Western Shanxi Loess Area started in the early 1990s, and the area has been covered by larger-sized plantations over the past 20 years. Mixed afforestation methods—with plantations consisting of two or more tree species—are often used. In the mixed plantations, tree species other than the main tree species represent over 20% of the plantation, in terms of number of trees, cross-sectional area, or volume. The impact of vegetation construction on soil and water resources has also aroused great attention, both at home and abroad, particularly in the Loess Plateau—an area known for soil and water loss, a lack of water resources, a fragile ecological environment, and a lack of a strong conservation ethics. The main reasons for the creation of large-scale plantations in this region, and their impacts on soil and water conservation, water resources security, and regional sustainable development, have been a particular cause for concern. The relationships between the stand structures of the plantations and soil and water conservation have also gradually become the foci of academic research.
Many studies on the stand structure and soil and water conservation functions of the Loess Plateau, as well as other ecologically sensitive areas, have been carried out, usually aimed at one, or several, dimensions. For example, Bi Huaxing et al. utilized the principle of water balance to establish a suitable coverage calculation model based on spatial and temporal differentiation of soil moisture and water consumption [1]; Brzostek et al. proposed that chronic water stress could reduce the tree growth of forests, and also considered the extent to which forests ameliorate climate warming [2]; and Panagos et al. presented an assessment of soil loss due to water erosion in Europe, and also suggested some policy measures that should be targeted [3]. Other scholars have also presented research results on some factors related to the stand structure, soil moisture…
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