Sandy and clay soils drive ecosystem productivity fluctuations through water limitations

Ecosystem water limitation is an important and complicated topic, with soil moisture-driven ecohydrological indicators often yielding contradictory insights into the soils’ impacts on ecosystem water limitation. To address this, we conducted a comprehensive evaluation of two distinct soil-regulated...

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Main Authors: Xinrong Zhu, Lu Wu, Piao Chen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:Environmental Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ade0db
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author Xinrong Zhu
Lu Wu
Piao Chen
author_facet Xinrong Zhu
Lu Wu
Piao Chen
author_sort Xinrong Zhu
collection DOAJ
description Ecosystem water limitation is an important and complicated topic, with soil moisture-driven ecohydrological indicators often yielding contradictory insights into the soils’ impacts on ecosystem water limitation. To address this, we conducted a comprehensive evaluation of two distinct soil-regulated water limitation regimes in global drylands, distinguishing between ecosystem water limitation regulated by wilting point (WP) and those regulated by critical soil moisture (CSM) threshold for meeting ecosystem water demand. We find systematic differences of these two distinct water limitation regimes across drylands: the more significant the WP effect, the less significant the CSM effect, and vice versa. Climatic aridity, soil texture, root-water uptake depths or all together drive the divergence between two types of ecosystem water limitations at regional scale, and soil texture play a dominant role. Sand and clay soils drive ecosystem productivity fluctuations by increased water limitations, albeit through different pathways: clay soils correspond to a more significant water limitation as WP contribution rather than CSM, while sandy soils are the opposite. In this study, the framework of decoupling the differential effects of soil on ecosystem water limitation was re-developed by integrating WP and CSM into ecological drought monitoring and assessment.
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spelling doaj-art-52f2df78eeba48e8a0b73376bb908d902025-08-20T03:44:54ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262025-01-0120707403910.1088/1748-9326/ade0dbSandy and clay soils drive ecosystem productivity fluctuations through water limitationsXinrong Zhu0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-6589Lu Wu1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6750-8384Piao Chen2https://orcid.org/0009-0009-6560-3658College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University , Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of ChinaChina Meteorological Administration Training Center , Beijing 100081, People’s Republic of ChinaChina Meteorological Administration, Development and Planning Institute , Beijing 100081, People’s Republic of ChinaEcosystem water limitation is an important and complicated topic, with soil moisture-driven ecohydrological indicators often yielding contradictory insights into the soils’ impacts on ecosystem water limitation. To address this, we conducted a comprehensive evaluation of two distinct soil-regulated water limitation regimes in global drylands, distinguishing between ecosystem water limitation regulated by wilting point (WP) and those regulated by critical soil moisture (CSM) threshold for meeting ecosystem water demand. We find systematic differences of these two distinct water limitation regimes across drylands: the more significant the WP effect, the less significant the CSM effect, and vice versa. Climatic aridity, soil texture, root-water uptake depths or all together drive the divergence between two types of ecosystem water limitations at regional scale, and soil texture play a dominant role. Sand and clay soils drive ecosystem productivity fluctuations by increased water limitations, albeit through different pathways: clay soils correspond to a more significant water limitation as WP contribution rather than CSM, while sandy soils are the opposite. In this study, the framework of decoupling the differential effects of soil on ecosystem water limitation was re-developed by integrating WP and CSM into ecological drought monitoring and assessment.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ade0dbwilting pointecosystem water demandsoil moistureecosystem productivity
spellingShingle Xinrong Zhu
Lu Wu
Piao Chen
Sandy and clay soils drive ecosystem productivity fluctuations through water limitations
Environmental Research Letters
wilting point
ecosystem water demand
soil moisture
ecosystem productivity
title Sandy and clay soils drive ecosystem productivity fluctuations through water limitations
title_full Sandy and clay soils drive ecosystem productivity fluctuations through water limitations
title_fullStr Sandy and clay soils drive ecosystem productivity fluctuations through water limitations
title_full_unstemmed Sandy and clay soils drive ecosystem productivity fluctuations through water limitations
title_short Sandy and clay soils drive ecosystem productivity fluctuations through water limitations
title_sort sandy and clay soils drive ecosystem productivity fluctuations through water limitations
topic wilting point
ecosystem water demand
soil moisture
ecosystem productivity
url https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ade0db
work_keys_str_mv AT xinrongzhu sandyandclaysoilsdriveecosystemproductivityfluctuationsthroughwaterlimitations
AT luwu sandyandclaysoilsdriveecosystemproductivityfluctuationsthroughwaterlimitations
AT piaochen sandyandclaysoilsdriveecosystemproductivityfluctuationsthroughwaterlimitations