Soil water depletion depth by planted vegetation on the Loess Plateau

Wang, Zhiqiang; Liu, Baoyuan; Liu, Gang; Yongxuan, Zhang

doi:10.1007/s11430-009-0087-y

Cited by 114 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Furthermore, no differences in soil moisture in deep soil layers appeared between different introduced vegetations (Table 3). Previous studies found that the deep soil moisture differed significantly between traditional farmland or native grassland solely and introduced vegetation Wang et al, 2011bWang et al, , 2009c. In this study, although the soil moisture in deep layers varied with different introduced vegetation covers, the difference was not statistically significant among the six vegetation types that were introduced.…”

Section: Land Use Subclassescontrasting

confidence: 72%

Response of deep soil moisture to land use and afforestation in the semi-arid Loess Plateau, China

Yang

Wei

Chen

et al. 2012

Journal of Hydrology

207

126

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s u m m a r ySoil moisture is an effective water source for plant growth in the semi-arid Loess Plateau of China. Characterizing the response of deep soil moisture to land use and afforestation is important for the sustainability of vegetation restoration in this region. In this paper, the dynamics of soil moisture were quantified to evaluate the effect of land use on soil moisture at a depth of 2 m. Specifically, the gravimetric soil moisture content was measured in the soil layer between 0 and 8 m for five land use types in the Longtan catchment of the western Loess Plateau. The land use types included traditional farmland, native grassland, and lands converted from traditional farmland (pasture grassland, shrubland and forestland). Results indicate that the deep soil moisture content decreased more than 35% after land use conversion, and a soil moisture deficit appeared in all types of land with introduced vegetation. The introduced vegetation decreased the soil moisture content to levels lower than the reference value representing no human impact in the entire 0-8 m soil profile. No significant differences appeared between different land use types and introduced vegetation covers, especially in deeper soil layers, regardless of which plant species were introduced. High planting density was found to be the main reason for the severe deficit of soil moisture. Landscape management activities such as tillage activities, micro-topography reconstruction, and fallowed farmland affected soil moisture in both shallow and deep soil layers. Tillage and micro-topography reconstruction can be used as effective countermeasures to reduce the soil moisture deficit due to their ability to increase soil moisture content. For sustainable vegetation restoration in a vulnerable semi-arid region, the plant density should be optimized with local soil moisture conditions and appropriate landscape management practices.

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Section: Land Use Subclassescontrasting

confidence: 72%

Response of deep soil moisture to land use and afforestation in the semi-arid Loess Plateau, China

Yang

Wei

Chen

et al. 2012

Journal of Hydrology

207

126

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Scientists, policy makers and land managers require information to support their decisions involving land use and options of plant species. The ecological restoration on the Loess Plateau and other water-limited regions around the world requires a systematic consideration of (1) the dynamics of water both in time and space, (2) the transportation of water in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum and (3) the planning of sustainable land uses (Wang et al, 2009). Choosing reasonable land-use patterns and suitable species are thus crucial because the shortage of water is a key factor.…”

Section: Aboveground Biomass Of C Korshinskii and Grasslandmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Considerable interest has since been generated around the world in the assessment of vertical distribution and influencing factors Yang et al, 2012), depletion and replenishment (Li and Huang, 2008;Liu et al, 2010), dynamics and simulations (Jipp et al, 1998;Markewitz et al, 2010;Zhao et al, 2008) of SWC in soils to a depth of roughly 1000 cm. The depth of depletion of SWC, inferred to be a function of root uptake, has recently been reported to be 1800 cm in an Amazonian forest (Davidson et al, 2011) and to be 1550, 2240 and 2150 cm (based on the comparison of soil-water conditions between shrublands/forests and permanent farmland) in alfalfa grassland, Caragana korshinskii shrubland and pine forest, respectively, on the Loess Plateau of China (Wang et al, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Choosing an optimal land-use pattern for restoring eco-environments in a semiarid region of the Chinese Loess Plateau

Wang

Shao

Zhang

et al. 2015

Ecological Engineering

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A B S T R A C TThe natural environments in the semiarid regions of the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) are fragile due to the serious soil erosion and the weak ecological services of the plants. To ascertain and then evaluate a sustainable land-use pattern in these regions, we selected six typical land-use patterns (i.e., a farmland, a natural grassland, a homogeneous shrubland (S), a mix of shrubland and cultivated grassland (S-Alf), a mix of shrubland and orchard (S-O) and a mix of shrubland and grassland (S-G)) on the plateau and then measured the soil water, related soil properties and plant root indices to a depth of 1800 cm. We also measured the aboveground net primary productivities (ANPPs). The mean soil water content (SWC) within the 0-1800 cm profile was significantly highest (15.2%) in farmland, followed by grassland (11.4%) and S-Alf (8.0%). The available water (AW), the ratio between AW and AW capacity, and the thickness of the dried soil layers also demonstrated that farmland had the best conditions of soil water, followed by grassland and shrubland. The aboveground biomasses of grassland in both non-growing (140 g m À2 ) and growing (370 g m À2 ) seasons were significantly higher than those of shrublands. The ANPPs of the grassland (2.0 g m À2 d À1 ) demonstrated a similar trend. The patterns of land use (including the mixtures of different plant species) greatly affected the patterns of vertical distribution and quantities of soil water within the 1800-cm profile. The data for the soil-water regime and the ANPP further indicated that grassland would be an optimal use of the land for these semiarid regions. This information should be useful to the ecological scientists and policy makers for developing strategies for the sustainable management of vegetation on the CLP and possibly other water-limited regions around the world.

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“…For example, Jiao et al (2011) reported that soil nutrition, such as soil organic matter and total nitrogen decreased during the early stage of vegetation restoration after farmland abandonment on the Loess Plateau. Wang et al (2009) found that tree planting on a former farmland caused an obvious decline in soil water content and led to the formation of a dried soil layer in the arid area.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil hydraulic conductivity as affected by vegetation restoration age on the Loess Plateau, China

et al. 2016

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Abstract:The Loess Plateau of China has experienced extensive vegetation restoration in the past several decades, which leads to great changes in soil properties such as soil bulk, porosity, and organic matter with the vegetation restoration age. And these soil properties have great effect on the soil infiltration and soil hydraulic conductivity. However, the potential changes in soil hydraulic conductivity caused by vegetation restoration age have not been well understood. This study was conducted to investigate the changes in soil hydraulic conductivity under five grasslands with different vegetation restoration ages (3, 10, 18, 28 and 37 years) compared to a slope farmland, and further to identify the factors responsible for these changes on the Loess Plateau of China. At each site, accumulative infiltration amount and soil hydraulic conductivity were determined using a disc permeameter with a water supply pressure of -20 mm. Soil properties were measured for analyzing their potential factors influencing soil hydraulic conductivity. The results showed that the soil bulk had no significant changes over the initial 20 years of restoration (P>0.05); the total porosity, capillary porosity and field capacity decreased significantly in the grass land with 28 and 37 restoration ages compared to the slope farmland; accumulative infiltration amount and soil hydraulic conductivity were significantly enhanced after 18 years of vegetation restoration. However, accumulative infiltration amount and soil hydraulic conductivity fluctuated over the initial 10 years of restoration. The increase in soil hydraulic conductivity with vegetation restoration was closely related to the changes in soil texture and structure. Soil sand and clay contents were the most influential factors on soil hydraulic conductivity, followed by bulk density, soil porosity, root density and crust thickness. The Pearson correlation coefficients indicated that the soil hydraulic conductivity was affected by multiply factors. These results are helpful to understand the changes in hydrological and erosion processes response to vegetation succession on the Loess Plateau.

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Soil water depletion depth by planted vegetation on the Loess Plateau

Cited by 114 publications

References 10 publications

Response of deep soil moisture to land use and afforestation in the semi-arid Loess Plateau, China

Response of deep soil moisture to land use and afforestation in the semi-arid Loess Plateau, China

Choosing an optimal land-use pattern for restoring eco-environments in a semiarid region of the Chinese Loess Plateau

Soil hydraulic conductivity as affected by vegetation restoration age on the Loess Plateau, China

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