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• Hillslope erosion dynamic model integrating vegetation effect was established. • Unified baseline parameters were obtained across different land uses. • Effect of vegetation on soil detachment and sediment transport was revealed. • Contribution rates of vegetation to sediment reduction along slopes were quantified. Developing a process-based soil erosion model that comprehensively considers the effects of vegetation is complex but crucial for evaluating sediment reduction during vegetation restoration. Current understanding of the effect of vegetation on sediment reduction along hillslopes across different land uses is limited. In this paper, we developed a dynamic model of hillslope erosion that integrates the effects of vegetation on soil detachability and hydrodynamics (VED) based on the feedback mechanism between soil detachment and sediment transport. The VED was calibrated and validated with runoff plot data for woodland, grassland, and farmland in the Wuding, Yan, Jing and Wei Rivers of the Loess Plateau in China. Unified baseline parameters and decay coefficients of vegetation were obtained. The model validation results indicated that the coefficient of determination, Nash–Sutcliffe simulation efficiency and relative error ranged from 0.59 to 0.99, 0.56 to 0.90, and −45.99 % to 46.36 %, respectively. The decay coefficients for soil detachment capacity (Φ), sediment transport capacity (T c), and the sediment reduction effect of vegetation exhibited the following order: woodland > grassland > farmland. Compared with VED, existing process-based soil erosion models failed to effectively characterize the influence of vegetation on Φ and T c on the Loess Plateau, with differences of several orders of magnitude. The individual contributions of runoff, soil detachability, and hydrodynamics with vegetation impact on sediment yield were quantified by VED. The contribution rates of vegetation to sediment reduction decreased gradually with increasing slope length because the soil detachment capacity of bare slopes exceeded that of vegetated slopes, resulting in a faster increase in sediment yield. The contribution rates of vegetation to sediment reduction for woodland, grassland, and farmland with 20 %–60 % vegetation covers were 66.75 %–99.95 %, 57.43 %–99.63 %, and 27.91 %–88.63 % in the boundary conditions of this study, respectively. The results reveal the potential for integrating VED into other distributed watershed hydrological and sediment models to assess the effects of vegetation restoration on sediment reduction at a watershed scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Infilled gullies are valuable information sources on human–environment interaction. • Initial gullying in the region is associated with Late Neolithic land use. • The sediment infill reflects several cycles of the surface erosion and stabilisation. • Erosion phases relate to periods of the Bronze Age, Hallstatt and La Tène periods. The long-inhabited Central European lowlands have exposed to significant erosion since prehistoric times, primarily due to deforestation and agricultural practices, leading to colluvium formation and erosional features. Infilled erosional gullies, particularly near abandoned settlements, may offer insights into landscape changes and settlement evolution. Our multidisciplinary research at the Přerov-Předmostí archaeological megasite in Czechia integrates geoarchaeological methods, geophysics and extensive development-driven excavations. This site, located on the migratory corridor between the Pannonian and Poland plains, serves as a focal point for studying the interplay between human settlement, land-use development and environmental changes in this region. By combining geophysics and excavation, we investigate settlement and land-use patterns, correlating these with the environmental and pedosedimentary record of an infilled gully. The incision of the gully represents initial phase of erosion at this site. Formed before 2300 BC, it is among the oldest in the region, likely triggered by Late Neolithic land use. Our findings also indicate a cyclical erosion pattern linked to four primary settlement peaks: the Early Bronze Age (2300–1600/1500 BC), the Young/Late Bronze Age (1500–900 BC), the Hallstatt period (900–400 BC) and the La Tène period (400 BC–50 BC/1 AD). These periods of heightened settlement activity alternated with times of reduced or no population pressure, leading to stabilisation and subsequent pedogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]