The Dynamic Trend of Soil Water Content in Artificial Forests on the Loess Plateau, China

Abstract

Extensive vegetation restoration projects have been widely implemented on the Loess Plateau, China, since 1998. In addition, increasing attention has been paid to the influence of revegetation on soil water. However, the response of the soil water content (SWC) to vegetation construction and management has not been adequately studied. In this study, three types of typical artificial vegetation on level bench land were selected, including Pinus tabulaeformis Carr., Prunus sibirica L., and Hippophae rhamnoides Linn., with the natural grassland used as a control group in Wuqi County. The 0-160 cm SWC was monitored biweekly from August 2010 to June 2013 using a portable time domain reflectometry system. The serial autocorrelation test, Mann-Kendall trend test, and prewhitening Mann-Kendall test were employed to systematically analyze the trends in soil water dynamics. The results show that the SWC of the three selected artificial forests/shrub had a significant accumulation process in the 0-160 cm profile during the monitoring period, whereas such an increasing tendency was not observed for natural grassland. Furthermore, the greatest responses were observed in the Pinus tabulaeformis Carr. plantation.

Optimizing the Stand Density of Robinia pseudoacacia L. Forests of the Loess Plateau, China, Based on Response to Soil Water and Soil Nutrient

“…The results of this study indicate that the average SMC of R. pseudoacacia forestland was 11.54 ± 0.36% (Table 3), which is similar to the results found by Chang [35] and Hou [36]. Previous studies indicated that the SMC is a limiting factor that affects the normal growth of R. pseudoacacia on the Loess Plateau [3,9]. Our results also suggest that there is a significant relationship between the SMC and stand density distribution, with a correlation coefficient of 0.243 ** (Table 4).…”

“…where Q represents the sap flow (cm 3 ), J s represents the sap flow density (cm 3 •cm -2 •h -1 ), As represents the sapwood area (cm 2 ), t is the time that the sap flow density was recorded, K is a dimensionless variable, d T is the temperature difference value associated with the thermal diffusion probe, and d TM is the maximum temperature difference value when the velocity of the sap flow is zero. An overall situation trend analysis was carried out using ArcGIS 10.1 (Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., Redlands, CA, USA).…”

“…Rainfall and soil moisture present significant responses to the arid climate conditions in arid and semiarid zones, which have fragile ecological environments [1,2]. For example, when the wet season is Forests 2019, 10, 663; doi:10.3390/f10080663 www.mdpi.com/journal/forests delayed, a sharp drop in surface soil moisture content occurs and also the underground water level decreases in that year [3]. The gradual increase in drought conditions leads to changes in the soil characteristics of the forested environments of plantations, and the responses in large plantations are particularly obvious [4,5].…”

The Soil Water Condition of a Typical Agroforestry System under the Policy of Northwest China

“…However, the deep loess layer stores and regulates water [8]. Therefore, research on the relationship between vegetation growth and soil moisture in this area has been of great interest [9,10].…”

Genetic diversity and conservation of Siberian apricot (Prunus sibirica L.) based on microsatellite markers

“…Given its white or pinkish flowers in spring, ripe yellow fruit in summer, and highly diverse leaf colors in autumn, the tree is considered to have particular ornamental value 2 , 3 . As a pioneer tree species in the restoration of vegetation, P. sibirica can tolerate cold, drought, and barren land and, thus, has high ecological value 1 , 4 . In addition, the seeds of this species contain amygdalin and high-quality oils, which have significant economic value 5 , 6 .…”