Estimating the water use of a sclerophyllous species under an East-Mediterranean climate: I. Response of transpiration of Phillyrea latifolia L. to site factors

doi:10.1016/S0378-1127(01)00785-X

Forest Ecology and Management

Volume 170, Issues 1–3, 15 October 2002, Pages 117-126

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-1127(01)00785-X Get rights and content

Abstract

Water use by vegetation is the most important parameter which is directly related to plant anatomical and eco-physiological characters, and to soil–bedrock water availability. This basic parameter is important in decision making, planning and management of the open areas under semiarid climatic conditions like those of Israel. Attempts were made to quantify the water use by Phillyrea latifolia L. by means of the heat pulse method. This method provides continuous monitoring of the convective heat pulse velocity (HPV) in the trunk xylem, thus facilitating the quantification of the transpiration flux per tree. The daily and annual water use by this species was estimated by extrapolations from the single-tree transpiration rates, based on the relationship between the leaf area of the measured trees and the entire area.

The lithological properties of the bedrock formations in each of the research sites caused significant differences between sites in the average daily transpiration rate and, hence, in the total water use by the P. latifolia scrub formation. The daily transpiration, averaged over a year, ranged between 4.00 and 8.15 l per day per tree, and the estimated annual water use ranged between 179.4 and 365.5 mm, i.e., between 30 and 61% of the annual rainfall in the winter preceding the measurements in 1993.

Introduction

It is intended to manage the open area of about 500 ha of Ramat ha’Nadiv, at the souther tip of the Mt. Carmel range as an ecological park, to serve as an example of the use of scientific knowledge for better landscape management, e.g., more skilful use of the water resources for the benefit of human society. The 250 ha of the Ramat ha’Nadiv area is covered mainly by a relatively low scrub formation with Phillyrea latifolia L. as the most abundant species, which indicates the relative dryness of the land, from ecological point of view. This is in sharp contrast to the medium to high scrub formation that covers most of the Mt. Carmel range with Quercus calliprinos Webb. as the most abundant species (Zohary, 1962).

P. latifolia is an eu-Mediterranean and omni-Mediterranean species that is an integral part of the maquis and evergreen sclerophyllous lowland forest formations; it is known to be one of the most drought-resistant species. According to Oppenheimer, 1953, Oppenheimer, 1963, P. latifolia is a drought-avoiding and drought-tolerant species thanks to its morphological and eco-physiological properties. These observations were later confirmed by further eco-physiological studies, but the body of publications and the nature of the data published so far do not provide a basis for quantification of the water use by the vegetation or hydrological balance per unit area, therefore, they do not provide a sound basis for vegetation management for any specific goal.

Accurate direct determination of the rooting zone, root distribution, water storage capacity of the bedrock complex and its fluctuation, and the hydraulic conductivity is difficult to achieve, because of the extremely large spatial variation in site conditions in general and on the Mt. Carmel in particular (Shachori, 1966, Rosenzweig, 1972). Therefore, one of the ways to estimate the water use by the plants, and hence the hydrological balance in such areas is to use parameters related to plant physiology as one of the indicators for soil–bedrock complex water availability to a specific plant species. Of several parameters available we estimated transpiration rate from the heat flow velocity carried by the up stream in the trunk, which, according to Shachori (1966) is the better way to estimate the water balance of the rooting zone. Whole tree sap flow, i.e., transpiration flux per tree can be estimated by means of the heat pulse method, which permits continuous monitoring and quantification of the convective heat pulse velocity (HPV) in the trunk xylem (Cohen et al., 1981, Cohen, 1994). Extrapolation of single-tree transpiration can be used to estimate the water use by the forest canopy per unit area (e.g., Hatton and I Wu, 1995, Jarvis, 1995, Granier and Breda, 1996, Cermak and Nadezhdina, 1998). Water use computed per unit ground area is obviously the most important parameter which is directly related, on the one hand, to plant anatomical and eco-physiological characters and, on the other hand, to water availability in the soil–bedrock complex.

The aim of this study was to provide a quantified parameter characterizing water use by P. latifolia L. which drives from the integrated morphological, anatomical and eco-physiological properties of this species. This parameter might be helpful in the management of the scrub formation.

Section snippets

Sites

Four sites, each of 0.1 ha, with similar presence, cover and development of the Phillyrea bushes, were selected within the area of about 250 ha carrying the P. latifolia scrub formation at Ramat ha’Nadiv (32°23′N, 34°56′E, 125 m a.s.l.). The many trunks in each stool that have resulted from sprouting from the root collar after cutting, heavy grazing and/or past fire events (a history extending back more than 60 years) had developed to a stunt bush formation of between 2.5 and 4.0 m in height and an

Results

The relations between trunk circumference and their leaf wet and dry weights and area were analyzed by means of the general linear model (GLM) procedure. The linear regression equation between leaf-wet (X) and dry (Y) weights (g) was $Y=−5.83+0.59X, r=0.990, n=30, P<0.001.$ The regression equation between trunk circumference (cm) at 0.50 m above ground (X) and the leaf area (m²) (Y) was $Y=0.278×10^{0.0519X}, r=0.857, n=28, P<0.001.$ The overall average trunk circumference was 27.6±0.71 cm (S.E.). According to

Discussion

According to Laatsch (1967), Zöttl and Velasco (1966), Zech and Cepel (1970) in the Mediterranean region where soil depth does not exceeded 50–60 cm and the average annual rainfall is less than 600 mm, annual average water availability is the decisive factor influencing tree growth. Because of the shallow soils layer in the mountainous regions of Israel, which dry out shortly after winter rains have ceased, penetration of roots into the bedrock formations (Oppenheimer, 1955, Oppenheimer, 1957) is

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the financial contribution and technical support to this research by the Yad ha’Nadiv foundation and Ramat ha’Nadiv personnel; and to the Forest Department, Land Development Authority of the JNF (KKL), Israel. Research project 274-0012.

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^☆: Contribution from the Agricultural Research organization, The Volcani Center, P.O. Box 6, 50250 Bet Dagan, Israel, No. 141/2000.

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Estimating the water use of a sclerophyllous species under an East-Mediterranean climate: I. Response of transpiration of Phillyrea latifolia L. to site factors☆

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Sites

Results

Discussion

Acknowledgements

Environ. Exp. Bot.

For. Ecol. Manage.

Agric. For. Meteorol.

Sapwood as the scaling parameter—defining according to xylem water content or radial pattern of sap flow

Ann. Sci. For.

Improvement of the heat pulse method for determination of sap flow in trees

Plant Cell Environ.

Underground water use by Eucalyptus trees in an arid climate

Trees

Gas exchange and resource-use patterns along a Mediterranean successional gradient

J. Veg. Sci.

Modeling canopy conductance and stand transpiration of an oak forest from sap flow measurements

Ann. Sci. For.

Response to microclimate of morphological leafs attributes, photosynthetic and water relations of evergreen sclerophyllous species

Photosynthetica

Structural and ecophysiological plasticity of some evergreen species of the Mediterranean maquis in response to climate

Photosynthetica

Canopy structure, vertical radiation profile and photosynthetic function in a Quercus ilex evergreen forest

Photosynthetica

Scaling theory to extrapolate individual tree water use to stand water use

Hydrol. Process.

Zum Wasserhaushalt einiger Meditrraner pflanzen

Berichte der Deutsche Botanische Geselschaft

Scaling processes and problems

Plant Cell Environ.

Light-guiding function of foliar sclereids in the evergreen sclerophyll Phillyrea latifolia: a quantitative approach

J. Exp. Bot.