Water sources of major plant species along a strong climatic gradient in the inland Heihe River Basin
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Water sources of major plant species along a strong climatic gradient in the inland Heihe River Basin Liangju Zhao & Cong Xie & Xiaohong Liu & Ninglian Wang & Zhang Yu & Xiying Dong & Lixin Wang
Received: 19 December 2019 / Accepted: 10 July 2020 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Aim Knowledge on vegetation water sources is crucial to understand the ecohydrological processes and ecological management of arid and semi-arid ecosystems. The identification and quantification of plant water uptake from precipitation, soil and groundwater remain challenging along large climatic gradient. Methods Stable oxygen isotope compositions of xylem water, soil water and groundwater were Responsible Editor: Susan Schwinning Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-020-04639-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. L. Zhao (*) : C. Xie : N. Wang : X. Dong Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Earth Surface System and Environmental Carrying Capacity, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an 710069, China e-mail: [email protected] L. Zhao State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Northwest University, 710069 Xi’an, China X. Liu : Z. Yu School of Geography and Tourism, Shaanxi Normal University, 710119 Xi’an, China L. Wang (*) Department of Earth Sciences, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA e-mail: [email protected]
analyzed to assess seasonal and spatial patterns of water uptake of 11 major plant species along the Heihe River Basin. Conclusions In the upper reaches, soil water recharged by precipitation was the main plant water source, and plants extracted water from the shallow soil water in wet season while used more deep soil water in dry season. In the middle reaches of desertoasis ecotone, the water sources of shrubs shifted between soil moisture and groundwater depending on variations of precipitation and groundwater level, while shrubs at Gobi relied on deep soil water and shallow soil water after rainfall. In the lower reaches, the driest part of the region, groundwater and deep soil water were main water sources for the riparian plants. Groundwater was stable water source for shrubs growing on the planted shrubland, and soil water was stable water sources for shrubs growing at Gobi. Our results also revealed that water use strategies of the same species were plastic under different groundwater level and precipitation. This study identified water use patterns of different plant species along a climatic gradient and provided scientific implication for water management of different ecosystems of the arid and semi-arid ecosystems.
Keywords Groundwater . Heihe River Basin . Oxygen isotope . Hydrogen isotope . Plant water source . Soil water
Plant Soil
Introduction Water is one of the most important factors affecting plant survival and growth in arid and semiarid regions, where evaporative demand exceeds precipitation and water re
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