Spatial and temporal variability of plant-available water in calcium carbonate-cemented soils and consequences for arid ecosystem resilience

• Published in: Oecologia Vol. 163; no. 1; pp. 215 - 226
• Main Authors: Duniway, Michael Cohrs, Herrick, Jeffrey E, Monger, H. Curtis
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Berlin/Heidelberg : Springer-Verlag 01.05.2010; Springer; Springer-Verlag; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Analysis of Variance; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Arid soils; arid zones; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Calcium; Calcium Carbonate; Calcium Carbonate - metabolism; Carbonates; Climate; Climate change; Climatic changes; Desert soils; Drought; Droughts; Drying; Ecology; Ecosystem; ECOSYSTEM ECOLOGY - ORIGINAL PAPER; Ecosystem resilience; Ecosystems; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Global climate; Global temperature changes; Grasses; Grassland soils; Growing season; Hydrology/Water Resources; Life Sciences; metabolism; Moisture content; New Mexico; Plant Sciences; Plants; Plants - metabolism; Precipitation; Precipitation variability; Rain and rainfall; Rainfall; rhizosphere; Rooting; Sand soils; Semiarid lands; Soil; soil depth; Soil ecology; Soil horizons; Soil moisture; Soil water; Soil water content; soil water retention; Soils; spatial distribution; spring; Summer; Synecology; Temporal distribution; temporal variation; Vegetation; Water; Water - metabolism; water distribution; water holding capacity; Weather forecasting; New Mexico; USA, New Mexico; Calcic; Climate change; Chihuahuan Desert; Desert grassland; Petrocalcic; Grassland; Spatial variability; Arid environment; Water availability; Chihuahua Mexico; Resilience; Dynamical climatology; Soils; Ecosystem; Calcium carbonate; Desert

Increased variability in precipitation, including frequency of drought, is predicted for many arid and semiarid regions globally. The ability of soils to retain water can increase resilience by buffering vegetation communities against precipitation extremes. Little is known, however, about water ret...