A Comparison of Water Uptake by Transpiration from Different Soil Depths among Three Land Cover Types in the Arid Northwest of China
In recent decades, the frequency, intensity, and extent of extreme drought events have posed serious threats to ecosystems in vulnerable regions. With low annual precipitation, the arid area in northwest China is a typical ecologically fragile area, and extreme drought events will aggravate desertif...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-11-01
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| Series: | Forests |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/14/11/2208 |
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| author | Yushi Qin Tianwen Zhang Rongfei Zhang Ziyan Zhao Gaixia Qiao Wei Chen Lijun He |
| author_facet | Yushi Qin Tianwen Zhang Rongfei Zhang Ziyan Zhao Gaixia Qiao Wei Chen Lijun He |
| author_sort | Yushi Qin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In recent decades, the frequency, intensity, and extent of extreme drought events have posed serious threats to ecosystems in vulnerable regions. With low annual precipitation, the arid area in northwest China is a typical ecologically fragile area, and extreme drought events will aggravate desertification in this area. In order to control desertification, various experimental plantations have been established in Northwest China. However, there is no consensus on which plantations are more suitable to become widespread. To explore this, we conducted a comparative study on different plantations from the perspective of long-term deep (100 cm depth) soil moisture balance. In our study, six typical ecosystems were selected for comparison of the variation of soil moisture and control factors. The results showed three main findings. First, the soil moisture of all six ecosystems showed a similar hierarchy of increasing moisture with the increasing depth of the soil layer. However, the deep layer soil moisture (mean = 0.33 ± 0.22 cm<sup>3</sup>·cm<sup>−3</sup>) of the artificial poplar (Populus alba) forest exhibited a downward trend over time after the fifth year, but did not at the shallow layer for this ecosystem. Second, the trends of the maximum canopy coverage between the different ecosystems from 2010 to 2019 showed significant differences from one another, with the maximum value of the leaf area index for the poplar forest being the highest (Maximum = 7.13). Third, a negative correlation (R<sup>2</sup> = 0.52) was found between deep soil moisture and transpiration for the poplar forest, and a positive correlation (R<sup>2</sup> ≥ 0.23) between these two metrics was found for the other five ecosystems. The results revealed that transpiration processes had a different consumption of deep soil moisture due to the differences in the root and canopy density of several plantations. Among these ecosystems, the transpiration of the artificial poplar forest is noticeably large, resulting in a unilateral decline in soil moisture. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T16:48:50Z |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1999-4907 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T16:48:50Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
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| record_format | Article |
| series | Forests |
| spelling | doaj.art-5ca244496e15465e8fb55cfa8830aa5f2023-11-24T14:42:41ZengMDPI AGForests1999-49072023-11-011411220810.3390/f14112208A Comparison of Water Uptake by Transpiration from Different Soil Depths among Three Land Cover Types in the Arid Northwest of ChinaYushi Qin0Tianwen Zhang1Rongfei Zhang2Ziyan Zhao3Gaixia Qiao4Wei Chen5Lijun He6College of Environment and Ecology, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, ChinaNingxia Hui Autonomous Region Mineral and Geological Survey Institute, Yinchuan 750021, ChinaCollege of Environment and Ecology, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, ChinaSchool of Business Administration, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing 400067, ChinaLaboratory of Efficient Production of Forest Resources, Yinchuan 750004, ChinaNingxia Hui Autonomous Region Mineral and Geological Survey Institute, Yinchuan 750021, ChinaNingxia Hui Autonomous Region Mineral and Geological Survey Institute, Yinchuan 750021, ChinaIn recent decades, the frequency, intensity, and extent of extreme drought events have posed serious threats to ecosystems in vulnerable regions. With low annual precipitation, the arid area in northwest China is a typical ecologically fragile area, and extreme drought events will aggravate desertification in this area. In order to control desertification, various experimental plantations have been established in Northwest China. However, there is no consensus on which plantations are more suitable to become widespread. To explore this, we conducted a comparative study on different plantations from the perspective of long-term deep (100 cm depth) soil moisture balance. In our study, six typical ecosystems were selected for comparison of the variation of soil moisture and control factors. The results showed three main findings. First, the soil moisture of all six ecosystems showed a similar hierarchy of increasing moisture with the increasing depth of the soil layer. However, the deep layer soil moisture (mean = 0.33 ± 0.22 cm<sup>3</sup>·cm<sup>−3</sup>) of the artificial poplar (Populus alba) forest exhibited a downward trend over time after the fifth year, but did not at the shallow layer for this ecosystem. Second, the trends of the maximum canopy coverage between the different ecosystems from 2010 to 2019 showed significant differences from one another, with the maximum value of the leaf area index for the poplar forest being the highest (Maximum = 7.13). Third, a negative correlation (R<sup>2</sup> = 0.52) was found between deep soil moisture and transpiration for the poplar forest, and a positive correlation (R<sup>2</sup> ≥ 0.23) between these two metrics was found for the other five ecosystems. The results revealed that transpiration processes had a different consumption of deep soil moisture due to the differences in the root and canopy density of several plantations. Among these ecosystems, the transpiration of the artificial poplar forest is noticeably large, resulting in a unilateral decline in soil moisture.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/14/11/2208artificial forestarid areasoil moisturetranspirationcanopy density |
| spellingShingle | Yushi Qin Tianwen Zhang Rongfei Zhang Ziyan Zhao Gaixia Qiao Wei Chen Lijun He A Comparison of Water Uptake by Transpiration from Different Soil Depths among Three Land Cover Types in the Arid Northwest of China Forests artificial forest arid area soil moisture transpiration canopy density |
| title | A Comparison of Water Uptake by Transpiration from Different Soil Depths among Three Land Cover Types in the Arid Northwest of China |
| title_full | A Comparison of Water Uptake by Transpiration from Different Soil Depths among Three Land Cover Types in the Arid Northwest of China |
| title_fullStr | A Comparison of Water Uptake by Transpiration from Different Soil Depths among Three Land Cover Types in the Arid Northwest of China |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Comparison of Water Uptake by Transpiration from Different Soil Depths among Three Land Cover Types in the Arid Northwest of China |
| title_short | A Comparison of Water Uptake by Transpiration from Different Soil Depths among Three Land Cover Types in the Arid Northwest of China |
| title_sort | comparison of water uptake by transpiration from different soil depths among three land cover types in the arid northwest of china |
| topic | artificial forest arid area soil moisture transpiration canopy density |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/14/11/2208 |
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