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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Ecosystem Restoration
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1476167

Dynamics and interactions of soil moisture and temperature during degradation and restoration of alpine swamp meadow on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Provisionally accepted
Guankui Ma Guankui Ma 1Yongkun Zhang Yongkun Zhang 2Hang Li Hang Li 3*Yang Yongsheng Yang Yongsheng 4Runjie Li Runjie Li 1*
  • 1 School of Geographical Sciences, Qinghai Normal University, Xining, China
  • 2 State Key Laboratory of Sanjiangyuan Ecology and Plateau Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Qinghai University, Xining, Qinghai Province, China
  • 3 State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
  • 4 Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Xining, Qinghai Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Abstract：Soil temperature (ST) and soil moisture (SM) are two fundamental land surface variables that directly or indirectly affect the processes and functions of alpine ecosystems. To clarify dynamics and interactions of SM and ST during degradation and restoration of alpine swamp meadow, four successional stages of alpine swamp meadow (non-degraded, NG; Kobresia humilis-dominated degraded, DG1; bare soil/weed-type degraded, DG2; artificially restored, RE) were selected to measure SM and ST at 10, 20 and 30 cm depths with 30-minute time interval in 2021 and 2022. Results showed that: (1) With the degradation and restoration of alpine swamp meadow, SM at 10 cm depth decreased at first, and then increased significantly (p<0.05), which was attributed to the role of vegetation coverage and soil organic carbon in soil evaporation and water holding capacity, respectively; (2) ST at various depths did not respond to diverse degradation and restoration stages of alpine swamp meadow (p>0.05) ; (3) The relationships between ST and SM varied with seasons, with positive and negative linear correlation in spring and summer, and positive exponential correlation in autumn and winter (p<0.01). The study of SM and ST at different degradation and restoration stages of alpine swamp meadow will provide theoretical support for the research of related ecological processes and functions of such ecosystem.

    Keywords: soil moisture, soil temperature, grassland degradation, Plant community, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

    Received: 05 Aug 2024; Accepted: 24 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Ma, Zhang, Li, Yongsheng and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Hang Li, State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
    Runjie Li, School of Geographical Sciences, Qinghai Normal University, Xining, China

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