Soil moisture dynamics under Caragana korshinskii shrubs of different ages in Wuzhai County on the Loess Plateau, China
<p>Soil moisture is a key factor affecting vegetation growth and survival in arid and semi-arid regions. Knowledge of deep soil moisture dynamics is very important for guiding vegetation restoration and for improving land management practices on the water-limited Loess Plateau. Temporal changes and vertical variations in deep soil moisture (at soil depths of 0&#8211;600 cm) combined with soil moisture availability were monitored in situ under <em>Caragana korshinskii</em> shrubs of different ages (named CK-10a, CK-20a and CK-35a) in the Loess hilly region during the growing season of 2013. The soil moisture content (SMC) under <em>C. korshinskii</em> shrubs of different ages was highly consistent with the seasonal precipitation variations and generally decreased as follows: CK-10a > CK-20a > abandoned land > CK-35a. The SMC varied greatly over time during the growing season (P < 0.01), decreasing from April to May and then slowly increasing with some fluctuation from June to October. The SMC drastically decreased with depth from 0&#8211;300 cm and then gradually increased with some fluctuation from 300&#8211;600 cm. A critical turning point and transition zone connecting the shallow and deep soil moisture occurred at 200&#8211;300 cm. Therefore, the soil profile was divided into active, secondary active and relatively steady soil layers in terms of soil moisture. The SMC fluctuated at depths of 0&#8211;100 cm and 300&#8211;400 cm and was relatively stable in the deeper soil layers. The amount of available soil moisture gradually decreased as the forest stand age increased, especially at CK-35a, where most of the soil moisture was unavailable for plant use. In addition, our study indicates that a large-scale restoration strategy with pure shrubland or woodland may not be suitable for soil moisture recovery in arid environments.</p>