A δ18O and δ2H stable water isotope analysis of subalpine forest water sources under seasonal and hydrological stress in the Canadian Rocky Mountains

Subalpine forests are hydrologically important to the function and health of mountain basins. Identifying the specific water sources and the proportions used by subalpine forests is necessary to understand potential impacts to these forests under a changing climate. The recent “Two Water Worlds” hypothesis suggests that trees can favour tightly bound soil water instead of readily available free-flowing soil water. Little is known about the specific sources of water used by subalpine trees Abies lasiocarpa (Subalpine fir) and Picea engelmannii (Engelmann spruce) in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. In this study, stable water isotope (δ¹⁸O and δ²H) samples were obtained from S. fir and Engelmann spruce trees at three points of the growing season in combination with water sources available at time of sampling (snow, vadose zone water, saturated zone water, precipitation). Using the Bayesian Mixing Model, MixSIAR, relative source water proportions were calculated. In the drought summer examined, there was a net loss of water via evapotranspiration from the system. Results highlighted the importance of tightly vadose zone, or bound soil water, to subalpine forests, providing insights of future health under sustained years of drought and net loss in summer growing seasons. This work builds upon concepts from the “Two Water Worlds” hypothesis, showing that subalpine trees can draw from different water sources depending on season and availability. In our case, water use was largely driven by a tension gradient within the soil allowing trees to utilize vadose zone water and saturated zone water at differing points of the growing season.     

Subalpine forest water use behaviour and evapotranspiration during two hydrologically contrasting growing seasons in the Canadian Rockies

Hydrological processes in mountain headwater basins are changing as climate and vegetation change. Interactions between hydrological processes and subalpine forest ecological function are important to mountain water supplies due to their control on evapotranspiration (ET). Improved understanding of the sensitivity of these interactions to seasonal and interannual changes in snowmelt and summer rainfall is needed as these interactions can impact forest growth, succession, health, and susceptibility to wildfire. To better understand this sensitivity, this research examined ET for a sub-alpine forest in the Canadian Rockies over two contrasting growing seasons and quantified the contribution of transpiration (T) from the younger tree population to overall stand ET. The younger population was focused on to permit examination of trees that have grown under the effect of recent climate change and will contribute to treeline migration, and subalpine forest densification and succession. Research sites were located at Fortress Mountain Research Basin, Kananaskis, Alberta, where the subalpine forest examined is composed of Abies lasiocarpa (Subalpine fir) and Picea engelmannii (Engelmann spruce). Seasonal changes in water availability from snowmelt, precipitation, soil moisture reserves yielded stark differences in T and ET between 2016 and 2017. ET was higher in the drier year (2017), which had late snowmelt and lower summer rainfall than in the wetter year (2016) that had lower snowmelt and a rainy summer, highlighting the importance of spring snowmelt recharge of soil moisture. However, stand T of the younger trees (73% of forest population) was greater (64 mm) in 2016 (275 mm summer rainfall) than 2017 (39 mm T, 147 mm summer rainfall), and appears to be sensitive to soil moisture decreases in fall, which are largely a function of summer period rainfall. Relationships between subalpine forest water use and different growing season and antecedent (snowmelt period) hydrological conditions clarify the interactions between forest water use and alpine hydrology, which can lead to better anticipation of the hydrological response of subalpine forest-dominated basins to climate variability and change.     

Seasonal variations and environmental control of water use efficiency in subtropical plantation

To understand the seasonal variations of water use efficiency (WUE) of coniferous plantation in the subtropical monsoon area, the experiment was conducted in 2003 and 2004 which presented two distinguished climatic conditions (severe summer drought in 2003 and normal climatic condition in 2004). The water stress influenced WUE greatly, which caused a special seasonal WUE pattern. WUE reached the minimum in summer drought and the maximum in winter, which was contrary to the variation of gross primary production (GPP) and canopy evaporation (Fw). In winter, GPP and Fw increased along with the increasing of air temperature and vapor pressure deficit (VPD), with the similar increasing rate. However, in drought summer, there was an adverse trend among GPP/Fw and air temperature and VPD, and the decreasing rate of GPP was far larger than that of Fw. In summer, the conservation of WUE was changed because of the environmental factors, resulting in the decreasing WUE. The photosynthesis and transpiration of vegetation were mainly controlled by the environmental factors in winter, and the impact of stomatal regulation was relatively weak. In summer, Fw was mainly controlled by the stomatal closure and GPP by both environmental factors and stomatal closure.     

On the ecohydrology of the Yucatan Peninsula: Evapotranspiration and carbon intake dynamics across an eco‐climatic gradient

The hydrology and productivity of the ecosystems of the Yucatan Peninsula (YP) are highly constrained by two factors: (a) the lack of surface drainage networks due to the existence of a highly permeable and connected karstic aquifer roughly the size of the peninsula and (b) a climatic gradient that leads to a transition from seasonally dry deciduous and sub‐deciduous tropical forests, in the north‐western and central parts of the Peninsula, to evergreen forests, in the southern and eastern parts. As a result, surface water fluxes of the YP are restricted to evapotranspiration (ET) that are tightly coupled to ecosystems health and gross primary productivity (GPP). The magnitude and seasonal variation of these fluxes are sensitive to climatic variability and perturbations caused by extreme events such as droughts and tropical storms that are frequent in the YP. In this study, we assess the spatio‐temporal dynamics of ET and GPP above average dry and wet conditions through time series analyses of 15 years of remotely sensed data from both Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite products. Our results show that ET and GPP follow a regional moisture and temperature gradient that highly controls the distribution of ecosystems within the peninsula. We observe that ET and GPP are in phase with the rainy season in the deciduous forests, but for the evergreen forests, only the GPP is in phase. Additionally, and with the exception of droughts on deciduous ecosystems of the northern part of the YP, the productivity of these ecosystems shows a legacy effect, responding more to a defined trajectory (wetting or drying on the previous years), rather than to punctual extreme climatic events. This has implications on the resilience of these ecosystems to natural perturbations of climate. Comparisons between deciduous and evergreen forest indicate that both types of ecosystems have different plant water use strategies in response to hydrologic variability.     

Understanding of the Common Land Model performance for water and energy fluxes in a farmland during the growing season in Korea

The Common Land Model (CLM) is one of the most widely used land surface models (LSMs) due to the practicality of its simple parameterization scheme and its versatility in embracing a variety of field datasets. The improved assessment of land surface water and energy fluxes using CLM can be an alternative approach for understanding the complex land–atmosphere interactions in data‐limited regions. The understanding of water and energy cycles in a farmland is crucial because it is a dominant land feature in Korea and Asia. However, the applications of CLM to farmland in Korea are in paucity. The simulations of water and energy fluxes by CLM were conducted against those from the tower‐based measurements during the growing season of 2006 at the Haenam site (a farmland site) in Korea without optimization. According to the International Geosphere–Biosphere Programme (IGBP) land cover classification, a homogeneous cropland was selected initially for this study. Although the simulated soil moisture had a similar pattern to that of the observed, the former was relatively drier (at 0·1 m³ m^?3) than the latter. The simulated net radiation showed good agreement with the observed, with a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 41 W m^?2, whereas relatively large discrepancies between the simulation and observation were found in sensible (RMSE of 66 W m^?2) and latent (RMSE of 60 W m^?2) heat fluxes. On the basis of the sensitivity analysis, soil moisture was more receptive to land cover and soil texture parameterizations when compared to soil temperature and turbulent fluxes. Despite the uncertainty in the predictive capability of CLM employed without optimization, the initial performance of CLM suggests usefulness in a data‐limited heterogeneous farmland in Korea. Further studies are required to identify the controls on water and energy fluxes with an improved parameterization. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

鄱阳湖典型洲滩湿地植物水碳稳定同位素与内在水分利用效率变化特征

在极端水文事件频发和人类活动影响加剧的背景下,鄱阳湖水文情势的异常变动给洲滩湿地植物带来了一系列影响。为进一步了解鄱阳湖湿地植物水分利用来源和内在水分利用效率(iWUE)的季节变化规律,揭示优势植物在生长过程中对不同水分变化的适应策略,于2020年12月-2021年5月在鄱阳湖国家级自然保护区蚌湖和修河之间的典型洲滩湿地上设置监测断面,对灰化苔草(Carex cinerascens)、南荻(Triarrhena lutarioriparia)植物样品及其潜在水源样品进行系统采集,测定并分析了水、碳稳定同位素的动态变化特征和指示意义。结果表明,典型洲滩湿地苔草和南荻植物茎水的氢、氧稳定同位素组成没有表现出明显差异,从冬季至春季,植物茎水的δ¹⁸O值总体上均呈现波动富集的变化趋势。苔草在春季生长期iWUE没有表现出明显变化,而南荻在萌发时期iWUE最低,之后的生长期iWUE具有显著的增长趋势。在各潜在水源当中,植物茎水的同位素组成与土层中的重力水最为相近,其次为与根系分布联系密切的土壤水。在春季降水频繁时,来源于降水且埋深较浅的重力水可能是植物利用的主要水源,而在枯水期重力水埋深较深时,植物采取降水和土壤水的混合利用模式应对水分胁迫。植物叶片有机质的δ¹⁸O值分析发现,苔草在萌发生长期iWUE的变化与光合作用能力相关的因素有关,南荻iWUE的变化主要受气孔导度变化的影响。     

Water, heat fluxes and water use efficiency measurement and modeling above a farmland in the North China Plain

Net radiation (Rn), water vapor flux (LE), sensible heat flux (Hs) and soil heat flux (G)were measured above a summer maize field with the eddy-covariance technique, simulation and analysis of water, heat fluxes and crop water use efficiency were made with the RZ-SHAW model at the same time in this study. The results revealed significant diurnal and seasonal variability of water vapor flux for summer maize. Most part of Rn was consumed by the evapotranspiration of the summer maize. The proportion of water vapor flux to net radiation ((LE/Rn) increased with the crop development and peaked around milk-filling stage with a value of 60%, a slightly lower than that obtained by the RZ-SHAW model. Daily evapotranspiration estimated by the model agreed with the results measured with the eddy-covariance technique, indices of agreement (IA) for hourly water vapor fluxes simulated and measured were above 0.75, root mean square errors (RMSE) were no more than 1.0. Diurnal patterns of Hs showed the shape of inverted "U" shifted to the forenoon with a maximum value around 11:30 (Beijing time), while LE exhibited an inverted "V" with a maximum value at around 13:00, about an hour later than Hs. Diurnal change of CO2showed an asymmetrical "V" curve and its maximal rates occurred at about 11:30. Variations of water use efficiency during the phonological stages of the summer maize showed a rapid increase with the photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) after sunrise, a state of equilibrium around 10:00 followed a decrease. Maximum values of water use efficiency were 24.3, and its average value ranged from 7.6 to 10.3 g kg-1.