scholarly journals Soil moisture as an indicator of growing-season herbaceous fuel moisture and curing rate in grasslands

Author(s):  
Sonisa Sharma ◽  
J. D. Carlson ◽  
Erik S. Krueger ◽  
David M. Engle ◽  
Dirac Twidwell ◽  
...  
2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik S. Krueger ◽  
Tyson E. Ochsner ◽  
J. D. Carlson ◽  
David M. Engle ◽  
Dirac Twidwell ◽  
...  

Measured soil moisture data may improve wildfire probability assessments because soil moisture is physically linked to fuel production and live fuel moisture, yet models characterising soil moisture–wildfire relationships have not been developed. We therefore described the relationships between measured soil moisture (concurrent and antecedent), as fraction of available water capacity (FAW), and large (≥405 ha) wildfire occurrence during the growing (May–October) and dormant (November–April) seasons from 2000 to 2012 in Oklahoma, USA. Wildfires were predominantly grass and brush fires but occurred across multiple fuel types including forests. Below-average FAW coincided with high wildfire occurrence each season. Wildfire probability during the growing season was 0.18 when concurrent FAW was 0.5 (a threshold for plant water stress) but was 0.60 when concurrent FAW was 0.2 (extreme drought). Dormant season wildfire probability was influenced not only by concurrent but also by antecedent FAW. Dormant season wildfire probability was 0.29 and 0.09 when FAW during the previous growing season was 0.9 (near ideal for plant growth) and 0.2, respectively. Therefore, although a wet growing season coincided with reduced wildfire probability that season, it also coincided with increased wildfire probability the following dormant season, suggesting that the mechanisms by which soil moisture influences wildfire probability are seasonally dependent.


2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuexia Wang ◽  
Yali Chen ◽  
Yulong Yan ◽  
Zhiqiang Wan ◽  
Ran Chao ◽  
...  

The response of soil respiration to simulated climatic warming and increased precipitation was evaluated on the arid–semi-arid Stipa steppe of Inner Mongolia. Soil respiration rate had a single peak during the growing season, reaching a maximum in July under all treatments. Soil temperature, soil moisture and their interaction influenced the soil respiration rate. Relative to the control, warming alone reduced the soil respiration rate by 15.6 ± 7.0%, whereas increased precipitation alone increased the soil respiration rate by 52.6 ± 42.1%. The combination of warming and increased precipitation increased the soil respiration rate by 22.4 ± 11.2%. When temperature was increased, soil respiration rate was more sensitive to soil moisture than to soil temperature, although the reverse applied when precipitation was increased. Under the experimental precipitation (20% above natural rainfall) applied in the experiment, soil moisture was the primary factor limiting soil respiration, but soil temperature may become limiting under higher soil moisture levels.


1982 ◽  
Vol 60 (12) ◽  
pp. 2518-2529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Walker ◽  
Carl W. Mize ◽  
Harold S. McNabb Jr.

Two different sites in central Iowa were planted with hybrid poplars and subsequently sampled over a growing season for spores of endogonaceous fungi. At one of the sites, the effects of plowing and herbicide treatment on spore numbers also were examined. Ten species of fungi in the genera Acaulospora, Gigaspora, and Glomus were recorded at the first site. The second location yielded 12 species from the same genera. In both sites, the distribution of spores was highly variable. The poplars rarely became endomycorrhizal and had no effect on spore populations during the experimental period. Changes in spore populations were correlated with soil-moisture level. Evidence was found for some depression of spore production caused by plowing and herbicide treatment. The conclusion was drawn that small samples with but few replicates may not adequately represent populations of endogonaceous spores.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Nicholls ◽  
Gordon Drewitt ◽  
Sean Carey

<p>As a result of altitude and latitude amplified impacts of climate change, widespread alterations in vegetation composition, density and distribution are widely observed across the circumpolar north. The influence of this vegetation change on the timing and magnitude of hydrological fluxes is uncertain, and is confounded by changes driven by increased temperatures and altered precipitation (P) regimes. In northern alpine catchments, quantification of total evapotranspiration (ET) and evaporative partitioning across a range of elevation-based ecosystems is critical for predicting water yield under change, yet remains challenging due to coupled environmental and phenological controls on transpiration (T). In this work, we analyze 6 years of surface energy balance, ET, and sap flow data at three sites along an elevational gradient in a subarctic, alpine catchment near Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada. These sites provide a space-for-time evaluation of vegetation shifts and include: 1) a low-elevation boreal white spruce forest (~20 m), 2) a mid-elevation subalpine taiga comprised of tall willow (Salix) and birch (Betula) shrubs (~1-3 m) and 3) a high-elevation subalpine taiga with shorter shrub cover (< 0.75 m) and moss, lichen, and bare rock. Specific objectives are to 1) evaluate interannual ET dynamics within and among sites under different precipitation regimes , and 2) assess the influence of vegetation type and structure, phenology, soil and meteorological controls on ET dynamics and partitioning.  Eddy covariance and sap flow sensors operated year-round at the forest and during the growing season at the mid-elevation site on both willow and birch shrubs for two years. Growing season ET decreased and interannual variability increased with elevation, with June to August ET totals of 250 (±3) mm at Forest, 192 (±9) mm at the tall shrub site, and 180 (± 26) mm at the short shrub site. Comparatively, AET:P ratios were the highest and most variable at the forest (2.4 ± 0.3) and similar at the tall and short shrub (1.2 ± 0.1).  At the forest, net radiation was the primary control on ET, and 55% was direct T from white spruce. At the shrub sites, monthly ET rates were similar except during the peak growing season when T at the tall shrub site comprised 89% of ET, resulting in greater total water loss. Soil moisture strongly influenced T at the forest, suggesting the potential for moisture stress, yet not at the shrub sites where there was no moisture limitation. Results indicate that elevation advances in treeline will increase overall ET and lower interannual variability; yet the large water deficit during summer implies a strong reliance on early spring snowmelt recharge to sustain soil moisture. Changes in shrub height and density will increase ET primarily during the mid-growing season. This work supports the assertion that predicted changes in vegetation type and structure will have a considerable impact on water partitioning in northern regions, and will also vary in a multifaceted way in response to changing temperature and P regimes.  </p>


1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 690-698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen W. Hallgren ◽  
John A. Helms

Morphogenesis of the terminal shoot was studied in 2-year-old seedlings of California red fir (Abiesmagnifica A. Murr.) and two elevational sources of white fir (Abiesconcolor (Gord. & Glend.) Lindl.). Seedlings were either watered or left unwatered during the growing season in order to produce different shoot morphologies and seedlings with and without a summer shoot. Under favorable soil moisture, the frequency of summer shoot production was 32, 53, and 82% for red fir and high- and low-elevation white fir, respectively. Drought from mid-May to mid-September reduced summer shoot production to less than 1% in both species. Spring shoot morphology was not an indicator of capacity to produce a summer shoot. Rate of primordium production was directly related to apical dome diameter. However, when the normal spring increase in apical dome diameter was arrested by summer shoot elongation, the rate of primordium production appeared to be unaffected. Although the apical and subapical meristems were active at the same time, they did not appear to be antagonistic. The major effects of producing a summer shoot were as follows: (i) elongation of 60–120% more intemodes in the current growing season, (ii) production of 15–40% more needle primordia in the overwintering bud, (iii) production of 30–60% more primordia annually, and (iv) increase in the percentage of total primordium production that developed into needles from 60% to 75–80%.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 5567-5579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Kim ◽  
K. Nishina ◽  
N. Chae ◽  
S. J. Park ◽  
Y. J. Yoon ◽  
...  

Abstract. The tundra ecosystem is quite vulnerable to drastic climate change in the Arctic, and the quantification of carbon dynamics is of significant importance regarding thawing permafrost, changes to the snow-covered period and snow and shrub community extent, and the decline of sea ice in the Arctic. Here, CO2 efflux measurements using a manual chamber system within a 40 m × 40 m (5 m interval; 81 total points) plot were conducted within dominant tundra vegetation on the Seward Peninsula of Alaska, during the growing seasons of 2011 and 2012, for the assessment of driving parameters of CO2 efflux. We applied a hierarchical Bayesian (HB) model – a function of soil temperature, soil moisture, vegetation type, and thaw depth – to quantify the effects of environmental factors on CO2 efflux and to estimate growing season CO2 emissions. Our results showed that average CO2 efflux in 2011 was 1.4 times higher than in 2012, resulting from the distinct difference in soil moisture between the 2 years. Tussock-dominated CO2 efflux is 1.4 to 2.3 times higher than those measured in lichen and moss communities, revealing tussock as a significant CO2 source in the Arctic, with a wide area distribution on the circumpolar scale. CO2 efflux followed soil temperature nearly exponentially from both the observed data and the posterior medians of the HB model. This reveals that soil temperature regulates the seasonal variation of CO2 efflux and that soil moisture contributes to the interannual variation of CO2 efflux for the two growing seasons in question. Obvious changes in soil moisture during the growing seasons of 2011 and 2012 resulted in an explicit difference between CO2 effluxes – 742 and 539 g CO2 m−2 period−1 for 2011 and 2012, respectively, suggesting the 2012 CO2 emission rate was reduced to 27% (95% credible interval: 17–36%) of the 2011 emission, due to higher soil moisture from severe rain. The estimated growing season CO2 emission rate ranged from 0.86 Mg CO2 in 2012 to 1.20 Mg CO2 in 2011 within a 40 m × 40 m plot, corresponding to 86 and 80% of annual CO2 emission rates within the western Alaska tundra ecosystem, estimated from the temperature dependence of CO2 efflux. Therefore, this HB model can be readily applied to observed CO2 efflux, as it demands only four environmental factors and can also be effective for quantitatively assessing the driving parameters of CO2 efflux.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 7575-7597 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. A. Luus ◽  
Y. Gel ◽  
J. C. Lin ◽  
R. E. J. Kelly ◽  
C. R. Duguay

Abstract. Arctic field studies have indicated that the air temperature, soil moisture and vegetation at a site influence the quantity of snow accumulated, and that snow accumulation can alter growing-season soil moisture and vegetation. Climate change is predicted to bring about warmer air temperatures, greater snow accumulation and northward movements of the shrub and tree lines. Understanding the responses of northern environments to changes in snow and growing-season land surface characteristics requires: (1) insights into the present-day linkages between snow and growing-season land surface characteristics; and (2) the ability to continue to monitor these associations over time across the vast pan-Arctic. The objective of this study was therefore to examine the pan-Arctic (north of 60° N) linkages between two temporally distinct data products created from AMSR-E satellite passive microwave observations: GlobSnow snow water equivalent (SWE), and NTSG growing-season AMSR-E Land Parameters (air temperature, soil moisture and vegetation transmissivity). Due to the complex and interconnected nature of processes determining snow and growing-season land surface characteristics, these associations were analyzed using the modern nonparametric technique of alternating conditional expectations (ACE), as this approach does not impose a predefined analytic form. Findings indicate that regions with lower vegetation transmissivity (more biomass) at the start and end of the growing season tend to accumulate less snow at the start and end of the snow season, possibly due to interception and sublimation. Warmer air temperatures at the start and end of the growing season were associated with diminished snow accumulation at the start and end of the snow season. High latitude sites with warmer mean annual growing-season temperatures tended to accumulate more snow, probably due to the greater availability of water vapor for snow season precipitation at warmer locations. Regions with drier soils preceding snow onset tended to accumulate greater quantities of snow, likely because drier soils freeze faster and more thoroughly than wetter soils. Understanding and continuing to monitor these linkages at the regional scale using the ACE approach can allow insights to be gained into the complex response of Arctic ecosystems to climate-driven shifts in air temperature, vegetation, soil moisture and snow accumulation.


2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (12) ◽  
pp. 2879-2893 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Fu ◽  
Z. Zheng ◽  
G. Yu ◽  
Z. Hu ◽  
X. Sun ◽  
...  

Abstract. This study compared carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes over three grassland ecosystems in China, including a temperate semiarid steppe in Inner Mongolia (NMG), an alpine shrub-meadow in Qinghai (HB), and an alpine meadow-steppe in Tibet (DX). Measurements were made in 2004 and 2005 using the eddy covariance technique. Objectives were to document the seasonality of the net ecosystem exchange of CO2 (NEE) and its components, gross ecosystem photosynthesis (GEP), and ecosystem respiration (Reco), and to examine how environmental factors affect the CO2 exchange in these grassland ecosystems. The 2005 growing season (from May to September) was warmer than that of 2004 across the three sites, and precipitation in 2005 was less than that in 2004 at NMG and DX. The magnitude of CO2 fluxes (daily and annual sums) was largest at HB, which also showed the highest temperature sensitivity of Reco among the three sites. A stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that the seasonal variation of GEP, Reco, and NEE of the alpine shrub-meadow was mainly controlled by air temperature, whereas leaf area index can likely explain the seasonal variation in GEP, Reco, and NEE of the temperate steppe. The CO2 fluxes of the alpine meadow-steppe were jointly affected by soil moisture and air temperature. The alpine shrub-meadow acted as a net carbon sink over the two study years, whereas the temperate steppe and alpine meadow-steppe acted as net carbon sources. Both GEP and Reco were reduced by the summer and spring drought in 2005 at NMG and DX, respectively. The accumulated leaf area index during the growing season (LAIsum) played a key role in the interannual and intersite variation of annual GEP and Reco across the study sites and years, whereas soil moisture contributed most significantly to the variation in annual NEE. Because LAIsum was significantly correlated with soil moisture at a depth of 20 cm, we concluded that the available soil moisture other than annual precipitation was the most important factor controlling the variation in the CO2 budgets of different grassland ecosystems in China.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 625-655
Author(s):  
J. Klingberg ◽  
M. Engardt ◽  
P. E. Karlsson ◽  
J. Langner ◽  
H. Pleijel

Abstract. The impacts of climate change and changes in ozone precursor emission on ozone exposure (AOT40) of the vegetation in Europe were investigated. In addition, meteorological conditions influencing stomatal uptake of ozone were analysed to find out if climate change is likely to affect the risk for ozone damage to vegetation. Climate simulations based on the IPCC SRES A1B scenario were combined with ozone precursor emission changes from the RCP4.5 scenario and used as input to the Eulerian Chemical Transport Model MATCH from which projections of ozone concentrations were derived. Provided that the climate projections are realistic and the emission reductions of the emission scenario are undertaken, the ozone exposure of vegetation over Europe will be significantly reduced between the two time periods 1990–2009 and 2040–2059. This decline in AOT40 is larger than the reduction in average ozone concentrations. The reduction is driven by the emission reductions assumed by the RCP4.5 emission scenario, rather than changes in the climate. Higher temperatures in a future climate will result in a prolonged growing season over Europe as well as larger temperature sums during the growing season. Both the extended growing season and higher temperatures may enhance ozone uptake by plants in colder parts of Europe. The future climate suggested by the regional climate model will be dryer in terms of higher vapour pressure deficit (VPD) and lower soil moisture in southern Europe, which may reduce ozone uptake. VPD and soil moisture was not projected to change in north and north-west Europe to an extent that would influence ozone uptake by vegetation. This study shows that substantial reductions of ozone precursor emissions have the potential to strongly reduce the risk for ozone effects on vegetation, even if concurrent climate change promotes ozone formation.


Genetika ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 261-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Branka Kresovic ◽  
Vesna Dragicevic ◽  
Bosko Gajic ◽  
Angelina Tapanarova ◽  
Borivoj Pejic

The aim of the present study was to observe the response of maize hybrids under rainfed and irrigation conditions of the soil in order to establish the dependence of yielding potential on the water amounts reaching the soil surface during the growing season. The four-replicate trail was set up according to the randomised complete-block design on chernozem. Pre-watering soil moisture was approximately 70% of field water capacity, and soil moisture was established thermogravimetrically. During the five-year studies, the following differences in yields could be as follows: 12.68 t ha-1 (ZP 341); 12.76 t ha-1 (ZP 434); 13.17 t ha-1 (ZP 578); 14.03 t ha-1 (ZP 684) and 13.75 t ha-1 (ZP 704) under conditions of 440 mm, 440 mm, 424 mm, 457 mm and 466 mm of water, respectively. The hybrid ZP 341, i.e. ZP 578 expressed the highest, i.e. the lowest tolerance in dry relative seasons, respectively. The reduction of the water amount for every 10 mm decreased the yield by 119.4 kg ha-1 (ZP 341), 156.7 kg ha-1 (ZP 434), 172.3 kg ha-1 (ZP 578), 148.9 kg ha-1 (ZP 684) and 151.1 kg ha-1 (ZP 704).


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