Soils and the soil cover of mountainous tundra and forest landscapes in the Central Khangai of Mongolia

Krasnoshchekov, Yu. N.

doi:10.1134/s1064229310020018

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…As tree roots reach deeper down into the soil, they benefit from rapid water infiltration below the depth of the roots of grasses and herbs. Lange et al (2015) carried out irrigation experiments on grass-dominated south-facing slopes and forest-dominated north-facing slopes in the Mongolian forest steppe. On south-facing slopes, most of the water was either taken up by grass or evaporated, and the remaining water reached only 5 cm soil depth.…”

Section: Physical Soil Properties and Soil Hydrologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrological soil properties control tree regrowth after forest disturbance in the forest steppe of central Mongolia

Schneider

Klinge

Brodthuhn

et al. 2021

SOIL

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Abstract. The central Mongolian forest steppe forms a transition between different ecozones and is as such particularly sensitive to environmental changes. It is commonly affected by disturbances such as logging and forest fires. Intensified drought events aggravate stress on the trees that are anyway at their drier limit in the forest steppe. Climate change increases evapotranspiration and reduces the distribution of discontinuous permafrost, which leads to drier soil conditions. The motivation for this study came about through our previous observation that forest stands show great differences with respect to their recovery after disturbance by fire or logging. Sometimes, no regrowth of trees takes place at all. As water availability is the main limiting factor of forest growth in this region, we hypothesised that differences in soil hydrology control the forest recovery pattern. To test this hypothesis, we analysed soil properties under forests, predominantly consisting of Siberian larch (Larix sibirica Ledeb.), in the forest steppe of the northern Khangai Mountains, central Mongolia. We distinguished the following four vegetation categories: (1) near-natural forest (FOR), (2) steppe close to the forest (STE), (3) disturbed forest with regrowth of trees (DWIR), and (4) disturbed forest showing no regrowth of trees (DNOR). A total of 54 soil profiles were described in the field and sampled for soil chemical, physical, and hydrological analysis. We found a significant difference in soil texture between soils under DWIR and DNOR. Sand generally dominated the soil texture, but soils under DWIR had more silt and clay compared to soils under DNOR. Soil pF curves showed that soils under DWIR had higher plant-available field capacity in their uppermost parts than soils under DNOR. In addition, hydraulic conductivity tended to be higher in the uppermost horizons of soils under DWIR compared to their counterparts under DNOR. Chemical properties of the soils under DWIR and DNOR showed no significant differences. We conclude that the differences in post-disturbance tree regrowth are mainly caused by different soil hydrology. High plant-available field capacity is the key factor for forest recovery under semi-arid conditions. High hydraulic conductivity in the uppermost soil horizons can further support tree regrowth because it reduces the evaporation loss and the competition of larch saplings with grasses and herbs for water. Another important factor is human impact, particularly grazing livestock on cleared forest sites, which often keeps seedlings from growing and, thus, inhibits forest recovery. None of the disturbed sites (DWIR and DNOR) had permafrost. We, thus, conclude that permafrost is no major factor for the post-disturbance tree regrowth pattern, although it generally supports tree growth in the forest steppe by preventing meltwater from seasonal ice from seeping below the root zone, thus increasing the water supply in summer.

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Section: Physical Soil Properties and Soil Hydrologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrological soil properties control tree regrowth after forest disturbance in the forest steppe of central Mongolia

Schneider

Klinge

Brodthuhn

et al. 2021

SOIL

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“…Soils under DWIR had significantly more silt and clay, and thus higher plant-available field capacity (Amelung et al, 2018) than soils under DNOR, which were considerably sandier. As mean annual precipitation in Tosontsengel is only 200-250 mm, lack of water represents a major limitation for tree growth (Dulamsuren et al, 2009;2010;Chenlemuge et al, 2015b; https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2020-52 Preprint. Discussion started: 5 October 2020 c Author(s) 2020.…”

Section: Physical Soil Properties and Soil Hydrologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrological soil properties control tree regrowth after forest disturbance in the forest-steppe of central Mongolia

Schneider¹,

Klinge²,

Brodthuhn³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract. The central Mongolian forest-steppe is a sensitive ecotone, commonly affected by disturbances such as logging and forest fires. In addition, intensified drought events aggravate stress on the trees that are anyway at their drier limit in the forest-steppe. Climate change increases evapotranspiration and reduces the distribution of discontinuous permafrost. The motivation for this study came about through our previous observation that forest stands show great differences with respect to their recovery after disturbance by fire or logging. Sometimes, no regrowth of trees takes place at all. As water availability is the main limiting factor of forest growth in this region, we hypothesized that differences in hydrological soil properties control the forest-recovery pattern. To test this hypothesis, we analysed soil properties under forests, predominantly consisting of Siberian larch (Larix sibirica Ledeb.), in the forest-steppe of the northern Khangai Mountains in central Mongolia. We distinguished four vegetation categories: 1. near-natural forest (FOR), 2. steppe close to the forest (STE), 3. disturbed forest with regrowth of trees (DWIR), and 4. disturbed forest showing no regrowth of trees (DNOR). 54 soil profiles were described in the field and sampled for soil chemical, physical, and hydrological analysis. We found a significant difference in soil texture between soils under DWIR and DNOR. Sand generally dominated the soil texture, but soils under DWIR had more silt and clay compared to soils under DNOR. Soil pF curves showed that soils under DWIR had higher plant-available field capacity than soils under DNOR. In addition, hydraulic conductivity was higher in the uppermost horizons of soils under DWIR compared to soils under DNOR. Chemical properties of the soils under DWIR and DNOR showed no significant differences. We conclude that the differences in post-disturbance tree regrowth are mainly caused by soil hydrological properties. High plant-available field capacity is the key factor for forest recovery under semi-arid conditions. High hydraulic conductivity in the uppermost soil horizons can further support tree regrowth, because it reduces evaporation loss and competition of larch saplings with grasses and herbs for water. Another important factor is human impact, particularly grazing on cleared forest sites, which often keeps seedlings from growing and thus inhibits forest recovery. Permafrost was absent at all studied disturbed sites (DWIR, DNOR). We thus conclude that it is not a major factor for the post-disturbance tree-regrowth pattern, although it does contribute to water availability in summer.

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“…Smith et al (1999) reported hummocky, cryoturbated ground in moist depressions around 5000 m on the Qinghai Plateau, but no permafrost was observed within 2 m of the surface. In the Khangai Mountains of Mongolia, Krasnoshchekov (2010) attributed the lack of cryoturbation to the presence of dry permafrost. Cambisolization leads to the formation of weakly developed Bw (cambic) horizons.…”

Section: Soil-forming Processes In Alpine Soils With Permafrostmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organic Carbon Pools and Genesis of Alpine Soils with Permafrost: A Review

Bockheim

Munroe

2014

Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research

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Soils and the soil cover of mountainous tundra and forest landscapes in the Central Khangai of Mongolia

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

Hydrological soil properties control tree regrowth after forest disturbance in the forest steppe of central Mongolia

Hydrological soil properties control tree regrowth after forest disturbance in the forest steppe of central Mongolia

Hydrological soil properties control tree regrowth after forest disturbance in the forest-steppe of central Mongolia

Organic Carbon Pools and Genesis of Alpine Soils with Permafrost: A Review

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