Water relation characteristics of the desert legumeAlhagi sparsifolia were investigated during the vegetation period from April to September 1999 in the foreland of Qira oasis at the southern fringe of the Taklamakan Desert, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. The seasonal variation of predawn water potentials and of diurnal water potential indicated thatAlhagi plants were well water supplied over the entire vegetation period. Decreasing values in the summer months were probably attributed to increasing temperatures and irradiation and therefore a higher evapotranspirative demand. Data from pressure-volume analysis confirmed thatAlhagi plants were not drought stressed and xylem sap flow measurements indicated thatAlhagi plants used large amounts of water during the summer months. Flood irrigation had no influence on water relations inAlhagi probably becauseAlhagi plants produced only few fine roots in the upper soil layers. The data indicate thatAlhagi sparsifolia is a drought-avoiding species that utilizes ground water by a deep roots system, which is the key characteristic to adjust the hyper-arid environment. Because growth and survival ofAlhagi depends on ground water supply, it is important that variations of ground water depth are kept to a minimum. The study will provide a theoretical basis for the restoration and management of natural vegetation around oasis in arid regions.
A new analytical method is presented to study the problem of scattering of plane SH waves by a semi-cylindrical hill in an otherwise homogeneous, isotropic and elastic two-dimensional half-space, using the series of wave functions and a new expansion technique. The results obtained show that (1) the hill has quite considerable effects on ground motions for both the points on the hill and its environs, (2) these effects depend mainly on the frequency, the angle of wave incidence and the ratio of radius of hill to one-half the wave length of incident waves, and (3) prominent and depression topographies having equal form and radius for the same incident waves would cause quite different mechanisms of wave propagation in both response performance and magnitude. The results, doubtless, would be useful for further deepening knowledge of the effects of prominent topography on seismic ground motion and for testing the accuracy of various approximate methods so far available. 相似文献