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Background: The planting of mangroves is extensively used to control the invasive plant Spartina alterniflora in coastal wetlands. Different plant species release diverse sets of small organic compounds that affect rhizosphere conditions and support high levels of microbial activity. The root-associated microbial community is crucial for plant health and soil nutrient cycling, and for maintaining the stability of the wetland ecosystem. Methods: High-throughput sequencing was used to assess the structure and function of the soil bacterial communities in mudflat soil and in the rhizosphere soils of S. alterniflora, mangroves, and native plants in the Oujiang estuarine wetland, China. A distance-based redundancy analysis (based on Bray–Curtis metrics) was used to identify key soil factors driving bacterial community structure. Results: S. alterniflora invasion and subsequent mangrove afforestation led to the formation of distinct bacterial communities. The main soil factors driving the structure of bacterial communities were electrical conductivity (EC), available potassium (AK), available phosphorus (AP), and organic matter (OM). S. alterniflora obviously increased EC, OM, available nitrogen (AN), and NO3−-N contents, and consequently attracted copiotrophic Bacteroidates to conduct invasion in the coastal areas. Mangroves, especially Kandelia obovata, were suitable pioneer species for restoration and recruited beneficial Desulfobacterota and Bacilli to the rhizosphere. These conditions ultimately increased the contents of AP, available sulfur (AS), and AN in soil. The native plant species Carex scabrifolia and Suaeda glauca affected coastal saline soil primarily by decreasing the EC, rather than by increasing nutrient contents. The predicted functions of bacterial communities in rhizosphere soils were related to active catabolism, whereas those of the bacterial community in mudflat soil were related to synthesis and resistance to environmental factors. Conclusions: Ecological restoration using K. obovata has effectively improved a degraded coastal wetland mainly through increasing phosphorus availability and promoting the succession of the microbial community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understory vegetation constitutes an essential component of the ecosystem within the coal mining area, disclosing the correlation between plant species composition and soil properties throughout the multi-year restoration process, and offering a theoretical framework for ecological restoration and reconstruction in the northwest wind-blown sand mining area. We investigated the coupling and coordination degree between the composition of understory vegetation and soil in Pinus sylvestris forests, Hippophae rhamnoides forests, and Prunus sibirica forests at different restoration stages (5 years, 10 years, 15 years) using field survey methods and indoor separation techniques. The results clearly indicate that: (1) After 15 years of recovery, a total of 32 species of herbs appeared in different plantations, belonging to 8 families and 21 genera, of which Artemisia scoparia had the highest importance value (42.85); (2) Significant differences were observed in herb diversity, soil physicochemical properties, and their relationships among different plantations (p < 0.05); (3) The vegetation–soil coupling coordination index of the plantations was as follows: P. sibirica forest (0.5111) > P. sylvestris forest (0.5069) > H. rhamnoides forest (0.4932). The vegetation status of the H. rhamnoides forest is a state of vegetation lagging development type of intermediate-level coordinated development, while the vegetation status of the P. sibirica forest and the P. sylvestris forest is barely harmonious. The status of the P. sibirica forest and P. sylvestris forest is better than that of H. rhamnoides forests. It is essential to enhance the management measures implemented in the Bulianta mine area. Appropriate tending, particularly the regulation of soil nutrients, might be more conducive to the restoration of vegetation and the improvement of forest ecosystem services in the mining area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Objective] The purpose of paper is to understand the development history of vegetation restoration in waste sites of production and construction projects, analyze the hot research issues, and further to promote the development of the research in terms of vegetation restoration. [Methods] The method of bibliometrics was used to survey on the literature of Web of Science database and CNKI database. [Results] It has been found out that the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) of India and the Chinese Academy of Sciences are the institutions with the most relevant articles published. The top ranked domestic institution in terms of the number of articles published is Beijing Forestry University. The ecological restoration technology, biodiversity, the quality evaluation of ecological restoration have been incorporated into the research clusters of the international institutions. The domestic researchers focus on restoration of ecosystem structure, vegetation restoration mode and soil quality evaluation system, etc. According to the analysis of highlighted keywords, ecosystem services', 'vegetation restoration' and 6 'waste sites of coal mine can be the focus of international research at present. The domestic researches in recent years emphasized ecological restoration, landscape design, and planning and design. [Conclusion] The current studies are mostly based on the short-term experiments, and there are few studies on the whole restoration process at large scale. Besides, the studies on comprehensive reconstruction of ecosystem functions have not been perfect yet. The hotspots of the future studies will take integrated ecological and landscape benefits into the consideration when conducting vegetation restoration, and emphasize on ecosystem services and landscape design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation is a major carbon reduction technology that is rapidly developing worldwide. However, the impact of PV plant construction on subsurface microecosystems is currently understudied. We conducted a systematic investigation into the effects of small-scale light stress caused by shading of PV panels and sampling depth on the composition, diversity, survival strategy, and key driving factors of soil bacterial communities (SBCs) under two vegetation restoration modes, i.e., Euryops pectinatus (EP) and Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum (LC). The study revealed that light stress had a greater impact on rare species with relative abundances below 0.01% than on high-abundance species, regardless of the vegetation restoration pattern. Additionally, PV shadowing increased SBCs' biomass by 20-30% but had varying negative effects on the numbers of Operational Taxonomic Unit (OTU), Shannon diversity, abundance-based coverage estimator (ACE), and Chao1 richness index. Co-occurrence and correlation network analysis revealed that symbiotic relationships dominated the key SBCs in the LC sample plots, with Chloroflexi and Actinobacteriota being the most ecologically important. In contrast, competitive relationships were significantly increased in the EP sample plots, with Actinobacteriota having the most ecological importance. In the EP sample plot, SBCs were found to be more tightly linked and had more stable ecological networks. This suggests that EP is more conducive to the stability and health of underground ecosystems in vulnerable areas when compared with LC. These findings offer new insights into the effects of small-scale light stress on subsurface microorganisms under different vegetation restoration patterns. Moreover, they may provide a reference for optimizing ecological restoration patterns in fragile areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire is a common natural disturbance in forest ecosystems and plays an important role in subsequent vegetation patterns. Based on the spatial sequence method, adopted as an alternative to the time successional sequence method, we selected burned areas in different locations in the Anning River Basin, which encompasses typical dry valleys. Quadrat surveys and quantitative classification were used to identify and classify the vegetation and distribution pattern and to carry out environmental interpretation during the natural restoration process after a forest fire. The results showed the following: (1) in the early stage of natural recovery after a forest fire disturbance, the vegetation community could be divided into seven community types, and Quercus guyavaefolia H. Leveille (Qg) was the dominant species in the community; (2) the vegetation samples could be divided into five ecological types, and the classification and distribution pattern of community types in this region changed most notably with altitude; and (3) a detrended correspondence analysis could be used to accurately classify vegetation community types, while a detrended canonical correspondence analysis could reveal the relationships between species and environmental factors. This study provides a scientific basis for guiding the restoration of ecosystem structural stability and biodiversity in burned areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil nematode communities can offer valuable indicators for monitoring the status of soil ecosystems. However, their potential for assessing soil restoration under revegetation has been neglected in temperate arid and semiarid areas. This study examined the characteristics of soil nematode communities and their relationships with soil physicochemical properties under five typical revegetation approaches in the semiarid Loess Plateau of China. The results showed that planting an artificial Caragana korshinskii forest led to the recovery of the soil food web, which significantly increased soil nematode abundance (138.10 ± 11.60 inds./100 g dry soil) and community diversity (Shannon-Wiener diversity: 2.48 ± 0.13; trophic diversity: 3.08 ± 0.02), associated with the high contents of SOC and NH4+-N. However, establishing an artificial Prunus sibirica forest improved neither soil properties nor nematode community characteristics, reflecting poor soil ecosystem restoration. After establishing an artificial Prunus davidiana forest (PD) and an artificial Medicago sativa grassland (MS), substantial increases in herbivorous and fungivorous nematodes were observed, respectively, likely due to the accumulation of particular genera that fed on roots (e.g., Pratylenchus) or their symbiotic fungi (e.g., Tylencholaimus), which might result in the deterioration (in MS) or restoration (in PD) of the soil food webs. Natural grassland restoration greatly improved soil properties (i.e., SOC, NH4+-N, microbial biomass carbon) but did not change the nematode community obviously, probably due to top-down predation in natural habitats. In conclusion, the characteristics of nematode communities can effectively indicate the restoration of soil food webs and identify their possible driving forces under revegetation, which have important implications for vegetation restoration in arid and semiarid regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vegetation restoration is an important means for regional climate change mitigation and terrestrial carbon sequestration. However, large‐scale vegetation restoration in arid and semiarid regions can excessively consume local water resources, thus threatening regional water supply safety. To explore the impact of vegetation restoration on the water–carbon relationship in the Loess Plateau in China before and after the implementation of the Grain‐for‐Green Program (GfGP), the regional hydro‐ecological simulation system (RHESSys) model was used to simulate the temporal and spatial evolution of key variables of the water cycle, including the actual evapotranspiration (ET) and the surface runoff (Rs), and that of the carbon cycle, including the net primary productivity (NPP) and the total carbon density (TC). In addition, statistical methods were applied to analyze the interaction between water and carbon cycles. Results show that the RHESSys model is capable of simulating the key ecohydrological elements. In the period of 1990–2019, ET and NPP both showed significant increasing trends at rates of 8.9 mm yr−1 and 6.9 g C m−2 yr−1, respectively. The TC also had a slightly increasing trend, with rates of 0.04 t C hm−2 yr−1 (land‐use in 1995), 0.07 t C hm−2 yr−1 (land‐use in 2005), and 0.08 t C hm−2 yr−1 (land‐use in 2015). In contrast, Rs decreased at the rate of 0.35 mm yr−1. As for spatial distribution, in the middle and southeastern parts of the Yanhe River basin with the vegetation well‐restored, ET, NPP, and TC showed significant increasing trends, while the Rs showed a decreasing trend. ET was also found to have a positive correlation with NPP and TC, while the Rs has a negative correlation with NPP and TC. Moreover, the correlation of Rs‐NPP and Rs‐TC was found to increase after the implementation of the GfGP, which indicates the reinforcing effect of vegetation restoration on the water–carbon trade‐off relationship. Therefore, it is critical to coordinate and regulate the interaction between water consumption and runoff in the context of vegetation restoration in the Yanhe River basin, as well as to promote the synergy between regional ecological restoration and social economic development for water security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, papers related to vegetation restoration and soil in rocky desertification area since 1990s have been retrieved. Based on nutrient grading standards of two national soil censuses, the soil nutrient improvement and soil stoichiometry characteristics have been explored, which can provide theoretical foundation for the ecological restoration effect and model screening of rocky desertification. Results are shown as follows, (1) The mean values of total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) in the forest soil of rocky desertification areas of Southwest China are higher than those of Grade I of two national soil censuses. Total phosphorus (TP) falls into Grade II, with obvious soil nutrient improvement, while the total potassium (TK) concentration falls into the Grade V of the low potassium area. (2) According to the soil censuses, TOC and TN rank top among the five provinces/regions/cities, and TP and TK fall into Grade II and Grade IV, respectively in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which can show the most significant increase in soil nutrient concentration. In Guizhou Province, TOC and TN are higher than those of grade I by 34% and 37%, respectively, and TP falls into Grade II and TK Grade V, reflecting obvious nutrient improvement of forest soil in rocky desertification areas of this province. In Yunnan Province, TOC and TP are higher than those of Grade I by 9% and 21% respectively. TN falls into Grade II and TK Grade V. These indexes show that soil nutrients has been improved to different degrees. TOC in Chongqing City is higher than that of Grade I by 1.75%. Both TN and TP fall into Grade II. TK, ranking top among the five provinces/regions/cities, falls into Grade IV, showing less improvement compared with that of the other three provinces. In Hunan Province, TOC, TN, TP and TK fall into Grades II, II, V, and V respectively, suggesting that Hunan Province should focus on controlling rocky desertification. (3) Indicators of TOC and TN in the soil of rocky desertification areas in Southwest China are positively correlated, and the growth of vegetation is limited by potassium. TOC, TN and TP are stored quickly in Guangxi with significant soil improvement. The soil carbon sequestration capacity of Guizhou Province is higher than that of national average. In rocky desertification areas of Yunnan Province, low TK has posed a bad effect on vegetation growth. The high concentration of TK in Chongqing is not related to TOC, TN, and TP, but nitrogen limits the growth of plants. Phosphorus and potassium elements should be supplemented in growing vegetation in Hunan Province. In conclusion, potassium should be supplemented in growing pants in rocky desertification areas of Southwest China. In addition, phosphorus and nitrogen should be supplemented in Hunan Province and Chongqing City. To strengthen the ecological management of rocky desertification and bring the management into full play, Yunnan, Hunan and Chongqing should learn the experience of ecological restoration from Guangxi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vegetation restoration potential (VRP) mapping provides important information for ecosystem restoration planning. However, the inappropriate assumption of traditional models that VRPs are identical within an individual similar habitat unit may result in low accuracy of VRP maps. This study proposes an improved data‐driven model, namely, the similar habitat and machine learning‐based VRP mapping (SHMLVRPM) model. This new model introduces a variety of machine‐learning models to mine information on geographical environment heterogeneity in areas of similar habitat, which helps to improve the accuracy of VRP maps. Taking Yan'an City, Shanxi Province, China as our study area, we demonstrate the modelling process and validate the model. Our results show that the SHMLVRPM model can effectively construct high‐accuracy VRP maps, and its information entropy is approximately 5.8 greater than that derived from the traditional models. The random forest method has the highest prediction accuracy (R2 = 0.8) among the tested machine‐learning methods. The average VRP value of Yan'an is approximately 68%; counties with the low VRP achievement are concentrated in the northern part of Yan'an, only 54%. Our research results can assist policymakers in optimizing vegetation restoration options and promoting the protection and sustainable development of fragile ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bulletin of Soil & Water Conservation is the property of Bulletin of Soil & Water Conservation Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Open-pit mining has caused extensive land destruction, including land abandonment and reduction in agricultural land, resulting in serious environmental problems. Ecological restoration and mine reclamation have become important components of the sustainable development strategies in Inner Mongolia, China. Therefore, the rehabilitation of mines and agricultural land is vital and has attracted widespread attention from the Chinese government. In this light, we reviewed the progress of mine restoration technologies in China in recent years and summarized the integrated technology of open-pit mine reclamation with microbial restoration technology as the core, ecological vegetation restoration as the essential, and soil restoration and improvement as the promotion. As a cost-effective and environmentally beneficial technique, combining the microbial recovery technology with vegetation and the recovery of vegetation and the improvement of the soil is widely recommended in the mining reclamation area. At the same time, we comprehensively analyzed the current status and progress of ecological restoration technology and put forward the development direction of green mining in the future. In conclusion, this review can provides guiding the sustainable development of green, ecological mines, as well as provide reference for mining reclamation and agricultural land restoration and other related fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Coal Science & Technology (0253-2336) is the property of Coal Science & Technology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The construction of high-speed roads has resulted in large amounts of steep and exposed cut slopes, posing more potential hazards in areas with mountains and hills. Vegetation restoration is an effective and environmentally-friendly way to restore exposed slopes using outside soil spray seeding, though it is difficult to establish a vegetation cover. Spraying artificial soil on high and steep slopes is a challenging task as it is difficult to keep the fluid mixture on sloped surfaces. Because of these challenges, this study applied different combinations of cement and soil aggregates in artificial soil, measuring final soil properties after one growing season. Experimental results showed that there were substantial differences in all basic soil parameters and in the soil quality index after different treatments. In particular, adding 5-10% cement content could improve the adhesion of artificial soil without remarkably reducing soil quality; adding 0.09% of soil aggregate was also beneficial to soil nutrient availability. These findings indicate that the combination of cement and soil aggregates could be applied in artificial soils for the ecological restoration of steep slope vegetation. Adding cement to the soil increased the alkaline levels of the soil, so it is important to reduce artificial soil pH in the future. The application of a cement and soil aggregate should be considered in the field for the ecological restoration of slope vegetation, and the impact of this addition on slope stability and vegetation growth should be explored with further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vegetation restoration is an important part of karst rocky desertification management for sustainable environmental development. The soils under three typical restoration models (grassland, forest-grassland, forest-shrub-grassland) in the karst plateau mountain rocky desertification area were selected as the research objects to investigate the effect of restoration modes on soil aggregate stability and soil organic carbon stocks. Additionally, the characteristics of soil aggregate stability and organic carbon stock distribution in 0-10 and 10-20 cm soil layers under different years and treatments were studied by dry and wet sieving, respectively. The results showed that mean weight diameter(Dmw) and geometrical mean diameter(Dgm) values were higher in forest-shrub-grassland than in grassland and forest-grassland in the bilayer soil. Compared with the results in 2018, the soil organic carbon stocks of all plots in 2019 increased, and compared with that of the grassland and forest-grassland, the soil organic carbon stocks in the forest-shrub grassland model showed a significant increase（P＜0.05） of 52.52% and 37.08% in the 0-10 and 10-20 cm soil layers, respectively, compared with the grassland. Compared with the wet sieving results, dry sieving could better avoid the loss of water-soluble carbon and was the preferred method for characterizing the stability of mountain soil aggregates in the karst plateau. Therefore, the vegetation restoration model of mixed planting can improve the stability of soil aggregates and promote the sequestration of organic carbon, effectively maintain the soil quality of ecological restoration in karst areas, and has great potential for improving soil nutrient storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ecological environment of quarry mining area is fragile, and the vegetation restoration cycle is long and difficult, so scientific and appropriate artificial vegetation is of great significance to ecological restoration. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the herbaceous and woody vegetation restoration, including Medicago sativa (Me), artificial miscellaneous grass (Mg), Rhus typhina (Rh), fruit orchard (Or) and Pinus tabulaeformis (Pi), to investigate the soil physicochemical properties and the structure of the microbial communities, and to reveal the correlation between them. The results addressed that Medicago sativa and artificial miscellaneous grass had significant effect on soil remediation, which were conducive to scientific and efficient ecological restoration, and could promote ecological restoration in the damaged ecosystems. While, the modes of Rh and Pi were not suitable for ecological restoration in this study area because they had strong allelopathy. Another arborous restoration mode of Or showed a better improvement effect (including soil nutrients, soil microbial diversity, etc.) than that of Rh and Pi. The findings also indicated that the herbaceous vegetation restoration modes of Me and Mg significantly increased the relative abundance of Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria bacteria, Ascomycota and Mortierllomycota fungi, and reduced the relative abundance of Firmicutes bacteria and Basidiomycota fungi. This study also revealed that the trend of bacterial localization in the fruit orchard, artificial miscellaneous grass and Medicago sativa was more obvious. Among many soil abiotic factors, the contents of organic matter, available nitrogen and pH were the most important factors affecting soil microbial community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the influence of human activities such as cultivation and urban construction, the ecosystem of the Yellow River Basin (YRB) is subjected to increased vulnerability and even potential risk of destruction. Ecological restoration has led to an increase in vegetation, but excessive afforestation conversely results in low survival rate of trees, water shortages, and biodiversity loss. It is of great significance for achieving sustainable development of forests to reasonable revegetation in the region. At present, the potential distribution pattern of dominant species and their mixed forms in the basin has not been effectively studied. This study simulated the potential distribution of dominant vegetation in the YRB based on Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) and Genetic Algorithm for Rule-Set Prediction (GARP) and explored the impact of human interference on it by employing land use as the environmental filter to distinguish the regions of human activities. We further predicted the potential distribution of typically mixed forests and discussed their human interference. The main results are as follows: (1) Except for Caragana korshinskii, all models had good above performance (0.7 < the mean AUC < 1). Except for Caragana korshinskii, the area under the curve (AUC) for 90% of the models indicated that MaxEnt performed better than GARP, and MaxEnt easily lead to over-fitting while GARP predicted a wider range. (2) Except for Nitraria tangutorum, the dominant types of vegetation such as Pinus tabulaeformis, Platycladus orientalis, and Hippophae rhamnoides mainly distributed in southern Gansu, Shaanxi, and south-central Shanxi. Among them, the largest suitable area of Artemisia gmelinii and Stipa bungeana (High suitable area) were approximately 56.7×104 km2 (38.8%) and 54.7×104 km2 (28.5%) with the area occupied by large-scale cultivation being 17.5×104 km2 (39.4%) and 18.9×104 km2 (48%), respectively, which indicated human activities caused great damage to the core growth regions of these vegetation. (3) Mean temperature of coldest quarter or month mainly constrained the growth of most vegetation in the YRB in terms of temperature, while precipitation of wettest/driest month is one of the dominant factors. However, some vegetation responded differently to other meteorological factors due to niche differences. (4) Most of the mixed forests were distributed in southern Gansu, Shaanxi, and Shanxi provinces; its middle and high suitable areas were mainly concentrated in Shaanxi and southern and central Shanxi, where the cultivated land had occupied most of them. Therefore, the results showed that the restoration of herbaceous vegetation such as Artemisia gmelinii and Stipa bungeana has a high potential and it is appropriate that the measures for afforestation should be concentrated in the areas like the lower reaches of the Weihe, Jinghe, and Beiluo rivers and Luliang Mountain, where the cultivated land overlaps with the high suitable areas of the corresponding vegetation and the mixed forests with less water consumption and wide distribution, such as Caragana korshinskii-Hippophae rhamnoides, Pinus tabulaeformis-Quercus liaotungensis, and Ostryopsis davidiana-Stipa bungeana- Hippophae rhamnoides. The results of this study can provide effective guidance for mixed forest plantations and vegetation conservation in the YRB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The restoration and reconstruction of ecosystems is the basis of the landscape reconstruction of construction and demolition waste (CDW) landfills, in which landscape plants play a prominent role. To screen appropriate landscape plants that could survive and grow in a mixture of CDW and soils, the Fenghuangshan CDW landfill in Suzhou, China, was taken as an example to study restoration technology by plants. The growth and physiological parameters of ten herbaceous species with high ornamental values, healthy growth and easy maintenance in the green space of Suzhou were measured under a mixture of CDW and soils. A comprehensive evaluation was conducted with the membership function method. The results showed that Hemerocallis fulva, Panicum virgatum, Heliopsis helianthoides, Sedum aizoon and Carex oshimensis 'Evergold' were well adapted to the mixed environment of CDW and soil in Suzhou. Among them, Hemerocallis fulva ranked first with a comprehensive evaluation index of 0.87. It could be the best herbaceous species for landscape reconstruction of CDW landfills. The study is instructive for vegetation restoration in surrounding areas and provides a method for plant selection and evaluation for vegetation restoration of CDW landfills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil bacteria play an important role in regulating the process of vegetation restoration in karst ecosystems. However, the effects of vegetation restoration for different cultivated pastures on soil bacterial communities in the karst rocky desertification regions remain unclear. Therefore, we hypothesized that mixed pasture is the most effective for soil bacterial communities among different vegetation restorations. In this study, we systematically studied the soil properties and soil bacterial communities in four vegetation restoration modes [i.e., Dactylis glomerata pasture (DG), Lolium perenne pasture (LP), Lolium perenne + Trifolium repens mixed pasture (LT), and natural grassland (NG)] by using 16S rDNA Illumina sequencing, combined with six soil indicators and data models. We found that the vegetation restoration of cultivated pastures can improve the soil nutrient content compared with the natural grassland, especially LT treatment. LT treatment significantly increased the MBC content and Shannon index. The vegetation restoration of cultivated pastures significantly increased the relative abundance of Proteobacteria, but LT treatment significantly decreased the relative abundance of Acidobacteria. Soil pH and MBC significantly correlated with the alpha diversity of soil bacterial. Soil pH and SOC were the main factors that can affect the soil bacterial community. FAPROTAX analysis showed LT treatment significantly decreased the relative abundance of aerobic chemoheterotrophs. The results showed that the bacterial communities were highly beneficial to soil restoration in the LT treatment, and it confirmed our hypothesis. This finding provides a scientific reference for the restoration of degraded ecosystems in karst rocky desertification areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grazing exclusion has been a primary ecological restoration practice since the implement of "Returning Grazing Land to Grassland" program in China. However, the debates on the effectiveness of grazing exclusion have kept for decades. To date, there has been still a poor understand of vegetation restoration with grazing exclusion duration in alpine meadows and alpine steppes, limiting the sustainable management of grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau. We collected data from previous studies and field surveys and conducted a meta-analysis to explore vegetation restoration with grazing exclusion durations in alpine meadows and alpine steppes. Our results showed that aboveground biomass significantly increased with short-term grazing exclusion (1-4 years) in alpine meadows, while medium-term grazing exclusion (5-8 years) in alpine steppes (P < 0.05). By contrast, belowground biomass significantly increased with medium-term grazing exclusion in alpine meadows, while short-term grazing exclusion in alpine steppes (P < 0.05). Long-term grazing exclusion significantly increased belowground biomass in both alpine meadows and alpine steppes. medium-tern, and long-term grazing exclusion (> 8 years) significantly increased species richness in alpine meadows (P < 0.05). Only long-term GE significantly increased Shannon-Wiener index in plant communities of alpine steppes. The efficiency of vegetation restoration in terms of productivity and diversity gradually decreased with increasing grazing exclusion duration. Precipitation significantly positively affected plant productivity restoration, suggesting that precipitation may be an important factor driving the differential responses of vegetation to grazing exclusion duration in alpine meadows and alpine steppes. Considering the effectiveness and efficiency of grazing exclusion for vegetation restoration, medium-term grazing exclusion are recommended for alpine meadows and alpine steppes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Vegetation restoration has improved the soil multifunctionality in eroded areas. • Vegetation restoration has increased the abundance and diversity of carbon-fixing functional bacteria. • Vegetation restoration has enhanced the network complexity of carbon-fixing functional bacteria. • The changes in carbon-fixing functional bacteria are closely related to the changes in soil multifunctionality. Carbon-fixing bacteria are a key functional group in soil carbon fixation processes, but their relationship with soil multifunctionality during vegetation restoration in eroded areas remains unclear. This hinders our ability to assess the true impact of vegetation restoration on soil ecosystem services. Therefore, we studied the impacts of three vegetation communities (tree-shrub, tree-grass, and tree-shrub-grass) in the same small watershed in a severely eroded area in southern China on the community of carbon-fixing bacteria in the soil. Compared to eroded areas, vegetation restoration sites had more complex networks of carbon-fixing bacteria, more carbon-fixing bacterial taxa, and more associations among these bacteria. Particularly, in the tree-shrub communities, the Chao1 index, Shannon index, node number, and edge number increased significantly by 291.29%, 49.65%, 364.58%, and 530.89%, respectively. The vegetation community pattern shifted the dominant carbon-fixing bacteria in the eroded areas from Rhodovastum to Nocardia. In the tree-shrub, tree-grass, and tree-shrub-grass patterns, the relative abundance of Rhodovastum decreased by 90.11%, 96.76%, and 95.37%, respectively, compared to that in the control group (CK). This indicates that vegetation community patterns have the potential to shift the dominant carbon-fixing bacteria from strict autotrophs to facultative autotrophs. The changes in the characteristics of the carbon-fixing bacterial community are closely related to the changes in soil multifunctionality caused by vegetation restoration. These results demonstrate that vegetation communities have a significant positive impact on the soil carbon fixation capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in ecosystem water use efficiency (WUE) and evapotranspiration (ET) that are driven by vegetation change can be used as metrics to quantify ecosystem carbon and water exchange. The effect of vegetation on WUE has been explored in the past through consideration of total ET. However, interception (Ei) doesn't directly participate in ecosystem carbon and water exchange, and uncertainty of modeled Ei, resulting in great uncertainty of ET partitioning and ecosystem WUE. Here, we estimated Ei in China using Gerrits' model, replacing the algorithm for Ei in the Priestley‐Taylor Jet Propulsion Laboratory (PT‐JPL) model. The modified PT‐JPL model was then incorporated into the analytical WUE model to estimate WUE over China for 2003–2011, and the results were validated against literature data (WUELiterature). To evaluate the net effect of vegetation restoration on WUE, we simulated WUE in three ways: with vegetation change; without vegetation change; and with vegetation change, but without any Ei changes caused by vegetation changes. In the study presented here, we demonstrate the WUE simulated by the analytical WUE model is significantly correlated with the WUELiterature (R2 = 0.76, p‐value < 0.001), and leaf area index contributes the most to the spatial variability of Ei/ET, ranging from 10% to 55%. Increased Ei weakened the effect of vegetation change on WUE by ∼51.3% during vegetation restoration in China; a reduction that was particularly marked in southern China. These findings highlight the importance of considering Ei when assessing the effects of vegetation change on ecosystem carbon and water exchange, and provide insights that are important for the sustainable management of vegetation change in China. Key Points: Interception (Ei) simulated using the Priestley‐Taylor Jet Propulsion Laboratory (PT‐JPL) model is more consistent with Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model and PML_V2 when Gerrits' model is implemented in the model than when it is notLeaf area index is identified to be the primary driver of Ei/ET and its relative contribution to the spatial variability of Ei/ET varies from 10% to 55%We estimated water use efficiency (WUE) based on the modified PT‐JPL model and the analytical WUE model, and compared the scenario with and without vegetation restoration. Increased Ei counters the effects of vegetation change on WUE during periods of vegetation restoration in China by ∼51.3% [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of the Three Gorges Reservoir and the resettlement project have caused increasing contradictions between human and land, and led to the deterioration of the ecological environment. In order to ameliorate ecological environment of the Three Gorges Area, the government carried out several ecological restoration projects to improve the vegetation coverage from 1990s. This paper aims to quantitatively analyze the impact of ecological projects on the vegetation in the Three Gorges Area of Chongqing, China. Landsat and MODIS data from 1992 to 2015 were used to estimate vegetation coverage. In addition, the land cover data of the European Space Agency (ESA) was used to explore the impact of ecological projects on land cover change. The cropland accounted for about 62% and the forestland accounted for about 34% of the total area. There was more than 90% of the study area covered with high or very high vegetation coverage. From 1992 to 2015, a total of 272.7 km2 croplands were converted into forestland in the Ecological Migration Project (EMP), 795.6 km2 in the Grain for Green Project (GGP), and 13.77 km2 in the Ecological Restoration Zone Project (ERZP). Among the three projects, the GGP was the most powerful measure, with a contribution rate of 1.6%. The implementation of the ecological projects improved vegetation coverage, which indicated that the ecological projects measures were effective in ecological restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of great significance to measure and evaluate vegetation restoration efficiency of ecological compensation (VREoEC) in an ecological project. However, the output efficiency of ecological compensation is still unclear, and its influencing factors need further exploration. In this research, Wuqi and Zhidan, two pioneer counties in China's Grain for Green (GFG) project, were taken together as the study area, and remote sensing vegetation indices were used to reflect the vegetation coverage level, and the geographically-weighted regression model was applied to measure the VREoEC in the GFG project. Then, the classic multiple linear regression model was used to explore the influencing factors of VREoEC. The findings were as follows: (1) while the overall vegetation coverage in the study area was improved greatly, the VREoEC showed noticeable spatial trend and accumulation, and suffered from regional water-heat distribution; (2) local terrain, micro-climate conditions, rural roads density, classified highway, and intensity of ecological compensation affected the VREoEC; and (3) because local natural and socio-economic conditions can affect the VREoEC, ecological compensation measures need to be formulated according to local conditions. Thus, this study provides a methodological reference and corresponding policy suggestions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In history, the Yellow River has been suffering from endless floods, which has brought great damage or destruction to agriculture, cities, and people's lives and property along the river. In this study, the rainfall and runoff characteristics of the Yellow River upstream (Tangnaihai and Lanzhou) after the vegetation restoration were analyzed. With the government implementation of ecological restoration policy since 1999, the vegetation cover in this area has been greatly improved and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) shows a fluctuating increase, with the maximum value of 0.323 (in 2010) and the minimum value of 0.289 (in 2008). The trend of rainfall from 1948 to 2019 was increased, with an average increase of 1.747mm per 10 years. Before the implementation of ecological policy (1948 to 1999), the rainfall decreased by an average of 0.953mm per 10 years, and then increased by an average of 16.519mm per 10 years (2000 to 2019). From 1998 to 2017, the runoff increased by 11.13×108m3 per 10 years (Tangnaihai) and 30.517×108 m3 (Lanzhou) per 10 years, which was due to the increase in rainfall. Annual sediment discharge and annual average sediment concentration decreased by 0.002×108t and 0.103 kg/m3 per 10 years in Tangnaihai, 0.081×108t and 0.395kg/m3 per 10 years in Lanzhou respectively. The decreasing intensity of Lanzhou station was greater. The sediment runoff modulus of Tangnaihai and Lanzhou decreased by 1.4875 km2·year and 4.9439 km2·year respectively. The increase of vegetation has a decreasing effect on sediment discharge. The implementation of ecological restoration policy reduces the amount of sediment into the Yellow River and plays an important role in the protection of ecological environment in the Yellow River Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Two TWSA rising and two declining hotspots were identified in the TN region during 2003–2021. • Vegetation posed stronger impacts than climatic-related factors on declining TWSA. • Shallow (deep) water storage was more responsive to changes in climate (vegetation) Large-scale vegetation restoration has markedly enhanced ecosystem services in the Three-North (TN) region, concurrently exacerbating the pre-existing water resource crisis stemming from climate change in this arid domain. However, the specific contributions of climate and vegetation changes to the evolution of water resources in the TN region have yet to be elucidated. This study leverages data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and its Follow-on mission (GRACE-FO), specifically the terrestrial water storage anomaly (TWSA) from 2003 to 2021. We identify two TWSA rising (TWSA_rⅠ and TWSA_rⅡ) and two declining (TWSA_dⅠ and TWSA_dⅡ) hotspots in the TN region. By exploring the relative importance of climate drivers and vegetation dynamics in influencing the temporal dynamics of TWSA, we found that vegetation restoration assumes a more pivotal role than climate factors in 45.2% of the total area within the identified hotspots, predominantly evident in TWSA declining hotspots. The heightened TWSA in TWSA_rⅠ and TWSA_rⅡ primarily stems from precipitation recharge, with precipitation-dominated areas constituting 19.3% of the area within the identified hotspots. Potential evapotranspiration dominates TWSA changes in only 4.6% of the region within the identified hotspots, primarily scattered in TWSA_dⅠ and TWSA_dⅡ. Furthermore, a comparative assessment of soil moisture and groundwater responses to environmental factors indicates that water storage at shallower layers is more responsive to climate factors, while the impacts of vegetation changes on TWSA are more discernibly reflected in water storage at deeper layers. These findings furnish scientific guidance for future ecological restoration planning and sustainable water resources management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microorganisms are essential components of underground life systems and drive elemental cycling between plants and soil. Yet, in the ecologically fragile Loess Plateau, scant attention has been paid to the response of microbial communities to organic carbon (C) chemistry of both leaves and soils under different revegetation conditions, as well as subsequent alternation in their C metabolic functions. Here, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrum, amplicon sequencing of 16S rRNA and ITS, and temporal incubation with Biolog-Eco 96 plates were combined to explore the vegetative heterogeneity of microbial community properties and metabolic functions, as well as their regulatory mechanisms in three typical revegetation types including Robinia pseudoacacia L. (RF), Caragana korshinskii KOM. (SL), and abandoned grassland (AG). We observed higher bacterial-to-fungal ratios (B: F = 270.18) and richer copiotrophic bacteria (Proteobacteria = 33.08%) in RF soil than those in AG soil, suggesting that microbes were dominated by r-strategists in soil under RF treatment, which is mainly related to long-term priming of highly bioavailable leaf C (higher proportion of aromatic and hydrophilic functional groups and lower hydrophobicity). Conversely, microbial taxa in AG soil, which was characterized by higher leaf organic C hydrophobicity (1.39), were dominated by relatively more abundant fungi (lower B: F ratio = 149.49) and oligotrophic bacteria (Actinobacteria = 29.30%). The co-occurrence network analysis showed that microbial interactive associations in RF and AG soil were more complex and connective than in SL soil. Furthermore, Biolog-Eco plate experiments revealed that microorganisms tended to utilize labile C compounds (carbohydrates and amino acids) in RF soil and resistant C compounds (polymers) in AG soil, which were consistent with the substrate adaptation strategies of predominant microbial trophic groups in different revegetation environments. Meanwhile, we observed greater microbial metabolic activity and diversity advantages in RF vegetation. Collectively, we suggest that besides the nutrient variables in the leaf-soil system, the long-term regulation of the microbial community by the C chemistry of the leaf sequentially alters the microbial metabolic profiles in a domino-like manner. RF afforestation is more conducive to restoring soil microbial fertility (including microbial abundance, diversity, interactive association, and metabolic capacity). Our study potentially paves the way for achieving well-managed soil health and accurate prediction of C pool dynamics in areas undergoing ecological restoration of the Loess Plateau. [Display omitted] • The effects of leaf organic carbon chemistry on soil microbial composition and diversity are conspicuous. • Microbes dominated by r-strategists preferred to metabolize labile carbon in Robinia pseudoacacia L vegetation. • Microbes dominated by K-strategists maintained the highest metabolic superiority for chemically resistant carbon in abandoned grassland. • Readily degradable carbohydrates were metabolized with the highest priority in three revegetation soils with different microbial community profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge of soil organic carbon (OC) components and enzyme activities is essential to maintain soil health and for sustainable land use during long-term vegetation restoration. The effects of vegetation restoration on soil physicochemical properties have been widely documented; however, knowledge of the relationships among soil OC components, enzyme activities, and soil properties in restored ecosystems remains unclear. Here, the soil from four successional stages of restored Robinia pseudoacacia vegetation (10, 20, 30, and 40 years) were sampled in China's Loess Plateau. The soil water content (SWC), bulk density (BD), pH, total nitrogen (TN), soil microbial biomass C (MBC) and N (MBN) contents, OC components (labile and recalcitrant OC), and soil enzyme (hydrolytic and oxidase) activities were measured. We found that restoration time significantly affects soil physicochemical properties, OC components and enzyme activities. Across the restoration time, the SWC decreased from year 10 to year 30, then increased from year 30 to year 40. Soil OC and TN increased with restoration time, while soil clay content decreased with restoration time. Following 40 years of restoration, soil MBC and MBN significantly increased by 214% and 88%, respectively. For OC components, 40 years of restoration significantly increased recalcitrant C component rather than labile C component. Soil hydrolytic enzyme activities significantly increased by 76.9% and 80.3% in 40 years stand compared with that of in 10 years stand, respectively, while soil oxidase enzyme activities significantly decreased with restoration time. Correlation analysis demonstrated that the SOC and MBC content significantly influenced soil recalcitrant C component and hydrolytic enzyme activities, while MBC and clay content significantly influenced soil oxidase enzyme activities. These results provided useful insights on the responses of forest restoration on soil OC components and related OC degrading enzymes and the understanding of soil C sequestration in the restored ecosystems in such areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil moisture is one of the restricting factors in the humid karst areas, which feature strong spatial heterogeneity. However, current research about the effects of vegetation restoration on soil moisture content have mainly focused on plot scale and slope scale, while these effects still remain unclear at regional scale in this area. Taking Southwest China as a case study and based on the land parameter data record (LPDR) and enhanced vegetation index (EVI) data set during 2002–2018, this study analyzed the spatiotemporal variation characteristics of vegetation and soil moisture content, and evaluated the effects of vegetation restoration on regional soil moisture content dynamics in paired years with similar precipitation conditions. The results showed that the EVI generally increased at a rate of 0.035/10a during 2002–2018, while the soil moisture was dominated by a drying trend at a variation rate of −0.0006 (cm3/cm3)/10a. The increasing trend of EVI accounted for 90.90% across the study area, whereas the decreasing trend of soil moisture accounted for 51.66%, and the increasing trend of soil moisture accounted for 48.34%. In addition, the decreasing trend of soil moisture coupled with an increasing trend of EVI distributed in most of the study area, especially in the homogenous limestone area. Our results demonstrate that there were remarkable vegetation restoration efforts in a series of ecological restoration projects, which resulted in a drying trend of the regional soil moisture content in the humid karst areas. The results suggest that it is necessary to consider reasonable vegetation planting density and suitable revegetation types to balance the relationship between vegetation water consumption and soil moisture supplementation in vegetation restoration practice in the humid karst areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vegetation restoration potential mapping (VRPM) is of great importance for regional ecosystem restoration planning after long‐term land degradation or short‐term disasters. However, there are some problems to be solved in the current models for evaluating the potential of vegetation restoration. First, the models for VRPM are mostly established based on a knowledge‐driven index system. Although this kind of model is logically rigorous, it relies too much on expert knowledge and is relatively inefficient, especially for large‐area vegetation restoration assessments. Second, because of the spatial heterogeneity, as well as the absence of important indicators, the traditional global‐based evaluation models are difficult to adapt to the entire study area. In this study, an improved data‐driven approach, that is, a sliding‐window based similar habitat potential model, is developed for VRPM. The advantages of the new model include: (a) it is more efficient in determining the importance of each influencing factor without resorting to expert knowledge; (b) it is more locally adaptive than the global model because it performs sample training, rule building, and vegetation restoration potential calculation in each current local window. We provide a case‐study to show the modeling process and result interpretation of the new model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Birds are a key constituent of the coastal ecosystems. They have been identified as vital ecosystem engineers that modify both the abiotic and biotic factors through their behavior processes. Understanding the ecosystem engineering effect of birds is of importance to undergo restoration based on ecosystem process in coastal vegetation systems. Field surveys were conducted to investigate the effect mechanisms of the foraging-associated hollows of birds on the vegetation resilience in a degraded coastal saltmarsh vegetation ecosystem, in the Yellow River Delta, Northern China. Our results showed that the foraging-associated hollows of birds could play an important role in changing microtopography, improving edaphic environment and promoting vegetation establishment. Compared with the degraded flat microtopography areas without birds influence, the soil hardness and the soil salinity in the foraging-associated hollows of birds are significantly lower, while the soil moisture content, and the soil carbon and nitrogen nutrition content in the foraging- associated hollows of birds are significantly higher. Additionally, the foraging- associated hollows of birds could function as effective traps to improve the seed retention, seedling establishment and plant survival, which could effectively promote the recovery of Suaeda salsa. Our study highlights that foraging- associated engineering processes of birds modifying the microtopography should be considered as an important implication, for using artificial microtopography to increase the potentials of vegetation restoration in degraded coastal saltmarsh ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through analyzing basic conditions of the "five mining areas" in the Laoqing Mountain of the Dianchi Lake Basin, in Kunming Gty, South China, the ecological restoration design of "integrating engineering protection and biological restoration, building the landscape ecological security pattern of the Laoqing Mountain" was proposed. Considering the different ecological functional areas, varying engineering measures, greening patterns, and irrigation means were selected for the ecological restoration, including site management, vegetation restoration, management and utilization etc. These ecological restoration measures will produce favorable ecological benefits, and also take landscape effect and sustainable development into consideration, which will contribute to the ecological restoration of the "five mining areas", and provide a scientific and feasible reference for the ecological restoration in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open‐pit mining causes severe land degradation in Yunnan Province, Southwest China. Vegetation restoration on the degraded land with open‐pit mining is challenging due to great physical and chemical condition changes of the post‐mined landscape. In this study, we compared the vegetation community composition and environmental factors along three disturbance gradients (mining area, restoration area, and control area) in four typical open‐pit mine types (phosphate, zinc, tin, and iron sites). Nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis revealed that there are significant differences in the vegetation communities along three gradients for these mine sites. Quality species were selected by indicator species analysis for vegetation restoration as follows: Chloris virgata Sw. and Artemisia princeps Pamp at the phosphate site; Coriaria nepalensis Wall., Artemisia princeps Pamp, and Picris hieracioides L. at the zinc site; Artemisia princeps Pamp at the tin site; and Panicum brevifolium L. at the iron site. Canonical Correspondence Analysis ordination and Monte Carlo permutation tests were further used to determine the effects of environmental factors on vegetation diversity. The results showed that Cd, As, Zn, Pb, TC, and altitude all had significant effects on vegetation diversity (P < 0.05). Additionally, we found that the integrated effects of these variables on vegetation were greater in the mining area than in the other two gradients based on the model with the lowest Akaike Information Criterion. These results suggest that any plans for vegetation restoration in open‐pit mining areas should take disturbance intensity, mine types, and critical environmental variables into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Microbial C-, N-requirement coexists, P-requirement occurs with sufficient organic matter. • As N-, P-requirements enhanced, microbial community diversity declined but robustness increased. • Bacteria are more sensitive to nutrient restriction than fungi. • The antagonism between microbial dominant and sub-dominant taxa improves nutrient acquisition. Various nutrient requirements of soil microorganisms often occur in restoration ecosystems, but the responses of microbial communities in different vegetation types remain unclear. In this study, we selected four types of vegetation (grassland desert (GD), desert steppe (DS), typical steppe (TS), and artificial forest (AF)) on the Mu Us Desert, and examined the soil physicochemical properties, extracellular enzyme activities (carbon (C)-, nitrogen (N)-, and phosphorus (P)-acquisition enzymes), and community characteristics. Our results revealed that the N-requirement of microorganisms in the area was higher than that of other elements, particularly when organic C was scarce, whereas severe P requirement was detected in the presence of abundant organic matter. Compared with TS, we detected a higher diversity of microorganisms in GD, DS, and AF, and the microbial communities were dominated by a few taxa with loose internal connections and higher C and N requirements. Stronger N and P requirements reduced the diversity of microorganisms and the relative abundance of dominant taxa in TS, but increased the stability of bacterial communities. Our results further indicate that bacteria play a more active role in coping with the transformation of nutrient requirements. When C- and N-requirements of microorganisms were transformed to N and P, the abundance of dominant and sub-dominant taxa decreased and increased, respectively. Collectively, the results of this study indicate that efficient vegetation restoration in desert areas may lead to stronger nutrient requirements for microorganisms, thus reducing the diversity of microorganisms and causing unpredictable consequences for ecological sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing concern about the effectiveness of restoration strategies has spurred an evaluation of soil properties under different vegetation combinations. The restoration of underground microbial communities is critical to the success of restoration, however, the responses of biochemical and microbial properties to reclamation remain unknown. In this study, soil nutrients, enzyme activities and the characteristics of microbial communities of four restoration modes, CK1 (a non-restored mode) and CK2 (an original habitat mode) in a mining area of Sanhe City of Hebei Province were measured. Soil bacteria and fungi communities were analyzed by high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene fragment and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) to assess the recovery effects of different ecological restorations. Our results showed that: (1) The improved effect on soil available phosphorus (AP), available potassium (AK) and organic matter (OM) was obvious. Also, artificial and native plant combinations of Medicago sativa + local dominant natural vegetation (Nr) had the most obvious effect on soil nutrients. (2) The activities of soil urease, soil sucrase and soil phosphatase in Nr were considerably higher than those in other restoration modes (p < 0.05), while the soil catalase activity was the highest in the vegetation combinations of Medicago sativa + artificial miscellaneous grass (Mg) (p < 0.05). (3) Bacterial community structures in Nr were closest with those in CK2, whereas fungal community structures in Mg recovered the best. On the whole, the recovery rates of different indicators were ranked as follows: soil nutrients > bacteria > fungi. These results indicated that in the short term, native vegetation incorporating the planting of alfalfa significantly increased ecological restoration effects, however, a longer restoration history was required to restore the soil microbial diversity level similar to that of the original habitat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamics of biophysical regulations of carbon fluxes can have a major effect on an ecosystems' carbon budget. Only a handful of comprehensive assessments of such dynamics exist. To better understand the carbon cycle, we measured all major carbon flux by biophysical regulations including rainfall, runoff, infiltration, and sediment yield at eight runoff plots in an eroding soil landscape on the Chinese Loess Plateau, a typical vegetation restoration area for the region. Results show that topsoil carbon flux by infiltration into deep soil layers was the largest efflux from topsoil in plots with vegetation, followed by runoff and sediment carbon effluxes. On the contrary, the carbon flux by sediment was the largest efflux from topsoil in plot without vegetation, followed by infiltration and runoff carbon effluxes. Total topsoil carbon flux by biophysical regulations to the deep layer is about 71 ± 10% of the typical carbon sequestration rate in the region. Topsoil carbon sequestration capacity might be underestimated by up to 43 ± 3% if the infiltrated carbon was not factored into estimates. The results of this study improve understanding of soil carbon dynamics and expand the dynamic carbon replacement hypothesis; photosynthesis replaces not only lateral carbon lost by erosion but also vertical carbon lost by infiltration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions: Restoration of disturbed alpine ecosystems is difficult due to harsh environmental conditions. Transplanting of vegetation turfs into disturbed areas has been used as a restoration method in disturbed alpine sites. The aim of this study is to investigate which environmental factors influence the vegetation recovery in turf surroundings and how turf attributes contribute to vegetation recovery. Location: Restored roads in a former military training area, Dovrefjell mountain range, central Norway. Methods: We recorded species richness, vegetation cover and soil characteristics of transplanted turfs and turf surroundings in roads restored between 3 and 14 years ago. Linear and generalized linear mixed models were used to investigate the relative importance of turf attributes and soil factors for recovery of turf surroundings. Results: Time was the most important factor for vegetation recovery, but soil conditions in turf surroundings were also highly important. Species richness and vegetation cover in turf surroundings were almost twice as high on silt‐dominated soil and with presence of soil organic matter compared to on coarser soils and without organic matter. Species richness in turfs and turf surroundings was almost equal after 14 years, and the similarity of the species composition was high. Neither turf size, distance to the second closest turf or species richness and vegetation cover of the turfs were important factors for vegetation recovery in the turf surroundings. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the importance of preparing the restoration sites before using turf transplants in road and infrastructure restoration. Of particular importance is ensuring soil organic content and a fine soil grain size to increase rates of vegetation recovery in short time scales. Time is the most important factor for recovery in this ecosystem, and this should be communicated to project owners and to the public to ensure realistic expectations on recovery time. We investigated which environmental factors influence vegetation recovery in turf surroundings and how turf attributes contribute to vegetation recovery on restored roads. We demonstrate that time, presence of soil organic matter and fine soils increase recovery rates around turf transplants. Turf size and density of turfs are of less importance in narrow linear restoration sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge of the vegetation dynamics is critical for addressing the potential challenges and threats facing the land surface ecosystems. Various climatic and anthropogenic factors such as temperature, precipitation, ecological engineering, and population density can affect the vegetation conditions. Yet how vegetation in the Yangtze River basin (YRB) responses to climate change and human activities is not well established. We investigate the spatiotemporal variations of vegetation coverage using Normal Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) during 1982–2015, and distinguish the effects of climatic and anthropogenic factors on vegetation dynamics. The results show that the growing-season NDVI (GSN) has increased by 0.09% during the 34-year period, the changes indicated a significant upward trend of vegetation with annual change rates of 0.09% GSN year −1 during 1982–2015.especially after 1994, the vegetation coverage has significantly increased. Temperature is a controlling factor determining the vegetation greenness in YRB, and the response of vegetation to precipitation is relatively lower because of the abundant water. Meanwhile, land use changes caused by ecological restoration project is the major driving factor for improving vegetation conditions in YRB, and the spatial distributions between human-induced GSN increasing trends and areas with increased forest have a strong consistency in the north of YRB. High effectiveness of ecological restoration projects are closely related to the combined effects of topography, climate and human management. The areas in northern part of Hubei and Sichuan are characterized by suitable climate and moderate elevation, leading to a high effectiveness for vegetation restoration. For the Hengduan Mountain area with complex terrain and lower precipitation added with poor traffic accessibility, low or even no effectiveness of project implementations can be observed. Furthermore, the large-scale migration and movement of the labor force in YRB relieve the environmental pressures and improve the vegetation conditions for the region of emigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over that past decade, ecological restoration practices have expanded globally. However, the effectiveness of ecological restoration depends on the complex interactions of various natural and socioeconomic factors, about which there is limited scientific understanding and thus provides an important research frontier. This paper analyzed the relationship between regional scale vegetation restoration and the process of urbanization using the Loess Plateau of China as a case study. This region has experienced both rapid urbanization and a high number of vegetation restoration activities. Urbanization and vegetation restoration can be considered as extremes on the spectrum of environment preservation activities. Three separate spatial correlation analyses between urbanization and vegetation restoration were identified, resulting in: 1) insignificant correlations in saturated urban areas; 2) significant negative correlations in peri -urban areas; and 3) significant positive correlations in undeveloped areas. The relationship between urbanization and vegetation restoration is thus stage-dependent. Impacts of urbanization on vegetation degradation has improved but has not been fully addressed by large scale vegetation restoration. Regardless of whether the county or grid scale is used, peri -urbanization was found to be the critical factor affecting the effectiveness of vegetation restoration over both time and space. Therefore, peri -urbanized areas are viewed as priorities for improving the coupling of urban development and vegetation restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To prevent potentially unsuitable activities during vegetation restoration, it is important to examine the impact of historical restoration activities on the target ecological system to inform future restoration policies. Taking the Loess Plateau of China as an example, a regionalization method and corresponding scheme were proposed to select suitable vegetation types (forested lands, woody grasslands/bushlands, grasslands, or xerophytic shrublands and semi-shrublands) for a given location using remote sensing technology in order to analyze the vegetation growth status before and after the largest ecological conservation project in the country: The Grain for Green Program (GTGP). To design the scheme, remote sensing data covering the periods before and after the implementation of the GTGP (the 1980s and 2001-2013) were collected, along with soil, meteorological, and topographic data. The net primary production (NPP) values for 2001-2013 were calculated using the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach (CASA) model. Locations representing the native vegetation and the restored vegetation were first recognized using maps of vegetation cover. Then, for the restored vegetation area, the places suitable for planting the covered vegetation type were selected by comparing the NPP value of the corresponding vegetation type in the native vegetation area to the NPP value in the site under consideration. Third, half of these sites were uniformly selected based on their NPP value, and these areas and the native vegetation area were used as training regions. Based on weather, soil, and topographic data, a new regionalization scheme was designed using standardized Euclidean distances. Finally, data from the remainder of the Loess Plateau were used to validate the new regionalization scheme, which was also compared to an existing Chinese eco-geographical regionalization scheme. The results showed that the new regionalization scheme performed well, with an average potential classification accuracy of 81.81%. Compared with the eco-geographical regionalization scheme, the new scheme exhibited improved the consistency of vegetation dynamics, reflecting the potential to better guide vegetation restoration activities on the Loess Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the case of ecological stresses, reactive oxygen species (ROS) can be overproduced in plant cells, leading to lipid peroxidation that causes damage or death to cells. To prevent damage, plant tissues contain several antioxidants that scavenge ROS. However, antioxidation at the plant community level still remains unknown and may provide an insight into ecosystem functioning regarding stress resistance. To understand the property, we established the antioxidation-related functional structure based on the concept of the functional structure and the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), reduced glutathione (GSH), carotenoid (Car) and proline (Pro) and the relative abundance of component species in natural plant communities on the Chinese hilly-gullied Loess Plateau. An information-theoretic (I-T) approach was used to infer the effects of antioxidation-related functional components and stresses that we investigated on lipid peroxidation at the plant community level quantified by the community-weighted mean of malondialdehyde (MDA). We found that the induction of lipid peroxidation was more closely associated with a soil available nitrogen deficiency than it was with an available phosphorus deficiency. However, the inducing effect of soil available nitrogen was finite. The prevention of lipid peroxidation was more closely associated with the community-weighted means of GSH and Pro (CWM GSH and CWM Pro) than it was with other antioxidation-related functional components. However, the efficiency of CWM Pro was quite low; CWM GSH exhibited inefficiency. In addition, antioxidation-related functional components were affected by neither soil available nitrogen nor available phosphorus. Furthermore, by estimating the relative weights of the antioxidants and considering the feasibility of community assemblages, we proposed that Stipa grandis , Leymus secalinus , Stipa bungeana , Phragmites australis , Potentilla tanacetifolia , Artemisia gmelinii , Artemisia scoparia , Heteropappus altaicus and Syringa oblata could be utilized in community assemblages to achieve an antioxidation-functional target. Additionally, appropriate phosphorus application for A. gmelinii and H. altaicus might contribute to maintaining their antioxidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demographic recruitment processes, such as seed germination and seedling emergence, are critical transitional phases to the re-establishment of degraded plant populations, but often fail due to rainfall not supporting plant requirements. Using species from the widespread arid Australian perennial grass genus Triodia, we investigated the interactions of seeds in different dormancy states and their functional germination envelope in response to water stress after simulated pulse rainfall events., Seed dormancy was alleviated in Triodia species to varying degrees by wet/dry cycling or by removing floret structures from seeds. The seeds were then exposed to different rainfall frequency and quantity events mimicking the 25th, median, 75th and 95th percentile rainfall events found in natural habitats for the study species in the north-west Australian arid zone., Under 95th percentile rainfall conditions recruitment was highest, but still limited to 35% germination and 10% emergence of cleaned seeds (i.e. the least dormant state evaluated). This was related to the functional germination envelope as indicated by more negative base water potential thresholds (Ψb50) for cleaned seeds (≥ −0·33 MPa) compared to intact florets (≥ −0·26 MPa). As a result, the maximum cumulative time where soil water potentials were optimal for germination (Ψsoil ≥ Ψb50) was 1·6-2·6 times longer for cleaned seeds in large frequent rainfall events when compared to intact florets. Furthermore, seed dormancy, that usually prolongs seed survival, was linked to a short-term reduction in seed viability, which may further reduce recruitment rates., Synthesis and applications. Our findings indicate that large frequent rainfall events raised soil water potentials above critical thresholds for germination and are important for successful plant establishment. If recruitment bottlenecks are a result of seed dormancy and variable rainfall for arid grass species, then this study shows benefits for alleviating seed dormancy prior to seeding in restoration sites, as this increases the environmental envelope for germination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, effect of ecological water diversion on vegetation restoration in the lower reaches of Tarim River is assessed by coupling remote sensing techniques and a field-based survey. Land use/cover and fractional vegetation coverage ( Fvc ) maps derived from remote sensing images, ground validation data, and hydrological observation data are adopted to analyze the responses of Ecological Water Diversion Project (EWDP). The results indicate that, the EWDP has showed a positive effect on vegetation restoration in the lower part of Tarim Basin. During 2001 to 2013, transformation from unused land to nature vegetation (i.e. forest land, grassland and scrubland) was the major process of land use/cover change; the area of natural vegetation showed a 4.7% increase, and the area of unused land reduced by 6.8%. Landscape patch size was decreased, the degree of fragmentation and diversity of landscape was increased, and landscape structure in the study area became more complex. Moreover, vegetation coverage promoted from 2001 to 2013; average Fvc in 2013 was 1.5 times greater than that in 2001. The results can provide not only an accurate assessment for the EWDP, but also a visual insight for the water resources management practices in the study area, such that the sustainability for local ecosystem can be facilitated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in plant community traits along an environmental gradient are caused by interspecific and intraspecific trait variation. However, little is known about the role of interspecific and intraspecific trait variation in plant community responses to the restoration of a sandy grassland ecosystem. We measured five functional traits of 34 species along a restoration gradient of sandy grassland (mobile dune, semi-fixed dune, fixed dune, and grassland) in Horqin Sand Land, northern China. We examined how community-level traits varied with habitat changes and soil gradients using both abundance-weighted and non-weighted averages of trait values. We quantified the relative contribution of inter- and intraspecific trait variation in specific leaf area ( SLA), leaf dry matter content ( LDMC), leaf carbon content ( LCC), leaf nitrogen content ( LNC), and plant height to the community response to habitat changes in the restoration of sandy grassland. We found that five weighted community-average traits varied significantly with habitat changes. Along the soil gradient in the restoration of sandy grassland, plant height, SLA, LDMC, and LCC increased, while LNC decreased. For all traits, there was a greater contribution of interspecific variation to community response in regard to habitat changes relative to that of intraspecific variation. The relative contribution of the interspecific variation effect of an abundance-weighted trait was greater than that of a non-weighted trait with regard to all traits except LDMC. A community-level trait response to habitat changes was due largely to species turnover. Though the intraspecific shift plays a small role in community trait response to habitat changes, it has an effect on plant coexistence and the maintenance of herbaceous plants in sandy grassland habitats. The context dependency of positive and negative covariation between inter- and intraspecific variation further suggests that both effects of inter- and intraspecific variation on a community trait should be considered when understanding a plant community response to environmental changes in sandy grassland ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vegetation restoration projects can not only improve water quality by absorbing and transferring pollutants and nutrients from non-vegetation sources, but also protect biodiversity by providing habitat for biological growth. However, the mechanism of the protistan and bacterial assembly processes in the vegetation restoration project were rarely explored. To address this, based on 18 S rRNA and 16 S rRNA high-throughput sequencing, we investigated the mechanism of protistan and bacterial community assembly processes, environmental conditions, and microbial interactions in the rivers with (out) vegetation restoration. The results indicated that the deterministic process dominated the protistan and bacterial community assembly (94.29% and 92.38%), influenced by biotic and abiotic factors. For biotic factors, microbial network connectivity was higher in the vegetation zone (average degree = 20.34) than in the bare zone (average degree = 11.00). For abiotic factors, the concentration of dissolved organic carbon ([DOC]) was the most important environmental factor affecting the microbial community composition. [DOC] was lower significantly in vegetation zone (18.65 ± 6.34 mg/L) than in the bare zone (28.22 ± 4.82 mg/L). In overlying water, vegetation restoration upregulated the protein-like fluorescence components (C1 and C2) by 1.26 and 1.01-folds and downregulated the terrestrial humic-like fluorescence components (C3 and C4) by 0.54 and 0.55-folds, respectively. The different DOM components guided bacteria and protists to select different interactive relationships. The protein-like DOM components led to bacterial competition, whereas the humus-like DOM components resulted in protistan competition. Finally, the structural equation model was established to explain that DOM components can affect protistan and bacterial diversity by providing substrates, facilitating microbial interactions, and promoting nutrient input. In general, our study provides insights into the responses of vegetation restored ecosystems to the dynamics and interactives in the anthropogenically influenced river and evaluates the ecological restoration performance of vegetation restoration from a molecular biology perspective. [Display omitted] • Microbial community assembly was mainly affected by deterministic factors. • Vegetation improved the network connectivity between bacteria and protists. • DOM fluorescence components determined the microbial competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The long-term memory of vegetation trends is analysed using the Hurst exponent. • An improved vegetation restoration potential assessment framework is constructed. • Vegetation restoration sustainability varied across the study area. • Select propriate vegetation restoration strategies are necessary. Assessing vegetation restoration prospects (VRPs) in degraded terrestrial ecosystems is of great importance for planning ecological restoration projects. However, few existing studies have systematically analyzed the relationship between vegetation trend persistence and VRPs and their drivers, especially in cold and arid mountainous areas. The typical cold and arid mountainous region-the Qilian Mountains was taken as the study area, and the trends and long-term memory of the growing season normalized difference vegetation index (GSNDVI) from 2000 to 2020 were explored. We constructed a VRPs assessment framework and identified the main environmental elements influencing vegetation restoration. The results showed that from 2000 to 2020, the vegetation improvement area of the Qilian Mountains was much larger than the degraded area, especially in the northwestern area, and the vegetation improvement was significant. About 31% of the study area showed an anti-persistent positive development trend, which requires continued attention and increased recovery efforts in the future. The terrain niche index (TNI), drought index and soil types were the environmental elements that had a strong influence on the VRPs. Regions with low TNI (< 0.6), high drought index (> 5), desert areas and organic soil environments were more likely to be restored with lower uncertainty. This study can provide a new framework for assessing VRPs in the Qilian Mountains and is expected to provide scientific guidance for ecosystem restoration planning in other regions worldwide, supporting the achievement of sustainable development goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driven by climate change and ecological restoration, the contradiction between rising vegetation water consumption and declining terrestrial water availability becomes more apparent in non-humid regions in China, putting significant strain on the stability of water balance pattern. Thus, evaluating scientifically the suitability of plant coverage and types from the standpoint water balance is crucial to preserve or construct a relatively stable pattern of "carbon-water balance", while which has not been investigated thoroughly. Here the study quantified the appropriate vegetation coverage of forest, shrubland and grassland, and identified unsuitable vegetation types over China in 2018 under 2 constraints of water balance (land-atmosphere water balance and terrestrial water storage stability). The findings revealed that, majority of China was across a stable state of "carbon-water balance" in 2018, but there was still a space to lower plant coverage in about 345,052 km2 (14.87%) of China with the declines mostly falling within 0.3, in 8.94% of which vegetation types were unsustainable; vegetation adjustment is advised to be prioritized in the locations (final hotspot regions, accounting for 7.43% of vegetation area of China) with water deficit, descending terrestrial water storage and the artificial vegetation areas. This study proposed a new quantitative assessment method for vegetation suitability aiming at "carbon-water balance" and provided scientific basis and practical value for maintaining the balance between the vegetation restoration and sustainable utilization of water resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant–plant interactions are dynamic and complicated processes that strongly influence soil nutrient cycling in ecosystems. Climate warming-induced drought stress and the duration of plant interactions may reshape or complicate this ecological process. However, little is known about how plant–plant interaction time (co-growth duration) combined with drought stress affect soil chemical properties and enzyme activities. In this study, Stipa bungeana and Bothriochloa ischaemum , which were the main plant species during the later stages of secondary succession in an abandoned cropland on the Loess Plateau of China, were planted as a single plant or in combination, in a plastic pot with two water regimes (ample water, 80 % of field capacity (FC); drought stress, 60 % of FC) for two consecutive years. The rhizosphere soil was collected each year to determine the nutrient contents and enzyme activities, and the microbial metabolic limitations were calculated. We found that plant–plant interactions, drought stress, and sampling year had a significant influence on most rhizosphere soil nutrient contents and enzyme activities. Redundancy analysis showed that soil pH, available phosphorus (aP), and total phosphorus had significant effects on soil enzyme activities in the first year, and soil total nitrogen and aP had significant effects on soil enzyme activities in the second year. Vector analysis indicated that drought stress increased microbial carbon (C) and phosphorus (P) limitation under each planting pattern, and these metabolic limitations showed a decreasing trend in the second year. An structural equation model demonstrated that plant–plant interactions on microbial C and P limitation were larger than drought stress in the first year. Conversely, in the second year, the plant–plant interactions on microbial C and P limitation were lower than that of drought stress. Our findings highlighted that the duration of plant–plant interactions had a significant influence on C flows and nutrient cycling in plant–soil systems, and improved the understanding of plant–plant interactions and drought stress on soil nutrient cycling and microbial metabolic limitations in vegetation restoration ecosystems. • Plant interaction and drought influence rhizosphere nutrient and enzyme activities. • Soil pH, nitrogen, and phosphorus had significant effects on enzyme activities. • Drought stress significantly increased microbial C and P limitation. • Plant interaction duration regulates soil microbial metabolic limitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vegetation restoration is considered as an important strategy for reversing biodiversity decline in agricultural areas. However, revegetated areas often lack key vegetation attributes like large old hollow-bearing trees. As these trees take a long time to develop, artificial cavities such as nest boxes are sometimes provided to address lag effects. We conducted a 3-year experiment using 150 nest boxes with 4 designs to quantify patterns of occupancy within 16 replanted areas and 14 patches of remnant old-growth eucalypt woodland. We quantified patterns of occupancy of nest boxes in physically connected versus isolated remnants and plantings, and multiple covariate effects on nest box occupancy at the nest box, tree, patch, and landscape levels. Our analyses revealed a lower probability of nest box occupancy within remnants (vs. plantings) for 2 of the 6 response variables examined: any species and the Feral Honeybee. Nest boxes in connected remnants and plantings were more likely to be occupied than those in isolated plantings and remnants by any mammal and the Common Brushtail Possum. Nest boxes in restored woodlands are used by some hollow-dependent fauna but principally already common species and not taxa of conservation concern. Nest boxes were also used by pest species. A key management consideration must be to create connected habitat to facilitate colonization of nest boxes by mammals. Approximately 15% of the cavity-dependent vertebrates within the study area used next boxes, possibly because the diverse requirements of the array of other species were not met by the range of nest boxes deployed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]