{"title":"Forest age and precipitation magnitude affected the contribution rate of rainfall to soil water","authors":"Ranran Ren, Beibei Zhang, Qing Xu, Deqiang Gao, Wenbin Xu, Ke Diao","doi":"10.1007/s11104-024-06915-0","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Background</h3><p>Soil water dynamics and its response to precipitation are affected by soil properties and vegetation characteristics. Changes in forest age will significantly affect soil properties and vegetation characteristics. Therefore, exploring the contribution of rainfall to soil water (CRSW) in forests with different ages is helpful to understand the recharge mechanism of precipitation to soil water in forests with different ages.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Methods</h3><p>We calculated the CRSW by using stable hydrogen isotope combined with binary linear mixed model. Furthermore, we used structural equation modeling (SEM) to quantify the relative importance of vegetation factors (leaf area index, litter and fine root biomass) and soil properties (bulk density, porosity and field capacity, pre-rain soil water content) to CRSW.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Results</h3><p>Following small rainfall events (7.4 mm, 19.6 mm), there was no difference in CRSW among forests with different ages, while the CRSW of rainfall events above 20 mm (23.3 mm, 30.1 mm, 47.3 mm) was significantly different among them. When heavy rainfall events (30.1 and 47.3 mm) occurred, the CRSW of the old-growth forest (> 150 years) was the largest. SEM analysis showed that plant factors significantly affected CRSW after 23.3 mm and 30.1 mm rainfall events. After the 47.3 mm rainfall event, soil properties were the most important factors affecting CRSW.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Conclusions</h3><p>Under the background of frequent extreme precipitation events, old-growth forests (> 150 years) exhibit stronger storage capacity for large-scale rainfall events. Therefore, the effects of forest age on soil water interception and storage should be fully considered in the forest management and protection.</p>","PeriodicalId":20223,"journal":{"name":"Plant and Soil","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Plant and Soil","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-024-06915-0","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"AGRONOMY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background
Soil water dynamics and its response to precipitation are affected by soil properties and vegetation characteristics. Changes in forest age will significantly affect soil properties and vegetation characteristics. Therefore, exploring the contribution of rainfall to soil water (CRSW) in forests with different ages is helpful to understand the recharge mechanism of precipitation to soil water in forests with different ages.
Methods
We calculated the CRSW by using stable hydrogen isotope combined with binary linear mixed model. Furthermore, we used structural equation modeling (SEM) to quantify the relative importance of vegetation factors (leaf area index, litter and fine root biomass) and soil properties (bulk density, porosity and field capacity, pre-rain soil water content) to CRSW.
Results
Following small rainfall events (7.4 mm, 19.6 mm), there was no difference in CRSW among forests with different ages, while the CRSW of rainfall events above 20 mm (23.3 mm, 30.1 mm, 47.3 mm) was significantly different among them. When heavy rainfall events (30.1 and 47.3 mm) occurred, the CRSW of the old-growth forest (> 150 years) was the largest. SEM analysis showed that plant factors significantly affected CRSW after 23.3 mm and 30.1 mm rainfall events. After the 47.3 mm rainfall event, soil properties were the most important factors affecting CRSW.
Conclusions
Under the background of frequent extreme precipitation events, old-growth forests (> 150 years) exhibit stronger storage capacity for large-scale rainfall events. Therefore, the effects of forest age on soil water interception and storage should be fully considered in the forest management and protection.
期刊介绍:
Plant and Soil publishes original papers and review articles exploring the interface of plant biology and soil sciences, and that enhance our mechanistic understanding of plant-soil interactions. We focus on the interface of plant biology and soil sciences, and seek those manuscripts with a strong mechanistic component which develop and test hypotheses aimed at understanding underlying mechanisms of plant-soil interactions. Manuscripts can include both fundamental and applied aspects of mineral nutrition, plant water relations, symbiotic and pathogenic plant-microbe interactions, root anatomy and morphology, soil biology, ecology, agrochemistry and agrophysics, as long as they are hypothesis-driven and enhance our mechanistic understanding. Articles including a major molecular or modelling component also fall within the scope of the journal. All contributions appear in the English language, with consistent spelling, using either American or British English.