ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Influence of Forest Coverage on Basin
Runoff in China’s Loess Plateau
Xiaoyan Wang1, Huaxing Bi1, Qingfeng Song2, Shaowei Lu3
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1College of Soil & Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University,
Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Conservation & Combating Desertification, Ministry of Education,
Beijing 100083, China
2Research Institute of Forest Ecology, Environment and Protection, Chinese Academy of Forestry,
Beijing 100091, China
3Forestry and Pomology Institute, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences,
Beijing 100093, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2015;24(2):743-750
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
In order to reveal the impact of forest coverage on runoff of the basin in the Loess Plateau of China, multi-
year observational data were collected from 53 basins located in a typical loess area of the Loess Plateau
of China. The impact was investigated using trend analysis, regression fitting, and serial cluster analysis.
The results showed that 25% forest coverage is the partition point impacting the mean annual runoff coefficient,
dividing the basins into two groups with forest coverage <25% and forest coverage ≥25%. For the
former, the correlation between forest coverage and the mean annual runoff coefficient is very weak, while
for the latter, the correlations conform to negative exponential function, the correlation is significantly negative
at 0.01 level and the correlation coefficient is 0.614, and forest coverage has a relatively large impact
on the mean annual runoff coefficient and that the mean annual runoff coefficient decreases significantly as
forest coverage increases. Therefore, revegetation within 25% forest coverage will not have a large impact
on local water resources, and the results provide some reference for revegetation in areas of the Loess Plateau
of China.