Plant Feedbacks Increase the Temporal Heterogeneity of Soil Moisture
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Plant Feedbacks Increase the Temporal Heterogeneity of Soil Moisture
The feedback of plants on resource levels is well known. However, feedback on resource variability is not well established. Grasslands in semi-arid regions have a high temporal rainfall heterogeneity compared to mesic forests. Such a situation creates a probability that grasses have a high feedback variability to exclude woody plants from environments with little heterogeneity. The study aims to test the hypothesis that grasses produce high levels of temporal heterogeneity of soil resources than the woody plants. The study uses five similar monocultures species for the growth forms.
The measurements for the everyday soil moistures taken ten and thirty centimeters below the monocultures for a season indicated that temporal heterogeneity was quite high under the grasses compared to woody plants. The results were mainly observed during the dry season when plants have a likelihood of competing for humidity. The variances in temporal heterogeneity among the forms of growth were linked to the variances in their capacity to lower the soil’s moisture. The overall vegetation effect on soil moisture was greatest at 10 centimeters deep under the grass during the dry season.
Even though the rate of soil moisture change was high under grass plants, the forms of growth impacted different depths of water in the soil. Findings indicated that under grasses, the soil was driest at ten centimeters below. On the woody plants, the soil was driest at thirty centimeters below the surface. Therefore, grasslands have a high temporal precipitation variability compared to forests. Findings also indicate that grasses can raise the precipitation variability by using soil water quicker than the woody plants. Therefore, the study proves that not only are the grasses tolerant but also contribute to temporal heterogeneity.