Assessing soil degradation under land-use change: insight from soil erosion and soil aggregate stability in a small karst catchment in southwest China

Abstract

Background Soil erodibility (K factor) and soil aggregate stability are often used to assess soil degradation in an erodible environment. However, their applicability under land-use change is uncertain, especially agricultural abandonment. Methods Different land-use types, including cropland, abandoned cropland, and native vegetation land, were converted into the successive stages following agricultural abandonment by space-for-time substitution approach in a small karst catchment, Southwest China. The indexes of soil aggregate stability and K factor of the Erosion Productivity Impact Calculator (EPIC) model in soil profiles were calculated to identify which method is suitable to indicate soil degradation under land-use change. Results The indexes of soil aggregate stability in the soils at 0∼30 cm depth under native vegetation land were significantly larger than those under cropland and slightly larger than those under abandoned cropland. The K factor was not significantly different among the three land use examples because the EPIC model does not consider soil permeability. In the soil organic carbon (SOC)-rich soils (>2%), the K factor was significantly correlated with silt and clay content ranging within a narrow scope of near 0.010 t hm2 h/hm2/MJ/mm. While in the SOC-poor soils, the K factor was significantly increased with decreasing SOC content and was significantly correlated with soil aggregate stability. Conclusions Soil aggregate stability is more suitable to indicate soil degradation under land-use change. Sufficient SOC in erodible soils would restrain soil degradation, while SOC loss can significantly increase soil erosion risk.

Keywords

• Soil aggregate stability
• Soil erodibility
• K factor
• Soil degradation
• Agricultural abandonment
• Karst catchment