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Annual Cycles of Soil Moisture and Temperature as Related to Grass Development in the Steppe of Eastern Washington
Author(s) -
Daubenmire R.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.2307/1934227
Subject(s) - steppe , climax , environmental science , water content , soil water , moisture , ecology , groundwater recharge , soil science , hydrology (agriculture) , agronomy , geography , geology , biology , meteorology , groundwater , geotechnical engineering , aquifer
The annual cycle of soil moisture use and recharge was followed in eight climax steppe communities by making gravimetric analyses to a depth of 1 m. Soil temperatures were measured at depths of 50 to 100 cm. The data were related to the phenologies of the dominant grasses. Differences in soil moisture and temperature seem to contribute more toward explaining the distributions of these steppe communities than do chemical content of the soils of their profile characters.