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SCHRIFTENREIHE Institut für Pflanzenernährung und Bodenkunde ...

SCHRIFTENREIHE Institut für Pflanzenernährung und Bodenkunde ...

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from the view of model. The purposes of this study are: i) to investigate the<br />

temporal stability of soil moisture <strong>und</strong>er different water conditions, ii) to explore<br />

the grazing impact on temporal stability of soil moisture, and iii) to infer whether<br />

time stability concept can be availably applied for the hydraulic model to make<br />

reliable estimations.<br />

2. Material and Methods<br />

Research area and field measurements<br />

68<br />

The study was carried out in a semi-arid steppe ecosystem of Inner<br />

Mongolia (North China). The region is marked by a continental climate with cold<br />

winter and warm summer (Chen and Wang, 2000). Mean annual precipitation is<br />

about 350 mm, 85% of which is happened during the growing period (May to<br />

September). The soils are sandy loamy Calcic Chemozems according to IUSS<br />

Working Group (2006). Field measurements were carried out on experimental<br />

areas of the Inner Mongolia Grassland Ecosystem Research Station (IMGERS,<br />

43 o 37′50′′N, 116 o 42′18′′E), where four plots characterized by different grazing<br />

intensities were investigated. Two plots were protected from grazing since 1979<br />

(denoted as UG 79, 24 ha) and 1999 (UG 99, 35 ha). The other two plots were<br />

grazed: one was grazed only during winter time with 0.5 sheep units (ewe and<br />

lamb) ha -1 yr -1 (WG, 40 ha) and the other was heavily grazed with 2 sheep units<br />

ha -1 yr -1 (HG, 100 ha) during the whole year. Before fencing, all plots were<br />

moderately grazed.<br />

On the geostatistical area consisted of 80 points on a regular 15 m x 15 m<br />

grid and additional 20 points nested into the grid at 5 m distance, topsoil<br />

moisture content (0-6 cm) was measured at each of the four plots (Fig. 1). Soil<br />

moisture was measured with the Theta-probe (Type ML2x, Delta-T Devices,<br />

Cambridge, UK) at regular time intervals (biweekly) during the growing period of<br />

2004-2006. Additionally, we conducted in situ measurements for hydraulic<br />

conductivity (Mini-disk Infiltrometer, Decagon devices, USA), bulk density, and<br />

soil texture at each grid point. Time stability of soil moisture was analysed for 12<br />

sampling dates in 2004, for 8 sampling dates in 2005, and for 10 sampling dates<br />

in 2006.

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