Bestelmeyer, Brandon T.

Hansen, N. K.

Havstad, Kris M.

Herrick, J. E.

Okin, G. S.

Peters, D. P. C.

English

University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky UKnowledge International Grassland Congress Proceedings 21st International Grassland Congress / 8th International Rangeland Congress Predicting Soil Erosion and Deposition Effects on Plant Establishment: A Key to Increasing Restoration Success J. E. Herrick U.S. Department of Agriculture D. P. C. Peters U.S. Department of Agriculture Brandon T. Bestelmeyer U.S. Department of Agriculture G. S. Okin University of California, Los Angeles N. K. Hansen U.S. Department of Agriculture See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc  Part of the Plant Sciences Commons, and the Soil Science Commons This document is available at https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/21/6-1/21 The 21st International Grassland Congress / 8th International Rangeland Congress took place in Hohhot, China from June 29 through July 5, 2008. Proceedings edited by Organizing Committee of 2008 IGC/IRC Conference Published by Guangdong People's Publishing House This Event is brought to you for free and open access by the Plant and Soil Sciences at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Grassland Congress Proceedings by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact UKnowledge@lsv.uky.edu. Presenter Information J. E. Herrick, D. P. C. Peters, Brandon T. Bestelmeyer, G. S. Okin, N. K. Hansen, and Kris M. Havstad This event is available at UKnowledge: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/21/6-1/21 　 Multifunctional Grasslands in a Changing World 　 Volume Ⅰ 　 瞯 ]743　 瞯Grasslands/Rangelands Resources and Ecology ——— Reclamation of Grasslands/RangelandsPredicting soil erosion and deposition effects on plant establishment : a key to increasingrestoration successJ . E . Herrick 1 , D .P .C . Peters 1 , B .T . Bestelmeyer 1 , G .S . Okin2 , N .K . H ansen1 and K .M . H avstad11 USDA‐ARS Jornada Range , L as Cruces , NM 88003‐8003 , USA , j her rick＠ nmsu .edu ,2 Dep t . o f Geography , UCLA , LosA ngeles , CA , 90095 , USAKey words : restoration , land degradation , soil erosion , seedling establishmentIntroduction Land degradation is frequently associated with soil erosion and deposition . This can result in significantmodification of the soil profile , including changes in soil surface texture and structure . Soil surface texture and structure affectplant water availability through their effects on infiltration rate and plant available water holding capacity . Plants in arid andsemi‐arid environments are particularly susceptible to desiccation during establishment . Consequently , changes to soil surfacetexture , structure or depth can affect establishment , as well as the productivity of the established plant community . In extremecases , re‐establishment of the original plant community may be impossible , even with significant external inputs ( Bestelmeyeret al . , In Press) .While the negative impacts of soil erosion are widely recognized , the potentially positive and negative effects of deposition onrestoration potential are often ignored . Large areas of the world are affected by soil deposition . The most visible examples areassociated with dune systems , but significant soil deposition can occur without dune formation downslope or down wind ofcultivated fields , roads and other disturbances .Where all other factors are equal , deposition of small quantities ( several centimeters) of coarse‐tex tured material on top of fine‐textured material should increase infiltration and surface water holding capacity while reducing evaporative losses . Exposure ofa fine‐tex tured layer by erosion of coarse‐textured material should have the opposite effect . The effects should depend on thedepth of soil added or removed , and on initial soil profile characteristics . Soil surface structure degradation or the addition ofdegraded soil tends to reduce both infiltration and water holding capacity .Materials and methods A series of field studies and modeling exercises are currently being completed at the USDA‐ARS JornadaExperimental Range , located in the northern Chihuahuan Desert in south‐central New Mexico , USA to examine the effects ofsoil erosion and deposition on plant establishment . This area receives approximately ２４５ mm of precipitation , over half of whicharrives in convective storms during the growing season . Several areas of fine tex tured soils on the Jornada are being buried bysand from upwind areas . This study design exploits these landscape dynamics .Results Examples of the effects of a change in soil surface texture on soil water availability are shown in Table １ . As predicted ,model results showed that sand addition to the soil surface affected establishment differently depending on the amount of sandadded and the initial soil tex ture . Field studies of areas where sand deposition has been occurring during past several decadesindicate that plant community dynamics are controlled by a number of different factors in addition to sand deposition , and thatfeedbacks with the plant community itself are likely to be important .Table 1 Samp le e f f ects o f sur f ace tex ture change f rom loam to sand based on agricultural soils ( Sax ton and Raw ls ２００７ ) .Input tex ture and bulk density data are f rom a depositional site on the Jornada . E f f ects on rangeland soils may be di f f erentdue to di f f erences in soil structure , but general p atterns should be similar .Texture Sand Silt Clay BulkDensity SOM( est .) AvailableWater Available WaterTop １０cm Sat . Hydr .Cond .％ mm mm/ hrLoam ３９ v３４ 蝌２７ n１ 趑.３６ １ S.０ １３ 噜１３ q１５ xSand ９０ v５ 圹５ W１ 趑.５１ ０ S.１ ４ 缮４ Z１２６ 弿Change ＋ ５１ い‐２９  ‐２２ }＋ ０ ".１５ (‐０ b.９) ‐９ 刎‐９ j＋ １１１ 浇Conclusions Careful characterization of site conditions and soil profile characteristics should be completed before restoration . Ata minimum , changes in soil water characteristics should be predicted using texture relationships .ReferencesBestelmeyer , B . , K . Havstad , B . Damindsuren , G . Han , J .R . Brown , J . Herrick , C . Steele , and D . Peters . In Press .Resilience theory in models of rangeland ecology and restoration : the evolution and application of a paradigm . In : R . J .Hobbs and K . Suding , eds . New models f or ecosystem dynamics and restoration . Island Press .Saxton , K .E . and W .R . Rawls . ２００７ . Soil water characteristics hydraulic properties calculator . Downloaded ６ November ,２００７ . http :/ / hydrolab .arsusda .gov / soilwater/ Index .htm .

Predicting Soil Erosion and Deposition Effects on Plant Establishment: A Key to Increasing Restoration Success

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Predicting Soil Erosion and Deposition Effects on Plant Establishment: A Key to Increasing Restoration Success

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