Changes in root morphological traits, soil properties, and infiltration characteristics following the conversion of native forests to Carya cathayensis plantations in the Dabie Mountainuous Area, China

Changes in root morphological traits, soil properties, and infiltration characteristics following the conversion of native forests to Carya cathayensis plantations in the Dabie Mountainuous Area, China | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Changes in root morphological traits, soil properties, and infiltration characteristics following the conversion of native forests to Carya cathayensis plantations in the Dabie Mountainuous Area, China YUN ZHU, Chunqiang Zhang, Yunpeng Wang, Hongda Zhang, Lei Sun, and 4 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7481786/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 05 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in European Journal of Forest Research → Version 1 posted 11 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Soil water infiltration is an important hydrological process influencing mountain ecosystems' runoff and soil loss. Our study evaluates soil water infiltration characteristics and the underlying mechanisms under Carya cathayensis plantations with different planting years: 6 (CC 6 years ), 20 (CC 20 years ), and 50 (CC 50 years ), and native forest was chosen as control (CC 0 year ). The Philip, Kostiakov, Kostiakov-lewis, and Horton models were selected to evaluate their applicability under different planting years of Carya cathayensis plantations. The results showed that: (1) Converting native forests to Carya cathayensis plantations significantly decreased soil water infiltration rates, with average infiltration rate ( AIR ), initial infiltration rate ( IIR ), and stable infiltration rate ( SIR ) decreasing by 33.11% ~ 70.98%, 31.23% ~ 64.11%, and 40.13% ~ 75.01%, respectively；(2) Soil water infiltration rates were improved with planting years, with the highest value shown under CC 50 years ；(3) The correlation and path analysis indicated that IIR and SIR were mainly affected by soil non-capillary porosity, while AIR was mainly influenced by 5-2 mm water stable aggregate fraction; (4) The Kostiakov model is found to be the most appropriate for characterizing soil infiltration characteristics in the study area. These findings shed insight into soil water infiltration processes and regulating factors for preventing and controlling soil erosion and restoring soil health in land use change, particularly forest cover conversion in the Dabie Mountains area. Economic forest Different planting years Path analysis Soil erosion Soil water infiltration Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 05 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in European Journal of Forest Research → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Accepted 06 Feb, 2026 Reviews received at journal 17 Nov, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 04 Nov, 2025 Reviews received at journal 03 Oct, 2025 Reviews received at journal 30 Sep, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 24 Sep, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 23 Sep, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 23 Sep, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 29 Aug, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 29 Aug, 2025 First submitted to journal 28 Aug, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7481786","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":524470647,"identity":"35f6d3db-2ffb-41f4-a3fa-569f1a568434","order_by":0,"name":"YUN ZHU","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Nanjing Forestry University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"YUN","middleName":"","lastName":"ZHU","suffix":""},{"id":524470648,"identity":"7a946df2-ff16-404b-9288-6ebb1f50241d","order_by":1,"name":"Chunqiang Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Huaihe River Basin Water and Soil Conservation Monitoring Center Station","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Chunqiang","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":524470649,"identity":"0cbfcf38-c151-498d-aa76-9509cbcd564e","order_by":2,"name":"Yunpeng Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Nanjing Forestry University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yunpeng","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":524470650,"identity":"57471217-6081-4948-9b2b-9bda75ca27c7","order_by":3,"name":"Hongda Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Huaihe River Basin Water and Soil Conservation Monitoring Center Station","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hongda","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":524470652,"identity":"0a2b13af-4491-4b66-9d25-0b9455f9c38c","order_by":4,"name":"Lei Sun","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Nanjing Forestry University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lei","middleName":"","lastName":"Sun","suffix":""},{"id":524470654,"identity":"48254494-82ee-4484-b197-e0124dc2ca94","order_by":5,"name":"Xia Liu","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAzklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACPmYgkcBgw8DYfADIYiNCCxtESxoDY1sCsVog1GEgi2gt7DxmEg9qzucxt/EYMHwoO8zAP7uBkMN4jA0Sjt0uZgRqYZxx7jCDxJ0DBLUYPkhgu53YOL/HgJm37TCDgUQCQS0GBxL+nUtsBNrC/JdILYYPEtsOQLQwEqeFrdggsS8ZqIWt4GDPuXQeiRsEtPDzH94m+eObXeLGNuaND36UWcvxzyCgBQ4MGxgYDgBpHiLVA4E88UpHwSgYBaNgpAEAG7E7kf8mghgAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Nanjing Forestry University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xia","middleName":"","lastName":"Liu","suffix":""},{"id":524470656,"identity":"9f04572a-7b69-4c66-8b0d-bb90b582da69","order_by":6,"name":"Yanan Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Nanjing Forestry University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yanan","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":524470659,"identity":"0ac5fbfa-dda1-4eea-a5d9-f4687357ebfc","order_by":7,"name":"Abdul Hakim Jamshidi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Nanjing Forestry University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Abdul","middleName":"Hakim","lastName":"Jamshidi","suffix":""},{"id":524470661,"identity":"2f606a85-6875-4993-b689-4f92442211c5","order_by":8,"name":"Zhaofei Fan","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Auburn University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zhaofei","middleName":"","lastName":"Fan","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-08-28 15:38:17","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7481786/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7481786/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-026-01882-w","type":"published","date":"2026-03-05T15:59:31+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":92826344,"identity":"fa0b2701-5237-46d2-90a4-564437326874","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:30:37","extension":"docx","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":27961181,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ManuscriptYUNZHU.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/bb9ae98515a9d0b4370df0cc.docx"},{"id":92825928,"identity":"445b8999-0fcb-4597-8cc3-b12bf403a4d4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:22:37","extension":"json","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":9502,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"649848c6f9ec4c77b5acdf7cb16e3bc3.json","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/50402ef31455a0ed194c37fd.json"},{"id":92826346,"identity":"e419d9c5-b6a1-40a3-8093-d9b25e9f25cb","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:30:37","extension":"xml","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":242182,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"649848c6f9ec4c77b5acdf7cb16e3bc31enriched.xml","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/31da19044bb9d3fb6e31d1e3.xml"},{"id":92825931,"identity":"fe0801fc-794b-4dc4-b485-d137604e2065","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:22:37","extension":"png","order_by":3,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":1458216,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/97b50c8d0f91875d6c608b97.png"},{"id":92826342,"identity":"e6fe6bc3-7abf-4e8c-9836-093de9a6b13a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:30:37","extension":"jpeg","order_by":4,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":281013,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage10.jpeg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/34dec60d12026798a24de8d9.jpeg"},{"id":92825934,"identity":"9ce9cc5b-2f4a-4e81-96cf-64d9ac95db0f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:22:37","extension":"jpeg","order_by":5,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":171820,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage2.jpeg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/42957b089e792f2b7fedd2c4.jpeg"},{"id":92825927,"identity":"89ec6583-9e28-41c4-a602-65fff9ed570a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:22:37","extension":"jpeg","order_by":6,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":275428,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage3.jpeg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/96b9a768c1989e82b158bbe5.jpeg"},{"id":92826343,"identity":"a9ce4ee0-6d3d-4277-baae-b3c92a218b2b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:30:37","extension":"jpeg","order_by":7,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":265694,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage4.jpeg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/2f3e0c5aa73425bd4033e0ad.jpeg"},{"id":92825951,"identity":"862a2ed6-0e41-4afd-868f-51d3e48c7468","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:22:39","extension":"emf","order_by":8,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":122260608,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage5.emf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/3a1fbf2391bf4653c1d3b4e4.emf"},{"id":92825933,"identity":"21d456d8-69a0-4672-8ea0-ce19acb07b6d","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:22:37","extension":"jpeg","order_by":9,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":4531570,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage6.jpeg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/486fc77d489e23ed661219cc.jpeg"},{"id":92825944,"identity":"34a9359c-f673-49ec-ae12-033b83d53ca9","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:22:38","extension":"jpeg","order_by":10,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":3723328,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage7.jpeg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/8ec9b8849953cc3265d57c39.jpeg"},{"id":92825943,"identity":"48e851c0-4754-48c2-bd1b-03971046cf52","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:22:38","extension":"jpeg","order_by":11,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":143482,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage8.jpeg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/0543d62e63c77ad29418501b.jpeg"},{"id":92825938,"identity":"3a054aa3-027e-432b-ac86-5b8cdceea2b8","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:22:37","extension":"jpeg","order_by":12,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":278174,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage9.jpeg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/3c2948bd97cef9cc366a7e94.jpeg"},{"id":92825940,"identity":"c9bc3e3e-0f9c-4dda-9c6b-4fe1af1d1f4d","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:22:37","extension":"png","order_by":13,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":252310,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/3be35fc1b3259d706135de32.png"},{"id":92826348,"identity":"28152519-13fa-4052-a282-dd696a44b346","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:30:38","extension":"png","order_by":14,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":190232,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage10.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/33104a5351e33b431353ab7b.png"},{"id":92825936,"identity":"235812d9-9791-4d90-983f-39c34cdf3d5f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:22:37","extension":"png","order_by":15,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":34994,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/4561e04931e86a021e1d09fd.png"},{"id":92826345,"identity":"1c284839-c538-4db8-90c4-57f0a256421e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:30:37","extension":"png","order_by":16,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":41734,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/9f32c2224526c2d6ee2fe070.png"},{"id":92825930,"identity":"fafb03a1-9e5a-4dfb-9079-563e05e1c4db","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:22:37","extension":"png","order_by":17,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":39949,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage4.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/6a91865c419a78ae36fbc3f9.png"},{"id":92825942,"identity":"15078952-fae1-4eac-b79e-a102efb38631","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:22:37","extension":"png","order_by":18,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":4931520,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage5.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/4accabd5c0e79a10c772146b.png"},{"id":92825945,"identity":"0a587fca-f801-4414-8895-3668e0251be9","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:22:38","extension":"png","order_by":19,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":59497,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage6.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/6d59708014a3dcca3275d14d.png"},{"id":92825941,"identity":"d6199281-8554-4668-93c4-99b58e93835f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:22:37","extension":"png","order_by":20,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":39133,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage7.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/9194b6ff8c2a8fa4eca26294.png"},{"id":92825947,"identity":"5b9d0c14-c98b-4d02-ac4c-141d63c96435","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:22:38","extension":"png","order_by":21,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":20981,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage8.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/5ee9dbc67eacaa25518ec473.png"},{"id":92826347,"identity":"98d65afa-025a-4bf4-842f-b26752f960b9","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:30:38","extension":"png","order_by":22,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":56923,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage9.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/8459779e15b5e6b56a420a2d.png"},{"id":92825948,"identity":"f08571a0-0601-4be6-bf29-743dcd31cf9f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:22:38","extension":"xml","order_by":23,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":238185,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"649848c6f9ec4c77b5acdf7cb16e3bc31structuring.xml","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/f72b1b28fbecc87fd33c1e0a.xml"},{"id":92825949,"identity":"a5b2bffd-af26-4bd3-920b-1366a69fd5e1","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 04:22:38","extension":"html","order_by":24,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":254704,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"earlyproof.html","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1/637ea5c3c6d77a781c596296.html"},{"id":104252004,"identity":"4ec24fa1-5d11-4d04-8273-6bda8e1c5195","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-09 16:16:31","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1850527,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ManuscriptYUNZHU.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7481786/v1_covered_ed8b7637-05a0-44a4-9a18-d7c47c5818dd.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Changes in root morphological traits, soil properties, and infiltration characteristics following the conversion of native forests to Carya cathayensis plantations in the Dabie Mountainuous Area, China","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"european-journal-of-forest-research","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"efor","sideBox":"Learn more about [European Journal of Forest Research](http://link.springer.com/journal/10342)","snPcode":"10342","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/10342/3","title":"European Journal of Forest Research","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Economic forest, Different planting years, Path analysis, Soil erosion, Soil water infiltration","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7481786/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7481786/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eSoil water infiltration is an important hydrological process influencing mountain ecosystems' runoff and soil loss. Our study evaluates soil water infiltration characteristics and the underlying mechanisms under \u003cem\u003eCarya cathayensis\u003c/em\u003e plantations with different planting years: 6 (CC\u003csub\u003e6 years\u003c/sub\u003e), 20 (CC\u003csub\u003e20 years\u003c/sub\u003e), and 50 (CC\u003csub\u003e50 years\u003c/sub\u003e), and native forest was chosen as control (CC\u003csub\u003e0 year\u003c/sub\u003e). The Philip, Kostiakov, Kostiakov-lewis, and Horton models were selected to evaluate their applicability under different planting years of \u003cem\u003eCarya cathayensis\u003c/em\u003e plantations. The results showed that: (1) Converting native forests to \u003cem\u003eCarya cathayensis\u003c/em\u003e plantations significantly decreased soil water infiltration rates, with average infiltration rate (\u003cem\u003eAIR\u003c/em\u003e), initial infiltration rate (\u003cem\u003eIIR\u003c/em\u003e), and stable infiltration rate (\u003cem\u003eSIR\u003c/em\u003e) decreasing by 33.11% ~ 70.98%, 31.23% ~ 64.11%, and 40.13% ~ 75.01%, respectively；(2) Soil water infiltration rates were improved with planting years, with the highest value shown under CC\u003csub\u003e50 years\u003c/sub\u003e；(3) The correlation and path analysis indicated that \u003cem\u003eIIR\u003c/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eSIR\u003c/em\u003e were mainly affected by soil non-capillary porosity, while \u003cem\u003eAIR\u003c/em\u003e was mainly influenced by 5-2 mm water stable aggregate fraction; (4) The Kostiakov model is found to be the most appropriate for characterizing soil infiltration characteristics in the study area. These findings shed insight into soil water infiltration processes and regulating factors for preventing and controlling soil erosion and restoring soil health in land use change, particularly forest cover conversion in the Dabie Mountains area.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Changes in root morphological traits, soil properties, and infiltration characteristics following the conversion of native forests to Carya cathayensis plantations in the Dabie Mountainuous Area, China","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-10-06 04:22:32","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7481786/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Accepted","date":"2026-02-06T11:17:46+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-11-17T08:42:25+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"194744996997441796914521768409093130683","date":"2025-11-04T12:02:07+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-10-03T23:57:11+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-09-30T09:50:26+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"176515130165787811001061659701744302813","date":"2025-09-24T09:16:21+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"154817743921974630484228491547523521998","date":"2025-09-23T20:37:52+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-09-23T17:42:08+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-08-29T09:26:14+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-08-29T09:24:37+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"European Journal of Forest Research","date":"2025-08-28T15:27:13+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"european-journal-of-forest-research","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"efor","sideBox":"Learn more about [European Journal of Forest Research](http://link.springer.com/journal/10342)","snPcode":"10342","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/10342/3","title":"European Journal of Forest Research","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"83bb8e65-7b6a-4370-8ac5-9befec19e25d","owner":[],"postedDate":"October 6th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-03-09T16:13:43+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-7481786","link":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-026-01882-w","journal":{"identity":"european-journal-of-forest-research","isVorOnly":false,"title":"European Journal of Forest Research"},"publishedOn":"2026-03-05 15:59:31","publishedOnDateReadable":"March 5th, 2026"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-10-06 04:22:32","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1007/s10342-026-01882-w","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-026-01882-w","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7481786","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7481786","identity":"rs-7481786","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}