• Response of plant physiological parameters to soil water availability during prolonged drought is affected by soil texture

    分类: 地球科学 >> 地理学 提交时间: 2021-08-06 合作期刊: 《干旱区科学》

    摘要: Soil water deficit is increasingly threatening the sustainable vegetation restoration and ecological construction on the Loess Plateau of China due to the climate warming and human activities. To determine the response thresholds of Amygdalus pedunculata (AP) and Salix psammophila (SP) to soil water availability under different textural soils, we measured the changes in net photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (Gs), intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci), leaf water potential (ψw), water use efficiency (WUE) and daily transpiration rate (Td) of the two plant species during soil water content (SWC) decreased from 100% field capacity (FC) to 20% FC in the sandy and loamy soils on the Loess Plateau in the growing season from June to August in 2018. Results showed that Pn, Gs, WUE and Td of AP and SP remained relatively constant at the beginning of soil water deficit but decreased rapidly as plant available soil water content (PASWC) fell below the threshold values in both the sandy and loamy soils. The PASWC thresholds corresponding to Pn, Gs and Ci of AP in the loamy soil (0.61, 0.62 and 0.70, respectively) were lower than those in the sandy soil (0.70, 0.63 and 0.75, respectively), whereas the PASWC thresholds corresponding to Pn, Gs and Ci of SP in the loamy soil (0.63, 0.68 and 0.78, respectively) were higher than those in the sandy soil (0.58, 0.62 and 0.66, respectively). In addition, the PASWC thresholds in relation to Td and WUE of AP (0.60 and 0.58, respectively) and SP (0.62 and 0.60, respectively) in the loamy soil were higher than the corresponding PASWC thresholds of AP (0.58 and 0.52, respectively) and SP (0.55 and 0.56, respectively) in the sandy soil. Furthermore, the PASWC thresholds for the instantaneous gas exchange parameters (e.g., Pn and Gs) at the transient scale were higher than the thresholds for the parameters (e.g., Td) at the daily scale. Our study demonstrates that different plant species and/or different physiological parameters exhibit different thresholds of PASWC and that the thresholds are affected by soil texture. The result can provide guidance for the rational allocation and sustainable management of reforestation species under different soil conditions in the loess regions.

  • Responses of Amygdalus pedunculata Pall. in the sandy and loamy soils to water stress

    分类: 地球科学 >> 地理学 提交时间: 2020-11-25 合作期刊: 《干旱区科学》

    摘要: Amygdalus pedunculata Pall. is a major species that is widely planted in afforested soils with different textures in the transitional zone between Mu Us Desert and Loess Plateau, China. However, the responses of A. pedunculata to increasing intensity of water stress in different textural soils are not clear. Here, we conducted a soil column experiment to evaluate the effects of different textures (sandy and loamy) on water consumption, water use efficiency (WUE), biomass accumulation and ecological adaptability of A. pedunculata under increasing water stress, i.e., 90% (±5%) FC (field capacity), 75% (±5%) FC, 60% (±5%) FC, 45% (±5%) FC and 30% (±5%) FC in 2018. A. pedunculata grown in the sandy soil with the lowest (30% FC) and highest (90% FC) water contents had respectively 21.3%–37.0% and 4.4%–20.4% less transpiration than those with other water treatments (45%–75% FC). In contrast, A. pedunculata transpiration in the loamy soil decreased with decreasing water content. The magnitude of decrease in transpiration increased with increasing level of water deficit (45% and 30% FC). Mean daily and cumulative transpirations of the plant were significantly lower in the sandy soil than in the loamy soil under good water condition (90% FC), but the reverse was noted under water deficit treatments (45% and 30% FC). Plant height, stem diameter and total biomass initially increased with decreasing water content from 90% to 75% FC and then declined under severe water deficit conditions (45% and 30% FC) in the sandy soil. However, these plant parameters decreased with decreasing water content in the loamy soil. WUE in the sandy soil was 7.8%–12.3% higher than that in the loamy soil, which initially increased with decreasing water content from 90% to 75% FC and then declined under water deficit conditions (45% and 30% FC). The study showed that plant transpiration, biomass production and WUE responded differentially to increasing intensity of water stress in the sandy and loamy soils. The contrasting responses of A. pedunculata to water stress in different textural soils can guide future revegetation programs in the northern region of Chinese Loess Plateau by considering plant adaptability to varying soil and water conditions.

  • Vertical distribution and storage of soil organic and inorganic carbon in a typical inland river basin, Northwest China

    分类: 农、林、牧、渔 >> 土壤学 提交时间: 2018-01-29 合作期刊: 《干旱区科学》

    摘要: Knowledge of soil carbon (C) distribution and its relationship with the environment can improve our understanding of its biogeochemical cycling and help to establish sound regional models of C cycling. However, such knowledge is limited in environments with complex landscape configurations. In this study, we investigated the vertical distribution and storage of soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil inorganic carbon (SIC) in the 10 representative landscapes (alpine meadow, subalpine shrub and meadow, mountain grassland, mountain forest, typical steppe, desert steppe, Hexi Corridor oases cropland, Ruoshui River delta desert, Alxa Gobi desert, and sandy desert) with contrasting bioclimatic regimes in the Heihe River Basin, Northwest China. We also measured the 87Sr/86Sr ratio in soil carbonate to understand the sources of SIC because the ratio can be used as a proxy in calculating the contribution of pedogenic inorganic carbon (PIC) to total SIC. Our results showed that SOC contents generally decreased with increasing soil depth in all landscapes, while SIC contents exhibited more complicated variations along soil profiles in relation to pedogenic processes and parent materials at the various landscapes. There were significant differences of C stocks in the top meter among different landscapes, with SOC storage ranging from 0.82 kg C/m2 in sandy desert to 50.48 kg C/m2 in mountain forest and SIC storage ranging from 0.19 kg C/m2 in alpine meadow to 21.91 kg C/m2 in desert steppe. SIC contributed more than 75% of total C pool when SOC storage was lower than 10 kg C/m2, and the proportion of PIC to SIC was greater than 70% as calculated from Sr isotopic ratio, suggesting the critical role of PIC in the C budget of this region. The considerable variations of SOC and SIC in different landscapes were attributed to different pedogenic environments resulted from contrasting climatic regimes, parent materials and vegetation types. This study provides an evidence for a general trade-off pattern between SOC and SIC, showing the compensatory effects of environmental conditions (especially climate) on SOC and SIC formation in these landscapes. This is largely attributed to the fact that the overall decrease in temperature and increase in precipitation from arid deserts to alpine mountains simultaneously facilitate the accumulation of SOC and depletion of SIC.