Seasonal snow is one of the most important influences on the development and distribution of permafrost and the hydrothermal regime in surface soil. Alpine meadow, which constitutes the main land type in permafrost re...Seasonal snow is one of the most important influences on the development and distribution of permafrost and the hydrothermal regime in surface soil. Alpine meadow, which constitutes the main land type in permafrost regions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, was selected to study the influence of seasonal snow on the temperature and moisture in active soil layers under different vegetation coverage. Monitoring sites for soil moisture and temperature were constructed to observe the hydrothermal processes in active soil layers under different vegetation cover with seasonal snow cover variation for three years from 2010 to 2012. Differences in soil temperature and moisture in areas of diverse vegetation coverage with varying levels of snow cover were analyzed using active soil layer water and temperature indices. The results indicated that snow cover greatly influenced the hydrothermal dynamics of the active soil layer in alpine meadows. In the snow manipulation experiment with a snow depth greater than 15 cm, the snow cover postponed both the freeze-fall and thawrise onset times of soil temperature and moisture in alpine LC(lower vegetation coverage) meadows and of soil moisture in alpine HC(higher vegetation coverage) meadows; however, the opposite response occurred for soil temperatures of alpine HC meadows,where the entire melting period was extended by advancing the thaw-rise and delaying the freeze-fall onset time of the soil temperature. Snow cover resulted in a decreased amplitude and rate of variation in soil temperature, for both alpine HC meadows and alpine LC meadows, whereas the distinct influence of snow cover on the amplitude and rate of soil moisture variation occurred at different soil layers with different vegetation coverages. Snow cover increased the soil moisture of alpine grasslands during thawing periods. The results confirmed that the annual hydrothermal dynamics of active layers in permafrost were subject to the synergistic actions of both snow cover and vegetation coverage.展开更多
Numerous studies have been devoted to the physical-chemical weathering processes leading to the creation of unique soil formations having their own history that induce soil-biotic diversity.However,the extent to which...Numerous studies have been devoted to the physical-chemical weathering processes leading to the creation of unique soil formations having their own history that induce soil-biotic diversity.However,the extent to which unique geomorphic formations influence soil biotic seasonal variation is not clear.Our aim was to define seasonal variations of soil biota in soils of different-aged terraces of the Makhtesh Ramon anticline erosional cirque in southern Israel.The strong effect of Makhtesh Ramon (Ramon crater) erosional fluvial terrace age initiated by climatic changes during the Late Pleistocene- Early Holocene period on seasonal variations in both soil properties and the abundance and composition of soil biota were demonstrated.However,age dependence was not constant and values for observed soil properties and microbial activity were negligible between younger and older terraces for certain seasons,while free-living nematodes along with bacterial-feeding group were strongly dependent on the geomorphic features of the ages throughout the study period.展开更多
基金funded the Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41301024 and No. 40925002) the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, Grant No. 2013CBA01807)
文摘Seasonal snow is one of the most important influences on the development and distribution of permafrost and the hydrothermal regime in surface soil. Alpine meadow, which constitutes the main land type in permafrost regions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, was selected to study the influence of seasonal snow on the temperature and moisture in active soil layers under different vegetation coverage. Monitoring sites for soil moisture and temperature were constructed to observe the hydrothermal processes in active soil layers under different vegetation cover with seasonal snow cover variation for three years from 2010 to 2012. Differences in soil temperature and moisture in areas of diverse vegetation coverage with varying levels of snow cover were analyzed using active soil layer water and temperature indices. The results indicated that snow cover greatly influenced the hydrothermal dynamics of the active soil layer in alpine meadows. In the snow manipulation experiment with a snow depth greater than 15 cm, the snow cover postponed both the freeze-fall and thawrise onset times of soil temperature and moisture in alpine LC(lower vegetation coverage) meadows and of soil moisture in alpine HC(higher vegetation coverage) meadows; however, the opposite response occurred for soil temperatures of alpine HC meadows,where the entire melting period was extended by advancing the thaw-rise and delaying the freeze-fall onset time of the soil temperature. Snow cover resulted in a decreased amplitude and rate of variation in soil temperature, for both alpine HC meadows and alpine LC meadows, whereas the distinct influence of snow cover on the amplitude and rate of soil moisture variation occurred at different soil layers with different vegetation coverages. Snow cover increased the soil moisture of alpine grasslands during thawing periods. The results confirmed that the annual hydrothermal dynamics of active layers in permafrost were subject to the synergistic actions of both snow cover and vegetation coverage.
文摘Numerous studies have been devoted to the physical-chemical weathering processes leading to the creation of unique soil formations having their own history that induce soil-biotic diversity.However,the extent to which unique geomorphic formations influence soil biotic seasonal variation is not clear.Our aim was to define seasonal variations of soil biota in soils of different-aged terraces of the Makhtesh Ramon anticline erosional cirque in southern Israel.The strong effect of Makhtesh Ramon (Ramon crater) erosional fluvial terrace age initiated by climatic changes during the Late Pleistocene- Early Holocene period on seasonal variations in both soil properties and the abundance and composition of soil biota were demonstrated.However,age dependence was not constant and values for observed soil properties and microbial activity were negligible between younger and older terraces for certain seasons,while free-living nematodes along with bacterial-feeding group were strongly dependent on the geomorphic features of the ages throughout the study period.
