Water Use Characteristics of Two Dominant Species in the Mega-Dunes of the Badain Jaran Desert
Jie Qin | Jianhua Si | Bing Jia | Chunyan Zhao | Dongmeng Zhou | Xiaohui He | Chunlin Wang | Xinglin Zhu
The sparse natural vegetation develops special water use characteristics to adapt to inhospitable desert areas. The water use characteristics of such plants in desert areas are not yet completely understood. In this study, we compare the differences in water use characteristics between two dominant species of the Badain Jaran Desert mega-dunes—<i>Zygophyllum xanthoxylum</i> and <i>Artemisia ordosica</i>—by investigating δ<sup>2</sup>H and δ<sup>18</sup>O in plant xylem (the organization that transports water and inorganic salts in plant stems) and soil water, and δ<sup>13</sup>C in plant leaves. The results indicate that <i>Z. xanthoxylum</i> absorbed 86.5% of its water from soil layers below 90 cm during growing seasons, while <i>A. ordosica</i> derived 79.90% of its water from the 0–120 cm soil layers during growing seasons. Furthermore, the long-term leaf-level water use efficiency of <i>A. ordosica</i> (123.17 ± 2.13 μmol/mol) was higher than that of <i>Z. xanthoxylum</i> (97.36 ± 1.16 μmol/mol). The differences in water use between the two studied species were mainly found to relate to their root distribution characteristics. A better understanding of the water use characteristics of plants in desert habitats can provide a theoretical basis to assist in the selection of species for artificial vegetation restoration in arid areas.
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