Soil water dynamics along a tree diversity gradient in a deciduous forest in Central Germany

Krämer, Inga; Hölscher, Dirk

doi:10.1002/eco.103

Cited by 25 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Therefore we believe that not "drought tolerance" but "maximum water use rate under wet soil conditions" of the trees was the trait influencing measured soil water uptake by trees here. It remains questionable whether we could have detected an influence of tree diversity on water uptake under more severe drought since Krämer and Hölscher (2010) found that differences in soil water extraction rates of diverse and Fagus-dominated stands in our area disappeared as soil drought advanced.…”

Section: Soil Water Uptakementioning

confidence: 82%

Diversity did not influence soil water use of tree clusters in a temperate mixed forest

Meißner¹,

Köhler²,

Hölscher³

2013

Web Ecol.

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Abstract. Compared to monocultures, diverse ecosystems are often expected to show more comprehensive resource use. However, with respect to diversity-soil-water-use relationships in forests, very little information is available. We analysed soil water uptake in 100 tree clusters differing in tree species diversity and species composition in the Hainich forest in central Germany. The clusters contained all possible combinations of five broadleaved tree species in one-, two-and three-species clusters (three diversity levels), replicated fourfold (20 one-species, 40 two-species and 40 three-species clusters). We estimated soil water uptake during a summer dry period in 0-0.3 m soil depth, based on throughfall and soil moisture measurements with a simple budgeting approach. Throughout the whole vegetation period in 2009, soil water uptake was additionally determined at a higher temporal resolution and also for a greater part of the soil profile (0-0.7 m) on a subset of 16 intensive clusters. During the dry spell, mean soil water uptake was 1.9 ± 0.1 mm day −1 in 0-0.3 m (100 clusters) and 3.0 ± 0.5 mm day −1 in 0-0.7 m soil depth (16 clusters), respectively. Besides a slightly higher water use of Fraxinus clusters, we could not detect any effects of species identity or diversity on cluster water use. We discuss that water use may indeed be a conservative process, that differences in tree-species-specific traits may be compensated for by other factors such as herb layer coverage and tree spatial arrangement, and that diversitydriven differences in water use may arise only at a larger scale. We further conclude that with respect to stand water use "tree diversity" alone is not an appropriate simplification of the complex network of interactions between species traits, stand properties and environmental conditions that have varying influence on stand water use, both in space and time.

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Section: Soil Water Uptakementioning

confidence: 82%

Diversity did not influence soil water use of tree clusters in a temperate mixed forest

Meißner¹,

Köhler²,

Hölscher³

2013

Web Ecol.

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“…Traditionally, the species choice is typically driven by growth compatibility, e.g., a shade-intolerant species that will overtop a shade-tolerant species (Krämer and Hölscher, 2010). In Piedmont sites, the need to modify current practices such as an increase in thinning activities to reduce stand density and increase water and other resources available to the residual trees (Newton, 2009;Zhao et al, 2010) is advisable.…”

Section: Management Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, as forest management is increasingly used as a tool for ecosystem restoration, a mechanistic understanding of natural and managed forest climatic sensitivity is needed. For example, in mixed stands, tree species may interact to complementarily use the different soil profiles (Krämer and Hölscher, 2010;Forrester, 2014). Moreover, water use and tolerance to drought in natural stands are non-uniform due to specific responses of each co-existing tree to variation in climatic variables (Granier et al, 2000;Pataki and Oren, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conversion of natural forests to managed forest plantations decreases tree resistance to prolonged droughts

Domec

King

Ward

et al. 2015

Forest Ecology and Management

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a b s t r a c tThroughout the southern US, past forest management practices have replaced large areas of native forests with loblolly pine plantations and have resulted in changes in forest response to extreme weather conditions. However, uncertainty remains about the response of planted versus natural species to drought across the geographical range of these forests. Taking advantage of a cluster of unmanaged stands (85-130 year-old hardwoods) and managed plantations (17-20 year-old loblolly pine) in coastal and Piedmont areas of North Carolina, tree water use, cavitation resistance, whole-tree hydraulic (K tree ) and stomatal (G s ) conductances were measured in four sites covering representative forests growing in the region. We also used a hydraulic model to predict the resilience of those sites to extreme soil drying. Our objectives were to determine: (1) if K tree and stomatal regulation in response to atmospheric and soil droughts differ between species and sites; (2) how ecosystem type, through tree water use, resistance to cavitation and rooting profiles, affects the water uptake limit that can be reached under drought; and (3) the influence of stand species composition on critical transpiration that sets a functional water uptake limit under drought conditions. The results show that across sites, water stress affected the coordination between K tree and G s . As soil water content dropped below 20% relative extractable water, K tree declined faster and thus explained the decrease in G s and in its sensitivity to vapor pressure deficit. Compared to branches, the capability of roots to resist high xylem tension has a great impact on tree-level water use and ultimately had important implications for pine plantations resistance to future summer droughts. Model simulations revealed that the decline in K tree due to xylem cavitation aggravated the effects of soil drying on tree transpiration. The critical transpiration rate (E crit ), which corresponds to the maximum rate at which transpiration begins to level off to prevent irreversible hydraulic failure, was higher in managed forest plantations than in their unmanaged counterparts. However, even with this higher E crit , the pine plantations operated very close to their critical leaf water potentials (i.e. to their permissible water potentials without total hydraulic failure), suggesting that intensively managed plantations are more drought-sensitive and can withstand less severe drought than natural forests.

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“…documented in Hölscher et al (2005) and Krämer and Hölscher (2010). At the time of sampling, a gradient in soil water δD signatures had established that accordingly allowed for a differentiation of soil depth.…”

Section: Water Uptake Depthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Partitioning of soil water among canopy trees during a soil desiccation period in a temperate mixed forest

Meißner¹,

Köhler²,

Schwendenmann

et al. 2012

Biogeosciences

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Abstract.Complementary resource use is considered an important mechanism in the study of biodiversity effects. Here we explore how species identity, species mixture and tree size influence the vertical partitioning of soil water among canopy trees during a soil desiccation period. In the Hainich Forest, Germany, the species Fagus sylvatica, Tilia sp. and Fraxinus excelsior were studied in single-and three-species mixed clusters, each consisting of three co-dominant trees situated within a larger mixed forest stand. Vertical soil water uptake depth was assessed by analyzing the hydrogen stable isotope composition (deuterium, δD) of water from depth intervals throughout the soil profile and in tree xylem water. For single species clusters, a mixing model suggested that Fagus distinctively drew water from soil depths of 0.3-0.5 m, Tilia from 0.3-0.5 m and 0.5-0.7 m and Fraxinus mainly used water from 0.5-0.7 m. In mixed clusters, the uptake patterns of Fagus and Tilia were similar to those of the singlespecies clusters (mainly uptake form 0.3-0.5 m), but Fraxinus showed a different uptake pattern. Fraxinus in mixture had a somewhat homogenously distributed uptake over the soil depths 0.2-0.7 m. For single species clusters, there was no correlation between main soil water uptake depth and tree diameter, irrespective of variations in tree size. In contrast, for mixed clusters there was a significant decrease in the main uptake depth with increasing tree size (P < 0.001, R 2 adj = 0.73), irrespective of species mix. In consequence, soil water partitioning was strongest where species were mixed and tree size varied. We further analyzed whether single and mixed-species clusters differed in the level of water uptake, e.g. due to complementarity, but our soil water budgeting did not indicate any such differences. A possible explanation might be that the volume of water used is predominantly governed by properties at the stand level, such as aerodynamic roughness, rather than by processes acting at the meter scale between neighbouring trees. With respect to application, we assume that the upcoming close-to-nature forestry approach for the area, which fosters mixed stands of heterogonous diameters, may result in enhanced complementarity in soil water uptake among canopy trees.

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Soil water dynamics along a tree diversity gradient in a deciduous forest in Central Germany

Cited by 25 publications

References 39 publications

Diversity did not influence soil water use of tree clusters in a temperate mixed forest

Diversity did not influence soil water use of tree clusters in a temperate mixed forest

Conversion of natural forests to managed forest plantations decreases tree resistance to prolonged droughts

Partitioning of soil water among canopy trees during a soil desiccation period in a temperate mixed forest

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