Effect of Riverside Shelter Forest Communities Protecting Embankment From Erosion in Huai’an Section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal

Effect of riverside shelter forest communities protecting embankment from erosion in the Huai’an section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was studied. It was found that the shelter forests significantly improved physical properties of the soil by increasing total porosity and capillary porosity, and decreasing soil bulk density. The effect varied with the composition of the vegetation community. Poa annua communities and Ligustrum lucidum communities significantly increased the content of soil organic matter, soil aeration and water holding capacity. Of the embankment, sections covered with vegetation were significantly higher in erosion resistance than those of bare land. Relatively speaking, the soil under Poa annua community was the highest in soil erosion resistance (0.892), and followed by those under Ligustrum lucidum (0.835), Pyrus bretschneideri (0.791), Prunus persica (0.530), and Metasequoia glyptostroboides (0.397), and bare land (0.341). Positive relationships were observed of soil erosion resistance with root biomass, average root number, and soil organic matter content with correlation coefficient being 0.9611, 0.9659 and 0.7742, respectively.