Water‐storage capacity controls energy partitioning and water use in karst ecosystems on the Edwards Plateau, Texas

Heilman, J. L.; Litvak, M. E.; McInnes, Kevin J.; Kjelgaard, Jim; Kamps, Ray H.; Schwinning, Susanne

doi:10.1002/eco.1327

Cited by 63 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…When we normalize the recharge rates by the observed precipitation amounts we find that water availability is not the only control on mean annual recharge volumes. A strong relation of evapotranspiration and karst characteristics and processes was shown in many studies and is also found here (Heilman et al, 2014;Jukic and Denic-Jukic, 2008). Potential evaporation is generally increasing from north to south and has an important impact on recharge rates as well, for instance in the Arabian Peninsula and the Alps.…”

Section: Realism Of Spatial Patternsmentioning

confidence: 75%

A large-scale simulation model to assess karstic groundwater recharge over Europe and the Mediterranean

et al. 2015

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Abstract. Karst develops through the dissolution of carbonate rock and is a major source of groundwater contributing up to half of the total drinking water supply in some European countries. Previous approaches to model future water availability in Europe are either too-small scale or do not incorporate karst processes, i.e. preferential flow paths. This study presents the first simulations of groundwater recharge in all karst regions in Europe with a parsimonious karst hydrology model. A novel parameter confinement strategy combines a priori information with recharge-related observations (actual evapotranspiration and soil moisture) at locations across Europe while explicitly identifying uncertainty in the model parameters. Europe's karst regions are divided into four typical karst landscapes (humid, mountain, Mediterranean and desert) by cluster analysis and recharge is simulated from 2002 to 2012 for each karst landscape. Mean annual recharge ranges from negligible in deserts to > 1 m a −1 in humid regions. The majority of recharge rates range from 20 to 50 % of precipitation and are sensitive to subannual climate variability. Simulation results are consistent with independent observations of mean annual recharge and significantly better than other global hydrology models that do not consider karst processes (PCR-GLOBWB, WaterGAP). Global hydrology models systematically under-estimate karst recharge implying that they over-estimate actual evapotranspiration and surface runoff. Karst water budgets and thus information to support management decisions regarding drinking water supply and flood risk are significantly improved by our model.

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Section: Realism Of Spatial Patternsmentioning

confidence: 75%

A large-scale simulation model to assess karstic groundwater recharge over Europe and the Mediterranean

et al. 2015

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“…These high values may be explained by structural errors of the model that result in unrealistic calibrated parameter values, in particular possible parameter interactions between their storage capacities and storage coefficients. Since the soil and the vegetation controls the fraction of rain that is lost to evapotranspiration, this high calibrated value might be due to tree roots ranging through the soil into the epikarst (Heilman et al, 2012) or rock debris (Hartmann et al, 2012a). Similar to the epikarst storage constant, the conduit storage constant, K C , is, with its value of 1.1 days, in the range of previous modelling studies (Fleury et al, 2007;Hartmann et al, 2013a).…”

Section: Reliability Of Calibrated Parameters and Model Simulationsmentioning

confidence: 85%

Model-aided quantification of dissolved carbon and nitrogen release after windthrow disturbance in an Austrian karst system

et al. 2016

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Abstract. Karst systems are important for drinking water supply. Future climate projections indicate increasing temperature and a higher frequency of strong weather events. Both will influence the availability and quality of water provided from karst regions. Forest disturbances such as windthrow can disrupt ecosystem cycles and cause pronounced nutrient losses from the ecosystems. In this study, we consider the time period before and after the wind disturbance period (2007/08) to identify impacts on DIN (dissolved inorganic nitrogen) and DOC (dissolved organic carbon) with a process-based flow and solute transport simulation model. When calibrated and validated before the disturbance, the model disregards the forest disturbance and its consequences on DIN and DOC production and leaching. It can therefore be used as a baseline for the undisturbed system and as a tool for the quantification of additional nutrient production. Our results indicate that the forest disturbance by windthrow results in a significant increase of DIN production lasting ∼ 3.7 years and exceeding the pre-disturbance average by 2.7 kg ha −1 a −1 corresponding to an increase of 53 %. There were no significant changes in DOC concentrations. With simulated transit time distributions we show that the impact on DIN travels through the hydrological system within some months. However, a small fraction of the system outflow (< 5 %) exceeds mean transit times of > 1 year.

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“…The modelling of soil water dynamics enabled us to demonstrate how differences in soil characteristics determined the course of soil water availability over time and impacted NPP dynamics (Seyfried & Wilcox ; Heilman et al . ). We showed that spring biomass production, which represented the largest contribution to NPP in this Mediterranean rangeland, systematically decreased with decreasing soil depth (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Does water shortage generate water stress? An ecohydrological approach across Mediterranean plant communities

et al. 2017

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The interactions between hydrological and ecological processes are key issues to improve our predictions of ecosystem responses to increasing droughts. However, predicting the dynamics and the impacts of vegetation water stress remains challenging because of complex ecohydrological feedbacks. The ecohydrological optimality approach proposes that functional adjustments within plant communities may buffer the increase in vegetation water stress despite local water shortage. This study aimed to test whether vegetation water stress may be invariant across contrasting plant communities, reflecting possible optimality processes. We addressed the following question: does a lower soil water storage capacity under the same climate generate greater vegetation water stress over time? We hypothesized that vegetation water stress would be buffered around a low and constant level through the adjustment of vegetation biomass productivity net primary productivity (NPP), evapotranspiration (ET) and/or water-use efficiency (WUE) in relation with local soil water storage capacity. We monitored 12 native plant communities distributed along a gradient of soil water storage capacity (ranging from 20 mm to 120 mm) during five successive years. Net primary productivity, ET, WUE as well as soil water dynamics were assessed and modelled for each plant community throughout the 5 years of study. Vegetation water stress was determined for each plant community as the deviation of between actual ET and their maximum ETm rate achieved under non-limiting conditions. We found that NPP and ET were together proportionally related to local soil water storage capacity across the 5 years of study while WUE did not differ between plant communities. Vegetation water stress was found quite similar for all plant communities whatever the soil water storage capacity. These results suggested that vegetation water stress was strongly buffered by the community-level plant growth rates and total water use along the soil gradient, but not by WUE. Our results suggest that stressful environments rarely exist for plant communities. A dynamic scaling relationship between NPP and ET may underpin the control of vegetation water stress over seasonal and pluriannual time-scales. Such results could contribute to better understanding processes associated with ecohydrological optimality and improve the predictions of vegetation dynamics under increasing droughts. (Résumé d'auteur

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Water‐storage capacity controls energy partitioning and water use in karst ecosystems on the Edwards Plateau, Texas

Cited by 63 publications

References 62 publications

A large-scale simulation model to assess karstic groundwater recharge over Europe and the Mediterranean

A large-scale simulation model to assess karstic groundwater recharge over Europe and the Mediterranean

Model-aided quantification of dissolved carbon and nitrogen release after windthrow disturbance in an Austrian karst system

Does water shortage generate water stress? An ecohydrological approach across Mediterranean plant communities

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