Slope-aspect induced climate differences influence how water is exchanged between the land and atmosphere

Bilir, T. Eren; Fung, Inez; Dawson, Todd E.

doi:10.1002/essoar.10504119.1

Cited by 4 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…While primarily focused on determining the importance of soil type and geomorphology of the region, the study's most prominent finding is that shrubs growing on east and east north east facing slopes had significantly higher total plant volume and distance between neighbors than on any other slope face. Slopes in the region studied by Gearon and Young [2021] were much less steep, on average, than those studied by Bilir et al [2021]. Thus, such an extreme gradient in light environment or available soil moisture would not expected.…”

Section: Microclimate Morphology and Ecosystem Structurementioning

confidence: 75%

“…Yet, during times of soil dry down (soil water content < 4.5%) latent heat flux (LE) as measured by identical abovecanopy eddy covariance systems in each forest is up to 25% greater in the unaltered forest than in the disturbed (Figure 1). In an in silico 'forcing condition swap' between the two sites, similar to that performed by [Bilir et al, 2021], it was shown that these differences were unable to be accounted for by the minor differences in temperature, light, vapor pressure deficit, or soil water conditions between the two forests [Matheny et al, 2014]. The hydraulic strategies, defined as the distinct patterns of water acquisition, storage, and use, of the principle tree species comprising each plot were indicated as the most probable cause for the sustained differences in LE during Figure 1: A comparison of the percent difference in total ecosystem latent heat flux (LE) between the unaltered control forest and the disturbed forest as measured by eddy covariance systems in each stand.…”

Section: Accepted Articlementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nonetheless, these results hold critical implications for ecosystem function and resilience and should be of interest to observationalists and modelers alike. Bilir et al [2021] attribute the madrones' differential responses to microclimate to be primarily due to the relative numbers of sun versus shade adapted leaves grown by trees on each slope. This morphological difference combined with the accompanying stomatal behavior (e.g.…”

Section: Accepted Articlementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Traditional ecological scaling theory states that for an ecosystem at steady-state and receiving uniform insolation, the transpiration flux ought to be invariant [Enquist, 2002]. The work of Bilir et al [2021] demonstrates to a large degree the importance of insolation adaptation for the regulation of transpiration fluxes but also the relative availability of water and its governance of each species' stomatal regulation strategy. Given the numerous potentially limiting controls on transpiration (e.g.…”

Section: Accepted Articlementioning

confidence: 99%

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Stressors Reveal Ecosystems' Hidden Characteristics

Matheny

2021

JGR Biogeosciences

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Vegetation responds dynamically to local microclimates at both short and long time scales via mechanisms ranging from physiological behaviors, such as stomatal closure, to acclimation and adaptation. These responses influence the carbon, water, and energy cycles directly and are therefore crucial to understanding and predicting Earth system responses to a changing climate. Several recent studies have demonstrated that differences in microclimate can induce structural and functional acclimations, and potentially adaptations, within the same ecosystem. Such microclimate divergence can be caused by variability in slopes, disturbance history, or even localized resource availability. Ecosystem stressors such as low soil water availability, limited photoperiod, or high vapor pressure deficit have been shown to reveal the large impact of the subtle differences within these systems such as the number of sun versus shade leaves or differences in whole-plant water acquisition and use. These findings highlight the linkages between plant canopy structure and ecosystem function, alongside the need for comprehensive analyses of vegetation within the broader context of its environment. This commentary addresses some of the key implications of ecosystem stress responses and accompanying acclimations across three ecosystem types for ecosystem ecology, plant physiology, ecohydrology and trait-based modeling of vegetation-climate dynamics.

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Section: Microclimate Morphology and Ecosystem Structurementioning

confidence: 75%

Section: Accepted Articlementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Accepted Articlementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Accepted Articlementioning

confidence: 99%

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Stressors Reveal Ecosystems' Hidden Characteristics

Matheny

2021

JGR Biogeosciences

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“…Rivendell, the study hillslope where rock moisture is measured, is 0.3 km upstream from the mouth of Elder Creek, and has been the site of intensive hydrological (Oshun et al, 2016;Salve et al, 2012;Schmidt & Rempe, 2020;Vrettas & Fung, 2015), ecological Link et al, 2014;Simonin et al, 2014;Tune et al, 2020), and geochemical (Bilir et al, 2021;Druhan et al, 2017;Kim et al, 2017)…”

Section: Site Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multicriteria analysis on rock moisture and streamflow in a rainfall‐runoff model improves accuracy of model results

Follette

Hahm

Rempe

et al. 2022

Hydrological Processes

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Although shallow (<1.5 m) soil water storage has been extensively studied, the significance of deeper unsaturated zone water storage to flow generation is poorly documented. However, a limited but growing body of empirical work shows that the weathered bedrock vadose zone, not soil, stores the majority of plant available water in many seasonally dry and semi‐arid landscapes. Moreover, this storage dynamic mediates recharge to hillslope groundwater systems that generate stream discharge and support ecologically significant baseflows. Explicit representations of bedrock vadose zone processes are rarely incorporated into runoff models, due in part to a paucity of observations that can constrain simulations. Here, we develop a simple representation of the weathered bedrock vadose zone that is guided by in situ field observations. We incorporate this representation into a rainfall‐runoff model, and calibrate it on streamflow alone, on rock moisture (i.e., weathered bedrock vadose zone moisture) alone, and on both using the concept of Pareto optimality. We find that the model is capable of accurately simultaneously simulating dynamics in rock moisture and streamflow, in terms of Kling‐Gupta Efficiency, when using Pareto optimal parameter sets. Calibration on streamflow alone, however, is insufficient to accurately simulate rock moisture dynamics. We further find that the posterior distributions of some model parameters are sensitive to choice of calibration scenario. The posterior distribution of high‐performing model parameters resulting from the streamflow only calibration scenario include physically unrealistic values that are not yielded by the rock moisture only or Pareto calibration strategies. These results suggest that the accuracy of some model results can be increased and parameter uncertainty decreased via incorporation of rock moisture data in calibration, without sacrificing streamflow simulation quality. Emerging recognition of the global significance of weathered bedrock water storage in seasonally dry and semi‐arid regions motivates more observations of weathered bedrock moisture and integration of this variable into earth system models.

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Slope‐Aspect Induced Climate Differences Influence How Water Is Exchanged Between the Land and Atmosphere

2021

Self Cite

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Plant transpiration is a major conduit for the transfer of water from the land to the atmosphere (Jasechko et al., 2013). Recent studies have advanced our understanding of how complex and sensitive the leaf-to-atmosphere link is to localized feedbacks, such as slope exposure and associated conditions (e.g., Amitrano et al., 2019;Harrison et al., 2020;Link et al., 2014). Microclimates have been highlighted in particular as a distinct control on long-term ecosystem vulnerability, separate from evolving macroclimate (De Frenne et al., 2013. The urgency of understanding the vulnerability of forest ecosystems to changing climate conditions in arid or Mediterranean climates has been underscored by mass tree die-offs in western North America (Asner et al., 2016;Fettig et al., 2019;D. J. N. Young et al., 2017), and worsening wildfire regimes around the world. Yet, the influence of natural microclimatic variations, such as those associated with topographic position, on plant-water relations and physiology is often omitted in models used to forecast ecosystem vulnerability, due to a lack of data (Mencuccini et al., 2019;Pappas et al., 2016).Our aim is to understand how microclimates caused by topographic complexity may feed back into spatial variations in tree physiology and ultimately variations in tree vulnerability to fire or mortality under stressful conditions. To do this, we embarked on a study at the University of California's Angelo Coast Range Reserve in Northern California, a site which is now NSF's Eel River Critical Zone Observatory. The focus is

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Slope-aspect induced climate differences influence how water is exchanged between the land and atmosphere

Cited by 4 publications

References 38 publications

Stressors Reveal Ecosystems' Hidden Characteristics

Stressors Reveal Ecosystems' Hidden Characteristics

Multicriteria analysis on rock moisture and streamflow in a rainfall‐runoff model improves accuracy of model results

Slope‐Aspect Induced Climate Differences Influence How Water Is Exchanged Between the Land and Atmosphere

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