Department of Renewable Natural Resources and Environment, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, University of Aleppo, 12212, Aleppo, Syria.
Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Lodz, Stefana Banacha 22, 90-238, Lodz, Poland.
J Environ Manage. 2024 Sep;368:122188. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.122188. Epub 2024 Aug 19.
Soil erosion is a critical process that leads to landscape degradation, compromising soil fertility and ecosystem functions. Forest ecosystems, with their intricate characteristics, play a pivotal role in mitigating soil erosion and providing soil retention ecosystem services (SRES). This study explores the impact of forest patch thresholds and critical points on soil erosion rates, focusing on 401 catchments in Poland using generalised additive models to identify thresholds and critical points in forest patches. Landscape metrics were applied to measure landscape structure, including shape, fractal dimension, contiguity, related circumscribing circles, and perimeter-area ratio indexes. These metrics, along with slope, rainfall, organic carbon content, water content, and clay ratio variables, were considered dependent variables in the models. The developed models have demonstrated reliable performance in estimating soil erosion rates, with a significant deviation explained from 80.5 to 81.1 for coniferous forest patches, 79.1 to 80.1 for broad-leave forest patches, and 80.9 to 81.4 for mixed forest patches at p < 0.05. In broad-leaved forests, three thresholds are identified in the shape index, which influence soil erosion rates in a complex manner. For coniferous forests, thresholds in the perimeter area ratio, related circumscribing circles, and contiguity indexes exhibit nonlinear relationships with soil erosion rates. Mixed forests show two thresholds in the related circumscribing circle and one in the fractal dimension index, affecting soil erosion rates differently. This research contributes significantly to understanding the interplay between forest patch shapes and soil erosion rates, providing decision support for land use planning. The identified thresholds and critical points offer valuable tools to enhance sustainable landscape functionality, emphasizing the importance of considering forest landscape structure in preserving soil retention ecosystem services.
土壤侵蚀是导致景观退化、破坏土壤肥力和生态系统功能的关键过程。森林生态系统以其复杂的特征，在减轻土壤侵蚀和提供土壤保持生态系统服务（SRES）方面发挥着关键作用。本研究探讨了森林斑块阈值和临界点对土壤侵蚀速率的影响，使用广义加性模型（GAMs）对波兰的 401 个集水区进行了研究，以确定森林斑块中的阈值和临界点。采用景观指标来衡量景观结构，包括形状、分形维数、连续性、相关外接圆和周长-面积比指数。这些指标与坡度、降雨、有机碳含量、水分含量和粘粒比变量一起被视为模型中的因变量。所开发的模型在估计土壤侵蚀速率方面表现出可靠的性能，对落叶林、阔叶林和混交林的解释偏差分别从 80.5%到 81.1%、79.1%到 80.1%和 80.9%到 81.4%显著提高，p 值均小于 0.05。在阔叶林中有三个形状指数的阈值，它们以复杂的方式影响土壤侵蚀速率。在针叶林中，周长-面积比、相关外接圆和连续性指数的阈值与土壤侵蚀速率呈非线性关系。混交林的相关外接圆和分形维数指数有两个阈值，一个阈值，它们对土壤侵蚀速率的影响不同。本研究对理解森林斑块形状与土壤侵蚀速率之间的相互作用具有重要意义，为土地利用规划提供决策支持。所确定的阈值和临界点为增强可持续景观功能提供了有价值的工具，强调了考虑森林景观结构在保护土壤保持生态系统服务方面的重要性。
