Temporal variations in soil moisture for three typical vegetation types in inner Mongolia, northern China

PLoS One. 2015 Mar 17;10(3):e0118964. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0118964. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Drought and shortages of soil water are becoming extremely severe due to global climate change. A better understanding of the relationship between vegetation type and soil-moisture conditions is crucial for conserving soil water in forests and for maintaining a favorable hydrological balance in semiarid areas, such as the Saihanwula National Nature Reserve in Inner Mongolia, China. We investigated the temporal dynamics of soil moisture in this reserve to a depth of 40 cm under three types of vegetation during a period of rainwater recharge. Rainwater from most rainfalls recharged the soil water poorly below 40 cm, and the rainfall threshold for increasing the moisture content of surface soil for the three vegetations was in the order: artificial Larix spp. (AL) > Quercus mongolica (QM) > unused grassland (UG). QM had the highest mean soil moisture content (21.13%) during the monitoring period, followed by UG (16.52%) and AL (14.55%); and the lowest coefficient of variation (CV 9.6-12.5%), followed by UG (CV 10.9-18.7%) and AL (CV 13.9-21.0%). QM soil had a higher nutrient content and higher soil porosities, which were likely responsible for the higher ability of this cover to retain soil water. The relatively smaller QM trees were able to maintain soil moisture better in the study area.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Climate Change
  • Droughts*
  • Environmental Monitoring
  • Grassland
  • Larix / physiology
  • Mongolia
  • Poaceae / physiology
  • Quercus / physiology
  • Rain*
  • Soil*

Substances

  • Soil

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Special Scientific Research of Environmental Protection Public Welfare Project (No. 201209027) and the National Science and Technology Support Project (No. 2012BAC01B00). The funders played a role in the data collection and analysis and in the decision to publish. The funders played no role in the study design nor in the preparation of the manuscript.