3.3. Comparisons of SWC and isotopes in shrub and grassland
sites
Soil water content, variations of δ2H and
δ18O of shrub and grassland sites were shown in Figure
4. There was a significant difference in SWC of the same soil layers
between shrub and grassland sites (p < 0.05), the SWC of shrub
site ranged from 15.13 ± 0.06% to 49.87 ± 0.29%, whereas ranged from
19.25 ± 0.02% to 39.76 ± 0.24% in grassland site during the sampling
period (Figure 4a and 4d). However, δ2H in soil water
showed no significant difference between the two sites (p
>0.05) (Figure 4b and 4e), in contrast to
δ18O (p < 0.05) (Figure 4c and 4f). Both
δ18O and δ2H in shallow soil water
(0–20 cm) were more highly variable than deeper soil layers. The
isotopic values in surface soil water were enriched in June and July,
depleted in August and September. The δ18O and
δ2H values in the grassland soil were enriched than in
the shrubs from May to September, but almost the same in October,
indicating that grassland is more sensitive to environmental changes,
plant water has a stronger partitioning effect in dynamic transport
comparing with shrub plant water.