Comparison of parsimonious dynamic vegetation modelling approaches for semiarid climates

Carbon isotope discrimination, radial growth, and NDVI share spatiotemporal responses to precipitation in Aleppo pine

“…5), more likely due to changes in leaf area rather than changes in leaf chlorophyll content, since the latter would have an opposite effect on  C: leaves with higher photosynthetic activity would show higher water-use efficiency and, thus, lower  13 C (Farquhar and Richards 1984;Cernusak et al 2013). Still, both chlorophyll content and leaf area tend to decrease under drought conditions in P. halepensis (Baquedano and Castillo 2006) and, thus, NDVI might hold a signal from both variables, particularly in drought-prone environments (Pasquato 2013). Hence, the poor agreement between  13 C and NDVI at the temporal scale in the driest sites could be the result of a greater relevance of the chlorophyll content signal controlling NDVI in water-limited environments.…”

On the use of satellite data to calibrate a parsimonious ecohydrological model in ungauged basins

“…First, we used the parsimonious ecohydrological model proposed by Pasquato et al (2015) in an experimental plot located in a semi-arid Mediterranean forest. Due to its simplicity, some processes are neglected in its conceptualization because only the main processes are included.…”

“…The study area was again located mostly in a water-controlled environment because our interest in these ecosystems and, because the used and slightly modified LUEModel (Pasquato, 2015) was originally designed to be used in this kind of environments (nutrients cycle is not simulated, i.e. : nutrients cannot be a limiting factor).…”