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Sciences in Cold and Arid Regions ›› 2020, Vol. 12 ›› Issue (5): 306-316.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1226.2020.00306.

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Variation in water source of sand-binding vegetation across a chronosequence of artificial desert revegetation in Northwest China

YanXia Pan(),XinPing Wang,Rui Hu,YaFeng Zhang,Yang Zhao   

  1. Shapotou Desert Research and Experiment Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China
  • Received:2020-05-07 Accepted:2020-08-24 Online:2020-10-31 Published:2020-10-29
  • Contact: YanXia Pan E-mail:panyanxia@lzb.ac.cn

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Abstract:

Water is the most important limiting factor in arid areas, and thus water resource management is critical for the health of dryland ecosystems. However, global climate change and anthropogenic activity make water resource management more difficult, and this situation may be particularly crucial for dryland restoration, because of variation in water uptake patterns associated with artificial revegetation of different ages and vegetation type. However, there is lacking long-term restorations that are suitable for studying this issue. In Shapotou area, Northwest China, artificial revegetation areas were planted several times beginning in 1956, and now form a chronosequence of sand-binding landscapes that are ideal for studying variability in water uptake source by plants over succession. The stable isotopes δ18O and δ2H were employed to investigate the water uptake patterns of the typical revegetation shrubs Artemisia ordosica and Caragana korshinskii,which were planted in different years. We compared the stable isotope ratios of shrub stem water to groundwater, precipitation, and soil water pools at five layers (5-10, 10-40, 40-80, 80-150, and 150-300 cm). The results indicate that Artemisia ordosica derived the majority of their water from the 20-150 cm soil layer, whereas Caragana korshinskii obtained water from the 40-150 cm soil layer. The main water sources of Artemisia ordosica and C. korshinskii plants changed over time, from deeper about 150 cm depth to shallow 20 cm soil layer. This study can provide insights into water uptake patterns of major desert vegetation and thus water management of artificial ecosystems, at least in Northwest China.

Key words: artificial vegetation, stable isotopes, soil water, xylem water, water source

Figure 1

Tennger Desert and location of the study site. The map shows the location of the Shapotou Station, Yellow River, revegetation along the railway and the extent of the Tennger Desert, as well as an inset showing the general landscape characteristics around the study area"

Figure 2

Daily precipitation (vertical lines, left axis) and air temperature (open circles, right axis) during the study period in 2017"

Figure 3

(a) Daily average soil volumetric water content during the study period in 2017. Different colors represent different soil volumetric water content. (b) Mean soil water content at each soil depth during the whole observation date. Bars denote standard deviation"

Figure 4

Water isotopes (δ18O and δ2H) of bulk soil water, xylem water, underground water, and average precipitation during the study period. Soil water and xylem isotopes were collected on two different dates (May 24 and September 6) from five revegetation plots. LMWL represents the local meteoric water line (LMWL, dashed line, based on precipitation data during the study period, δ2H = 7.83 × δ18O + 3.08, R2 =0.92, p <0.01); GMWL is the global meteoric water line (GMWL, solid line, δ2H = 8 × δ18O + 10); XWL is the xylem water line (XWL)"

Table 1

Results from the ANOVA analysises of soil water (0-110 cm) stable isotopes (δ18O and δ2H) from different revegetation areas of the chronosequence (A) or different soil water layers within the same area"

Plant speciesDifferent revegetation areaDifferent depths in the same revegetation area
1956198119912010Natural
δ2Hδ18Oδ2Hδ18Oδ2Hδ18Oδ2Hδ18Oδ2Hδ18Oδ2Hδ18O
Caragana korshinskiiF8.6111.593.830.878.222.831.861.648.8733.200.88-
P0.0039.00E-40.030.530.0010.060.170.220.0011.26E-60.520.93
Artemisia ordosicaF32.3032.391.073.558.930.551.231.5515.0826.986.0317.67
P1.08E-51.07E-50.420.039.79E-40.740.350.258.15E-53.91E-60.0053.65E-5

Figure 5

δ18O and δ2H in soil layers, xylem water, and underground water in different sites from the chronosequence of revegetation areas for Caragana korshinskii and Artemisia ordosica plants. XW and GW denote xylem water and underground water, respectively"

Figure 6

The proportion of water uptake from different soil layers in different sand-fixed revegetation areas and different plant species. Square color represents the contribution rate, the darker the color, the higher the contribution rate"

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