Hongxi Liu

Hongxi was defending her thesis in 2018.

University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart

Institute of Agricultural Sciences in the Tropics (Hans Ruthenberg Institute)

Supervisor: Prof. Georg Cadisch

Challenges

Land use in Xishuangbanna, SW China, a typical tropical rain forest region, has dramatically changed over the past 30 years as forest was converted into rubber plantations. This land use change induced soil loss.

Rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) plantations have a lifespan in the range of 25 to 40 years. With growth of rubber plantation, erosion might change by canopy, root and understory development. Management such as herbicide application may also affect erosion in rubber plantations. Information on soil loss and conservation in rubber plantations is rare and insufficient to support better management on this newly introduced land use in Xishuangbanna.

Objectives

A) Estimate soil loss in rubber plantation and erosion change with growth of plantations

B) Assess the impact of herbicide application on soil loss and the induced carbon export in a rubber plantation.

C) Evaluate efficiency of land management (reduced herbicide) regarding erosion mitigation at watershed level as well as long-term effects of land management (e.g. on latex production).

Methods

A) Field investigastion:

i) plot sediment yield at different plantation ages and affecting variables e.g. canopy height, surface cover, soil properties et al.
ii) soil loss under different herbicide treatment.

B) Land Use Change Impact Assessment (LUCIA) model to simulate different weed managements effects on soil loss in long-term (40 years) running.

Expected results

1. Dynamics of rubber plantation erosive potential studied with RUSLE model
2. Impact of herbicide application on soil erosion and induced carbon loss in a rubber plantation of Southwest China
3. Assessing weed management strategies on erosion control in rubber plantations in Southwest China with the LUCIA model

Publications:

1. Häuser, I., Martin, K., Germer, J., He, P., Blagodatskiy, S., Liu H. et al., 2015.Environmental and socio-economic impacts of rubber cultivation in the Mekong region: challenges for sustainable land use, CAB reviews, 10, No. 027
2. Hongxi Liu, Sergey Balgodatsky, Marcus Giese, Feng Liu, Jianchu Xiu, Georg Cadisch, 2016.
   Impact of herbicide applicationon soil erosion and induced carbon loss in a rubber plantation of Southwest China, Catena, 145: 180-192
3. Hongxi Liu, Sergey Balgodatsky, Feng Liu, Jianchu Xiu, Georg Cadisch.Dynamics of rubber plantation erosive potential studied with RUSLE model. the Journal of Applied Water Engineering and Research, submitted in Sept. 2016.
4. Liu, H., Yia, Y., Blagodatsky, S., Cadischc, G., 2020.Impact of forest cover and conservation agriculture on sediment export: A case study in a montane reserve, south-western China. Science of the Total Environment. 702, 134802

Conferences

1. Hongxi Liu, Xueqing Yang, Sergey Balgodatsky, Carsten Marohn, Jianchu Xiu, Georg Cadisch, 2016
   Management of herbicide usage in rubber plantations with help of modeling erosion and crop growth. Sustainable Rubber Conference, OP
2. Hongxi Liu, Sergey Balgodatsky, Georg Cadisch, 2016.
   Dynamics of soil erosion in rubber plantations and its mitigation by herbicide management. International Symposium on River Sedimentation. OP
3. Hongxi Liu, Xueqing Yang, Sergey Balgodatsky, Carsten Marohn,Georg Cadisch, 2016
   Mitigation of forest to rubber change impact on soil erosion and stream quality by integrated land management. International Symposium on River Sedimentation. OP
4. Hongxi Liu, Xueqing Yang, Sergey Balgodatsky, Carsten Marohn, Marcus Giese, Georg Cadisch. 2016
   Improving soil conservation and stream quality in rubber dominated watershed by integrated land management. EcoSummit. P
   
5. Hongxi Liu, Xueqing Yang, Sergey Balgodatsky, Carsten Marohn, Jianchu Xiu, Georg Cadisch, 2016
   Integrated modeling of land use management impact on soil conservation and carbon sequestration potential of rubber plantations. SULAMA. P
6. Hongxi Liu, Sergey Balgodatsky, Georg Cadisch, 2015.
   Impact of land cover change on soil erosion and water yield in rubber dominated landscape. Land Use and Water Quality. P
7. Hongxi Liu, Sergey Balgodatsky, Georg Cadisch, 2015.
   Exploring the erosive potential of rubber plantations by applying USLE model. Tropentag. P

Dissertation