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Bulletin of Botanical Research ›› 2019, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (1): 61-68.doi: 10.7525/j.issn.1673-5102.2019.01.008

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Relationship between Soil Moisture Dynamics and Vegetation Community in the Loess Area of Western Shanxi Province

QIANG Fang-Fang1, WEI Tian-Xing2,3, LIU Wei2   

  1. 1. College of Life Science, Yan'an University, Yan'an 716000;
    2. College of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083;
    3. Ji County Station, Chinese National Ecosystem Research Network, Beijing 100083
  • Received:2018-09-12 Online:2019-01-15 Published:2019-01-31
  • Supported by:
    The 13th five-year National Key Research and Development Program of China(2016YFC0501705);Ph.D. Research Startup Foundation of Yan'an University(YDBK2016-12)

Abstract: Water availability is the most limiting factor for plants in forest ecosystems of semi-arid regions. To determine the spatiotemporal dynamics of soil moisture under different vegetation community in loess hilly region, by the field test, three typical vegetation communities(Pinus tabuliformis forest, Robinia pseudoacacia forest, and natural secondary forest) were investigated. By analyzing the temporal and spatial variation characteristics of soil water and the relationship between soil moisture and precipitation, temperature and soil nutrient, the results showed that:(1)In the past ten years, the rainfall distribution in the study area was extremely uneven, and characterized by insufficient pre-rainfall period and concentrated in the later stage. The natural secondary forest soil had the largest soil moisture, and R.pseudoacacia forest was the smallest, and there were significant differences between them, both of them were not significant difference with P.tabuliformis forest; (2)There were differences in the distribution of roots in the 0-60 cm soil layer of the three vegetation communities in the study area. Among them, the distribution of roots in different soil layers of the same planting community was significantly different. In different vegetation communities, the root distribution of natural secondary forests was significantly different with P.tabuliformis and R.pseudoacacia forests in the 20-60 cm soil layer; (3)The soil moisture of the vegetation community in the study area had obvious stratification, the soil moisture in the topsoil(0-40 cm) varies greatly, while the 40-100 cm soil layer had less fluctuation and basically maintained at 10%-15%. The soil moisture change in topsoil(0-40 cm) was related to the distribution of vegetation roots, and significantly negatively correlated with soil moisture; (4)Through analyzing the relationship of soil moisture and rainfall, temperature, organic carbon, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total potassium in topsoil, soil moisture is significantly positively correlated with rainfall, and the correlation coefficient of P.tabuliformis forest is the highest. Temperature is only positively correlated with the soil moisture of the secondary forest. Soil moisture is positively correlated with organic carbon, total nitrogen, total phosphorus and total potassium, and the correlation with total phosphorus is the highest.

Key words: Loess area of western Shanxi, rainfall, soil moisture, vegetation community

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