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Forests
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Water Cycling and Drought Responses of Forest Ecosystems
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Water Cycling and Drought Responses of Forest Ecosystems

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecophysiology and Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 April 2019) | Viewed by 30924

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Rafael Poyatos

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CREAF, Cerdanyola del Vallès, 08193 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Interests: drought; ecosystem function; forest ecology; functional ecology; plant hydraulics; transpiration
Dr. Cleiton Breder Eller

E-Mail
Co-Guest Editor
College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QE, UK
Interests: drought; plant ecophysiology; plant hydraulics; process-based models; sap flux
Dr. Virginia Hernandez-Santana

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS), 41012 Sevilla, Spain
Interests: water stress; stomatal conductance; plant transpiration; plant ecophysiology; plant hydraulics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Forests control the magnitude and spatio-temporal patterns of terrestrial evaporative fluxes and, therefore, constitute one of the main drivers of the global water cycle. Water is also essential for forest functioning and hence drought triggers a myriad of responses in forests, from physiological and structural adjustments to demographic and composition changes. Forests worldwide are vulnerable to drought and, at the same time, biosphere–atmosphere feedbacks mediated by forests greatly influence ecosystem water availability. This Special Issue invites submissions linking forest water cycling and drought responses from stand to regional scales. We especially encourage approaches combining multiple data streams: Plant and ecosystem water fluxes (i.e., gas exchange, sap flux, eddy flux), plant traits, catchment water balance, forest inventories and remote sensing data. Data-driven approaches can also make use of existing databases to address questions at large spatial scales or to synthesize the ecological variation in water use strategies across forest species. We also welcome modelling studies that increase our mechanistic understanding and provide global change trajectories of forest evapotranspiration, drought vulnerability and ecosystem water availability. We expect to bring together contributions at the crossroads of plant physiology, ecology, hydrology, and soil and atmospheric sciences to provide a novel, multidisciplinary view on the relationship between forests and water.

Dr. Rafael Poyatos
Dr. Cleiton Breder Eller
Dr. Virginia Hernandez-Santana
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • evapotranspiration
  • plant hydraulics
  • precipitation recycling
  • soil moisture
  • stomatal regulation
  • transpiration

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 5267 KiB  
Article
Time-Lag Effect Between Sap Flow and Environmental Factors of Larix principis-rupprechtii Mayr
by Liu Hong, Jianbin Guo, Zebin Liu, Yanhui Wang, Jing Ma, Xiao Wang and Ziyou Zhang
Forests 2019, 10(11), 971; https://doi.org/10.3390/f10110971 - 03 Nov 2019
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 3282
Abstract
A time lag between sap flux density (Js) and meteorological factors has been widely reported, but the controlling factors of the time lag are poorly understood. To interpret the time lag phenomenon systematically, thermal dissipation probes were placed into each of [...] Read more.
A time lag between sap flux density (Js) and meteorological factors has been widely reported, but the controlling factors of the time lag are poorly understood. To interpret the time lag phenomenon systematically, thermal dissipation probes were placed into each of eight trees to measure the Js of Larix principis-rupprechtii Mayr. in the Liupan Mountains in Northwest China. Meteorological factors, including vapor pressure deficit (VPD), solar radiation (Rs) and air temperature (Ta), were synchronously measured with Js, and the dislocation contrast method was used to analyze the time lag between Js and the meteorological factors. The analysis indicated the following for the whole experimental period. (1) The time lag between Js and VPD (TLV) and the time lag between Js and Rs (TLR) both exhibited different patterns under different weather conditions, and Js could precede Rs on dry days. (2) Both TLV and TLR varied with the day of the year (DOY) throughout the experimental period; namely, both exhibited a decreasing tendency in September. (3) Reference crop evapotranspiration (ETref) had a greater influence on the time lag than the other meteorological factors and directly controlled the length and direction of TLV and TLR; relative extractable water (REW) modified the relationship between ETref and time lag. (4) The regression analysis results showed differences between the time lags and the environmental factors (ETref and REW) within different ranges of REW. Namely, TLR was better determined by ETref and REW when REW < 0.38, while TLV was better correlated with ETref and REW in the absence of soil water limitations (REW > 0.38). This project provided an important opportunity to advance the understanding of the interaction between plant transpiration and meteorological factors in a changing climate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Cycling and Drought Responses of Forest Ecosystems)
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17 pages, 2856 KiB  
Article
Norway Spruce (Picea abies L.) Provenances Use Different Physiological Strategies to Cope with Water Deficit
by Gabriela Jamnická, Peter Fleischer, Jr., Alena Konôpková, Eva Pšidová, Jana Kučerová, Daniel Kurjak, Marek Živčák and Ľubica Ditmarová
Forests 2019, 10(8), 651; https://doi.org/10.3390/f10080651 - 01 Aug 2019
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3687
Abstract
Research Highlights: In this study, we found different regulatory mechanisms in two contrasting provenances of Norway spruce responding to progressive drought stress. Background and Objectives: In the context of climate and environmental changes, the following question of high importance in scientific studies is: [...] Read more.
Research Highlights: In this study, we found different regulatory mechanisms in two contrasting provenances of Norway spruce responding to progressive drought stress. Background and Objectives: In the context of climate and environmental changes, the following question of high importance in scientific studies is: How will Norway spruce, which forms a dominant component in European mountain and boreal forests, be able to cope with the increasing frequencies and intensities of drought periods? The aim of the study was to investigate the physiological responses of eight-month-old seedlings, as a most vulnerable phase of forest tree life, for different spruce provenances, to find out variable strategies in relation to controlled drought stress. Materials and Methods: We performed an experiment under controlled conditions with spruce seedlings from a climatologically warmer stand of 410 m above sea level (a.s.l.), and a moderately cool stand of 931 m a.s.l. The soil water content, leaf predawn water potential, the osmotic potential of needles, the relative water content of needles, and the photosynthetic performance and the contents of primary metabolites (proline and abscisic acid) were investigated as indicators of the spruce seedlings’ responses to water stress. The status of the indicators was analyzed at different temporal intervals, using repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA), reflecting the seedlings’ water conditions (early drought, drought, or recovery). On a daily basis, the differences among the indicators were tested with one-way ANOVA. A principal component analysis (PCA) was used to identify the provenance-specific responses of tree drought indicators in a multi-dimensional data set. Results: The responses to drought stress differed between the provenances. Whereas seedlings of ‘warm’ provenance from a low altitude performed a conservation strategy, with high amounts of accumulated abscisic acid and closing the stomata faster, the reactions of ‘cool’ provenance seedlings from a higher altitude were not so sensitive and the plants’ water supply and photosynthetic performance remained significantly higher. These findings indicate that a higher drought resistance in ‘cool’ provenance could be related to greater amounts of proline amino-acids, which are accumulated from the beginning of the drought simulation. Furthermore, proline accumulation resulting in increased stress tolerance is controlled through another mechanism than osmotic adjustment. Conclusions: The observed variations in the regulatory mechanisms used to develop adaptive strategies in different provenances are an important factor for seedling survival under a changing climate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Cycling and Drought Responses of Forest Ecosystems)
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15 pages, 4363 KiB  
Article
Response of Ecosystem Water Use Efficiency to Drought over China during 1982–2015: Spatiotemporal Variability and Resilience
by Limai Guo, Fubao Sun, Wenbin Liu, Yongguang Zhang, Hong Wang, Huijuan Cui, Hongquan Wang, Jie Zhang and Benxu Du
Forests 2019, 10(7), 598; https://doi.org/10.3390/f10070598 - 18 Jul 2019
Cited by 46 | Viewed by 4480
Abstract
Ecosystem water use efficiency (WUE describes carbon-water flux coupling in terrestrial ecosystems. Understanding response and resilience of WUE to drought are essential for sustainable water resource and ecosystem management under increasing drought risks over China due to climate warming. Here we analyzed the [...] Read more.
Ecosystem water use efficiency (WUE describes carbon-water flux coupling in terrestrial ecosystems. Understanding response and resilience of WUE to drought are essential for sustainable water resource and ecosystem management under increasing drought risks over China due to climate warming. Here we analyzed the response of ecosystem WUE to drought (spatiotemporal variability and resilience) over China during 1982–2015 based on an evapotranspiration (ET) dataset based on the model tree ensemble (MTE) algorithm using flux-tower ET measurements and satellite-retrieved GPP data. The results showed that the multiyear average WUE was 1.55 g C kg−1 H2O over China. WUE increased in 77.1% of Chinese territory during the past 34 years. During drought periods, the ecosystem WUE increased mainly in the northeast of Inner Mongolia, Northeast China and some regions in southern China with abundant forests but decreased in northwestern and central China. An apparent lagging effect of drought on ecosystem WUE was observed in the east of Inner Mongolia and Northeast China, the west and east regions of North China and the central part of Tibetan Plateau. Some ecosystems (e.g., deciduous needle-leaf forests, deciduous broadleaf forests, evergreen broadleaf forests and evergreen needle-leaf forests) in Central China, Northeast and Southwest China exhibited relatively greater resilience to drought than others by improving their WUE. Our findings would provide useful information for Chinese government to adopt a reasonable approach for maintaining the structure and functions of ecosystems under drought disturbance in future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Cycling and Drought Responses of Forest Ecosystems)
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11 pages, 3852 KiB  
Article
Influence of Drought on Foliar Water Uptake Capacity of Temperate Tree Species
by Jeroen D.M. Schreel, Jonas S. von der Crone, Ott Kangur and Kathy Steppe
Forests 2019, 10(7), 562; https://doi.org/10.3390/f10070562 - 04 Jul 2019
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 3809
Abstract
Foliar water uptake (FWU) has been investigated in an increasing number of species from a variety of areas but has remained largely understudied in deciduous, temperate tree species from non-foggy regions. As leaf wetting events frequently occur in temperate regions, FWU might be [...] Read more.
Foliar water uptake (FWU) has been investigated in an increasing number of species from a variety of areas but has remained largely understudied in deciduous, temperate tree species from non-foggy regions. As leaf wetting events frequently occur in temperate regions, FWU might be more important than previously thought and should be investigated. As climate change progresses, the number of drought events is expected to increase, basically resulting in a decreasing number of leaf wetting events, which might make FWU a seemingly less important mechanism. However, the impact of drought on FWU might not be that unidirectional because drought will also cause a more negative tree water potential, which is expected to result in more FWU. It yet remains unclear whether drought results in a general increase or decrease in the amount of water absorbed by leaves. The main objectives of this study are, therefore: (i) to assess FWU-capacity in nine widely distributed key tree species from temperate regions, and (ii) to investigate the effect of drought on FWU in these species. Based on measurements of leaf and soil water potential and FWU-capacity, the effect of drought on FWU in temperate tree species was assessed. Eight out of nine temperate tree species were able to absorb water via their leaves. The amount of water absorbed by leaves and the response of this plant trait to drought were species-dependent, with a general increase in the amount of water absorbed as leaf water potential decreased. This relationship was less pronounced when using soil water potential as an independent variable. We were able to classify species according to their response in FWU to drought at the leaf level, but this classification changed when using drought at the soil level, and was driven by iso- and anisohydric behavior. FWU hence occurred in several key tree species from temperate regions, be it with some variability, which potentially allows these species to partly reduce the effects of drought stress. We recommend including this mechanism in future research regarding plant–water relations and to investigate the impact of different pathways used for FWU. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Cycling and Drought Responses of Forest Ecosystems)
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15 pages, 3007 KiB  
Article
Unsupervised Clustering of Forest Response to Drought Stress in Zululand Region, South Africa
by Sifiso Xulu, Kabir Peerbhay, Michael Gebreslasie and Riyad Ismail
Forests 2019, 10(7), 531; https://doi.org/10.3390/f10070531 - 26 Jun 2019
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4179
Abstract
Drought limits the production of plantation forests, notably in the drought-prone Zululand region of South Africa. During the last 40 years, the country has faced a series of severe droughts, however that of 2015 stands out as the most extreme and prolonged. The [...] Read more.
Drought limits the production of plantation forests, notably in the drought-prone Zululand region of South Africa. During the last 40 years, the country has faced a series of severe droughts, however that of 2015 stands out as the most extreme and prolonged. The 2015 drought impaired forest productivity and led to widespread tree mortality in this region, but the identification of tree response to drought stress remains uncertain because of its spatial variability. To address this problem, a method that can capture drought patterns and identify trees with similar reactions to drought stress is desired. This could improve the accuracy of detecting trees suffering from drought stress which is key for forest management planning. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the utility of unsupervised mapping approaches in compartments of Eucalyptus trees with similar drought characteristics based on the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) and to demonstrate the value of cloud-based Google Earth Engine (GEE) resources for rapid landscape drought monitoring. Our results showed that calculating distances between pixels using three different matrices (Random Forest (RF) proximity, Euclidean and Manhattan) can accurately detect similarities within a dataset. The RF proximity matrix produced the best measures, which were clustered using Wards hierarchical clustering to detect drought with the highest overall accuracy of 87.7%, followed by Manhattan (85.9%) and Euclidean similarity measures (79.9%), with user and producer results between 84.2% to 91.2%, 42.8% to 98.2% and 37.2% to 94.7%, respectively. These results confirm the value of the RF proximity matrix and underscore the capability of automatic unsupervised mapping approaches for monitoring drought stress in tree plantations, as well as the value of using GEE for providing cost effective datasets to resource stricken countries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Cycling and Drought Responses of Forest Ecosystems)
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19 pages, 3174 KiB  
Article
Drought Differentially Affects Growth, Transpiration, and Water Use Efficiency of Mixed and Monospecific Planted Forests
by Katherine Sinacore, Heidi Asbjornsen, Virginia Hernandez-Santana and Jefferson S. Hall
Forests 2019, 10(2), 153; https://doi.org/10.3390/f10020153 - 11 Feb 2019
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3435
Abstract
Drought conditions may have differential impacts on growth, transpiration, and water use efficiency (WUE) in mixed species and monospecific planted forests. Understanding the resistance (i.e., the capacity to maintain processes unchanged) of different tree species to drought, and how resistance is affected by [...] Read more.
Drought conditions may have differential impacts on growth, transpiration, and water use efficiency (WUE) in mixed species and monospecific planted forests. Understanding the resistance (i.e., the capacity to maintain processes unchanged) of different tree species to drought, and how resistance is affected by complementary interactions within species mixtures, is particularly important in the seasonally dry tropics where projected increases in the frequency and severity of drought threaten tree planting efforts and water resources. Complementary interactions between species may lead to more resistant stands if complementarity leads to greater buffering capacity during drought. We examined growth, transpiration, and WUE of mixtures and monocultures of Terminalia amazonia (J.F. Gmel.) Exell and Dalbergia retusa Hemsl. before and during a prolonged drought using intensive measurements of tree sap flow and growth. Tree sapwood area growth was highest for T. amazonia in mixtures during normal (6.78 ± 4.08 mm2 yr−1) and drought (7.12 ± 4.85 mm2 yr−1) conditions compared to the other treatments. However, stand sapwood area growth was greatest for T. amazonia monocultures, followed by mixtures, and finally, D. retusa monocultures. There was a significant decrease in stand transpiration during drought for both mixtures and T. amazonia monocultures, while Dalbergia retusa monocultures were most water use efficient at both the tree and stand level. Treatments showed different levels of resistance to drought, with D. retusa monocultures being the most resistant, with non-significant changes of growth and transpiration before and during drought. Combining species with complementary traits and avoiding combinations where one species dominates the other, may maximize complementary interactions and reduce competitive interactions, leading to greater resistance to drought conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Cycling and Drought Responses of Forest Ecosystems)
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20 pages, 4447 KiB  
Article
Interannual and Seasonal Variations in Ecosystem Transpiration and Water Use Efficiency in a Tropical Rainforest
by Maricar Aguilos, Clément Stahl, Benoit Burban, Bruno Hérault, Elodie Courtois, Sabrina Coste, Fabien Wagner, Camille Ziegler, Kentaro Takagi and Damien Bonal
Forests 2019, 10(1), 14; https://doi.org/10.3390/f10010014 - 26 Dec 2018
Cited by 74 | Viewed by 7562
Abstract
Warmer and drier climates over Amazonia have been predicted for the next century with expected changes in regional water and carbon cycles. We examined the impact of interannual and seasonal variations in climate conditions on ecosystem-level evapotranspiration (ET) and water use efficiency (WUE) [...] Read more.
Warmer and drier climates over Amazonia have been predicted for the next century with expected changes in regional water and carbon cycles. We examined the impact of interannual and seasonal variations in climate conditions on ecosystem-level evapotranspiration (ET) and water use efficiency (WUE) to determine key climatic drivers and anticipate the response of these ecosystems to climate change. We used daily climate and eddyflux data recorded at the Guyaflux site in French Guiana from 2004 to 2014. ET and WUE exhibited weak interannual variability. The main climatic driver of ET and WUE was global radiation (Rg), but relative extractable water (REW) and soil temperature (Ts) did also contribute. At the seasonal scale, ET and WUE showed a modal pattern driven by Rg, with maximum values for ET in July and August and for WUE at the beginning of the year. By removing radiation effects during water depleted periods, we showed that soil water stress strongly reduced ET. In contrast, drought conditions enhanced radiation-normalized WUE in almost all the years, suggesting that the lack of soil water had a more severe effect on ecosystem evapotranspiration than on photosynthesis. Our results are of major concern for tropical ecosystem modeling because they suggest that under future climate conditions, tropical forest ecosystems will be able to simultaneously adjust CO2 and H2O fluxes. Yet, for tropical forests under future conditions, the direction of change in WUE at the ecosystem scale is hard to predict, since the impact of radiation on WUE is counterbalanced by adjustments to soil water limitations. Developing mechanistic models that fully integrate the processes associated with CO2 and H2O flux control should help researchers understand and simulate future functional adjustments in these ecosystems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Cycling and Drought Responses of Forest Ecosystems)
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