The Effects of Typical Patterns of Farmland Shelterbelt Systems on Soil Properties, Environmental Factors and Related Ecosystem Functions in Desert Oasis Ecotones of Hetao Irrigated Area, China

Farmland shelterbelt system (FSS), as an effective agriculture management with fine ecological effects, has been widely carried out in fragile agricultural areas. Clarify the impact mechanism of FSS on the environmental factors and ecosystem functions has a vital guiding role to FSSs’ construction and ecological restoration in fragile ecosystems. In the Hetao irrigated area of northern China, four typical patterns of FSS (i.e. two lines pattern, TWLP; four lines pattern, FOLP; five lines pattern, FILP; eight lines pattern, EILP) were selected to measure the soil properties (0-100 cm), vegetation attributes (in farmlands and shelterbelt networks), microclimates and soil water storage (SWS) and soil nutrient storages (carbon(SCS), nitrogen(SNS) and phosphorus(SPS)) during three growing seasons of 2019-2021, to analyze the ecological effects of typical FSSs in desert oasis ecotones. The results showed that (1) the soil particle composition and soil organic matter are the major differences among soil properties of different patterns of FSSs. The FOLP had the most SOC (0.339 g·kg-1), TN (0.517 g·kg-1) and TP (0.577 g·kg-1) than other treatments. (2) The differences in soil water content under different patterns of FSSs during the growing season gradually decreased, while soil salt contents had the opposite dynamic variation. (3) Different patterns of FSS had fine water retention capacity, desalinization function and positive effects on nutrient supply function and climate regulation. The FOLP had the highest SWS (237.44 mm) and soil nutrient storage (SCS 544.93 g·m-2, SNS 953.72 g·m-2 and SPS 859.04 g·m-2) at 0-1m soil layer. (4) As indicated by the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), correlation matrix and network association analyses, there exist close relationship among environmental factors and ecosystem functions under different patterns of FSSs, especially soil properties and microclimate. Our results provide an efficient theoretical basis for FSS construction and ecological restoration in eco-fragile regions.