Abstract
The use of organic mulch is important for urban green applications. For urban areas in arid and semiarid regions receiving short high-intensive rainfall, rainfall characteristics, and soil slope play an important role for mulch functioning. These properties of mulch were studied. For this purpose, rainfall simulation experiments using organic mulching were conducted in Jiufeng National Forestry Park to analyze the influence of organic mulch under different slope and heavy rainfall events. The results showed that soil water content displayed a decreasing tendency with increasing mulch application. Compared to bare soil, a mulch application of 0.25 kg/m2 and 0.50 kg/m2 led to maximum soil water content and maximum runoff decrease occurred for 0.50 kg/m2 mulch. Higher application rate of mulch displayed less soil water content and greater runoff. The runoff amount and runoff generation rate decreased by 28–83% and 21–83%, respectively, as compared to bare soil. With a mulch application of 0.25–1.00 kg/m2, soil drainage accounted for 56–60% of total rainfall. Overall, an efficient mulch application was found to be 0.25–0.50 kg/m2. The results of this study are relevant for arid and semiarid urban regions that experience heavy rainfall.
Highlights
In Beijing and 2010 in Guangzhou contributed to irretrievable losses of urban ecology and people’s lives[19]
Yard waste such as wood chips and litter have the potential to rejuvenate poor soils and restore nutrient cycling processes in ornamental landscapes[3]. This further illustrates that organic mulch can be used as an auxiliary for green space construction in urban areas to achieve the goal of water and soil conservation and soil nutrient improvement[27,28]
Our study focused on the effects of organic mulch thickness on rainfall input partitioning depending on slope and rainfall intensity for urban conditions
Summary
In Beijing and 2010 in Guangzhou contributed to irretrievable losses of urban ecology and people’s lives[19]. Different types of organic mulch have proved to be effective for the growth of landscape plants and weed management[25,26] Yard waste such as wood chips and litter have the potential to rejuvenate poor soils and restore nutrient cycling processes in ornamental landscapes[3]. To improve the knowledge urban mulch use efficiency, for better water and soil conservation in cities, research is needed on mulch application rates when the cost is a limiting factor. The study explored the above relationships with the aim to investigate the efficiency of mulch cover with different application rates that can be beneficial to the use of organic mulch in cities with heavy summer rainfall such as Beijing. The study provides evidence for the selection of organic mulch cover thickness in urban areas with heavy rainfall and maximizing economic benefits under the premise of saving costs
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