Hydraulic Lift Empirical Test among Native Plant Species in the Horqin Sandy Land, Northern China: Fid-Bau Portal

Hydraulic Lift Empirical Test among Native Plant Species in the Horqin Sandy Land, Northern China

MuSa, Ala / Zong, Qin / Niu, Cunyang

Hydraulic lift is the process by which some deep-rooting plants take in water from deep soil layers and exude that water into the upper, drier soil layers through the root system. It is favorable for plants that transport the water and may be an important water source for neighboring plants. Hydraulic lift increases the stability of plantation communities and improves the growth of plants on semiarid sandy soil. The objectives of this study were to examine the hydraulic lift ability of sandy plants and define the characteristic of this process in the Horqin Sandy Land. Growth boxes were used to cultivate examined plants, isolating the upper and the lower layers with Vaseline petroleum jelly. The soil water supply of topsoil in growth boxes was controlled during the examination period, and the hydraulic lift was confirmed by measuring the variations in soil water content in the topsoil in the growth boxes. Hydraulic lift was investigated in 21 native, deep-rooting plants in the Horqin Sandy Land. The hydraulic lift process may be common to deep-rooting psammophytes, and it mostly occurs from 2400 to 0600 hrs. The quantity of hydraulic lift water among the 19 species varied. The increment of soil water content lifted by each gram of root biomass within 24 h were between 4.86 and $325.62 g \cdot g^{- 1}$ , with an average of $72.90 g \cdot g^{- 1}$ . The species Artemisia wudanica, Artemisia gmelinii, Thermopsis lanceolata, and Bassia dasyphylla have the strongest hydraulic lift abilities among all examined species. No distinctive correlation was observed between the degree of drought in the topsoil and the total water lifted by the process. The hydraulic lift of psammophytes can be used to improve the water content of shallow soil, which may be significant in vegetation establishment on semiarid sandy land.