The Weierbach experimental catchment in Luxembourg: A decade of critical zone monitoring in a temperate forest ‐ from hydrological investigations to ecohydrological perspectives

Hissler, Christophe; Martínez‐Carreras, Núria; Barnich, François; Laurent, Gautier; Iffly, Jean François; Juilleret, Jérôme; Klaus, Julian; Pfister, Laurent

doi:10.1002/hyp.14140

Cited by 25 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 20 publications

(32 reference statements)

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“…The Weierbach is a 0.44 km 2 large experimental headwater catchment, nested in the Colpach catchment and located in Luxembourg (Hissler et al, 2021). The catchment is characterized by coarse-grained and highly permeable soils and a slate bedrock (Ardennes massif).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Weierbach catchment is entirely forested and dominated (>70%) by deciduous beech trees (Fagus sylvatica) and oak trees (Quercus spec). A detailed description of the Weierbach catchment and a comprehensive open access hydrological data set can be found in Hissler et al (2021). The Colpach is the parenting catchment of the Weierbach, located in the same hydro-pedological area and characterized by a similar runoff generation and formation (Loritz et al 2019), but it comprises a larger variety of land cover types (65 % forest, 35 % agriculture).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Leveraging sap flow data in a catchment-scale hybrid model to improve soil moisture and transpiration estimates

Loritz

Bassiouni

Hildebrandt

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Abstract. Sap flow encodes information about how plants regulate opening and closing of stomata in response to varying soil water supply and atmospheric water demand. This study leverages this valuable information with data-model integration and deep learning to estimate canopy conductance in a hybrid catchment-scale model for more accurate hydrological simulations. Using data from three consecutive growing seasons, we first highlight that integrating canopy conductance inferred from sap flow data in a hydrological model leads to more realistic soil moisture estimates than using the conventional Jarvis-Stewart equation, particularly during drought conditions. The applicability of this first approach is, however, limited to the period where sap flow data are available. To overcome this limitation, we subsequently train a deep learning network to predict catchment-averaged sap velocities based on standard hourly meteorological data. These simulated velocities are then used to estimate canopy conductance, allowing simulations for periods without sap flow data. We show that the hybrid model, which uses the canopy conductance from the machine learning approach, matches soil moisture and transpiration equally well as model runs using observed sap flow data and has good potential for extrapolation beyond the study site. We conclude that such hybrid approaches open promising perspectives for more parsimonious process parametrizations by improving our ability to incorporate novel or untypical data sets into hydrological models.

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Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Leveraging sap flow data in a catchment-scale hybrid model to improve soil moisture and transpiration estimates

Loritz

Bassiouni

Hildebrandt

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…We selected two experimental plots in the Weierbach catchment located in the Luxembourg Ardennes Massif, which have been monitored for ecohydrological purposes since 2012 (Hissler et al, 2021). The "Be" profile (BeP) shows a deciduous cover of European beech(Fagus sylvatica L.), while the "Do" profile (DoP) is covered with Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii).…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thanks to the bi-weekly monitoring in place at the Weierbach catchment since 2009 (Hissler et al, 2021), we can rely on the chemical composition of soil solutions collected between 2012 and 2014 at the two sampling locations at 20, 40 and 60 cm depths. The sampling was performed using Teflon/quartz suction cups (SDEC, Reignac-sur-Indre, France) connected to 2L-Nalgene flasks under a vacuum of 0.8 bar.…”

Section: Sampling and Preparationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consequently, this leads to a specific chemical release into the environment depending on the degradation stage of litter and the different tissues among which the elements are distributed. To test our hypothesis, we designed a field experiment in the forested Weierbach experimental 110 catchment (Hissler et al, 2021), relying on a series of biogeochemical tracersincluding concentrations of Na, Mg, K, Ca, Mn, Fe, Pb, Al and REE measured in fresh leaves and different litter fractions (sorted by degradation degree) of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and European beech (Fagus Sylvatica L.) grown on the same soil. Moreover, we carried out leaching experiments on these samples with ultrapure water (MilliQ) release may affect soil solution chemistry.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dynamics of Rare Earths and associated major and trace elements during Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) litter degradation

Montemagno

Hissler

Bense

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Abstract. Given the diverse physico-chemical properties of elements, we hypothesize that their incoherent distribution across the leaf tissues, combined with the distinct resistance to degradation that each tissue exhibits, leads to distinct turnover rates between elements. Moreover, litter layers of different ages produce diverse chemical signatures in solution during the wet degradation. To verify our hypothesis, Na, K, Mg, Mn, Ca, Pb, Al and Fe were analysed together with the Rare Earth Elements (REE) in the solid fractions and in the respective leachates of fresh leaves and different humus layers of two forested soils developed under Pseudotsuga menziesii and Fagus sylvatica L. trees. The results from the leaching experiment were also compared to the in situ REE composition of the soil solutions to clarify the impact that the litter degradation processes may have on soil solution chemical compositions. Our results clearly show that REE, Al, Fe and Pb were preferentially retained in the solid litter material, in comparison to the other cations, and that their concentrations increased over time during the litter degradation. Accordingly, different litter fractions produced different yields of elements and REE patterns in the leachates, indicating that the tree species and the age of the litter play a role in the chemical release during the degradation. In particular, the evolution of the REE patterns according to the age of the litter layers allowed us to deliver new findings on REE fractionation and mobilization during litter degradation. In particular, the LaN/YbN ratio highlights differences in litter degradation intensity between both tree species, which was not shown with major cations. We finally showed the primary control effect that litter degradation can have on the REE composition of the soil solution, which presents a positive Ce anomaly associated with the dissolution and/or transportation of Ce-enriched MnO2 particles accumulated onto the surface of the old litter due to white fungi activity. Similar MREE and HREE enrichments were also found in the leachates and the soil solution, probably due to their higher affinity to the organic acids, which represent the primary products from the organic matter degradation.

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Transpiration patterns and water use strategies of beech and oak trees along a hillslope

et al. 2021

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The role of landscape topography in mediating subsurface water availability and ultimately tree transpiration is still poorly understood. To assess how hillslope position affects tree water use, we coupled sap velocity with xylem isotope measurements in a temperate beech-oak forest along a hillslope transect in Luxembourg. We generally observed greater sap velocities at the upslope locations in trees from average-sized trees, suggesting the presence of more suited growing conditions. We found a lower difference in sap velocity among hillslope positions for larger trees, likely due to the exploitation of deeper and more persistent water sources and the larger canopy light interception. Beech trees exploited a shallower and seasonally less persistent water source than oak trees, due to the shallower root system than oak trees. The different water exploitation strategy could also explain the stronger stomatal sensitivity of beech to vapour pressure deficit compared to oak trees. Xylem isotopic composition was seasonally variable at all locations, mainly reflecting the contribution of variable soil water sources and suggesting that groundwater did not contribute, or only marginally contributed, to tree transpiration. Overall, our results suggest that trees along the hillslope mainly rely on water stored in the unsaturated zone and that seasonally shallow groundwater table may not necessarily subsidize water uptake for species that do not tolerate anoxic conditions. Contrary to previous studies, at our site, we did not find higher sap velocity downslope as the subsurface hillslope structure promotes vertical water flux over lateral redistribution in the vadose zone.

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The Weierbach experimental catchment in Luxembourg: A decade of critical zone monitoring in a temperate forest ‐ from hydrological investigations to ecohydrological perspectives

Cited by 25 publications

References 20 publications

Leveraging sap flow data in a catchment-scale hybrid model to improve soil moisture and transpiration estimates

Leveraging sap flow data in a catchment-scale hybrid model to improve soil moisture and transpiration estimates

Dynamics of Rare Earths and associated major and trace elements during Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) litter degradation

Transpiration patterns and water use strategies of beech and oak trees along a hillslope

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