Soil moisture response to rainfall at different topographic positions along a mixed land-use hillslope

• Precipitation controls soil moisture variation at top, upper and middle slopes.
• Lateral surface and subsurface flows control soil moisture variation at lower slope.
• Land-use, rainfall and subsurface flow control soil moisture variation at toe slope.
• The typical local land use design is useful in reducing nutrient losses.

Soil moisture is one of the most important parameters controlling various critical zone processes including energy balance and nutrient cycling. However, hillslope soil moisture variation and its response to rainfall are not fully understood yet. Through real-time monitoring systems, mechanisms of soil moisture response to rainfall were investigated at top, upper, middle, lower and toe slope positions along a typical mixed land-use hillslope in Taihu Lake Basin, China. The corresponding land use types for these five hillslope position are woodland, tea (Camellia sinensis), tea, meadow and woodland, respectively. This hillslope has annual precipitation around 1100 mm. Soil moisture varied from < 0.05 m3 m− 3 at the top slope during the dry period to > 0.40 m3 m− 3 at the toe slope during wet period. Despite different land-use types, similar characteristics of soil moisture response to rainfall were observed at the top (woodland), upper (tea) and middle (tea) slope positions. At these three sites, degrees of soil moisture change (difference between maximum soil moisture during the rainfall and antecedent soil moisture) were significantly (P < 0.05) influenced by precipitation amount and intensity, as well as antecedent soil moisture in some cases. However, at the lower slope position (meadow), soil moisture variation during the rainfall was mainly influenced by lateral subsurface flow; the cumulative precipitation was less than the increased soil water storage, indicating that water must come from the upslope areas to recharge this site. At the toe slope position (woodland), precipitation interception by tree canopy and surface organic matter reduced the degree of soil moisture change during rainfall events. Lateral subsurface flow can recharge deep soils at the toe slope position in rainfalls > 35 mm with relatively wet initial condition (e.g., soil moisture at 0.1-m depth of this site > 0.30 m3 m− 3). Results suggest that lower and toe slope positions are hot spots receiving lateral surface and subsurface recharge. Perennial vegetation at toe slope position can remove nitrogen in lateral subsurface flow by promoting denitrification. Therefore, maintaining toe slope area in perennial vegetation may help to mitigate dissolved nitrogen losses from upslope fertilized tea plantations.