Soil-moisture dynamics and tree-water status in a Picea crassifolia forest,Qilian Mountains,China

摘要

Landscapes of the mountainous regions in northwestern China comprise a unique pattern of vegetation,consisting of a mosaic of grassland and shrub-forest.Forests generally self-organize into ordered structures and coalesce into blocks on north-facing slopes or stripes along southeast-facing slopes,with Picea crassifolia being the most representative and dominant tree species.We investigated the tree-water status and soil-moisture dynamics at a forest site(Guantan)of the Qilian Mountains in northwest China.The 30-minute-interval measurements of tree-sap flow during the growing season of 2008 are presented,and the potential functional relations between tree transpiration and environmental factors are evaluated.Soil moisture and solar energy were identified as the most influential factors,explaining more than 70%of the variance in sap flow.Based on field measurements obtained at the forest site,a stochastic model of soil-moisture dynamics was tested;and the steady-state probability density functions(PDFs)of the long-term soil-moisture dynamics and static tree-water stress were estimated using the validated model and parameters.We found that the model reproduced measured soil moisture well,despite all the simplifying assumptions.The generated PDF of long-term soil moisture was relatively open,with middle to low average values;and the calculated density of the static tree-water stress at the forest site was largely concentrated between 0 and 0.6,suggesting a moderate water-stress situation in most cases.We argue that both water and energy are limiting factors for vegetation at the forest site.In addition,the tradeoff between reduced evapotranspiration(ET)from limited solar energy and increased soil-moisture availability may create a stressed but tolerable environment and,in turn,produce a relatively constant ecological niche favorable to Picea crassifolia growth.