Water provisioning services in a seasonally dry subtropical mountain: Identifying priority landscapes for conservation

Cingolani, Ana M.; Poca, María; Giorgis, Melisa A.; Vaieretti, María Victoria; Gurvich, Diego E.; Whitworth‐Hulse, Juan I.; Renison, Daniel

doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.03.041

Cited by 29 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…This subsurface water probably contributes to valley bottom water storage and slow release into streams during the dry season. These results support the findings from Cingolani et al () in our study area, where they showed that dry season water discharge was higher in catchments with rugged landscapes and high proportion of deep valleys, with presumably deep soils. Longitudinal studies on hydrological connectivity at hillslope scale and streamflow generation are needed for further understanding on the whole‐catchment water transport patterns (Jencso et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

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Water storage dynamics across different types of vegetated patches in rocky highlands of central Argentina

et al. 2018

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Rivers originating in the granitic highlands of seasonally dry central Argentina provide water to 2 million people. These highlands comprise a complex landscape where a matrix of outcropping rock hosts vegetated patches that vary in response to long‐term grazing and fire. We characterized water storage dynamics across 20 sites representing 6 vegetation‐soil conditions with similar mid‐upslope positions in the landscape. We measured temporal and spatial variability of water inputs (rain and fog) and water stored at the unsaturated and saturated zones. We found that rainfall was highly seasonal, but fog occurred year‐round, likely representing an extra water source in areas with complex vegetation structure. Moreover, fog seems to regulate evapotranspiration/topsoil water dynamics. Water was stored in the saturated zone only during the rainy season. Piezometric response to rainfall was rapid but transient (dropping an average 15 cm/day), possibly buffering peak stormflows, reducing sediment yield, and delivering subsurface water downslope for potential storing throughout the year. Spatially, a reduction in soil depth (from 100 up to 9 cm) and vegetation structure (from woodlands to stonelands), with a degradation of topsoil conditions for infiltration were accompanied by a decline in water storage at the unsaturated (from 32% up to 14%) and saturated (from 46.3 up to 0 cm) zones. Taken together, our results support the infiltration trade‐off hypothesis, which states that vegetation structure benefits fog interception, soil properties that enhance water infiltration, subsurface flow paths, and storage. Long‐term disturbances have likely triggered a degradation of the hydrological function of seasonal highlands in central Argentina.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…Mean annual precipitation is 900 mm, concentrated in the warmer months, between October and April (Colladon, ), but the rainy season can be delayed as much as to November in extreme dry years. Potential evapotranspiration is estimated in 576 mm (Cingolani et al, ). Occasional winter snow events cover the soil for a few days a year.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water storage dynamics across different types of vegetated patches in rocky highlands of central Argentina

et al. 2018

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“…Based on our results and previous findings, and taking into consideration that our mountain area is the main reservoir of biodiversity and water in the region (Cingolani et al. ), we suggest three main management recommendations.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

Changes in floristic composition and physiognomy are decoupled along elevation gradients in central Argentina

Giorgis

Cingolani

Gurvich

et al. 2017

Applied Vegetation Science

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Questions Most vegetation descriptions tacitly assume that floristic composition and physiognomy are tightly linked. However, the two vegetation properties may not respond in a similar way to environmental and disturbance gradients, leading to uninformed management planning and difficulties when attempting to restore degraded ecosystems. In this context, we addressed two main questions: (1) how close are relations between floristic and physiognomic types as defined by numerical vegetation classification in mountain ecosystems; and (2) how are floristic and physiognomic types distributed along the elevation gradient? Location Central mountains of Argentina, between 500 and 1700 m a.s.l. Methods We selected 437 sites where we performed complete floristic and physiognomic relevés. We classified eight physiognomic and eight floristic types. We tested the relationship between the two classifications through a chi square analysis. We tested the association between elevation and each physiognomic and floristic type with random permutations. Results In general, floristic types were significantly and positively associated with more than one physiognomic type and vice versa. Physiognomic and floristic types responded differently to the elevation gradient. Floristic types were restricted to different sections of the gradient, although having large overlap among them. In contrast, seven out of the eight physiognomic types did not show elevation restriction, being distributed along the complete elevation gradient. The open low woodland with shrubs was the only restricted physiognomy, significantly absent from the upper part of the gradient. Conclusions We highlight the importance of considering the two vegetation properties independently when characterizing vegetation patterns in heterogeneous systems, since they show decoupled responses to environmental gradients. We note that the assumption of a direct link between floristic composition and physiognomy may induce bias into the understanding of vegetation patterns and processes. Hence, we encourage managers and restoration practitioners to consider the complete range of possible physiognomic types under each floristic type.

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“…During these years, annual precipitation was lower than the long-term average, summing 799 and 730 mm for 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 hydrologic years, respectively (Cingolani et al 2015). We performed our study selecting individual plants of 14 native species from sites with contrasting grazing regimes (i.e.…”

Section: Species Selection and Field Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does grazing induce intraspecific trait variation in plants from a sub-humid mountain ecosystem?

et al. 2016

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Livestock grazing represents an important human disturbance for vegetation worldwide. We analysed the intraspecific differences in mean trait values between different grazing regimes (ungrazed and grazed) and explored whether these differences are consistent across species in a sub-humid mountain ecosystem in Central Argentina. We selected 14 species of eight different families, co-occurring in both regimes and comprising herbaceous (grasses and forbs) and woody (shrubs and trees) plants. For each species and grazing regime we measured 12 traits related to plant size, carbon fixation and water use. We found that plants in the grazed regime had consistently smaller leaves and shorter stature and internodal length than plants of the same species under the ungrazed regime. For the remaining traits the responses were species-specific. Dry matter content, leaf tensile strength and minimum leaf water potential (Ψ leaf ) showed contrasting responses to grazing. Specific leaf area, wood density and potential water content of wood showed almost no significant responses except for very few species. Neither leaf area per shoot mass nor leaf area per sapwood area differed significantly between grazing regimes. Our study suggested that the intraspecific variation found for the size-related traits would allow species to respond to grazing without modifying markedly other structural traits, a plastic response that might increase the probability of species success.

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Water provisioning services in a seasonally dry subtropical mountain: Identifying priority landscapes for conservation

Cited by 29 publications

References 56 publications

Water storage dynamics across different types of vegetated patches in rocky highlands of central Argentina

Water storage dynamics across different types of vegetated patches in rocky highlands of central Argentina

Changes in floristic composition and physiognomy are decoupled along elevation gradients in central Argentina

Does grazing induce intraspecific trait variation in plants from a sub-humid mountain ecosystem?

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