Long-term soil water content dynamics under different land uses in a small agricultural catchment

Abstract

Longer term monitoring of soil water content at a catchment scale is a key to understanding its dynamics, which can assist stakeholders in decision making processes, such as land use change or irrigation programs. Soil water monitoring in agriculturally dominated catchments can help in developing soil water retention measurements, for assessment of land use change, or adaptation of specific land management systems to climate change. The present study was carried out in the Pannonian region (Upper-Balaton, Hungary) on Cambisols and Calcisols between 2015 and 2021. Soil water content (SWC) dynamics were investigated under different land use types (vineyard, grassland, and forest) at three depths (15, 40, and 70 cm). The meteorological data show a continuous decrease in cumulative precipitation over time during the study with an average of 26% decrease observed between 2016 and 2020, while average air temperatures were similar for all the studied years. Corresponding to the lower precipitation amounts, a clear decrease in the average SWC was observed at all the land use sites, with 13.4%, 37.7%, and 29.3% lower average SWC for the grassland, forest, and vineyard sites, respectively, from 2016 to 2020 (measured at the 15 cm depth of the soil). Significant differences in SWC were observed between the annual and seasonal numbers within a given land use (p < 0.05). The lowest average SWC was observed at the grassland (11.7%) and the highest at the vineyard (28.3%). The data showed an increasing average soil temperature, with an average 6.3% higher value in 2020 compared to 2016. The grassland showed the highest (11.3 °C) and the forest soil the lowest (9.7 °C) average soil temperatures during the monitoring period. The grassland had the highest number of days with the SWC below the wilting point, while the forest had the highest number of days with the SWC optimal for the plants.

Plant Growth and Soil Water Content Changes under Different Inter-Row Soil Management Methods in a Sloping Vineyard

“…Below-average rainfall was recorded during the growing season, with a total of 306 mm from April to November ( Figure 3 ), compared to an average of 392 mm during this period over the last seven years [ 2 ]. The average air temperature of 16.8 °C was similar to temperatures measured in other years at the study site (16.3 °C) during the vegetation period.…”

“…Due to its high susceptibility to erosion, the research site and its surroundings have collected data on soil moisture, soil temperature, and general meteorological data (e.g., precipitation, air temperature, wind speed and direction, humidity, air pressure, solar radiation) since 2015. Preliminary meteorological data show decreasing trends in annual precipitation amounts from the long-term average [ 2 ].…”

“…Such factors include the natural environment in which the vegetation is located and the soil management practices used to enhance crop or fruit yield. Soil moisture can be affected by vegetation or land use types [ 2 , 3 ], topography or slope direction [ 4 , 5 ], climate [ 6 ], latitudes [ 7 ], soil physical and chemical properties [ 8 ], or soil management methods [ 9 ], etc., each with additional sub-categories that further influence the hydrological processes in the area. In the present paper, we mainly focus on two major factors of soil–plant–water systems, namely inter-row management and slope positions.…”

“…Soil redistribution processes in sloping vineyards can cause soil deterioration, as soil aggregates can be transported to the lower portion of the slope. In addition the available soil depth for root growth changes, especially when a relatively shallow soil layer is located above the bedrock [ 2 ]. Slope positions not only differ in soil chemistry and physics, due to erosion processes, but their radiation exposure can also be different as well, causing further changes in grape quality [ 22 ].…”

Assessment of Climate Change in Natural Areas of the Turkestan Region of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the Purposes of Sustainable Agricultural and Recreational Nature Management

“…Drought resilient vegetation species in areas with increasing air temperature and precipitation deficiency are outcompeting other species in natural vegetation such as grasslands, and being more frequently sown in arable lands (Móricz et al, 2021). Vegetation types and types of crops grown can greatly influence the amount of rainfall that can reach the soil surface, as dense vegetation canopy intercepts raindrops, which might not reach the ground, especially for smaller precipitation events, or, the non-evenly distributed, rainwater might result in heterogeneous soil water content (Horel et al, 2022).…”