Response of Soil Moisture to Vegetation Restoration

The effects of vegetation on soil water content are very complicated, and precipitation and evapotranspiration are the key contributing factors, which are more significant in spring (water conservation), summer (transpiration and infiltration), and autumn (infiltration). It is easy for irrational planting to result in soil water deficits in ecologically fragile arid regions because evapotranspiration is aggravated by leaves. Moreover, understanding the dynamic changes of soil water content is particularly important for the long-term sustainable development of re-gional ecology. Related research worldwide can be roughly divided into studies on vegetation, soil moisture, rainfall–erosion–infiltration, spatial variation, and climate change, which are car-ried out in typical regions around the world (such as Loess Plateau of China, the Mediterranean region and the United States). Dynamic climate changes, including variations in precipitation and surface temperature, should receive more scientific attention in further studies based on monitoring data in typical regions where climatic features are distinct.