A meta-analysis of the response of soil moisture to experimental warming

• Published in: Environmental Research Letters
• Main Authors: Wenfang Xu, Wenping Yuan, Wenjie Dong, Jiangzhou Xia, Dan Liu, Yang Chen
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: IOP Publishing 2013
• Subjects: soil moisture; global warming; meta-analysis; Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering; TD1-1066; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Science; Q; Physics; QC1-999; Tundra
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/4/044027; https://doaj.org/article/55a7b79564714a0ea696f2a5710547cb

Soil moisture is an important variable for regulating carbon, water and energy cycles of terrestrial ecosystems. However, numerous inconsistent conclusions have been reported regarding the responses of soil moisture to warming. In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis for examination of the response of soil moisture to experimental warming across global warming sites including several ecosystem types. The results showed that soil moisture decreased in response to warming treatments when compared with control treatments in most ecosystem types. The largest reduction of soil moisture was observed in forests, while intermediate reductions were observed in grassland and cropland, and they were both larger than the reductions observed in shrubland and tundra ecosystems. Increases (or no change) in soil moisture also occurred in some ecosystems. Taken together, these results showed a trend of soil drying in most ecosystems, which may have exerted profound impacts on a variety of terrestrial ecosystem processes as well as feedbacks to the climate system.