Poplar plantation has the potential to alter the water balance in semiarid Inner Mongolia

Wilske, Burkhard; Lü, Nan; Long, Wuqiang; Chen, Shiping; Zha, Tonggang; Liu, Chenfeng; Xu, Wenting; Noormets, Asko; Huang, Jianhui; Wei, Yafen; Chen, Jun; Zhang, Zhiqiang; Ni, Jian; Sun, Ge; Guo, Kirk; McNulty, Steven G.; John, Ranjeet; Han, Xingguo; Lin, Guanghui; Chen, Jiquan

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2009.03.004

Cited by 67 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Nevertheless, many shallow aquifers are located in alluvial planes where important river-aquifer interactions occur (Krause et al, 2007;Langhoff et al, 2006;Mas-Pla et al, 2012;Parkin et al, 2007); the groundwater discharge to these rivers helps maintain the environmental water flow (Krause et al, 2007;Markovic et al, 2013;Parkin et al, 2007). The increase in aquifer evapotranspiration, i.e., aquifer discharge, due to poplar plantations could have the same effect as groundwater pumping, whose impact in river base flows and related ecosystems has already been demonstrated (Wilske et al, 2009;Yin-Phan et al, 2014;Zhang et al, 1999).…”

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confidence: 95%

“…Another common field method to quantify aquifer evapotranspiration (Dahm et al, 2002;Steinwand and Harrington, 2006;Wilske et al, 2009) is the eddy covariance technique, in which the vertical air movement characterises the energy fluxes above the canopy; the calculation is converted to a rate of ET expressed as a quantity per unit of time. However, this method requires expensive equipment and only provides a local estimate of evapotranspiration.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The impact of poplar tree plantations for biomass production on the aquifer water budget and base flow in a Mediterranean basin

Folch

Ferrer

2015

Science of The Total Environment

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confidence: 95%

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confidence: 99%

The impact of poplar tree plantations for biomass production on the aquifer water budget and base flow in a Mediterranean basin

Folch

Ferrer

2015

Science of The Total Environment

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“…SWC was significantly lower in poplar stands than in reed, which is consistent with our first hypothesis. Previous studies have shown that poplar plantations can reduce the water table and desiccate soil in arid and semiarid areas (Chang et al 2006;Wilske et al 2009). Our study clearly showed that poplar plantations also reduced soil water content in wetlands.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The water-pumping effects of fast-growing tree plantations have been clarified in different ecosystems, such as in semiarid areas (Wilske et al 2009;Tan et al 2011) and wetlands (Le Maitre et al 2002;Hernández-Santana et al 2008;Migliavacca et al 2009). For example, poplar plantations have the potential to extract groundwater and to reduce the water table in wetland ecosystems (Migliavacca et al 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, the area in the Dongting Lake wetlands covered by tree plantations increased from 87 km 2 in 1983 to 640 km 2 in 2007 (approximately 26 % of the wetland area), replacing the habitat of native herbaceous species, which were the dominant vegetation in the Dongting Lake wetlands (Xie and Chen 2008). These poplar plantations have provoked serious concern regarding increases in soil desiccation and a reduction in biodiversity (Chang et al 2006;Liang et al 2006;Migliavacca et al 2009;Wilske et al 2009;Yang et al 2009). In the semiarid Loess Plateau, water consumption of poplar decreases with reductions in soil water content (Liang et al 2006), suggesting that soil water loss may also be higher in wetlands due to the saturated conditions in these areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Physiological mechanism for the reduction in soil water in poplar (Populus deltoides) plantations in Dongting Lake wetlands

Qin

Xie

et al. 2013

Wetlands Ecol Manage

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The use of large-scale tree plantations has provoked increasing concern regarding the negative effects on local environments in different ecosystems. However, the physiological mechanism underlying the reduction in soil water by tree plantations in wetlands is not clear. The aims of this study were to investigate the effects of poplar (Populus deltoides) plantations on soil water content and to elucidate the underlying physiological mechanisms. To this end, we conducted a 1-year fixed-plot investigation of soil water content (SWC), plant photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (Gs), transpiration rate (Tr), and water-use efficiency (WUE) of individual leaves of 11-and 5-year-old poplars and of reed (Triarrherca sacchariflora, a native herbaceous plant) in the Dongting Lake wetlands, China. SWC was highest in reed, intermediate in 11-year-old poplar, and lowest in 5-year-old poplar, suggesting that poplar plantations produce a lower soil water content in wetlands. From May to July, Pn was significantly higher in reed than in the two poplar stands, but did not differ between the different-aged poplars. As a whole, Gs and Tr were higher, but WUE was lower, in the poplar stands than in reed during the growing season, indicating that Gs and Tr are the key physiological mechanisms associated with the lower soil water in poplar stands. Relationships among Pn, Gs, and Tr showed positive correlations (P \ 0.01) for each type of vegetation. These data suggest that poplar plantations may cause the transformation of wetlands into dry land due to a lower WUE leading to a massive water loss from soil. This, in turn, would have an influence on community composition and ecosystem function after establishment of the plantations.

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Evapotranspiration over artificially planted shrub communities in the shifting sand dune area of the Tengger Desert, north central China

et al. 2015

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Revegetation is a common method to combat desertification in arid and semi-arid areas worldwide. The objective of this study was to characterize the evapotranspiration (ET) of a 20-year-old revegetated area of the Tengger Desert. During the measurement period from 2009 to 2012, ET was measured by the eddy covariance technique. The result showed that the values for mean daily ET were 0.43, 0.39, 0.43 and 0.59 mm d À1 in 2009-2012, respectively. In the non-growing season, the diurnal ET variation showed a normal distribution with a maximum value occurring at noon, while it showed multimodal distribution trend occurred in a dry day and a unimodal trend in a wet day with a maximum value occurring at noon in the growing season. During the 4-year measurements, despite the large inter-annual variation of precipitation (annual mean precipitation of 164.4 ± 33.5 mm), the water loss through ET (667.5 mm) was almost equal to rainfall (657.8 mm), and the mean of ET/P was 1.01.The annual ET amounts were 153.6, 143.3, 156.2 and 214.4 mm y À1 in 2009-2012, respectively, with corresponding ratio between accumulated ET and precipitation (ET/P) of 1.03, 1.14, 0.82 and 1.12. This indicated that the annual ET amounts can be modified by the soil water storage, which led to water loss through ET exceeding the water input by precipitation in a drier year, and soil water can be replenished in a wetter year. Thus, the vegetation protection system using plantations of xerophyte shrubs in the present study area is a success with a trade-off of acceptable hydrological consequences that deserve to be popularized.

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Poplar plantation has the potential to alter the water balance in semiarid Inner Mongolia

Cited by 67 publications

References 32 publications

The impact of poplar tree plantations for biomass production on the aquifer water budget and base flow in a Mediterranean basin

The impact of poplar tree plantations for biomass production on the aquifer water budget and base flow in a Mediterranean basin

Physiological mechanism for the reduction in soil water in poplar (Populus deltoides) plantations in Dongting Lake wetlands

Evapotranspiration over artificially planted shrub communities in the shifting sand dune area of the Tengger Desert, north central China

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