The existing Great Wall is mainly distributed along the northern agricultural and pastoral transitional zone, and is mostly built from rammed earth. Under harsh climate conditions, the Great Wall of Earth is susceptible to wind erosion, water erosion, salt damage, and freeze-thaw erosion. Reducing the damage caused by natural external forces to the main body of the Great Wall has become the key to its long-term preservation and sustainable utilization. Currently, there have been studies on using plants to reinforce or restore soil sites internationally, but there is a lack of research on the underlying mechanisms.
The Qin Great Wall Site, located in Weiyuan County, Gansu Province, in the semi humid region of China, was built during the Warring States period and is one of the oldest sections of the Great Wall in China. The surface of the Qin Great Wall is covered with a large number of vascular plants and biological crusts, but it is not clear whether these vascular plants and biological crusts have a protective effect on the body of the Great Wall.
Jia Rongliang Research Group of Ningxia Shapotou Desert Ecosystem National Field Scientific Observation and Research Station, Northwest Institute of Ecological Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in conjunction with Dunhuang Research Institute, took the Weiyuan section of the Qin Great Wall in the Warring States Period as the research object, and carried out exploratory research on the distribution pattern of epiphytic vascular plants and biological crusts on the body of the Great Wall and the role of synergetic mitigation of the Great Wall soil erosion resistance. Researchers conducted quantitative analysis on the vascular plant communities and functional composition, biological crust types and coverage, as well as the degree of wall erosion in seven different micro spaces of the Tu Great Wall site. They combined linear regression, random forest, and structural equation modeling to evaluate their single and combined effects on soil erosion, as well as their direction and relative importance.
Research has found that the species richness, species diversity, functional richness, community weighted average, and moss crust coverage of vascular plants decrease from the top to the bottom of the Great Wall site, and are negatively correlated with the degree of soil erosion on both sides of the Great Wall. This indicates that areas with higher levels of the Great Wall are conducive to the colonization and growth of vascular plants and biological crusts. At the same time, the synergistic effect of vascular plants and biological crusts can alleviate the erosion of the site by wind and rain. Based on this, this study constructs a "restoration framework" for enhancing the erosion resistance of the Great Wall of Earth by selecting target species, constructing plant communities, inoculating biological crusts, and maintaining community stability, based on biological crusts and vascular plant communities. This provides new ideas for the prevention and control of erosion in the Great Wall of Earth ruins.
The relevant research results are titled Vascular plant communities and biocrusts act as controlling factors in mitigating soil erosion on the Great Wall in a semi solid area of Northwestern China, and published in Science of the Total Environment. The research work has received support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Gansu Provincial Natural Science Foundation.
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