In this paper, we present and analyze a novel global database of soil infiltration measurements, the Soil Water Infiltration Global (SWIG) database. In total, 5023 infiltration curves were collected across all continents in the SWIG database. These data were either provided and quality checked by the scientists who performed the experiments or they were digitized from published articles. Data from 54 different countries were included in the database with major contributions from Iran, China, and the USA. In addition to its extensive geographical coverage, the collected infiltration curves cover research from 1976 to late 2017. Basic information on measurement location and method, soil properties, and land use was gathered along with the infiltration data, making the database valuable for the development of pedotransfer functions (PTFs) for estimating soil hydraulic properties, for the evaluation of infiltration measurement methods, and for developing and validating infiltration models. Soil textural information (clay, silt, and sand content) is available for 3842 out of 5023 infiltration measurements (∼ 76%) covering nearly all soil USDA textural classes except for the sandy clay and silt classes. Information on land use is available for 76 % of the experimental sites with agricultural land use as the dominant type (∼ 40%). We are convinced that the SWIG database will allow for a better parameterization of the infiltration process in land surface models and for testing infiltration models. All collected data and related soil characteristics are provided online in *.xlsx and *.csv formats for reference, and we add a disclaimer that the database is for public domain use only and can be copied freely by referencing it. Supplementary data are available at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.885492 (Rahmati et al., 2018). Data quality assessment is strongly advised prior to any use of this database. Finally, we would like to encourage scientists to extend and update the SWIG database by uploading new data to it.

Healthy soils provide the foundation for sustainable agriculture. However, soil health degradation has been a significant challenge for agricultural sustainability and environmental quality in water-limited environments, such as arid and semi-arid regions. Soils in these regions is often characterized by low soil organic matter (SOM), poor fertility, and low overall productivity, thus limiting the ability to build SOM. Soil health assessment frameworks developed for more productive, humid, temperate environments typically emphasize building SOM as a key to soil health and have identified the best management practices that are often difficult to implement in regions with water limitations. This study reviewed existing soil health assessment frameworks to assess their potential relevance for water-limited environments and highlights the need to develop a framework that links soil health with key ecosystem functions in dry climates. It also discusses management strategies for improving soil health, including tillage and residue management, organic amendments, and cropping system diversification and intensification. The assessment of indicators sensitive to water management practices could provide valuable information in designing soil health assessment frameworks for arid and semi-arid regions. The responses of soil health indicators are generally greater when multiple complementary soil health management practices are integrated, leading to the resilience and sustainability of agriculture in water-limited environments.

Quantitative information about the spatial and temporal patterns of compensatory root water uptake (RWU) in flood-irrigated pecan orchard is limited. We evaluated spatio-temporal compensated and uncompensated RWU patterns of mature pecan tree in a silty clay loam orchard using the HYDRUS (2D/3D) model. HYDRUS (2D/3D) simulations, which agreed well with measured water contents and temperatures at different soil depths and horizontal distances from the tree trunk, suggested that while both compensated and uncompensated RWU varied with soil depth they did not do so laterally because of similar spatial vertical distributions of root length density (RLD) for the under-canopy and the tree canopy dripline locations. Considering compensated RWU resulted in an increase in actual transpiration by 8%, and a decrease in evaporation and drainage by 5% and 50%, respectively, during a growing season. Simulated transpiration and relative transpiration (a ratio between actual and potential transpiration) values we...

The vegetation restoration sequence of “grass-shrub-tree” has been successfully employed in many degraded areas; however, its applicability in desertified area reclamation is questionable. In this study, soil properties of a desertified land in the northern Shaanxi province of China were determined to assess the performance of this restoration sequence. Soil samples were collected from a contiguous area consisting of a control area of original desertified land (bare control) and three vegetation restoration sequence communities (continuous grass, grass-shrubs, and grass-shrub-trees) for 30 years. Results indicate that revegetation on the desertified area decreased soil bulk density (BD) and increased soil organic matter (SOM), cation exchange capacity (CEC), available nutrients (N, P, and K), and readily oxidizable carbon (ROC). Nonactive organic carbon (NAOC) and carbon pool management index (CMI) also improved in the top soil layer but not in the lower layer. Soil texture as well as total potassium (TK) and phosphorus (TP) did not change significantly. Comparing the three vegetation restoration communities, soil physical properties, SOM, and available nutrient content improved in grassland and shrubland, but declined in treeland, lability of C (L) was higher in the top layer of restored area than in bare control. L was 0.35–0.54 in grassland, 0.49–0.57 in shrubland, 0.43–0.52 in treeland, and 0.24 to 0.26 in bare control. Results of this study indicate that vegetation restoration on desertified land can improve soil properties. However, the popular restoration sequence of “grass-shrub-tree” is not appropriate for the restoration of semi-arid study area with low precipitation.