Abstract
Soil moisture is a vital factor affecting the hydrological cycle and the evolution of soil and geomorphology, determining the formation and development of the vegetation ecosystem. The previous studies mainly focused on the effects of different land use patterns and vegetation types on soil hydrological changes worldwide. However, the spatial heterogeneity and driving factors of soil gravimetric water content in alpine regions are seldom studied. On the basis of soil sample collection, combined with geostatistical analysis and the geographical detector method, this study examines the spatial heterogeneity and driving factors of soil gravimetric water content in the typical alpine valley desert of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Results show that the average value of soil gravimetric water content at different depths ranges from 3.68% to 7.84%. The optimal theoretical models of soil gravimetric water content in 0–50 cm layers of the dune are different. The nugget coefficient shows that the soil gravimetric water content in the dune has a strong spatial correlation at different depths, and the range of the optimal theoretical model of semi-variance function is 31.23–63.38 m, which is much larger than the 15 m spacing used for sampling. The ranking of the influence of each evaluation factor on the alpine dune is elevation > slope > location > vegetation > aspect. The interaction detection of factors indicates that an interaction exists among evaluation factors, and no factors are independent of one another. In each soil layer of 0–50 cm, the interaction among evaluation factors has a two-factor enhancement and a nonlinear enhancement effect on soil gravimetric water content. This study contributes to the understanding of spatial heterogeneity and driving factors of soil moisture in alpine deserts, and guidance of artificial vegetation restoration and soil structure analysis of different desert types in alpine cold desert regions.
Highlights
Soil moisture is a vital factor affecting the hydrological cycle and the evolution of soil and geomorphology, determining the formation and development of the vegetation ecosystem, especially in alpine deserts [1]
The spatial heterogeneity limits the understanding of the spatial pattern of soil moisture in water resource management and ecosystem restoration [3,4,5,6]
The variation coefficients of soil gravimetric water content in different soil layers are between 130% and 169%, showing strong variability
Summary
Soil moisture is a vital factor affecting the hydrological cycle and the evolution of soil and geomorphology, determining the formation and development of the vegetation ecosystem, especially in alpine deserts [1]. The soil moisture distribution directly controls the carrying capacity of vegetation and the restoration and reconstruction of degraded ecosystems. The soil moisture distribution has high variability both spatially and temporally [2]. The spatial heterogeneity limits the understanding of the spatial pattern of soil moisture in water resource management and ecosystem restoration [3,4,5,6]. Examining the spatial heterogeneity of soil moisture and its response to environmental factors is important in ensuring the sustainability of alpine ecosystems.
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