Responses of plant functional trait and diversity to soil water and salinity changes in desert ecosystem

Xueni, 张雪妮 Zhang; Yan, 李岩 Li; Xuemin, 何学敏 He; Xiaodong, 杨晓东 Yang; Guanghui, 吕光辉 Lü

doi:10.5846/stxb201801300253

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…It is in the process of constant change, and the threshold value of soil depth decreased from 3.1 m in 2016 to 2.4 m in 2021. In the area where the depth is less than the threshold value [21], the salinity of the arable soil and the depth have a highly significant negative correlation. When the depth is more than the threshold value, the correlation is non-significant [22], and the reasons are as follows.…”

Section: Effect Of Groundwater Depth On Soil Salinity In Irrigated Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and Temporal Variation in Soil Salinity and Correlation with Groundwater Depth in the Karamay Irrigation District of China

Liu,

Tian,

Mai

et al. 2023

Sustainability

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The secondary salinization of irrigated areas poses a direct threat to both the sustainable development of oasis agriculture and ecological stability in arid regions. In this study, we conducted an experiment to examine alterations in groundwater levels and soil salinity within the plow layer, as well as their combined impact, in arid regions following extended reclamation in standard diversion irrigation areas. For this experiment, the Karamay irrigation district was selected. Four different years, namely, 1996, 2006, 2016, and 2021, were selected for soil sampling and groundwater monitoring data. Descriptive statistics, along with the use of GIS technology and Pearson’s correlation, were employed to analyze the data in order to discern the patterns of soil salinity and groundwater depth within the plow layer. Additionally, this approach helped establish the correlation between these factors over the last 25 years of reclamation in the Karamay irrigation district. The results showed that, (1) due to an increase in the reclamation duration, the groundwater depth in the irrigation area decreased year by year, and the salinity of the arable soil showed an overall decreasing trend, but it increased in local low-lying areas; (2) the influence of the groundwater depth on the salinity of the arable soil had a threshold value. It decreased from 3.1 m in 2016 to 2.4 m in 2021, and a significant negative correlation was observed between salinity and the depth of groundwater. When the groundwater depth was shallower than the threshold value, the soil salinity in the plow layer was negatively correlated with the groundwater depth. In the arid irrigation zone, inadequate drainage facilities resulted in a significant rise in the groundwater table due to the excessive amount of irrigation water. This created secondary salinization of the arable soil. It is thus concluded that implementing adequate drainage systems in arid irrigation regions will help prevent secondary salinization and promote the sustainable development of agriculture in these areas.

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Section: Effect Of Groundwater Depth On Soil Salinity In Irrigated Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and Temporal Variation in Soil Salinity and Correlation with Groundwater Depth in the Karamay Irrigation District of China

Liu,

Tian,

Mai

et al. 2023

Sustainability

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“…In arid northwest China, shrubs and herbs are the predominant vegetation types and are widely distributed in diverse habitats. Desert grassland, typical desert, and extreme desert are distributed from southeast to northwest in this region (Zhang et al, 2019). This spatial pattern provides an opportunity to investigate the variation and association of leaf traits along an environmental gradient and to validate the LES hypothesis in dryland shrubs and herbs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation and association of leaf traits for desert plants in the arid area, northwest China

Wang

Yang

Xie

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

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Characterizing variation and association of plant traits is critical for understanding plant adaptation strategies and community assembly mechanisms. However, little is known about the leaf trait variations of desert plants and their association with different life forms. We used principal component analysis, Pearson's correlation, phylogenetic independent contrasts, linear mixed model, and variance decomposition to explore the variation and association of 10 leaf traits in 22 desert plants in the arid area of northwest China. We found that: (1) the contribution of interspecific variation to the overall variation was greater than the intraspecific variation of all the studied leaf traits; (2) intraspecific and interspecific variation in leaf traits differed among life forms. Some leaf traits, such as tissue density of shrubs and specific leaf area of herbs, exhibited greater intraspecific than interspecific variation, while other traits exhibited the inverse; (3) desert shrubs corroborate the leaf economic spectrum hypothesis and had a fast acquisitive resource strategy, but herbs may not conform to this hypothesis; (4) there were trade-offs between leaf traits, which were mediated by phylogeny. Overall, our results suggest that interspecific variation of leaf traits significantly contributes to the total leaf traits variation in desert plants. However, intraspecific variation should not be overlooked. There are contrasts in the resource acquisition strategies between plants life forms. Our results support understanding of the mechanisms underlying community assembly in arid regions and suggest that future works may focus on the variation and association of plant traits at both intraand interspecific scales.

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“…Likewise, groundwater availability for plants can depend on salinity, which has shown substantial consequences in phreatophytic productivity, even inducing diebacks (Jolly et al, 1993;Doody and Overton, 2009;Runyan and D'Odorico, 2010). Even though salinity is a signi cant abiotic stress that intensi es drought impacts and water unavailability, there is little research on plant response to both groundwater salinity and depth (Kath et al, 2015;Hussain and Al-Dakheel, 2018;Zhang et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatiotemporal variations in groundwater and evaporative demand drive ecophysiological functioning of a phreatophyte in drylands

Torres-García

Salinas-Bonillo

Cleverly

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Water is the main limiting factor for groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs) in drylands. Predicted climate change (precipitation reductions and temperature increases) and anthropogenic activities such as groundwater drawdown jeopardize the structure and functioning of these ecosystems, presenting new challenges for their management. We developed a trait-based analysis to examine the spatiotemporal variability in the ecophysiology of Ziziphus lotus, a phreatophyte that dominates one of the few terrestrial GDEs of semiarid regions in Europe. We assessed morpho-functional and hydraulic traits along a naturally occurring gradient of depth-to-groundwater (DTGW, 2–25 m) in a coastal aquifer, and throughout the growing season of the species. Increasing DTGW and salinity negatively affected photosynthetic and transpiration rates, increasing plant water stress (lower predawn and midday water potential), and positively affected Huber value (sapwood cross-sectional area per leaf area), reducing leaf area and likely, plant hydraulic demand. However, higher atmospheric evaporative demand fostered higher transpiration rates and water stress. Differences in climatic conditions throughout the growing season drove temporal variability in Z. lotus responses along the DTGW gradient, with warmer and drier conditions promoting carbon assimilation and water loss more intensively at shallow water tables. This multiple-trait analysis allowed us to identify plant ecophysiological thresholds related to the increase in DTGW and evaporative demand during the growing season. These findings highlight the existence of tipping points in the ecophysiological functioning of phreatophytic plants in drylands, which contribute to disentangle the functional responses of the related GDEs under groundwater detriment because of climate change effects.

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Responses of plant functional trait and diversity to soil water and salinity changes in desert ecosystem

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Spatial and Temporal Variation in Soil Salinity and Correlation with Groundwater Depth in the Karamay Irrigation District of China

Spatial and Temporal Variation in Soil Salinity and Correlation with Groundwater Depth in the Karamay Irrigation District of China

Variation and association of leaf traits for desert plants in the arid area, northwest China

Spatiotemporal variations in groundwater and evaporative demand drive ecophysiological functioning of a phreatophyte in drylands

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