Shrub encroachment alters the spatial patterns of infiltration

Eldridge, David J.; Wang, Lixin; Ruíz-Colmenero, Marta

doi:10.1002/eco.1490

Cited by 66 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Bhark & Small, 2003;Eldridge, Beecham, & Grace, 2015;Eldridge, Wang, & Ruiz-Colmenero, 2015;Gómez et al, 2015;Madsen, Chandler, & Belnap, 2008), we demonstrated substantially greater sorptivity and infiltration under the canopies of long-lived vegetation patches such as shrubs, trees, and perennial grasses than in the interspaces. Bhark & Small, 2003;Eldridge, Beecham, & Grace, 2015;Eldridge, Wang, & Ruiz-Colmenero, 2015;Gómez et al, 2015;Madsen, Chandler, & Belnap, 2008), we demonstrated substantially greater sorptivity and infiltration under the canopies of long-lived vegetation patches such as shrubs, trees, and perennial grasses than in the interspaces.…”

Section: Grasses and Woody Patches Drive Infiltration Processessupporting

confidence: 53%

Microsite and grazing intensity drive infiltration in a semiarid woodland

et al. 2017

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Human activities such as vegetation removal and overgrazing that result in changes in land cover have substantial impacts on ecosystem processes, including the infiltration of water. Different land cover types (microsites) vary in their capacity to conduct water, but the extent to which infiltration is affected by different herbivores or microsites is largely unknown. We examined the effects of grazing and microsite on infiltration in two extensive woodland communities in semiarid eastern Australia that vary in current condition. Poor condition sites had lower steady-state infiltration under ponding than either average or good condition sites, and this effect was consistent across the two communities. Ponded infiltration and sorptivity beneath grasses, shrubs or trees were about twice that on bare soil, and this corresponded to greater indices of macroporosity. Structural equation modelling showed that shrubs, trees, and grasses had strong positive effects on sorptivity and steady-state infiltration under ponding, whereas grazing had generally negative effects. The suppressive effects of grazing on soil hydrological processes were mainly due to cattle grazing. The positive effects of grasses, shrubs, and trees on hydrology were twice as strong as the negative effects of grazing. Our results also suggest that prolonged overgrazing that leads to reductions in grass cover is likely to have a synergistic reduction in hydrological function in these woodlands by reducing the cover of highly conductive patches and by reducing the extent of macropores.

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Section: Grasses and Woody Patches Drive Infiltration Processessupporting

confidence: 53%

Microsite and grazing intensity drive infiltration in a semiarid woodland

et al. 2017

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“…(). Those contrary effects of shrub encroachment on ET components related to the shrubs traits (Eldridge et al ., ) and varied across a climatic gradient (Huxman et al ., ). By comparing the current simulation results (shrub coverage, f = 15%) with results from an earlier field investigation of shrub encroachment in this region with f = 25%, 31.4% and 43.5% (Peng et al ., ), the effects of shrub encroachment on ET and T /ET were found to be well explained and quantified by changes in r c , which integrated changes in soil water and ecosystem structure (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…vegetation composition, LAI and Z V ) and total soil water use. Shrub encroachment effects on bare soil are highly site specific and show no change by meta‐analyses (Eldridge et al ., ). Previous studies show that increasing precipitation from xeric to mesic ecosystems produces an associated increase in total vegetation cover, which results in reduced bare soil as a cover class (Schlesinger et al ., ; Huxman et al ., ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Divergent evapotranspiration partition dynamics between shrubs and grasses in a shrub‐encroached steppe ecosystem

Wang

et al. 2018

New Phytologist

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Previous evapotranspiration (ET) partitioning studies have usually neglected competitions and interactions between antagonistic plant functional types. This study investigated whether shrubs and grasses have divergent ET partition dynamics impacted by different water-use patterns, canopy structures, and physiological properties in a shrub-encroached steppe ecosystem in Inner Mongolia, China. The soil water-use patterns of shrubs and grasses have been quantified by an isotopic tracing approach and coupled into an improved multisource energy balance model to partition ET fluxes into soil evaporation, grass transpiration, and shrub transpiration. The mean fractional contributions to total ET were 24 ± 13%, 20 ± 4%, and 56 ± 16% for shrub transpiration, grass transpiration, and soil evaporation respectively during the growing season. Difference in ecohydrological connectivity and leaf development both contributed to divergent transpiration partitioning between shrubs and grasses. Shrub-encroachment processes result in larger changes in the ET components than in total ET flux, which could be well explained by changes in canopy resistance, an ecosystem function dominated by the interaction of soil water-use patterns and ecosystem structure. The analyses presented here highlight the crucial effects of vegetation structural changes on the processes of land-atmosphere interaction and climate feedback.

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“…This literature reports greater levels of infiltration close to the canopies of woody plants due to enhanced organic matter and litter recycling beneath the canopy (e.g. Wilcox et al ., , and Eldridge et al , ). Grazing, however, is expected to have the opposite effect by disturbing the soil surface through trampling, thereby increasing bulk density and reducing macroporosity, thus reducing total infiltration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Do shrubs reduce the adverse effects of grazing on soil properties?

2015

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Increases in the density of woody plants are a global phenomenon in drylands, and large aggregations of shrubs, in particular, are regarded as being indicative of dysfunctional ecosystems. There is increasing evidence that overgrazing by livestock reduces ecosystem functions in shrublands, but that shrubs may buffer the negative effects of increasing grazing. We examined changes in water infiltration and nutrient concentrations in soils under shrubs and in their interspaces in shrublands in eastern Australia that varied in the intensity of livestock grazing. We used structural equation modelling to test whether shrubs might reduce the negative effects of overgrazing on infiltration and soil carbon and nitrogen (henceforth ‘soil nutrients’). Soils under shrubs and subject to low levels of grazing were more stable and had greater levels of soil nutrients. Shrubs had a direct positive effect on soil nutrients; but, grazing negatively affected nutrients by increasing soil bulk density. Structural equation modelling showed that shrubs had a direct positive effect on water flow under ponded conditions but also enhanced water flow, indirectly, through increased litter cover. Any positive effects of shrubs on water flow under low levels of grazing waned at high levels of grazing. Our results indicate that shrubs may reduce the adverse effects of grazing on soil properties. Specifically, shrubs could restrict access to livestock and therefore protect soils and plants beneath their canopies. Low levels of grazing are likely to ensure the retention of soil water and soil carbon and nitrogen in shrubland soils. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Shrub encroachment alters the spatial patterns of infiltration

Cited by 66 publications

References 53 publications

Microsite and grazing intensity drive infiltration in a semiarid woodland

Microsite and grazing intensity drive infiltration in a semiarid woodland

Divergent evapotranspiration partition dynamics between shrubs and grasses in a shrub‐encroached steppe ecosystem

Do shrubs reduce the adverse effects of grazing on soil properties?

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