A meta-analysis of the response of soil moisture to experimental warming

Wenfang Xu; Wenping Yuan; Wenjie Dong; Jiangzhou Xia; Dan Liu; Yang Chen

doi:10.1088/1748-9326/8/4/044027

Environmental Research Letters (Jan 2013)

A meta-analysis of the response of soil moisture to experimental warming

Wenfang Xu,
Wenping Yuan,
Wenjie Dong,
Jiangzhou Xia,
Dan Liu,
Yang Chen

Affiliations

Wenfang Xu: State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University , Beijing 100875, People’s Republic of China
Wenping Yuan: State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University , Beijing 100875, People’s Republic of China; State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Lanzhou 730000, People’s Republic of China
Wenjie Dong: State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University , Beijing 100875, People’s Republic of China
Jiangzhou Xia: State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University , Beijing 100875, People’s Republic of China
Dan Liu: State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University , Beijing 100875, People’s Republic of China
Yang Chen: State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University , Beijing 100875, People’s Republic of China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/4/044027
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 8, no. 4
p. 044027

Abstract

Read online

Soil moisture is an important variable for regulating carbon, water and energy cycles of terrestrial ecosystems. However, numerous inconsistent conclusions have been reported regarding the responses of soil moisture to warming. In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis for examination of the response of soil moisture to experimental warming across global warming sites including several ecosystem types. The results showed that soil moisture decreased in response to warming treatments when compared with control treatments in most ecosystem types. The largest reduction of soil moisture was observed in forests, while intermediate reductions were observed in grassland and cropland, and they were both larger than the reductions observed in shrubland and tundra ecosystems. Increases (or no change) in soil moisture also occurred in some ecosystems. Taken together, these results showed a trend of soil drying in most ecosystems, which may have exerted profound impacts on a variety of terrestrial ecosystem processes as well as feedbacks to the climate system.

Published in Environmental Research Letters

ISSN: 1748-9326 (Online)
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Technology: Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering; Geography. Anthropology. Recreation: Environmental sciences; Science: Physics
Website: https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1748-9326

About the journal

Abstract

Keywords