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ANNUAL SOIL MOISTURE REGIMES IN THE ROOTING ZONE ACROSS THE PRAIRIE‐FOREST BOUNDARY OF SOUTH‐WEST ALBERTA
Author(s) -
HARRIS STUART A.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
journal of soil science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.244
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2389
pISSN - 0022-4588
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2389.1974.tb01140.x
Subject(s) - permanent wilting point , water content , wilting , environmental science , vegetation (pathology) , moisture , soil water , range (aeronautics) , vegetation cover , plant cover , field capacity , agronomy , hydrology (agriculture) , soil science , geography , geology , biology , canopy , archaeology , medicine , materials science , geotechnical engineering , grazing , pathology , meteorology , composite material
Summary Vegetation cover is shown to play a major role in determining the soil moisture content in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains near Calgary. Thus lodge‐pole pine abstracts more moisture from the soil both in summer and winter than aspen, while least moisture loss is experienced on bare soil. Clearly vegetation cover must be kept constant when comparing two soils. Additional important variables are aspect and parent material. It was also found that permanent (IS bar) wilting‐point, as commonly used, bears little relation to the permanent wilting‐point of even the more moisture‐loving native trees studied. They all do not wilt until a much lower moisture content is reached.