Characterizing scale-specific environmental factors affecting soil organic carbon along two landscape transects
Soil organic carbon (SOC) is one of the most important soil properties affecting many other soil and environmental properties and processes. In order to understand and manage SOC effectively, it is important to identify the scale-specific main factors affecting SOC distributions, which in this study occurred in a watershed on the Loess Plateau. Two transects were selected that passed along the upper slopes on each side of the main gully of the Liudaogou watershed. Transect 1 (3411-m length) had 27 sampling sites at 131-m intervals; transect 2 (3597 m length) had 30 sampling sites at 124-m intervals. The two transects were chosen in order to compare landscape patterns of differing complexity that were in close proximity, which reduced the effects of factors that would be caused by different locations. The landscape of transect 1 was more complex due to the greater diversity in cultivation. Multivariate empirical mode decomposition (MEMD) decomposed the total variation in SOC and five selected environmental factors into four intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) and a residual according to the scale of occurrence. Scale-specific correlation analysis was used to identify significant relationships between SOC and the environmental factors. The dominant scales were those that were the largest contributors to the total SOC variance; for transect 1, this was the IMF 1 (scale of 403 m), whereas for transect 2, it was the medium scale of the IMF 2 (scale of 688 m). For both transects, vegetation properties (vegetation cover and aboveground biomass) were the main factors affecting SOC distributions at their respective dominant scales. At each scale, the main effective factors could be identified although at the larger scales, their contributions to the overall variance were almost negligible. The distributions of SOC and the factors affecting it were found to be scale dependent. The results of this study highlighted the suitability of the MEMD method in revealing the main scale-specific factors that affect SOC distributions, which is necessary in understanding and managing this important soil property.
Modeling Effects of Land use and Vegetation Density on Soil Water Dynamics: Implications on Water Resource Management
Vegetation restoration is helpful in preventing soil erosion but aggravates water scarcity, thus resulting in soil desiccation on the wind–water erosion crisscross region (WWECR) of the Loess Plateau in Northwestern China. However, no guideline currently exists on the selection of plant species and density for restoration purposes. Based on the process model of soil water-carrying capacity for vegetation (SWCCV) originally developed in this region, this study validated the model under a broad range of weather regimes, soil types, and land uses. The SWCCV model was applied as a diagnostic tool to obtain insights into the separate effects of vegetation density and land use on soil water dynamics on the WWECR of the Loess Plateau. Results showed that the total water loss at semi-natural grasslands was close to rainfall while significantly decreasing runoffs, thus indicating that semi-natural grass was suitable for vegetation restoration on the WWECR. If Caragana korshinskii is planted for agronomic and economic benefits, a density of 3,400 trees ha−1 will yield the most optimal soil water conservation benefits at study site. Our recommended land use and vegetation density were directive and instructional for vegetation restoration on the WWECR and that our modeling approach could be extended to applications in other arid and semi-arid regions.
Anomalous Annealing Behavior of Arsenic Implanted Silicon as a Function of Dose and Energy
Anomalous annealing behavior of damage in As implanted Si has been investigated by channeling effect measurements. Room temperature As implants with doses from 1014 to 2 × 1016cm-2 at energies ranging from 50 to 250 keV into Si were annealed over the range of 600°C to 1100°C. Anneal temperatures ≥ 950°C reduce the disorder for ion doses of 0.5 to 1 × 1016 cm-2 at energies between 50 and 250 keV. Anomalously high residual disorder was found for the intermediate doses of 2 × 1014 to 2 × 10/cm2 implanted above 100 keV. For this intermediate dose, annealing of implants performed at liquid nitrogen temperatures did not show significant reduction in this damage. However implants at 200° to 300°C indicate a lower amount of damage compared to the room temperature implants.