Interaction of soil water storage dynamics and long-term natural vegetation succession on the Loess Plateau, China

CATENA ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 137 ◽  
pp. 52-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong-wang Zhang ◽  
Lei Deng ◽  
Wei-ming Yan ◽  
Zhou-ping Shangguan
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Water Storage ◽  
Vegetation Succession ◽  
Natural Vegetation ◽  
Soil Water Storage ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Natural Vegetation Succession

scholarly journals Temporal changes of an alfalfa succession and related soil physical properties on the Loess Plateau, China

2009 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong Li She ◽  
Ming An Shao ◽  
Luis Carlos Timm ◽  
Klaus Reichardt
Keyword(s):  
Physical Properties ◽  
Bulk Density ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Water Storage ◽  
Soil Bulk Density ◽  
Soil Physical Properties ◽  
Natural Vegetation ◽  
Soil Water Storage ◽  
The Loess Plateau

The objective of this work was to investigate the relationship between changes in the plant community and changes in soil physical properties and water availability, during a succession from alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) to natural vegetation on the Loess Plateau, China. Data from a succession sere spanning 32 years were collated, and vegetative indexes were compared to changes related to soil bulk density and soil water storage. The alfalfa yield increased for approximately 7 years, then it declined and the alfalfa was replaced by a natural community dominated by Stipa bungeana that began to thrive about 10 years after alfalfa seeding. Soil bulk density increased over time, but the deterioration of the alfalfa was mainly ascribed to a severe reduction in soil water storage, which was lowest around the time when degradation commenced. The results indicated that water consumption by alfalfa could be reduced by reducing plant density. The analysis of the data also suggested that soil water recharge could be facilitated by rotating the alfalfa with other crops, natural vegetation, or bare soil.

scholarly journals Identification of the important environmental factors influencing natural vegetation succession following cropland abandonment on the Loess Plateau, China

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e10349
Author(s):  
Zhenguo Zhang ◽  
Mingming Wang ◽  
Jikai Liu ◽  
Xinwei Li
Keyword(s):  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Correspondence Analysis ◽  
Classification Tree ◽  
Detrended Correspondence Analysis ◽  
Vegetation Succession ◽  
Natural Vegetation ◽  
Vegetation Types ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Cropland Abandonment

Identification of typical vegetation succession types and their important influencing factors is an important prerequisite to implement differential vegetation and soil management after land abandonment on the Loess Plateau, China. However, there is no reported study specifically on the identification of vegetation types and their important factors as well as the thresholds of the important factors for classification of the vegetation types, based on the medium- to long-term succession of natural vegetation after cropland abandonment. We collected vegetation and soil data on the natural vegetation with the longest 60-year-old forest communities that developed after cropland abandonment and analyzed the data using two-way indicator species analysis, detrended correspondence analysis, direct canonical correspondence analysis and classification tree model. The vegetation communities were classified into five distinct vegetation types, including Artemisia scoparia, Lespedeza davurica and Stipa bungeana, Artemisia giraldii pamp, Sophora viciifolia, Quercus liaotungensis and Biota orientalis. The years after cropland abandonment and soil C/N were further identified as important factors determining the types of vegetation. Likewise, it was observed that most of the investigated soil nutrient variables and soil texture-related variables improved with the vegetation succession while soil water in the surface layers showed a decreasing trend. These findings may provide an ecological basis for site-specific management of vegetation types after cropland abandonment in the medium-long term on the Loess Plateau. Our results encourage further exploration of vegetation succession and their important factors based on longer periods of vegetation succession after cropland abandonment under more soil and climatic conditions on the mountainous areas as the Loess Plateau.

scholarly journals Importance of Temporal Scale in Assessing Changes in Soil-Water Storage in Apple Orchards on the Chinese Loess Plateau

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 793
Author(s):  
Yan Mu ◽  
Di Wang ◽  
Yanping Wang
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Water Storage ◽  
Chinese Loess Plateau ◽  
Soil Water Storage ◽  
Scientific Management ◽  
Apple Orchards ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Canopy Interception

Knowledge of changes in soil-water storage (SWS) at multiple scales in apple orchards is important for formulating policies for the scientific management and sound planning of apple plantations on the Loess Plateau in China. In this study, we measured precipitation, partitioned evapotranspiration (ET) into canopy interception, transpiration, and soil evaporation, and calculated the changes in SWS using the water-balance method at multiple scales in two neighbouring apple orchards (8 and 18 years old) on the Loess Plateau from May to September in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. The results showed that ET was consistently lower for the 8- than the 18-year-old orchard in each year at the same scale (p < 0.05). The changes in SWS differed between the two orchards at the same scale, but the trends of change were similar in each year. The trend of the change in SWS at the same scale differed amongst the years for both orchards. The maximum supply of water from soil reservoirs for the two orchards also differed at different scales in each year and was higher at a daily cumulative scale than a monthly and annual scale in 2013, 2014, and 2016. The daily cumulative scale was thus a more suitable scale for representing the maximum contribution of the soil reservoir to supply water for the growth of the orchards during the study periods. Changes in SWS at a daily cumulative scale should be considered when assessing the effect of apple orchards on regional soil reservoirs on the Loess Plateau or in other water-limited regions.

scholarly journals Depth persistence of the spatial pattern of soil–water storage along a small transect in the Loess Plateau of China

2015 ◽  
Vol 529 ◽  
pp. 685-695 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuezhang Li ◽  
Ming’an Shao ◽  
Xiaoxu Jia ◽  
Xiaorong Wei ◽  
Liang He
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Pattern ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Water Storage ◽  
Soil Water Storage ◽  
The Loess Plateau

scholarly journals Deep soil water storage varies with vegetation type and rainfall amount in the Loess Plateau of China

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruixue Cao ◽  
Xiaoxu Jia ◽  
Laiming Huang ◽  
Yuanjun Zhu ◽  
Lianhai Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Vegetation Type ◽  
Water Storage ◽  
Rainfall Amount ◽  
Soil Water Storage ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Deep Soil

scholarly journals Integrating a mini catchment with mulching for soil water management in a sloping jujube orchard on the semiarid Loess Plateau of China

Solid Earth ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. C. Li ◽  
X. D. Gao ◽  
X. N. Zhao ◽  
P. T. Wu ◽  
L. S. Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Rainy Season ◽  
Water Storage ◽  
Soil Water Storage ◽  
Fish Scale ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Bare Land ◽  
Water Compensation

Abstract. Conserving more soil water is of great importance to the sustainability of arid and semiarid orchards. Here we integrated fish-scale pits, semicircular mini-catchments for hill slope runoff collection, with mulches to test their effects on soil water storage in a 12-year-old dryland jujube orchard on the Loess Plateau of China, by using soil water measurements from April 2013 to November 2014. This experiment included four treatments: fish-scale pits with branch mulching (FB), fish-scale pits with straw mulching (FS), fish-scale pits without mulching (F), and bare land treatment (CK). Soil water was measured using the TRIME®-IPH time-domain reflectometer (TDR) tool in 20 cm intervals down to a depth of 180 cm, and was measured once every 2 weeks in the 2013 and 2014 growing seasons. The results showed that fish-scale pits with mulching were better in soil water conservation. Average soil water storage (SWS, for short) of FB at soil layer depths of 0–180 cm increased by 14.23 % (2013) and 21.81 % (2014), respectively, compared to CK, but only increased by 4.82 % (2013) and 5.34 % (2014), respectively, for the F treatment. The degree of soil water compensation, WS, was employed here to represent to what extent soil water was recharged from precipitation at the end of the rainy season relative to that at the beginning of the rainy season. A positive (negative) WS larger (lower) soil water content at the end of rainy season than at the beginning. For the treatment of FB, the values of WS over the entire soil profile were greater than 0; for the treatment of F, negative values of WS were observed in depths of 60–100 cm in both years. However, the bare land treatment showed negative values in depths of 40–180 cm. This indicated that integrating fish-scale pits with mulching could significantly increase soil water storage by increasing infiltration and decreasing evaporation, and it showed greater soil water storage and degree of soil water compensation compared to fish-scale pits alone. Since the branches used for mulching here were trimmed jujube branches, the cost of mulching materials was largely reduced. Therefore, integration of fish-scale pits with branch mulching is recommended in orchards for soil water conservation on the Loess Plateau and potentially for other regions.

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