土壤水分调控着陆表-大气相互作用过程，是土壤-植物-大气连续体水分和能量交换的重要影响因子，也是影响生态系统水文、生物和生物化学过程的关键因素，是陆地生态系统中不可或缺的组成部分。本文简要回顾和评述了土壤水分点、面尺度的监测、分析方法，系统阐述了干旱半干旱区土壤水分的国内外研究进展，并结合目前的研究进展，提出了未来干旱半干旱区土壤水分研究展望，以期促进深入理解和准确预测干旱半干旱区土壤水分变化的生态与水文效应，为制定科学合理的干旱半干旱区水资源经营管理方案奠定理论基础。

在全球气候变化背景下, 未来我国北方半干旱地区的降水格局将呈现出季节与年际间降水波动增强和极端降水事件增加的趋势。水分是半干旱草原的主要限制因子, 降水格局变化导致的土壤水分状况的改变必然对生态系统的结构和功能产生显著的影响。该研究选取内蒙古多伦和锡林浩特两个典型半干旱草原群落, 通过分析2006-2013年的降水和多层次土壤(0-10 cm, 10 cm, 20 cm, 30 cm和50 cm)含水量连续观测数据, 研究降水格局变化对土壤水分状况及其垂直分布的影响, 特别是土壤水分对降水事件的脉冲响应过程。结果表明: 两个站点的土壤含水量均呈现显著的季节及年际间波动, 其中土壤表层 0-10 cm水分波动更剧烈。锡林浩特50 cm处土壤含水量波动较大, 主要由于春季融雪的影响。年际间多伦和锡林浩特生长季土壤表层0-10 cm土壤含水量与降水量存在显著的正相关关系, 下层(10-50 cm)土壤含水量与降水量相关性不显著。研究发现小至2 mm的降水事件就能够引起两个站点表层0-10 cm土壤含水量的升高, 即该地区有效降水为日降水量> 2 mm。表层0-10 cm土壤含水量对独立降水事件的脉冲响应可通过指数方程很好地拟合。降水事件的大小决定了降水后表层0-10 cm土壤含水量的最大增量和持续时间, 同时这个脉冲响应过程还受到降水前土壤含水量的影响, 但该过程中并未发现植被因子(叶面积指数)的显著影响。降水后水分下渗深度及该深度的土壤含水量增量主要由降水事件的大小主导, 同时受到降水前土壤含水量的影响。在多伦和锡林浩特, 平均每增加1 mm降水, 下渗深度分别增加1.06和0.79 cm。由此作者认为, 在内蒙古半干旱草原, 降水事件大小和降水前土壤干湿状况是影响土壤水分对降水响应的主要因素, 而植被因子的影响较小。

应用半干旱区科尔沁沙地1983- 1990年5~ 10月份土壤湿度定点观测资料,对流动沙地土壤湿度的时空变异及其与降水关系进行了研究。结果表明:半干旱区科尔沁沙地,在0~ 300cm的垂直剖面上,以20cm作为一个层次,流动沙地土壤湿度多年平均值变化于3.25%~ 3.47%,层次间无显著差异。在时间序列土壤湿度存在年内和年际变异,5月份的土壤湿度与6~ 10月份存在显著差异,但6~ 10月份之间土壤湿度差异不显著。年际间降水量变化于243.3~ 567.1mm (变异系数9505%)之间,流动沙地土壤湿度变化于3.10%~ 3.69% (变异系数18.68%)之间。0~ 40cm土壤湿度与前月降水量不显著相关,但40~ 300cm土壤湿度与前月降水量显著相关,当月降水量与各层土壤湿度均显著相关。

利用气象站资料,对黑河流域荒漠区降水特征及其土壤水分对降水脉动响应进行了系统研究。结果表明,荒漠区降水属于降水脉动事件,降水前后土壤水分特征存在显著差异,且随土层增加差异逐渐变小。土壤水分在降水量、土壤深度和降水前后的差异极显著,交互效应也极显著(P<0.0001),表明荒漠区土壤水分对降水脉动具有显著的响应现象。土壤水分的降水脉动响应表现为降水后土壤含水量激增,在蒸散作用下缓慢减小。降水前后土壤含水量的时间序列变异规律均能较好地拟合成变异函数的理论模型。降水前后土壤含水量随机变异均小于结构性变异,反映出荒漠区土壤水分在时间尺度上具有较强的自相关性格局。降水使土壤水分空间结构差异呈现下降趋势,在时间序列上异质性降低。

为厘清高寒草地土壤水分动态对降水的响应，利用2015-2017年的降水和不同土层（5、10、20、30和40 cm）土壤水分连续观测数据，分析了高寒草原和沼泽草甸生长季土壤水分变化及入渗对降水事件的响应。结果表明：相比于草原，生长季沼泽草甸降水频次较高，小降水事件占比较大。草原和沼泽草甸土壤水分对降水事件的响应存在较大差异，小降水事件（≤5 mm）仅增加了草原5 cm土层土壤含水量，而对沼泽草甸0~40 cm土壤剖面各层土壤含水量均起到微弱的补充；草原5~10 mm的降水事件明显增加了10 cm土层土壤含水量，而>10 mm的降水事件才可明显补充10 cm以下土层土壤含水量；在沼泽草甸>5 mm的降水事件对40 cm土层土壤含水量的增加较上层（0~30 cm）明显。土壤水分增量不仅受降水事件大小和强度的显著影响（P<0.001），同时受降水前表层（0~10 cm）土壤含水量和降水期间气温的显著影响（P<0.05）。相比草原，沼泽草甸土壤中湿润锋运移较快；小降水事件发生时，沼泽草甸0~40 cm土壤剖面蓄水量增加较多；大降水事件发生时，沼泽草甸0~40 cm土壤剖面蓄水量增加较少。结果表明，草原大降水事件（>10 mm）占比较大的特征对于土壤剖面蓄水具有重要作用，沼泽草甸高频次降水和雨水渗透更快更深的特征，有利于土壤更频繁获取和有效地保持水分资源。该研究结果可为理解高寒草地区域尺度上复合生态系统土壤水分维持对降水格局的响应提供理论基础。

The episodic nature of water availability in arid and semiarid ecosystems has significant consequences on belowground carbon and nutrient cycling. Pulsed water events directly control belowground processes through soil wet-dry cycles. Rapid soil microbial response to incident moisture availability often results in almost instantaneous C and N mineralization, followed by shifts in C/N of microbially available substrate, and an offset in the balance between nutrient immobilization and mineralization. Nitrogen inputs from biological soil crusts are also highly sensitive to pulsed rain events, and nitrogen losses, particularly gaseous losses due to denitrification and nitrate leaching, are tightly linked to pulses of water availability. The magnitude of the effect of water pulses on carbon and nutrient pools, however, depends on the distribution of resource availability and soil organisms, both of which are strongly affected by the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of vegetation cover, topographic position and soil texture. The 'inverse texture hypothesis' for net primary production in water-limited ecosystems suggests that coarse-textured soils have higher NPP than fine-textured soils in very arid zones due to reduced evaporative losses, while NPP is greater in fine-textured soils in higher rainfall ecosystems due to increased water-holding capacity. With respect to belowground processes, fine-textured soils tend to have higher water-holding capacity and labile C and N pools than coarse-textured soils, and often show a much greater flush of N mineralization. The result of the interaction of texture and pulsed rainfall events suggests a corollary hypothesis for nutrient turnover in arid and semiarid ecosystems with a linear increase of N mineralization in coarse-textured soils, but a saturating response for fine-textured soils due to the importance of soil C and N pools. Seasonal distribution of water pulses can lead to the accumulation of mineral N in the dry season, decoupling resource supply and microbial and plant demand, and resulting in increased losses via other pathways and reduction in overall soil nutrient pools. The asynchrony of resource availability, particularly nitrogen versus water due to pulsed water events, may be central to understanding the consequences for ecosystem nutrient retention and long-term effects on carbon and nutrient pools. Finally, global change effects due to changes in the nature and size of pulsed water events and increased asynchrony of water availability and growing season will likely have impacts on biogeochemical cycling in water-limited ecosystems.

Predicting net C balance under future global change scenarios requires a comprehensive understanding of how ecosystem photosynthesis (gross primary production; GPP) and respiration (Re) respond to elevated atmospheric [CO(2)] and altered water availability. We measured net ecosystem exchange of CO(2) (NEE), GPP and Re under ambient and elevated [CO(2)] in a northern mixed-grass prairie (Wyoming, USA) during dry intervals and in response to simulated precipitation pulse events. Elevated [CO(2)] resulted in higher rates of both GPP and Re across the 2006 growing season, and the balance of these two fluxes (NEE) accounted for cumulative growing season C uptake (-14.4 +/- 8.3 g C m(-2)). Despite lower GPP and Re, experimental plots under ambient [CO(2)] had greater cumulative uptake (-36.2 +/- 8.2 g C m(-2)) than plots under elevated [CO(2)]. Non-irrigated control plots received 50% of average precipitation during the drought of 2006, and had near-zero NEE (1.9 +/- 6.4 g C m(-2)) for the growing season. Elevated [CO(2)] extended the magnitude and duration of pulse-related increases in GPP, resulting in a significant [CO(2)] treatment by pulse day interaction, demonstrating the potential for elevated [CO(2)] to increase the capacity of this ecosystem to respond to late-season precipitation. However, stimulation of Re throughout the growing season under elevated [CO(2)] reduced net C uptake compared to plots under ambient [CO(2)]. These results indicate that although elevated [CO(2)] stimulates gross rates of ecosystem C fluxes, it does not necessarily enhance net C uptake, and that C cycle responses in semi-arid grasslands are likely to be more sensitive to changes in precipitation than atmospheric [CO(2)].

In the arid and semiarid regions of North America, discrete precipitation pulses are important triggers for biological activity. The timing and magnitude of these pulses may differentially affect the activity of plants and microbes, combining to influence the C balance of desert ecosystems. Here, we evaluate how a "pulse" of water influences physiological activity in plants, soils and ecosystems, and how characteristics, such as precipitation pulse size and frequency are important controllers of biological and physical processes in arid land ecosystems. We show that pulse size regulates C balance by determining the temporal duration of activity for different components of the biota. Microbial respiration responds to very small events, but the relationship between pulse size and duration of activity likely saturates at moderate event sizes. Photosynthetic activity of vascular plants generally increases following relatively larger pulses or a series of small pulses. In this case, the duration of physiological activity is an increasing function of pulse size up to events that are infrequent in these hydroclimatological regions. This differential responsiveness of photosynthesis and respiration results in arid ecosystems acting as immediate C sources to the atmosphere following rainfall, with subsequent periods of C accumulation should pulse size be sufficient to initiate vascular plant activity. Using the average pulse size distributions in the North American deserts, a simple modeling exercise shows that net ecosystem exchange of CO2 is sensitive to changes in the event size distribution representative of wet and dry years. An important regulator of the pulse response is initial soil and canopy conditions and the physical structuring of bare soil and beneath canopy patches on the landscape. Initial condition influences responses to pulses of varying magnitude, while bare soil/beneath canopy patches interact to introduce nonlinearity in the relationship between pulse size and soil water response. Building on this conceptual framework and developing a greater understanding of the complexities of these eco-hydrologic systems may enhance our ability to describe the ecology of desert ecosystems and their sensitivity to global change.