Assessment of soil erosion and its driving factors in the Huaihe region using the InVEST-SDR model

Abstract

Aiming to provide a scientific basis for the prevention and control of soil erosion in the Huaihe region, this study uses the InVEST-SDR model to estimate the temporal and spatial changes of soil erosion and soil conservation in the Huaihe region in 2010, 2015 and 2020, and the driving factors are evaluated and quantified using Random Forest and Geodetector, respectively. The major findings are as follows: (1) From 2010 to 2020, soil loss and soil retention in the Huaihe region gradually intensified, while the spatial distribution trend was consistent from year to year. (2) The results from Random Forest and Geodetector show that changes in soil loss and soil retention are mainly influenced by slope and rainfall. (3) The steepness and length of slopes are the most influencing factors for soil erosion. Soil loss and soil retention vary widely between different land uses. Forests play an important role in soil conservation.

Keywords:

• Soil erosion
• InVEST model
• Huaihe region
• random forest
• geodetector

Data availability statement

The data are available from the authors upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the third comprehensive scientific investigation project in Xinjiang (2022xjkk1006), Jiangsu Province Double Innovation Doctoral Program, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Key Research and Development Program (2022B01012-1), National Natural Science Foundation of China (42201451), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2022M723379), the Open Research Fund of Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Coal-based Greenhouse Gas Control and Utilization, China (2022KF05), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2022QN1058), and the Undergraduate Training Program for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, China University of Mining and Technology (20220506cx).