Effect of Vegetation on Water Erosion using Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) Case study: Madyanrood River watershed, Lorestan, Iran

Soil is less exposed to erosion when is covered by vegetation. Vegetation is considered as one of the main factors preventing water erosion. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) estimates soil loss as a combination of six factors including rainfall erosivity, soil erodibility, slope length and degree, vegetation and management factors.  Vegetation is one of the most effective factors in the mentioned equation. In the present study, the effect of vegetation on water erosion using Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation has been investigated in Madyanrood watershed. The results of this research showed that the minimum, maximum and average values of erosion risk are zero, 5202 and 69.14 tons per year per hectare, respectively, which becomes zero, 7631 and 108 tons per hectare per year, respectively by removing the effect of vegetation. Investigating the extracted maps, showed that the central areas of the basin and some southwest and northwest parts of the basin have a lower average annual erosion, which corresponds to the areas with more vegetation.