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Spatial distribution of theoretical soil macropores on a continental scale and its eco-hydrological significance in China

  • Soils, Sec 2 • Global Change, Environ Risk Assess, Sustainable Land Use • Research Article
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Abstract

Purpose

Soil macropores affect the proportion of rainfall infiltration and regulate the amount of water available to the plants on a field scale. However, the distribution of soil macropores and the effect on hydrologic and ecological regimes have been underestimated at a continental scale. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between soil properties and climatic factors on soil macropores and assess the eco-hydrological effect of soil macropores.

Materials and methods

We hypothesized that the spatial distribution of soil macropores was controlled by soil properties and climatic factors at the continental scale. Using a spatial error-egression method, the soil effective porosity (EP) and residual effective porosity (REP) across China were calculated. The effects of soil macropores on soil physicochemical properties and climate factors were analyzed by the random forest model. The effect of macropores on soil water content (SWC) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was also analyzed.

Results and discussion

The EP ranged from 0.06 to 0.35 cm3 cm−3 and was significantly related with soil chemical index, particularly, negatively correlated with cation exchange capacity (CEC) and total nitrogen (TN), but positively correlated with pH. There was a negative relationship between REP and mean annual precipitation in drylands. In humid regions, there was a positive relationship between REP and mean annual precipitation. Random forest model showed in humid region mean annual precipitation was more important than the annual temperature difference in explaining REP, but the results were reversed in drylands. The SWC and NDVI had different correlations with REP in drylands and humid regions.

Conclusion

Soils with better quality had lower EP at the continental scale. Soil macropores were related simultaneously to precipitation and temperature conditions. Importantly, soil macropores were not conducive to soil water conservation and vegetation development in drylands.

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Data availability

The authors declare that the majority of the data supporting the findings of this study are available through the links given in the paper. The unpublished data used in this paper can be available from W. R. Kang (kangwenrong@nieer.ac.cn) upon request.

Abbreviations

EP:

Effective porosity

REP:

Residual effective porosity

SWC:

Soil water content

NDVI:

Normalized differential vegetation index

CEC:

Cation exchange capacity

TN :

Total nitrogen

TP :

Total phosphorous

TK :

Total potassium

AN :

Alkali-hydrolysable nitrogen

AP:

Available phosphorous

AK:

Available potassium

H:

Exchangeable H+

AL:

Exchangeable Al3+

CA:

Exchangeable Ca2+

MG :

Exchangeable Mg2+

K :

Exchangeable K+

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Acknowledgements

We thank the reviewers and editors for their constructive comments on this manuscript. We sincerely thank Dr. Jeffery Hannah of Michigan State University for her help with English language and grammar editing.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 42071044, 42230720), the Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS (No. 2020420), and Top Talents (Science and Technology) Program of Gansu Province (No. E339040101).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Linze Inland River Basin Research Station, Key Laboratory of Eco-hydrology of Inland River Basin, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, People’s Republic of China

    Wenrong Kang, Yongyong Zhang, Shaoxiong Wu & Wenzhi Zhao

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People’s Republic of China

    Wenrong Kang & Shaoxiong Wu

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  1. Wenrong Kang
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Conceptualization: Wenrong Kang, Yongyong Zhang, and Wenzhi Zhao; methodology: Wenrong Kang, Yongyong Zhang, and Shaoxiong Wu; writing—original draft: Wenrong Kang and Yongyong Zhang; review and editing: Yongyong Zhang and Shaoxiong Wu; funding acquisition and supervision: Yongyong Zhang. All authors read and approved the final submission of the manuscript.

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Kang, W., Zhang, Y., Wu, S. et al. Spatial distribution of theoretical soil macropores on a continental scale and its eco-hydrological significance in China. J Soils Sediments 24, 563–574 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-023-03652-2

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