Model-based analysis of the spatial variability and long-term trends of soil drought at Scots pine stands in northeastern Germany

Abstract

Soil water availability determines the vitality of trees and forest stands to a large degree. Over the last decades, an increasing number of drought spells has been observed in several parts of Europe. Our study aims to estimate long-term trends of soil drought at Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stands along the prevailing climatic gradient in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, northeastern Germany. To this end, soil water balance simulations were carried out at 24 sites over the period from 1951 to 2009 with the physically based model LWF-BROOK90. As a threshold for soil water stress, we used 40% of relative extractable water (REW). The results indicated an increased number of drought days further east, together with declining totals of precipitation. However, specific site conditions had a large influence on the occurrence of soil drought, partly overriding the climatic differences across the study area. Soil drought has distinctly increased in the recent past, both in duration and in intensity, affecting the eastern sites more than the western sites. The increased soil dryness could be attributed to higher atmospheric evaporative demand due to higher temperatures, as well as slightly lower precipitation sums during the summer months. To mitigate the negative effects of future climate change, adaptation measures should preferably be conducted in the eastern parts of northeastern Germany.

The effects of land‐use conversion on evapotranspiration and water balance of subtropical forest and managed tea plantation in Taihu Lake Basin, China

“…The LWFBrook90 model has undergone testing, refinement, and validation over several years by several researchers. Many studies (Baumgarten et al, 2014; Bauwe et al, 2012; Schwärzel et al, 2009) have shown the ability of the LWFBrook90 model to simulate hydrological processes in different ecosystems. This study selected LWFBrook90 model because of its improved performance; it provides submodels for model parameterization and facilitates parallel computing, sensitivity analysis, and inverse calibration of the model.…”

“…The LWFBrook90 model has undergone testing, refinement, and validation over several years by several researchers. Many studies (Baumgarten et al, 2014;Bauwe et al, 2012;Schwärzel et al, 2009)…”

Comparison and Optimization of Water Conservation Function in Natural Forests and Tea Plantations in a Headwater Catchment, Taihu Lake Basin

“…For soil moisture movement, the model uses the Van Genuchten equation and Brooks Corey equation to calculate soil hydraulic parameters, and uses the Darcy Richards equation to simulate soil moisture movement [33]. The LWFBrook90 model exhibits superiority in simulating hydrological processes in different ecosystems because of its improved performance, providing submodels for model parameterization and facilitating parallel computations [33][34][35]. The LWFBrook90 model was also previously applied to successfully simulate the water-balance components of tea plantations and bamboo forests in our study area [9].…”

Tree species composition affects productivity and carbon dynamics of different site types in boreal forests

“…As a consequence, EFIMOD is not able to simulate, for example, the negative effect of drought stress on productivity (Martínez-Vilalta et al 2008;Huang et al 2010;Hartmann 2011;Bauwe et al 2012). We believe that introducing a more detailed ecophysiological model to our simulation experiments will deliver more clarity to this issue.…”