中国科学院水利部水土保持研究所机构知识库

Vegetation restoration has been widely implemented as an effective approach to the
control of soil erosion. However, severe soil desiccation is likely to occur if vegetation
types and local precipitation conditions are not accounted for. In this study, an
abandoned farmland and three typical vegetation types, including a natural shrubland,
a plantation of black locust, and a natural oak secondary forest, were investigated to
determine the characteristics of soil moisture in different hydrological years. The
responses of soil moisture to precipitation were analysed at different timescales.
Higher soil water contents were observed either in wet years or for natural vegetation
types. The temporal response of soil moisture to precipitation was largely dependent
on the timescale. At monthly scale, shallow soil moisture (0–100 cm) varied
consistently with precipitation, whereas on interannual scale, precipitation is positively
related to soil moisture along the whole profiles. Black locust and oak lands
consumed more soil moisture than the shrubland, and severe soil desiccation developed
in deep soil layers in the black locust plantation. The shrubland showed steeper
regression slopes than other types for both the changes in soil water storage over
time (ΔSWSt) versus the growing season precipitation and the difference in soil water
storage with the abandoned farmland (ΔSWSv) versus the growing season precipitation,
suggesting its higher adaptability to precipitation changes in this region. The
results indicate that the shrubland develops optimal water use strategies through
coevolution with local conditions and should be given precedence in vegetation restoration
initiatives in this region.