ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Effects of Vegetation Cover and Slope Length
on Nitrogen and Phosphorus Loss from a Sloping
Land under Simulated Rainfall
Jing Qian, Li-Ping Zhang, Wen-Yan Wang, Qiao Liu
More details
Hide details
Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Subtropical Soil and Plant Nutrition,
Key Laboratory of Polluted Environment Remediation and Ecological Health, Ministry of Education,
College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou-310058, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2014;23(3):835-843
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
In order to evaluate the effects of different slope lengths (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 m) and different vegetation
coverage ratios (20%, 45%, 60%, and 90%) on the mechanisms of nutrient loss and runoff producing processes,
we have conducted 14 simulated rainfall experiments. The results show that N and P loss are decided by
the concentration and the runoff volume, but when the amounts of N and P in topsoil are small, their loss content
mostly depends on runoff volume. Dissolved nitrogen is the main form in the nitrogen loss, while nitrate
nitrogen is the main component in dissolved nitrogen, but the proportion in the total nitrogen gradually
decreases with slope length increasing or with the increase of vegetation cover; the main form of phosphorus
losses is particulate phosphorus, and the excessive sediment-bound nutrient loss released into water might
cause secondary pollution of an aquatic environment.