The potential for deep groundwater use by <scp><i>Acacia papyrocarpa</i></scp> (Western myall) in a water‐limited environment

Steggles, Emma K.; Holland, Kate L.; Chittleborough, David J.; Doudle, Samantha L.; Clarke, Laurence J.; Watling, Jennifer R.

doi:10.1002/eco.1791

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Measurements of plant water relations, such as water potential and stomatal conductance, can indicate if plants have access to sufficient water, and in combination with water isotope data can reveal where plants are obtaining their water (Eamus et al, 2006). Riparian trees often use groundwater (Busch et al, 1992; Snyder & Williams, 2000), however the proportion of groundwater used is variable, depending on the physiological attributes of species, such as root morphology, as well as environmental parameters such as seasonal water availability, soil type and position in the landscape (Lamontagne et al, 2005; Steggles et al, 2017). For example, in northern Australia there is evidence that riparian trees close to the river and at a lower elevation use more groundwater than riparian trees higher in the landscape (O'Grady, Cook, et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of regional and alluvial groundwater by riparian trees in the wet‐dry tropics of northern Australia

Canham

Duvert

Beesley

et al. 2021

Hydrological Processes

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Riparian trees play a critical role in the ecological function of rivers, yet are threatened by anthropogenic change to the hydrological cycle. Identifying the sources of water used by riparian trees can inform sustainable water policy. We used isotopic analysis complemented by measurements of plant water relations to assess water sources for riparian trees at two sites with contrasting hydrogeological processes; one with an alluvial aquifer overlaying an aquitard, and one where fault-induced preferential pathways in the aquitard allowed the flow of deeper, older groundwater from a regional aquifer to the alluvium. At both sites, plant water potential, stomatal conductance, and plant water isotope composition in the xylem sap of riparian trees were collected from two landscape positions, the riverbank and floodplain. We used a Bayesian mixing model (MixSIAR) to assess differences in the proportion of water sources for sites and landscape positions. We found that xylem water isotope values differed between the two sites in line with their hydrogeological characteristics, with trees at the regional aquifer site using water sourced from the regional groundwater and trees at the site with only an alluvial aquifer present using a mixture of water sources, with no dominant source identified. Higher plant predawn water potential values at the regional site indicated greater water availability and support the inference that plants were using more groundwater at the regional site compared to the alluvial site. Trees closer to the river had higher isotope values, indicative of surficial water sources i.e. shallow soil water and river water. Our findings show that the water sources used by riparian trees reflect local hydrogeology and resource availability. Water managers should identify and protect plant water sources to ensure maintenance of riparian trees.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of regional and alluvial groundwater by riparian trees in the wet‐dry tropics of northern Australia

Canham

Duvert

Beesley

et al. 2021

Hydrological Processes

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“…Deep soil moisture continues to be consumed with increasing forest age due to increased transpiration as the plants grow, but these plants tend to degrade when the initial water supply is depleted [ 33 , 34 ]. The results showed that the soil moisture at 200–400 cm decreased continuously after 11 years of growth, and it was difficult to maintain the rapid growth of Haloxylon ammodendron plantations with the shallow water added by precipitation after maturity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Process of Soil Desiccation under Haloxylon ammodendron Plantations: A Case Study of the Alxa Legue Desert, China

Zhou

et al. 2022

Plants

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Haloxylon ammodendron is a desert shrub widely used as a windbreak and for sand fixation, and it has achieved remarkable results in China. However, in desert areas, large-scale afforestation increases soil water consumption and forms a dried soil layer (DSL), the development of which seriously threatens the sustainable development of the ecosystem. In this study, soil moisture in the 0–400 cm soil profile was measured in selected 5-, 11-, 22-, 34-, and 46-year-old plantations of Haloxylon ammodendron plantations in Alxa Legue, China, and three soil desiccation evaluation indices were calculated—the soil desiccation index (SDI), DSL thickness (DSLT), and DSL soil water content (DSL-SWC)—to analyze the change pattern of the soil water content for different stand ages. The results showed that the shallow water layer (0–200 cm) was depleted sharply in the first five years of Haloxylon ammodendron plantation growth, but no DSL developed; the inflection point of soil water content change appeared after 10 years of growth, after which the shallow soil water was depleted and the drying process of the deep soil water content was significantly faster than that in the early growth period. The deep soil layer (200–400 cm) was depleted seriously after 22 years of afforestation, the soil drying phenomenon was obvious, and the DSL developed from the 172 cm soil layer. After 46 years of afforestation, the DSL was fully developed and the DSL-SWC was only 0.034 cm3 cm−3. Priority should thus be given to the use of less water-consuming shrub species; alternatively, after 5 years of growth of Haloxylon ammodendron plantations, certain water control measures should be taken to maintain the soil water balance.

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“…Tree death due to prolonged wet conditions is well recorded in humid ecosystems (Assahira et al, 2017;Tzeng et al, 2018) and to that end extreme humidity can act as a stressor. Nevertheless our understanding of the use of surface vs. groundwater by deep rooted trees in more arid ecosystems is limited (Steggles et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Data-driven competitive facilitative tree interactions and their implications on nature-based solutions

Moustakas

Daliakopoulos

Benton

2019

Science of The Total Environment

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Spatio-temporal data are more ubiquitous and richer than even before and the availability of such data poses great challenges in data analytics. Ecological facilitation, the positive effect of density of individuals on the individual's survival across a stress gradient, is a complex phenomenon. A large number of tree individuals coupled with soil moisture, temperature, and water stress data across a long temporal period were followed. Data-driven analysis in the absence of hypothesis was performed. Information theoretic analysis of multiple statistical models was employed in order to quantify the best data-driven index of vegetation density and spatial scale of interactions. Sequentially, tree survival was quantified as a function of the size of the individual, vegetation density, and time at the optimal spatial interaction scale. Land surface temperature and soil moisture were also statistically explained by tree size, density, and time. Results indicated that in space both facilitation and competition co-exist in the same ecosystem and the sign and magnitude of this depend on the spatial scale. Overall, within the optimal data-driven spatial scale, tree survival was best explained by the interaction between density and year, sifting overall from facilitation to competition through time. However, small sized trees were always facilitated by increased densities, while large sized trees had either negative or no density effects. Tree size was more important predictor than density in survival and this has implications for nature-based solutions: maintaining large tree individuals or planting species that can become large-sized can safeguard against tree-less areas by promoting survival at long time periods through harsh environmental conditions. Large trees had also a significant effect in moderating land surface temperature and this effect was higher than the one of vegetation density on temperature.

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The potential for deep groundwater use by Acacia papyrocarpa (Western myall) in a water‐limited environment

Cited by 5 publications

References 32 publications

The use of regional and alluvial groundwater by riparian trees in the wet‐dry tropics of northern Australia

The use of regional and alluvial groundwater by riparian trees in the wet‐dry tropics of northern Australia

The Process of Soil Desiccation under Haloxylon ammodendron Plantations: A Case Study of the Alxa Legue Desert, China

Data-driven competitive facilitative tree interactions and their implications on nature-based solutions

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