Global analysis of support practices in USLE-based soil erosion modeling

Abstract

Support practices (SPs) influence the magnitude of soil loss and can be readily influenced by human interventions to mitigate soil loss. The SPs factor is expressed as the P-factor in the widely used soil erosion model – the universal soil loss equation (USLE) – and its revised version. Although the effects of SPs on soil erosion are well recognized, the quantification of the P-factor for soil loss modeling remains challenging. This limitation of the P-factor particularly restricts the applicability of USLE-based models at large scales. Here, we analyzed the P-factor values in USLE-based models from 196 published articles. The results were as follows: (a) an increasing trend in the number of studies has been observed in recent years, especially at large scales; (b) the P-factor values for paddy fields, orchards, and croplands were 0.16 ± 0.15, 0.47 ± 0.12, and 0.49 ± 0.21, respectively, and in terms of different types of SPs, the P-factor values for terracing, contouring, and strip-cropping were 0.28 ± 0.18, 0.52 ± 0.24, and 0.49 ± 0.28, respectively; (c) various methods have been developed for P-factor qualification, although the methods that consider SP conditions were most frequently used in studies with relatively smaller areas (< 100 km²), suggesting that USLE-based models are in need of improvement via the quantification of the P-factor, particularly with respect to the regional and global scale; and (d) further improvements of the P-factor for soil erosion modeling should concentrate on building P-factor datasets at the regional level according to data on the effectiveness of SPs on soil loss control based on field experiments in published articles, using advanced image processing techniques based on higher-resolution satellite imagery and developing proxy indicators for P-factors at large scales.