Abstract:Forty years of revegetation using mainly Caragana korshinskii at Shapotou Desert Experimental Research Station near Lanzhou has established a dwarf\|shrub and herbaceous cover on sand dunes. Situated in southeast Tengger Desert at 1330 m elevation, it has an average annual rainfall of 191 mm with 83% received in May\|September. Precipitation, as the sole source of water replenishment in the semi\|arid area, plays a pertinent role in sustaining the desert ecosystem. The redistribution of infiltrated mois...