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The main ecological services of the sand-fixed forest are windbreak, soil erosion control, and atmospheric dust retention. In this paper, the ecological services of Populus simonii forest were assessed by simultaneous measurements of wind speeds, daily amount of soil surface wind erosion, and amount of atmospheric dust deposition at different observation sites located within and outside the forestland. The results showed that compared with the control site (mobile sand dune), the daily mean wind velocity at 2 m height was reduced by 18.3, 31.6, 66.1, 66.0, 62.3 and 45.2% for the observation sites over the distances of 6 and 3 H (H meant average tree height) from forest edge of the windward side, forest center, and observation sites over the distances of 0, 6 and 8 H from forest edge of the leeward side, respectively. The greatest reduction in daily mean wind velocity was occurred in both forest center and forest edge of the leeward side. There was a significant positive relationship between leaf area index of the forest and monthly declining index of mean wind speed. The monthly declining index of mean wind speed increased with increasing the forest leaf area index by a cubic function. The daily wind erosion rates of soil surface in observation sites at 6 and 3 H from forest edge of the windward side, forest center, and at 0, 6 and 8 H from forest edge of the leeward side were reduced by as much as 85.2%-99.9%, in comparison with the control site. The greatest reduction in daily wind erosion rate of soil surface occurred in forest edge of the leeward side, followed in decreasing order by forest center, 6 and 8 H from forest edge of the leeward side, 3 and 6 H from forest edge of the windward side. During the observation period, the daily mean dust deposition within the forestland was 13.2 kg.hm-2, compared with 9.9 kg.hm-2 outside the forestland, with a 33% increase. All these results suggested that the poplar forest played an important role in reducing damaging winds, controlling wind erosion, and improving the local environment through increasing atmospheric dust deposition.

Abstract: In the semi-arid Kerqin Sandy Land of north China, land desertification and frequent sand storms in the spring strongly affect the growth of grassland vegetation and crops, and give rise to large reductions in yield as a result of wind erosion and sand dune movement. To bring desertification under control and reduce its influence on grassland and farmlands, many measures have been developed and implemented for stabilizing mobile sand dunes and restoring desertified grasslands. This study was conducted from 1996 to 2003 to evaluate the effectiveness of desert land restoration after implementation of sand-fixing measures. The results showed that construction of straw checkerboards and planting of shrub seedlings significantly enhances topsoil development on the dune surface, increasing silt and clay content and facilitating accumulation of soil carbon and total N, as well as accelerating an increase in plant diversity, vegetation cover and plant density. These findings suggest that using straw checkerboards and planting shrubs are successful methods for mobile sand dune stabilization and desertified grassland restoration in semiarid regions. The mechanism creating these changes is a reduction in wind erosion and improvement of the soil environment for plants. In addition, our results showed that construction of straw checkerboards was slightly more effective in vegetation and soil restoration in comparison with planting shrub seedlings, especially at the primary stage. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]