title: Temporal variations in soil moisture for three typical vegetation types in inner Mongolia, northern China.
abstract: Drought and shortages of soil water are becoming extremely severe due to global climate change. A better understanding of the relationship between vegetation type and soil-moisture conditions is crucial for conserving soil water in forests and for maintaining a favorable hydrological balance in semiarid areas, such as the Saihanwula National Nature Reserve in Inner Mongolia, China. We investigated the temporal dynamics of soil moisture in this reserve to a depth of 40 cm under three types of vegetation during a period of rainwater recharge. Rainwater from most rainfalls recharged the soil water poorly below 40 cm, and the rainfall threshold for increasing the moisture content of surface soil for the three vegetations was in the order: artificial Larix spp. (AL) > Quercus mongolica (QM) > unused grassland (UG). QM had the highest mean soil moisture content (21.13%) during the monitoring period, followed by UG (16.52%) and AL (14.55%); and the lowest coefficient of variation (CV 9.6-12.5%), followed by UG (CV 10.9-18.7%) and AL (CV 13.9-21.0%). QM soil had a higher nutrient content and higher soil porosities, which were likely responsible for the higher ability of this cover to retain soil water. The relatively smaller QM trees were able to maintain soil moisture better in the study area.
authors.affiliation: College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China; Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Environmental Protection of China, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, 210042, China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China; Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Environmental Protection of China, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, 210042, China.
authors.forename: Jixi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
authors.forename: Yanguo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Teng
authors.affiliation: Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China.
authors.forename: Chaoyang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Environmental Protection of China, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, 210042, China.
authors.forename: Meirong
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tian
mesh_terms: D057231:Climate Change; D055864:Droughts; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D065948:Grassland; D028221:Larix / Q000502:physiology; D008986:Mongolia; D006109:Poaceae / Q000502:physiology; D029963:Quercus / Q000502:physiology; D011891:Rain; D012987:Soil
chemical_list: D012987:Soil