Sammanfattning

Forest species composition mediates evapotranspiration and the amount of water available to human-use downstream. In the last century, the heavily forested Appalachian region has been undergoing forest mesophication which is the progressive replacement of xeric species (e.g. black oak (Quercus velutina)) by mesic species (e.g. sugar maple (Acer saccharum)). Given differences between xeric and mesic species in water use efficiency and rainfall interception losses, investigating the consequences of these species shifts on water cycles is critical to improving predictions of ecosystem responses to climate change. To meet this need, we quantified the degree to which the sap velocities of two dominant broadleaved species (sugar maple and black oak) in West Virginia, responded to ambient and experimentally altered soil moisture conditions using a throughfall exclusion experiment. We then used these data to explore how predictions of future climate under two emissions scenarios could affect forest evapotranspiration rates. Overall, we found that the maples had higher sap velocity rates than the oaks. Sap velocity in maples showed a stronger sensitivity to vapor pres-sure deficit (VPD), particularly at high levels of VPD, than sap velocity in oaks. Experimentally induced reductions in shallow soil moisture did not have a relevant impact on sap velocity. In response to future climate scenarios of in-creased vapor pressure deficits in the Central Appalachian Mountains, our results highlight the different degrees to which two important tree species will increase transpiration, and potentially reduce the water available to the heavily populated areas downstream.

Nyckelord

Sap velocity; Transpiration; Climate change; Acer saccharum; Quercus velutina; Appalachia; Mountain water resources

Publicerad i

Science of the Total Environment
2022, Volym: 850, artikelnummer: 158029
Utgivare: ELSEVIER

SLU författare

• Guillén Alm, Luis Andrés

  • Institutionen för sydsvensk skogsvetenskap, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    
  • West Virginia University

Globala målen

SDG6 Säkerställa tillgången till och en hållbar förvaltning av vatten och sanitet för alla
SDG13 Vidta omedelbara åtgärder för att bekämpa klimatförändringarna och dess konsekvenser


UKÄ forskningsämne

Miljövetenskap


Publikationens identifierare

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158029

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/119261