Differentiating between crop and soil effects on soil moisture dynamics

• Published in: Hydrology and earth system sciences Vol. 28; no. 11; pp. 2401 - 2419
• Main Authors: Scholz, Helen, Lischeid, Gunnar, Ribbe, Lars, Hernandez Ochoa, Ixchel, Grahmann, Kathrin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Katlenburg-Lindau Copernicus GmbH 06.06.2024; Copernicus Publications
• Subjects: Agricultural land; Agricultural production; Agriculture; Air pollution; Analysis; Climate change; Climatic changes; Components; Corn; Crop production; Crop rotation; Crops; Drought; Droughts; Emissions; Environmental risk; Experiments; Extreme weather; Farm buildings; Greenhouse gases; Groundwater; Heterogeneity; Hydrology; Land use; Leaching; Moisture content; Pesticides; Precipitation; Principal components analysis; Sensors; Soil; Soil depth; Soil dynamics; Soil erosion; Soil moisture; Soil moisture dynamics; Soil moisture effects; Soil properties; Soil texture; Soil water; Streams; Sustainability; Sustainability management; Sustainable agriculture; Texture; Topography; Water; Water, Underground; Weed control; Winter; Germany
• ISSN: 1027-5606; 1607-7938
• DOI: 10.5194/hess-28-2401-2024

There is an urgent need to develop sustainable agricultural land use schemes. Intensive crop production has induced increased greenhouse gas emissions and enhanced nutrient and pesticide leaching to groundwater and streams. Climate change is also expected to increase drought risk as well as the frequency of extreme precipitation events in many regions. Consequently, sustainable management schemes require sound knowledge of site-specific soil water processes that explicitly take into account the interplay between soil heterogeneities and crops. In this study, we applied a principal component analysis to a set of 64 soil moisture time series from a diversified cropping field featuring seven distinct crops and two weeding management strategies.