The Influence of Different Forest Characteristics on Non-point Source Pollution: A Case Study at Chaohu Basin, China

Hao Cheng, Chen Lin, Liangjie Wang, Junfeng Xiong, Lingyun Peng and Chenxi Zhu
Additional contact information
Hao Cheng: Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Chen Lin: Key Laboratory of Watershed Geographic Sciences, Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
Liangjie Wang: Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Junfeng Xiong: Key Laboratory of Watershed Geographic Sciences, Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
Lingyun Peng: Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Chenxi Zhu: Jiangsu Institute of Land Surveying and Planning, Nanjing 210017, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 5, 1-19

Abstract: Forestland is a key land use/land cover (LULC) type that affects nonpoint source (NPS) pollution, and has great impacts on the spatiotemporal features of watershed NPS pollution. In this study, the forestland characteristics of the Chaohu Basin, China, were quantitatively represented using forestland types (FLTs), watershed forest coverage (WFC) and forest distance from the river (DFR). To clarify the impact of forests on NPS pollution, the relationship between forestland characteristics and watershed nutrient outputs (TN and TP) was explored on a monthly scale using SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) and the period simulation was 2008–2016. The results showed that: (1) the TN and TP showed similar output characteristics and the rainy season was the peak period of nitrogen and phosphorus output. (2) Among the forestland characteristics of forestland types, watershed forest coverage and forest distance from the river, watershed forest coverage and forest distance from the river had greater effects than forestland types on the control of watershed nutrient outputs (TN and TP). (3) In different forestland types, the watershed nutrient outputs intensity remained at the lowest level when the FLTs was mixed forest, with a TN output of 1244.73kg/km 2 and TP output of 341.39 kg/km 2 . (4) The watershed nutrient outputs and watershed forest coverage were negatively correlated, with the highest watershed forest coverage (over 75%) reducing the TN outputs by 56.69% and the TP outputs by 53.46% compared to the lowest watershed forest coverage (below 25%), it showed that in areas with high forest land coverage, the non-point source pollution load in the watershed is smaller than in other areas. (5) forest distance from the river had an uncertain effect on the TN and TP output of the basin, the forestland itself is a source of pollution, but it also has the function of intercepting pollution movement; the forest distance from the river in the range of 500–1000 m had the lowest NPS pollution. Considering the different forest characteristics and topographical factors, an optimal allocation mode of differentiated forest land was proposed, these suggestions will provide a scheme for surface source pollution prevention and control in the basin. This research gap is the basis of real forestland optimization. We may optimize the forestland layout for NPS pollution prevention and control by clarifying the internal mechanism.

Keywords: forestland characteristics; non-point source pollution; SWAT model; forest optimization configuration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/5/1790/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/5/1790/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:5:p:1790-:d:330630

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().