Spatial distribution of surface soil water content under different vegetation types in northwest Guangxi, China
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Spatial distribution of surface soil water content under different vegetation types in northwest Guangxi, China Wanxia Peng • Tongqing Song • Fuping Zeng Kelin Wang • Hu Du • Shiyang Lu
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Received: 31 October 2011 / Accepted: 26 October 2012 / Published online: 10 November 2012 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012
Abstract Geostatistical and statistical analyses were combined to examine the spatial distribution of soil water content under four vegetation types during the dry season, in the peak-cluster depression in the karst region in northwest Guangxi, southwest China. The soil water content significantly increased from farmland to plantation, secondary forest, and primary forest; whereas the variation coefficients, the sill (C0?C), and total spatial variance increased, although the range decreased. The spatial distribution of soil water content in the different vegetation types had a high spatial autocorrelation. Different models produced a best fit for the semivariograms of the four vegetation types. Elevation and slope position were the primary factors influencing the spatial distribution of soil water content, with other key factors differing between the four vegetation types. Moreover, even though different specific factors influenced soil water content in the four vegetation types, the correlations and degrees of associations between the soil water content and these various factors differed. Therefore, the corresponding strategies for rational usage and management of water resources should be different for the four vegetation types in this region. W. Peng T. Song (&) F. Zeng K. Wang H. Du S. Lu Key Laboratory of Agro-ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mapoling, Changsha 410125, China e-mail: [email protected] W. Peng T. Song F. Zeng K. Wang H. Du S. Lu Huanjiang Observation and Research Station for Karst Ecosystem, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Huanjiang, Hechi 547100, Guangxi, China H. Du S. Lu Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Keywords Soil water content Spatial variability Influencing factor Vegetation type Karst region of southwest China
Introduction Soil has a spatial–temporal heterogeneous and continuous nature, with high levels of spatial variability (Huggett 1998). Soil water is an important hydraulic parameter which is one of the most important factors for vegetation growth, recovery, and soil erosion (Ma et al. 2006), and therefore determines the spatial and temporal dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems (Mao et al. 2007). The spatial heterogeneity of soil water content at different scales depends on both natural processes and human activities, such as precipitation, runoff, evaporation and transpiration, geology and physiognomy, vegetation coverage, and disturbance (Famiglietti et al. 1998; Western et al. 1998). The spatial variability of soil water content has important implications for all of these processes (Ersahin and Bro
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