Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Soil Moisture in Silvopastoral System in the Loess Plateau of West Shanxi Province

The objective of this study was to investigate the spatio-temporal dynamics of soil moisture in silvopastoral system in the Loess Plateau of west Shanxi Province. Soil moisture in 0-100 cm layer was measured and analyzed in locust-natural grass system. The results showed as following: (1) There were significant differences of soil moisture in 0-100cm layer in different phenological phases. Soil moisture contents in different patch types were different in silvopastoral system. The soil moisture contents of the grassland were significantly greater than the forestland's. (2) There were obvious hierarchy characteristics in soil profile in locust-natural grass system. The soil moisture contents and coefficient of variation both decreased with increase of soil depth. In horizontal direction, variations of soil moisture were relatively obvious in grassland, and soil moisture increased with the increase of the distance from forest edge to grassland. In forestland, variations of soil moisture were relatively complicated and soil moisture decreased with the increase of distance. Two-dimension isogram map gave a very strong visual impression, and it obtained good results in expressing the spatial structural characters.