Characteristic of Soil Hydro-Physical Properties and Water Dynamics under Different Vegetation Restoration Types

By combining the observation of the soil profile at field and the chemical and physical analysis in laboratory, a study on the hydro-physical properties of soil in six different vegetation types and the dynamics of water content after rain was conducted in Wanchanggou, Guangyuan City to find out the vegetation types with effective water-conservation functions in order to serve the ecological restoration in the low hill heavy rain area upper the Jialing River. Results showed that., the hydro-physical properties of soil in the mixed Alnus crernastogyne and Cupressua Leyland forest （AcCl） were best. But in the depth of 0-20 cm. The properties of soil in the abandoned cropland （Fm） was better than that in the AcCl. The soil bulk densities varied significantly between the layers of 0-20 cm and 20-40 cm in all the six vegetation types except that in the Robinia pseudoacacia shrub forest （RpII）, and the changes of the maximum and the capillary moisture capacity between layers were significant only in the Fm and in the AcCl. Of these stands, the AcCl had the shortest water-absorbing period and the strongest moisture changes in the upper layer （0-15 cm）. In the same stand, the deeper the soil layer, the slighter the soil moisture varied, and the longer the soil moisture accumulating process lasted.

Effects of Plastic Film Mulching of Millet on Soil Moisture and Temperature in Semi-Arid Areas in South Ningxia of China

The effects of film mulching of millet on soil water content were studied in semi-arid areas in the Loess Plateau of South Ningxia, China. Different mulching methods including water micro-collecting farming （WF）, water micro-collecting farming in winter fallow （WW）, hole seeding on film （HF）, hole seeding on film in winter fallow （HW） were compared to determine the effects of mulching methods on soil water collecting and conservation during millet growth periods of 2003-2004, as well as the variation tendency of water content after rainfall, output of millet and water use efficiency （WUE）. The experimental results in the two successive years indicated that water micro-collecting farming had a better function of collecting water after rainfall, and side infiltrated water was stored under the ridges and the top layer 0-40 cm soil water changes were great. WF had obvious role in water collection and preservation of soil moisture. It effectively improved the water supply capacity by about 19.05% in the end of growth seasons. The storage of HW and WW increased by 24.9 and 7.1 mm compared with CK, and output of yield were obviously increased. Film mulching increased the yield of millet and enhanced water use efficiency （WUE）. During different growth periods, WF exhibited better water storage function with lower water consumption, and demonstrated optimal social and ecological benefits.

Carbon fixation and influencing factors of biological soil crusts in a revegetated area of the Tengger Desert,northern China

Biological soil crusts （BSCs） are an important type of land cover in arid desert landscapes and play an important role in the carbon source-sink exchange within a desert system. In this study, two typical BSCs, moss crusts and algae crusts, were selected from a revegetated sandy area of the Tengger Desert in northern China, and the experiment was carried out over a 3-year period from January 2010 to November 2012. We obtained the effec- tive active wetting time to maintain the physiological activity of BSCs basing on continuous field measurements and previous laboratory studies on BSCs photosynthesis and respiration rates. And then we developed a BSCs carbon fixation model that is driven by soil moisture. The results indicated that moss crusts and algae crusts had significant effects on soil moisture and temperature dynamics by decreasing rainfall infiltration. The mean carbon fixation rates of moss and algae crusts were 0.21 and 0.13 g C/（m2.d）, respectively. The annual carbon fixations of moss crusts and algae crusts were 64.9 and 38.6 g C/（m2.a）, respectively, and the carbon fixation of non-rainfall water reached 11.6 g C/（m2.a） （30.2% of the total） and 8.8 g C/（m2.a） （43.6% of the total）, respectively. Finally, the model was tested and verified with continuous field observations. The data of the modeled and measured CO2 fluxes matched notably well. In desert regions, the carbon fixation is higher with high-frequency rainfall even the total amount of seasonal rainfall was the same.