Construction and management of sustainable vegetation system in Loess Plateau

Abstract

In recent years, the vegetation coverage of the Loess Plateau has increased rapidly and the ecological benefits have been improved obviously, yet problems such as excessive water resources consumption and poor vegetation sustainability have occurred in this region. This paper summarized the studies over the past years, and 1) the basic process and characteristics of natural vegetation restoration were clarified, the potential distribution pattern of natural vegetation was predicted, the contribution of  environmental factors at different scale to the formation of vegetation pattern was evaluated, and the importance of habitat heterogeneity to the formation of vegetation pattern was revealed.  2) Based on the distribution pattern of potential natural vegetation, the distribution and biomass carrying capacity of existing artificial vegetation were evaluated, which provided support for site environment selection of vegetation restoration. 3) The soil water status of natural vegetation and artificial vegetation were compared, and the differences of functional traits between natural plant community and artificial robinia pseudoacacia were analyzed, and the reasons that cause soil drying and water resource loss by robinia pseudoacacia plantation were explained. 4) The runoff and sediment reduction of different vegetation restoration methods was analyzed, indicating that natural vegetation restoration had higher runoff and sediment reduction efficiency, which provides an important basis for adjusting vegetation restoration planning to save water resources. 5) The environmental adaptation strategies of 149 native plants in the Loess hilly region were analyzed, and the ecological suitability of 38 main afforestation tree species was evaluated, and a decision support system was established to provide a basis for the selection of vegetation restoration species. 6) The concept of structured vegetation index was proposed for the first time, and a structured vegetation index model was established, which provide a basis for the construction of a reasonably structured vegetation system for soil and water conservation. We concluded that vegetation restoration and reconstruction with stable natural vegetation as reference or through natural restoration will not cause soil drying, but also obtain sediment reduction benefits similar to artificial vegetation with less water reduction, thus reducing the consumption of water resources. In addition, the restored vegetation has community structure characteristics adapted to the site, which is of great importance to sustainable vegetation system.