Impacts of Different Types of Vegetation Restoration on the Physicochemical Properties of Sandy Soil

Abstract

Understanding the integrated effects of vegetation types on the physicochemical properties and quality of sandy soils is crucial for guiding vegetation reconstruction and ecological restoration in desertified areas. This study selected three vegetation types at the southern edge of the Mu Us sandy land, including fenced Leymus secalinus Tzvel. grassland (LS), natural Hedysarum mongolicum Turcz (HM) forest land, and Salix cheilophila Schneid. (SC) forest land, as well as sandy land as a control (SD). The differences in the soil physicochemical properties were investigated by collecting soils from three layers within 0–60 cm. The soil quality index (SQI) was calculated using principal component analysis to comprehensively evaluate the soil quality. This study found that the soil physicochemical properties differed significantly among the plots and layers, and the soil properties exhibited a vertical distribution, with chemical indicators concentrated in the surface layer. As depth increased, differences in soil properties between the vegetation and control plots diminished, with vegetation influence mainly in the 0–20 cm layer. Among all the sample sites, the 0–20 cm layer of LS had the highest organic matter content (5.98 g/kg), which was 2.25, 2.28, and 4.71 times that of HM, SC, and SD, respectively. Moreover, LS had the lowest bulk density (1.35 g/cm3), which was 0.89, 0.91, and 0.86 times lower than that of HM, SC, and SD, respectively. The effects of different vegetation restoration types on the comprehensive quality of soil were different, as shown in LS (0.15) > HM (0.11) > SC (0.10) > SD (0.08). In conclusion, all three vegetation restoration types significantly affected the soil physicochemical properties and led to different degrees of variability of soil indexes in the vertical profile, and the fenced grassland restoration type may be preferable for ecological restoration and reconstruction in this region.