Abstract
Plateau zokors (Eospalax baileyi) are an agent actively involved in causing soil erosion and meadow degradation in the Yellow River Source Zone of West China. This study aims to quantify the amount of soil and nutrient loss from zokor mounds in relation to slope gradient and rainfall intensity, and to assess the amount of soil loss in zokor-infested areas compared with healthy meadows in Henan County, Qinghai Province. The results showed that zokor mounds were gradually lowered at a rate of 1.8–3.9 cm h−1. Soil loss occurred two min after the rain began, reaching the maximum level during the first 20 min. The rate of soil loss and nutrient loss increased with the rainfall intensity and slope gradient. When the rainfall intensity rose from 5 to 10 mm h−1, and from 10 to 15 mm h−1, the total soil loss on 10° slopes increased by 2.5 times and 3.9 times, respectively, and soil nutrient loss increased by 1.7 times and 2.7 times, respectively. As the slope gradient steepened to 20°, the corresponding figures were 2.8 times and 4.3 times for total soil loss, and 1.8 times and 2.9 times, respectively, for soil nutrient loss. When the slope rose to 30°, the soil loss increased by 3.0 and 4.5 times, and the soil nutrient loss increased by 1.8 times and 3.1 times, respectively. There was a power function between soil loss and surface runoff (S = 0.2371Q2.2307, R2 = 0.9529). The soil was eroded at a rate of 256.6 g m−2 h−1 from zokor mounds, 17.7 times higher than in intact meadows, and 1.8 times higher than in partially recovered meadows. Most of the eroded soils had a mean diameter of 0–1.2 mm. It is recommended that artificial control of plateau zokors should be implemented, together with other ecological restoration measures to restrain the soil erosion problem caused by zokor activities.
Highlights
The Yellow River Source Zone is located in the central Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and plays a critical role in soil conservation in China [1]
Considering the health ecosystem of alpine meadows, the restored measures of soil nutrients should aim at adding livestock manure to improve soil organic matter, so as to promote the effective restoration of the degraded meadows. Both slope and rainfall intensity affected soil erosion of zokor mounds, but the slope had more of an influence than rainfall intensity on soil loss from the mounds
Soil loss occurred on the surface of zokor mounds 2 min after the simulated rainfall started
Summary
The Yellow River Source Zone is located in the central Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and plays a critical role in soil conservation in China [1]. About one third of the vegetation cover in this Zone is alpine meadows, which is one of the most special and vulnerable areas in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau ecosystem [2,3]. They have suffered varying degrees of degradation due to a variety of environmental and anthropogenic factors [4,5,6]. A large population of small burrowing mammal species, such as the plateau zokor (Eospalax baileyi) and plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae), has damaged the meadow vegetation [11,12]. It is estimated that the density of plateau zokors is above
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