Quantitative determination of the depth of edge influence on soil moisture in pepper-forest boundary of Minjiang River upper reaches

A typical pepper-forest boundary was selected in the arid valley of Minjiang River upper reaches, and the moisture content in 0-15 cm soil layer was determined by time-domain reflectometry (TDR) during drought, after rain, and different seasons. Moving split-window techniques (MSWT) was employed to detect the depth of edge influence (DEI) on soil moisture and its dynamic variation with time. The results showed that the changes of squared Euclidean distance (SED) curve on the graph tended to become stable when the window width reached 8-12, and DEI could be detected. The seasonal variation of soil moisture could be divided into three periods, i.e., rising period (January to April), peak period (May to October), and lessen period (November to December). DEI was smaller during drought, and increased after rain. The DEI on soil moisture ranged from 6 m in pepper field to 2 m in forest during drought and from 12 m in pepper field to 2 m in forest after rain, but ranged from 10 m in pepper field to 2 m in forest field within a year. DEI was different in different seasons, and was dynamic. Under such condition of soil moisture, the forest restoration from pepper land and the seedling planting were not ecologically reasonable. Reducing human disturbance and revegetating with natural shrubs and meadows could be more effective for vegetation conservation in the arid valley of Minjiang River upper reaches.