Influence of typical sandy shrubs on soil evaporation in Mu Us Sandland, northwestern China.

In order to study the influence of sandy shrubs on soil evaporation in dry land after restored vegetation, the soil evaporation of three site types of the mobile dunes, Artemisia ordosica community and Salix psammophila community was measured in Yanchi, Ningxia of northwestern China using micro-lysimeter. And we analyzed the effects of precipitation, wind, solar radiation, relative humidity, air temperature and soil particle size on the soil evaporation. The results were as follows: 1) soil evaporation of A. ordosica community and S. psammophila community was about 27.91% and 40.23% higher than the mobile dunes, respectively. 2) For the contents of clay particles, A. ordosica community and S. psammophila community were about 220.59% and 173.53% higher than the mobile dunes, respectively. The contents of clay and silt particles of A. ordosica community and S. psammophila community were about 63% and 98% higher than the mobile dunes, respectively. 3) The soil evaporation of A. ordosica community and S. psammophila community was not correlated with wind speed, solar radiation, air temperature, and the soil evaporation of the mobile dunes was significantly correlated with solar radiation. Therefore, soil evaporation in dry land area has increasing tendency after restored vegetation. This is probably related to the increase of clay and silt particle content after vegetation restoration.