Effects of species mixtures on soil water storage in the semiarid hilly gully region

Dong Cheng; Lei Jiao; Guangyao Gao; Jianbo Liu; Weiliang Chen; Zongshan Li; Yingfei Bai; Hao Wang; Liwei Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165409

Effects of species mixtures on soil water storage in the semiarid hilly gully region

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Nov 1:897:165409. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165409. Epub 2023 Jul 8.

Authors

Dong Cheng¹, Lei Jiao², Guangyao Gao³, Jianbo Liu⁴, Weiliang Chen³, Zongshan Li³, Yingfei Bai⁵, Hao Wang¹, Liwei Zhang¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Geography and Tourism, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710119, China.
² School of Geography and Tourism, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710119, China. Electronic address: ljiao@snnu.edu.cn.
³ State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; National Observation and Research Station of Earth Critical Zone on the Loess Plateau in Shaanxi, Xi'an 710061, China.
⁴ Tianjin Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China.
⁵ Grain to Green Project Management Office of Yan'an Government, Yan'an 716000, China.

PMID: 37423278
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165409

Abstract

Mixed-species plantations are promoted to restore degraded ecosystems and improve soil quality worldwide. However, differences of soil water conditions between pure and mixed plantations are still controversial and how species mixtures affect soil water storage (SWS) was not well quantified. In this study, vegetation characteristics, soil properties and SWS were continuously monitored and quantified in three pure plantations (Armeniaca sibirica (AS), Robinia pseudoacacia (RP) and Hippophae rhamnoides (HR)) and their corresponding mixed plantations (Pinus tabuliformis-Armeniaca sibirica (PT-AS), Robinia pseudoacacia-Pinus tabuliformis-Armeniaca sibirica (RP-PT-AS), Platycladus orientalis-Hippophae rhamnoides plantation (PO-HR), Populus simonii-Hippophae rhamnoides (PS-HR)). The results found that SWS of 0-500 cm in RP (333.60 ± 75.91 mm) and AS (479.52 ± 37.50 mm) pure plantations were higher than those in their corresponding mixed plantations (p > 0.05). SWS in the HR pure plantation (375.81 ± 81.64 mm) was lower than that in its mixed plantation (p > 0.05). It is suggested that the effect of species mixing on SWS was species specific. Additionally, soil properties exerted more contributions (38.05-67.24 %) to SWS than vegetation characteristics (26.80-35.36 %) and slope topography (5.96-29.91 %) at different soil depths and the whole 0-500 cm soil profile. Furthermore, by excluding the effects of soil properties and topographic factors, plant density and height were particularly important to SWS (with standard coefficients 0.787 and 0.690 respectively). The results implied that not all the mixed plantations exhibits the better soil water conditions than the compared pure plantations, which was tightly related to species selected for mixing. Our study provides scientific support for revegetation technique improvement (structural adjustment and species optimization) in this region.

Keywords: Afforestation; Loess Plateau; Mixed plantation; Pure plantation; Soil properties; Vegetation characteristics.

MeSH terms

China
Ecosystem
Hippophae* / metabolism
Pinus*
Robinia*
Soil / chemistry
Water / metabolism

Substances

Soil
Water