水保所知识产出(1956---)知识库

Soil water and root distribution following revegetation are key research topics in water-limited
ecosystems. However, little is known about the interaction between soil water and root distribution
in deep soils under different precipitation conditions. Knowledge of the root–soil water
relationship of revegetated land and its response to precipitation is crucial for the management of
water resources and ecological restoration worldwide, including on the Chinese Loess Plateau. In
this study, we investigated soil water and root distribution under apple orchard and black locust
down a 10 m soil profile and exposed to different amounts of annual precipitation on the Loess
Plateau. The results showed that soil water content (SWC) under two typical planted forests both
significantly decreased as the mean annual precipitation (MAP) decreased. SWC spatial variation is
demarcated by a 500–550 mm precipitation threshold, being relatively high when MAP > 550 mm
but extremely low when MAP < 500 mm. In apple orchards, the depth above which 50% of the
roots were present increased with increasing precipitation, but in black locust it became shallower.
The results of a linear mixed model revealed a significant relationship between fine root length
density and SWC depletion degree for black locust irrespective of the amount of precipitation, but
it was only found in the 200–1000 cm soil layers with MAP > 550 mm and the 0–200 cm soil layers
with MAP < 550 mm for apple orchards. The MAP × depth interaction was significant with
respect to SWC depletion degree for MAP > 550 mm, but not for MAP < 550 mm in both
vegetation types. These findings add to our current understanding of the root–soil water
relationship of species used for revegetation and highlight the need to assess the long-term effect of
revegetation on soil water consumption in water-limited ecosystems.