Analysis on water use strategies of natural poplar in Hunshandake Sandy Land, China

Abstract The past decades have witnessed the increasingly severe desertification and high sandstorm frequency in Hunshandake desert, China, which evokes extensive concern regarding the ecological and environmental effects on natural plant fields. Herein, natural poplars in this area are studied in this work to analyze the water use efficiency (WUE), water absorption source (WAS), water consumption of poplar, and water use strategy (WUS). The results show that the intrinsically high WUE of poplar can be enhanced under water stress status. The 0–100 cm soil water or underground water constitutes the main WAS. Poplar uses deep soil water or underground water when there is insufficient precipitation in rainy season, which, however, turns to use easily‐absorbed precipitation water after rainfall and lives through the growing period by switching water absorption positions. The unique dimorphic root system, adjustable WUE, and adjustable WUS make poplar able to maximally use limited water resource, which is also the main strategy for its survival in arid and semi‐arid areas. The combined analyses help us to get insight into the survivability and adaptive ability of plants as well as to regulate the limited water resource. This work may pave a way for ecological community restoration and ecologically environmental improvement.