Abstract
Deep soil moisture is a highly important source of water for vegetation in the semiarid Loess Plateau of China, vegetation restoration reduced the deep soil moisture, but how to better quantify the impact of vegetation restoration on deep soil moisture is lack of certain understanding. To explore the impact exerted by different types of vegetation on deep layers of the soil moisture, the 0–10 m soil moisture content profile was measured before and after the rainy season in Armeniaca sibirica, Robinia pseudoacacia, Populus simonii, Pinus tabuliformis, Hippophae rhamnoides and in natural grassland in Wuqi County in Shannxi Province. These results showed that the highest soil moisture in the shallow layers (0–200 cm) was exhibited in the P. simonii forest, which was followed by that in the natural grassland. Both of these results were significantly higher than that those of the A. sibirica, P. tabuliformis, H. rhamnoides and R. pseudoacacia forests. The soil moisture in the deep layer (200–1000 cm) of the natural grassland was significantly higher than that of the other vegetation types. The annual precipitation that recharges the depth of soil moisture was the highest in natural grassland and the lowest in P. simonii. The inter-annual soil moisture replenishment is primarily affected by rainfall and vegetation types. Compared with the natural grassland, the CSWSD (the comparison of the soil moisture storage deficit) of different vegetation types varies. In the shallow soil layer, P. simonii is the lowest, and R. pseudoacacia is the highest. In the deep soil layer, R. pseudoacacia and P. simonii are the highest; H. rhamnoides is the second highest, and A. sibirica and P. tabuliformis are the lowest. These results indicate that vegetation restoration can significantly reduce the amount of water in the deep layers of the soil. In the future vegetation restoration, we suggest emphasizing natural development more strongly, since it can better maintain the local vegetation stability and soil moisture balance.
Highlights
Soil water is a primary limiting factor for vegetation rehabilitation in arid and semi-arid r egions[1,2]
It is highly important to study the dynamic impact of different vegetation types on soil moisture, the long-term rational management of water resources and land use planning, and the solution of unsustainable vegetation restoration
The vertical distribution of soil moisture differed in different seasons, and surface soil moisture was strongly affected by the soil texture and r ainfall[29]
Summary
Soil water is a primary limiting factor for vegetation rehabilitation in arid and semi-arid r egions[1,2]. It is highly important to study the dynamic impact of different vegetation types on soil moisture, the long-term rational management of water resources and land use planning, and the solution of unsustainable vegetation restoration. In view of the problem of soil water deficit, some related researchers proposed to use relative soil water deficit to evaluate the impact of different types of vegetation on ecological hydrology. Taking the local natural grassland or cropland as the background value, such as the depletion of soil water s torage[26], compared soil water deficit index[36], etc Most of these studies focused on shallow soil moisture[17,37,38], there are relatively few reports on quantifying the deep soil water deficit of different vegetation types with the comparison of the soil moisture storage deficit (CSWSD). Based on different types of vegetation in the Jinfoping Watershed in the loess area of northern Shaanxi, this study focused on the effects utilized by different types of plant rehabilitation on the soil moisture
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