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Title: Forest productivity varies with soil moisture more than temperature in a small montane watershed

Journal Article · · Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [3];  [6];  [7]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Univ. of Idaho, Moscow, ID (United States). Dept. of Forest, Rangeland, and Fire Sciences
  2. Descartes Labs, Inc, Santa Fe, NM (United States); Univ. of Idaho, Moscow, ID (United States). Dept. of Geography
  3. Univ. of Idaho, Moscow, ID (United States). Dept. of Forest, Rangeland, and Fire Sciences
  4. Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States). Dept. of Ecosystem Science and Management
  5. West Virginia Univ., Morgantown, WV (United States). Inst. of Water Security and Science, Davis College, Schools of Agriculture and Food
  6. United States Forest Service, Moscow, ID (United States). Rocky Mountain Research Station
  7. Univ. of Idaho, Moscow, ID (United States). Dept. of Forest, Rangeland, and Fire Sciences; Swedish Agricultural Univ., Skogmarksgrand, Umea (Sweden). Dept. of Forest Ecology and Management
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Mountainous terrain creates variability in microclimate, including nocturnal cold air drainage and resultant temperature inversions. Driven by the elevational temperature gradient, vapor pressure deficit (VPD) also varies with elevation. Soil depth and moisture availability often increase from ridgetop to valley bottom. These variations complicate predictions of forest productivity and other biological responses. We analyzed spatiotemporal air temperature (T) and VPD variations in a forested, 27-km2 catchment that varied from 1000 to 1650 m in elevation. Temperature inversions occurred on 76% of mornings in the growing season. The inversion had a clear upper boundary at midslope (~1370 m a.s.l.). Vapor pressure was relatively constant across elevations, therefore VPD was mainly controlled by T in the watershed. Here, we assessed the impact of microclimate and soil moisture on tree height, forest productivity, and carbon stable isotopes (δ13C) using a physiological forest growth model (3-PG). Simulated productivity and tree height were tested against observations derived from lidar data. The effects on photosynthetic gas-exchange of dramatic elevational variations in T and VPD largely cancelled as higher temperature (increasing productivity) accompanies higher VPD (reducing productivity). Although it was not measured, the simulations suggested that realistic elevational variations in soil moisture predicted the observed decline in productivity with elevation. Therefore, in this watershed, the model parameterization should have emphasized soil moisture rather than precise descriptions of temperature inversions.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396; EPS-0447689; 2003-35102-13675; 2006-35102-17689
OSTI ID:
1440471
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1692064
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-17-20232
Journal Information:
Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Vol. 259, Issue C; ISSN 0168-1923
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 9 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (1)

Investigating old‐growth ponderosa pine physiology using tree‐rings, δ 13 C, δ 18 O, and a process‐based model journal April 2019

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