Rocky desertification induced by soil loss is a serious ecological problem in karst mountain areas. Lack of awareness in the local population of the need for soil conservation has led to intense human disturbance that has accelerated soil loss and in turn caused a high proportion of land in rural environments to undergo rocky desertification. In this review, we discuss five human-related causes that have accelerated soil loss in the rural karst mountainous areas of Guizhou Province, southwestern China. These causes include road erosion, house construction, steep slope cultivation, tourism development, and animal trampling. These activities destroy surface vegetation and increase the potential for soil loss through exposed swallow holes (karst fissures). In addition to the national development strategy of rural revitalization and countryside beautification already implemented in the western region, the human impacts on the rural environment must be addressed. We discuss some effective measures the government should adopt to control the various types of soil loss due to human activities. Our review and findings provide a better understanding of anthropogenic soil loss in karst rural environments and present information to raise people’s awareness of measures that are needed to protect the soil resources in this region.

With increasing age, plants will cause changes in soil physicochemical properties. The objective of this study was to investigate differences in the soil physicochemical properties in different-aged Masson pine forest plantations (i.e., 10, 20, 40, and 60 years old). Soil samples were collected in a pure Masson pine forest plantation in Southwest China. The soil determination indexes included organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium contents, water content, bulk density, and pH. The soil pH of a 20-year-old forest was significantly (p < 0.05) higher than that of a 10, 40, and 60-year-old forest. In addition, soil-available phosphorus in a 60-year-old forest was significantly (p < 0.05) higher than that in the other three age forest groups. With increasing forest age, available phosphorus increased, while available nitrogen decreased at 20 years old and then increased at 40 years old. There was a significant positive correlation (p < 0.05) between total nitrogen and available potassium; no significant correlation (p> 0.05) between total phosphorus and total potassium, organic carbon, bulk density, and pH; and a significant negative correlation (p < 0.05) between available phosphorus and the water content. The availability and utilization efficiency of soil nutrients in young forests were higher than those in old forests and the intermediate forest age was an important time point that affected the soil properties. To improve the availability of soil nutrients and ensure the sustainable utilization of soil resources, it is necessary to increase the input of nitrogen and especially phosphorus. More attention should be given to the phytochemometric response with respect to the age of plantations.