Root Characteristics and Water Erosion-Reducing Ability of Alpine Silver Grass and Yushan Cane for Alpine Grassland Soil Conservation

Jung-Tai Lee, Shun-Ming Tsai, Yu-Jie Wu, Yu-Syuan Lin, Ming-Yang Chu and Ming-Jen Lee
Additional contact information
Jung-Tai Lee: Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, National Chiayi University, Chiayi 60004, Taiwan
Shun-Ming Tsai: Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, National Chiayi University, Chiayi 60004, Taiwan
Yu-Jie Wu: Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, National Chiayi University, Chiayi 60004, Taiwan
Yu-Syuan Lin: Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, National Chiayi University, Chiayi 60004, Taiwan
Ming-Yang Chu: Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, National Chiayi University, Chiayi 60004, Taiwan
Ming-Jen Lee: Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, National Chiayi University, Chiayi 60004, Taiwan

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 14, 1-15

Abstract: In Taiwan, intensive forest fires frequently cause serious forest degradation, soil erosion and impacts on alpine vegetation. Post-fire succession often induces the substitution of forest by alpine grassland. Alpine silver grass ( Miscanthus transmorrisonensis Hay.) and Yushan cane ( Yushania niitakayamensis (Hay.) Keng f.) are two main endemic species emerging on post-fire alpine grassland. These species play a major role in the recovery of alpine vegetation and soil conservation of alpine grassland. However, their root traits, root mechanical properties and water erosion-reducing ability have still not been well studied. In the present study, root characteristics were examined using a complete excavation method. Root mechanical characteristics were estimated by utilizing the uprooting test and root tensile test, and hydraulic flume experiments were performed to investigate the water erosion-reducing ability using 8-month-old plants. The results show that the root architecture system of Alpine silver grass belongs to fibrous root system, while the Yushan cane has sympodial-tufted rhizomes with a fibrous root system. Root characteristics reveal that relative to Alpine silver grass, Yushan cane has remarkably larger root collar diameter, higher root biomass, larger root volume, higher root density, and a higher root tissue density. Furthermore, uprooting resistance of Yushan cane is notably higher than that of Alpine silver grass. However, the root tensile strength of Alpine silver grass is significantly higher than that of Yushan cane. Additionally, hydraulic flume experiments reveal that Yushan cane has significantly lower soil detachment rates than that of Alpine silver grass. Collectively, these findings clearly show that Yushan cane has superior root characteristics and water erosion-reducing ability than Alpine silver grass and is thus more suitable for the conservation of alpine grassland.

Keywords: alpine grassland; root biomechanics; root system; soil stability; water erosion-reducing ability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7633/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7633/ (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:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:14:p:7633-:d:590643

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

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