scholarly journals Stomatal Conductance Responses of Acacia caven to Seasonal Patterns of Water Availability at Different Soil Depths in a Mediterranean Savanna

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Sepulveda M. ◽  
Horacio Bown ◽  
Bonifacio Fernandez L.

Soil water availability controls plant productivity in seasonally dry ecosystems, although plant water use at different soil depths and times is, to the best of our knowledge, not clearly understood. Environmental variables at the canopy level and the soil volumetric water content (VWC) at five different soil depths were continuously recorded for three years (2011–2014) in an Acacia caven savanna site in central Chile. Stomatal conductance ( g s ) was measured every hour during daytime for 42 days distributed across the study period. Values of g s were weakly controlled by photosynthetically active radiation, vapor pressure deficit, and leaf temperature when considering the whole series. The variance proportion being explained increased from 5% to 20% if the whole series was partitioned into a dry and a wet season. According to the above, A. caven exhibited a more anisohydric behavior than previously thought. When we added the VWC in the root zone, to the g s atmospheric variables model, R2 increased to 47% when separately considering the dry and wet seasons. However, we did not find a differentiated use of water in the root zone, but instead a joint activity of the radicular system within the top 100 cm of the soil controlling g s .

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Eiji Maeda ◽  
Xuanlong Ma ◽  
Fabien Wagner ◽  
Hyungjun Kim ◽  
Taikan Oki ◽  
...  

Abstract. Evapotranspiration (ET) of Amazon forests is a main driver of regional climate patterns and an important indicator of ecosystem functioning. Despite its importance, the seasonal variability of ET over Amazon forests, and its relationship with environmental drivers, is still poorly understood. In this study, we carry out a water balance approach to analyse seasonal patterns in ET and their relationships with water and energy drivers over five sub-basins across the Amazon basin. We used in-situ measurements of river discharge, and remotely sensed estimates of terrestrial water storage, rainfall, and solar radiation. We show that the characteristics of ET seasonality in all sub-basins differ in timing and magnitude. The highest mean annual ET was found in the northern Rio Negro basin (~ 1497 mm year−1) and the lowest values in the Solimões River basin (~ 986 mm year−1). For the first time in a basin-scale study, using observational data, we show that factors limiting ET vary across climatic gradients in the Amazon, confirming local-scale eddy covariance studies. Both annual mean and seasonality in ET are driven by a combination of energy and water availability, as neither rainfall nor radiation alone could explain patterns in ET. In southern basins, despite seasonal rainfall deficits, deep root water uptake allows increasing rates of ET during the dry season, when radiation is usually higher than in the wet season. We demonstrate contrasting ET seasonality with satellite greenness across Amazon forests, with strong asynchronous relationships in ever-wet watersheds, and positive correlations observed in seasonally dry watersheds. Finally, we compared our results with estimates obtained by two ET models, and we conclude that neither of the two tested models could provide a consistent representation of ET seasonal patterns across the Amazon.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 439-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Eiji Maeda ◽  
Xuanlong Ma ◽  
Fabien Hubert Wagner ◽  
Hyungjun Kim ◽  
Taikan Oki ◽  
...  

Abstract. Evapotranspiration (ET) of Amazon forests is a main driver of regional climate patterns and an important indicator of ecosystem functioning. Despite its importance, the seasonal variability of ET over Amazon forests, and its relationship with environmental drivers, is still poorly understood. In this study, we carry out a water balance approach to analyse seasonal patterns in ET and their relationships with water and energy drivers over five sub-basins across the Amazon Basin. We used in situ measurements of river discharge, and remotely sensed estimates of terrestrial water storage, rainfall, and solar radiation. We show that the characteristics of ET seasonality in all sub-basins differ in timing and magnitude. The highest mean annual ET was found in the northern Rio Negro basin (∼ 1497 mm year−1) and the lowest values in the Solimões River basin (∼ 986 mm year−1). For the first time in a basin-scale study, using observational data, we show that factors limiting ET vary across climatic gradients in the Amazon, confirming local-scale eddy covariance studies. Both annual mean and seasonality in ET are driven by a combination of energy and water availability, as neither rainfall nor radiation alone could explain patterns in ET. In southern basins, despite seasonal rainfall deficits, deep root water uptake allows increasing rates of ET during the dry season, when radiation is usually higher than in the wet season. We demonstrate contrasting ET seasonality with satellite greenness across Amazon forests, with strong asynchronous relationships in ever-wet watersheds, and positive correlations observed in seasonally dry watersheds. Finally, we compared our results with estimates obtained by two ET models, and we conclude that neither of the two tested models could provide a consistent representation of ET seasonal patterns across the Amazon.


2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-35
Author(s):  
Octavio Sánchez ◽  
Mauricio Quesada ◽  
Rodolfo Dirzo ◽  
Carl D. Schlichting

AbstractSeasonally dry tropical forests (SDTFs) stand out by the diversity of phenological patterns used by plants to deal with dry periods. Although the predominant phenological pattern is dry deciduousness, in Mesoamerican SDTFs the heliophilous tree species Bonellia (formerly Jacquinia) nervosa displays an unusual inverted leaf phenology, producing and holding leaves through the dry season while becoming deciduous in the rainy season. Applying a dry season irrigation field experiment (no water, low watering, high watering), we studied the consequences of contrasting water availability from a phenological plasticity response perspective. Contrary to our expectations, our results show no effect of irrigation treatment on leaf phenology. In addition, mid-day twig water potential showed no significant differences across treatments, but reproductive phenological responses varied among treatments: canopy flowering per cent decreased gradually until the beginning of the wet season in all treatments; meanwhile canopy fruit per cent showed a significant decline under low irrigation. Finally, non-structural carbohydrate concentration (starch) was significantly higher in the high irrigation treatment. Our results showed that inverted leaf phenology remains unaffected regardless of supplemental water availability, and suggest a reallocation of non-structural carbohydrates to fruits and seeds in high-irrigation treatments. Given the current and expected increase in extreme drought events, investigations on the responses of trees of different phenologies, including those of inverted leafing such as Bonellia nervosa, are warranted.


2001 ◽  
Vol 126 (5) ◽  
pp. 638-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Raviv ◽  
J. Heinrich Lieth ◽  
David W. Burger ◽  
Rony Wallach

Physical characteristics of two media were studied concerning water availability to roots, as reflected in specific transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, and specific growth rate of very young leaflets of `Kardinal' rose (Rosa ×hybrida L.), grafted on Rosa canina L. `Natal Brier'. Plants were grown in UC mix [42% composted fir bark, 33% peat, and 25% sand (by volume)] or in coconut coir. Water release curves of the media were developed and hydraulic conductivities were calculated. Irrigation pulses were actuated according to predetermined media moisture tensions. Transpiration rate of plants was measured gravimetrically using load cells. Specific transpiration rate (STR) was calculated from these data and leaf area. STR and stomatal conductance were also determined using a steady-state porometer. Specific growth rate (RSG) of young leaflets was calculated from the difference between metabolic heat rate and respiration rate, which served as an indicator for growth potential. Low STR values found at tensions between 0 and 1.5 kPa in UC mix suggest this medium has insufficient free air space for proper root activity within this range. Above 2.3 kPa, unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of UC mix was lower than that of coir, possibly lowering STR values of UC mix-grown plants. As a result of these two factors, STR of plants grown in coir was 20% to 30% higher than that of plants grown in UC mix. STR of coir-grown plants started to decline only at tensions around 4.5 kPa. Yield (number of flowers produced) by coir-grown plants was 19% higher than UC mix-grown plants. This study demonstrated the crucial role of reaching sufficient air-filled porosity in the medium shortly after irrigation. It also suggests that hydraulic conductivity is a more representative measure of water availability than tension.


Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 1249
Author(s):  
Carolina Álvarez-Maldini ◽  
Manuel Acevedo ◽  
Manuel Pinto

As a consequence of climate change, water scarcity has increased the use of the iso-/anisohydric concept with the aim of identifying anisohydric or drought-tolerant genotypes. Recently, Meinzer and colleagues developed a metric for discriminating between iso- and anisohydric behavior called the hydroscape, which describes a range in which stomata control leaf water potential (Ψ) with decreasing water availability, and it is linked to several water-regulation and drought-tolerance traits. Thus, our objective was to test the usefulness of the hydroscape in discriminating between iso- and anisohydric Prunus dulcis cultivars, a species that is widely cultivated in Mediterranean central Chile due to its ability to withstand water stress. Through a pot desiccation experiment, we determined that the hydroscape was able to discriminate between two contrasting Prunus cultivars; the more anisohydric cultivar had a hydroscape 4.5 times greater than that of the other cultivar, and the hydroscape correlated with other metrics of plant water-use strategies, such as the maximum range of daily Ψ variation and the Ψ at stomatal closure. Moreover, the photosynthesis rates were also differently affected between cultivars. The more isohydric cultivar, which had a smaller hydroscape, displayed a steeper photosynthesis reduction at progressively lower midday Ψ. This methodology could be further used to identify drought-tolerant anisohydric Prunus cultivars.


HortScience ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter R. Hicklenton ◽  
Julia Y. Reekie ◽  
Robert J. Gordon ◽  
David C. Percival

Seasonal patterns of CO2 assimilation (ACO2), leaf water potential (ψ1) and stomatal conductance (g1) were studied in three clones (`Augusta', `Brunswick', and `Chignecto') of lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium Ait.) over two growing seasons. Plants were managed in a 2-year cycle of fruiting (year 1) and burn-prune (year 2). In the fruiting year, ACO2 was lowest in mid-June and early September. Rates peaked between 10 and 31 July and declined after fruit removal in late August. Compared with the fruiting year, ACO2 in the prune year was between 50% and 130% higher in the early season, and between 80% and 300% higher in mid-September. In both years, however, mid-season maximum ACO2 for each clone was between 9 and 10 μmol·m–2·s–1CO2. Assimilation of CO2 increased with increasing photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) to between 500 and 600 μmol·s–1·m–2 in `Augusta' and `Brunswick', and to between 700 and 800 μmol·s–1·m–2 in `Chignecto'. Midday ψ1 was generally lower in the prune year than in the fruiting year, reflecting year-to-year differences in soil water content. Stomatal conductance (g1), however, was generally higher in the prune year than in the fruiting year over similar vapor pressure deficit (VPD) ranges, especially in June and September when prune year g1 was often twice that observed in the fruiting year. In the fruiting year, g1 declined through the day in response to increasing VPD in June, but was quite constant in mid-season. It tended to be higher in `Augusta' than in the other two clones. Stomatal closure imposes limitations on ACO2 in lowbush blueberries, but not all seasonal change in C-assimilative capacity can be explained by changes in g1.


HortScience ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 501c-501
Author(s):  
Andrés A. Estrada-Luna ◽  
Jonathan N. Egilla ◽  
Fred T. Davies

The effect of mycorrhizal fungi on gas exchange of micropropagated guava plantlets (Psidium guajava L.) during acclimatization and plant establishment was determined. Guava plantlets (Psidium guajava L. cv. `Media China') were asexually propagated through tissue culture and acclimatized in a glasshouse for eighteen weeks. Half of the plantlets were inoculated with ZAC-19, which is a mixed isolate containing Glomus etunicatum and an unknown Glomus spp. Plantlets were fertilized with modified Long Ashton nutrient solution containing 11 (g P/ml. Gas exchange measurements included photosynthetic rate (A), stomatal conductance (gs), internal CO2 concentration (Ci), transpiration rate (E), water use efficiency (WUE), and vapor pressure deficit (VPD). Measurements were taken at 2, 4, 8 and 18 weeks after inoculation using a LI-6200 portable photosynthesis system (LI-COR Inc. Lincoln, Neb., USA). Two weeks after inoculation, noninoculated plantlets had greater A compared to mycorrhizal plantlets. However, 4 and 8 weeks after inoculation, mycorrhizal plantlets had greater A, gs, Ci and WUE. At the end of the experiment gas exchange was comparable between noninoculated and mycorrhizal plantlets.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Kurtzman ◽  
Beeri Kanner ◽  
Yehuda Levy ◽  
Ido Nitsan ◽  
Asher Bar-Tal

<p>Reducing nitrate leaching from agricultural land to aquifers is a high priority concern for more than a half a century. Theory and observations of a threshold concentration of nitrate in the root-zone (Cmax), from which the leachate concentration increases at higher rates with increasing root-zone nitrate concentration, are presented. Cmax is derived both by direct results from container experiments with varying nitrogen (N) fertigation, and as calibration parameter in N-transport models beneath commercial agricultural plots. For five different crops, Cmax ranged between 20-45 mg/l of NO<sub>3</sub>-N derived from experiments and models. However, for lettuce, which was irrigated with a large leaching fraction, a Cmax could not be defined. For the crops irrigated and fertilized in the warm/dry season (corn and citrus) experiments show a dramatic change in leachate concentrations and simulations reveal a wide range of sensitivity of leachate NO<sub>3</sub>-N concentration to Cmax. Annual crops that are irrigated and fertilized in the cool/wet season (e.g. potato in Mediterranean climate) showed a distinct Cmax yet less dramatic than the summer-irrigated crops in the container experiment, and smaller impact of Cmax in models. Simulations showed that for summer-irrigated crops maintaining fertigation at C<Cmax has a significant effect on deep leachate concentrations, whereas for the winter annual crops the simulations revealed no threshold. It is suggested that for summer-irrigated crops fertigation below Cmax robustly serves the co-sustainability of intensive agriculture and aquifer water quality, for the winter crops it is suggested but benefits are not robust. For short season, small root-system crops (lettuce) efforts should be made to detach the crop from the soil.</p>


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Anav ◽  
Chiara Proietti ◽  
Laurent Menut ◽  
Stefano Carnicelli ◽  
Alessandra De Marco ◽  
...  

Abstract. Soil moisture and water stress play a pivotal role in regulating stomatal behaviour of plants; however, in the last decade, the role of water availability was often neglected in atmospheric chemistry modelling studies as well as in integrated risk assessments, despite through stomata plants remove a large amount of atmospheric compounds from the lower troposphere. The main aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of soil water limitation on stomatal conductance and assess the resulting changes in atmospheric chemistry testing various hypotheses of water uptake by plants in the rooting zone; following the main assumption that roots maximize water uptake, i.e. they adsorb water at different soil depths depending on the water availability, we improve the dry deposition scheme within the chemistry transport model CHIMERE. Results highlight how dry deposition significantly declines when soil moisture is used to regulate the stomatal opening, mainly in the semi-arid environments: in particular, over Europe the amount of ozone removed by dry deposition in one year without considering any soil water limitation to stomatal conductance is about 8.5 Tg O3, while using a dynamic layer that ensures plants to maximize the water uptake from soil, we found a reduction of about 10 % in the amount of ozone removed by dry deposition (~ 7.7 Tg O3). Despite dry deposition occurs from top of canopy to ground level, it affects the concentration of gases remaining into the lower atmosphere with a significant impact on ozone concentration (up to 4 ppb) extending from the surface to the upper troposphere (up to 650 hPa). Our results shed light on the importance of improving the parameterizations of processes occurring at plant level (i.e. from the soil to the canopy) as they have significant implications on concentration of gases in the lower troposphere.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document