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Linking the soil moisture distribution pattern to dynamic processes along slope transects in the Loess Plateau, China

Environmental Monitoring and Assessment volume 187, Article number: 778 (2015) Cite this article

Abstract

Soil moisture pulses are a prerequisite for other land surface pulses at various spatiotemporal scales in arid and semi-arid areas. The temporal dynamics and profile variability of soil moisture in relation to land cover combinations were studied along five slopes transect on the Loess Plateau during the rainy season of 2011. Within the 3 months of the growing season coupled with the rainy season, all of the soil moisture was replenished in the area, proving that a type stability exists between different land cover soil moisture levels. Land cover combinations disturbed the trend determined by topography and increased soil moisture variability in space and time. The stability of soil moisture resulting from the dynamic processes could produce stable patterns on the slopes. The relationships between the mean soil moisture and vertical standard deviation (SD) and coefficient of variation (CV) were more complex, largely due to the fact that different land cover types had distinctive vertical patterns of soil moisture. The spatial SD of each layer had a positive correlation and the spatial CV exhibited a negative correlation with the increase in mean soil moisture. The soil moisture stability implies that sampling comparisons in this area can be conducted at different times to accurately compare different land use types.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41390464, 41401027).

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Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 2871, Beijing, 100085, China

    Shuai Wang, Bojie Fu, Guangyao Gao, Ji Zhou, Lei Jiao & Jianbo Liu

  2. Joint Center for Global Change Studies, Beijing, 100875, China

    Shuai Wang, Bojie Fu, Guangyao Gao, Ji Zhou, Lei Jiao & Jianbo Liu

Authors
  1. Shuai Wang
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  2. Bojie Fu
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  3. Guangyao Gao
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  4. Ji Zhou
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  5. Lei Jiao
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  6. Jianbo Liu
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Correspondence to Shuai Wang.

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Wang, S., Fu, B., Gao, G. et al. Linking the soil moisture distribution pattern to dynamic processes along slope transects in the Loess Plateau, China. Environ Monit Assess 187, 778 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-5000-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-5000-x

Keywords

  • Soil hydrology
  • Land use
  • Vegetation restoration
  • Hydrological processes
  • Re-vegetated catchment