Convergent Hydraulic Redistribution and Groundwater Access Supported Facilitative Dependency Between Trees and Grasses in a Semi‐Arid Environment
Abstract
Abstract Hydraulic redistribution is the transport of water from wet to dry soil layers, upward or downward, through plant roots. Often in savanna and woodland ecosystems, deep‐rooted trees, and shallow‐rooted grasses coexist. The degree to which these different species compete for or share soil‐water derived from precipitation or groundwater, as well as how these interactions are altered by hydraulic redistribution, is unknown. We use a multilayer canopy model and field observations to examine how the presence of deep, but tree‐root accessible, groundwater impacts seasonal patterns of hydraulic redistribution, and interaction between coexisting vegetation species in a semiarid riparian woodland (US‐CMW). Based on the simulation, trees absorb moisture at the water table (∼10 m depth) and release it in the shallow soil depth (0–3 m) during the dry pre‐monsoon season. We observed the occurrence of a new convergent hydraulic redistribution pattern during the monsoon season, where moisture is transported from both the near‐surface (0–0.5 m) and the water table to intermediate soil layers (1–5 m) through tree roots. We found that hydraulic redistribution demonstrates a growth facilitation effect at this site, supporting 49% of growing season tree transpiration and 14% of the grass transpiration. Compared to a similarly structured upland savanna without accessible groundwater, themore »
- Authors:
-
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign Urbana IL USA
- School of Geography &, Development University of Arizona Tucson AZ USA, Southwest Watershed Research Center USDA‐Agricultural Research Service AZ USA
- School of Geography &, Development University of Arizona Tucson AZ USA
- School of Environmental Science University of Guelph Guelph ON Canada, The Morton Arboretum Lisle IL USA
- Southwest Watershed Research Center USDA‐Agricultural Research Service AZ USA
- Publication Date:
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1787399
- Resource Type:
- Publisher's Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Water Resources Research
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Water Resources Research Journal Volume: 57 Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 0043-1397
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Citation Formats
Lee, E., Kumar, P., Knowles, J. F., Minor, R. L., Tran, N., Barron‐Gafford, G. A., and Scott, R. L. Convergent Hydraulic Redistribution and Groundwater Access Supported Facilitative Dependency Between Trees and Grasses in a Semi‐Arid Environment. United States: N. p., 2021.
Web. doi:10.1029/2020WR028103.
Lee, E., Kumar, P., Knowles, J. F., Minor, R. L., Tran, N., Barron‐Gafford, G. A., & Scott, R. L. Convergent Hydraulic Redistribution and Groundwater Access Supported Facilitative Dependency Between Trees and Grasses in a Semi‐Arid Environment. United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR028103
Lee, E., Kumar, P., Knowles, J. F., Minor, R. L., Tran, N., Barron‐Gafford, G. A., and Scott, R. L. Tue .
"Convergent Hydraulic Redistribution and Groundwater Access Supported Facilitative Dependency Between Trees and Grasses in a Semi‐Arid Environment". United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR028103.
@article{osti_1787399,
title = {Convergent Hydraulic Redistribution and Groundwater Access Supported Facilitative Dependency Between Trees and Grasses in a Semi‐Arid Environment},
author = {Lee, E. and Kumar, P. and Knowles, J. F. and Minor, R. L. and Tran, N. and Barron‐Gafford, G. A. and Scott, R. L.},
abstractNote = {Abstract Hydraulic redistribution is the transport of water from wet to dry soil layers, upward or downward, through plant roots. Often in savanna and woodland ecosystems, deep‐rooted trees, and shallow‐rooted grasses coexist. The degree to which these different species compete for or share soil‐water derived from precipitation or groundwater, as well as how these interactions are altered by hydraulic redistribution, is unknown. We use a multilayer canopy model and field observations to examine how the presence of deep, but tree‐root accessible, groundwater impacts seasonal patterns of hydraulic redistribution, and interaction between coexisting vegetation species in a semiarid riparian woodland (US‐CMW). Based on the simulation, trees absorb moisture at the water table (∼10 m depth) and release it in the shallow soil depth (0–3 m) during the dry pre‐monsoon season. We observed the occurrence of a new convergent hydraulic redistribution pattern during the monsoon season, where moisture is transported from both the near‐surface (0–0.5 m) and the water table to intermediate soil layers (1–5 m) through tree roots. We found that hydraulic redistribution demonstrates a growth facilitation effect at this site, supporting 49% of growing season tree transpiration and 14% of the grass transpiration. Compared to a similarly structured upland savanna without accessible groundwater, the riparian site shows an increased amount of hydraulically redistributed water and more facilitative water use between coexisting grasses and trees. These results shed light on the linkage between accessible groundwater and the role of hydraulic redistribution on the interaction between deep‐rooted and shallow‐rooted vegetation.},
doi = {10.1029/2020WR028103},
journal = {Water Resources Research},
number = 6,
volume = 57,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jun 08 00:00:00 EDT 2021},
month = {Tue Jun 08 00:00:00 EDT 2021}
}
https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR028103
Works referenced in this record:
Hydraulic redistribution by deep roots of a Chihuahuan Desert phreatophyte
journal, April 2003
- Hultine, K. R.; Cable, W. L.; Burgess, S. S. O.
- Tree Physiology, Vol. 23, Issue 5
Rooting depths, lateral root spreads and below-ground/above-ground allometries of plants in water-limited ecosystems
journal, May 2002
- Schenk, H. Jochen; Jackson, Robert B.
- Journal of Ecology, Vol. 90, Issue 3
Coupled plant traits adapted to wetting/drying cycles of substrates co‐define niche multidimensionality
journal, August 2020
- Rodríguez‐Robles, Ulises; Arredondo, J. Tulio; Huber‐Sannwald, Elisabeth
- Plant, Cell & Environment, Vol. 43, Issue 10
Seasonal Water Acquisition and Redistribution in the Australian Woody Phreatophyte, Banksia prionotes
journal, February 2000
- Burgess, S.
- Annals of Botany, Vol. 85, Issue 2
Converging patterns of uptake and hydraulic redistribution of soil water in contrasting woody vegetation types
journal, August 2004
- Meinzer, F. C.; Brooks, J. R.; Bucci, S.
- Tree Physiology, Vol. 24, Issue 8
The ecohydrologic significance of hydraulic redistribution in a semiarid savanna: HYDRAULIC REDISTRIBUTION IN A SEMIARID SAVANNA
journal, February 2008
- Scott, Russell L.; Cable, William L.; Hultine, Kevin R.
- Water Resources Research, Vol. 44, Issue 2
Intraseasonal Variation in Water and Carbon Dioxide Flux Components in a Semiarid Riparian Woodland
journal, August 2007
- Yepez, Enrico A.; Scott, Russell L.; Cable, William L.
- Ecosystems, Vol. 10, Issue 7
The redistribution of soil water by tree root systems
journal, July 1998
- Burgess, Stephen S. O.; Adams, Mark A.; Turner, Neil C.
- Oecologia, Vol. 115, Issue 3
Hydraulic lift and its influence on the water content of the rhizosphere: an example from sugar maple, Acer saccharum
journal, October 1996
- Emerman, Steven H.; Dawson, Todd E.
- Oecologia, Vol. 108, Issue 2
Hydraulic redistribution of soil water during summer drought in two contrasting Pacific Northwest coniferous forests
journal, November 2002
- Brooks, J. R.; Meinzer, F. C.; Coulombe, R.
- Tree Physiology, Vol. 22, Issue 15-16
Downward flux of water through roots (i.e. inverse hydraulic lift) in dry Kalahari sands
journal, July 1998
- Schulze, E. -D.; Caldwell, M. M.; Canadell, J.
- Oecologia, Vol. 115, Issue 4
Numerical simulations of hydraulic redistribution across climates: The role of the root hydraulic conductivities
journal, October 2015
- Quijano, Juan C.; Kumar, Praveen
- Water Resources Research, Vol. 51, Issue 10
Competitive and mutualistic dependencies in multispecies vegetation dynamics enabled by hydraulic redistribution: MULTISPECIES VEGETATION DYNAMICS
journal, May 2012
- Quijano, Juan C.; Kumar, Praveen; Drewry, Darren T.
- Water Resources Research, Vol. 48, Issue 5
Hydraulic lift: water efflux from upper roots improves effectiveness of water uptake by deep roots
journal, April 1989
- Caldwell, M. M.; Richards, J. H.
- Oecologia, Vol. 79, Issue 1
Hydraulic lift in Acacia tortilis trees on an East African savanna
journal, December 2002
- Ludwig, F.; Dawson, T. E.; de Kroon, H.
- Oecologia, Vol. 134, Issue 3
Impacts of hydraulic redistribution on grass-tree competition vs facilitation in a semi-arid savanna
journal, July 2017
- Barron-Gafford, Greg A.; Sanchez-Cañete, Enrique P.; Minor, Rebecca L.
- New Phytologist, Vol. 215, Issue 4
Hydraulic redistribution by a dominant, warm-desert phreatophyte: seasonal patterns and response to precipitation pulses
journal, August 2004
- Hultine, K. R.; Scott, R. L.; Cable, W. L.
- Functional Ecology, Vol. 18, Issue 4
Species‐specific transpiration responses to intermediate disturbance in a northern hardwood forest
journal, December 2014
- Matheny, Ashley M.; Bohrer, Gil; Vogel, Christoph S.
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, Vol. 119, Issue 12
Evaluation of the heat pulse velocity technique for measurement of sap flow in rainforest and eucalypt forest species of south-eastern Australia
journal, April 1995
- Barrett, D. J.; Hatton, T. J.; Ash, J. E.
- Plant, Cell and Environment, Vol. 18, Issue 4
Interannual and seasonal variation in fluxes of water and carbon dioxide from a riparian woodland ecosystem
journal, March 2004
- Scott, Russell L.; Edwards, Eric A.; Shuttleworth, W. James
- Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Vol. 122, Issue 1-2
Hydraulic redistribution in three Amazonian trees
journal, August 2005
- Oliveira, Rafael S.; Dawson, Todd E.; Burgess, Stephen S. O.
- Oecologia, Vol. 145, Issue 3
Passive regulation of soil biogeochemical cycling by root water transport: Passive Regulation of Soil Biogeochemical Cycling
journal, June 2013
- Quijano, Juan C.; Kumar, Praveen; Drewry, Darren T.
- Water Resources Research, Vol. 49, Issue 6
Do hydraulic redistribution and nocturnal transpiration facilitate nutrient acquisition in Aspalathus linearis?
journal, June 2014
- Matimati, Ignatious; Anthony Verboom, G.; Cramer, Michael D.
- Oecologia, Vol. 175, Issue 4
When vegetation change alters ecosystem water availability
journal, April 2014
- Scott, Russell L.; Huxman, Travis E.; Barron-Gafford, Greg A.
- Global Change Biology, Vol. 20, Issue 7
The understory and overstory partitioning of energy and water fluxes in an open canopy, semiarid woodland
journal, January 2003
- Scott, R.
- Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Vol. 114, Issue 3-4
Tree roots: conduits for deep recharge of soil water
journal, January 2001
- Burgess, Stephen S. O.; Adams, Mark A.; Turner, Neil C.
- Oecologia, Vol. 126, Issue 2
Hydraulic lift by Juglans regia relates to nutrient status in the intercropped shallow-root crop plant
journal, September 2013
- Sun, Shou-Jia; Meng, Ping; Zhang, Jin-Song
- Plant and Soil, Vol. 374, Issue 1-2
Hydraulic lift as a determinant of tree-grass coexistence on savannas
journal, April 2015
- Yu, Kailiang; D'Odorico, Paolo
- New Phytologist, Vol. 207, Issue 4
Impact of Hydraulic Redistribution on Multispecies Vegetation Water Use in a Semiarid Savanna Ecosystem: An Experimental and Modeling Synthesis
journal, June 2018
- Lee, Esther; Kumar, Praveen; Barron-Gafford, Greg A.
- Water Resources Research, Vol. 54, Issue 6
Sagebrush carrying out hydraulic lift enhances surface soil nitrogen cycling and nitrogen uptake into inflorescences
journal, November 2013
- Cardon, Z. G.; Stark, J. M.; Herron, P. M.
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 110, Issue 47
Hydraulic redistribution in a stand of Artemisia tridentata: evaluation of benefits to transpiration assessed with a simulation model
journal, January 2002
- Ryel, R.; Caldwell, M.; Yoder, C.
- Oecologia, Vol. 130, Issue 2
A model for hydraulic redistribution incorporating coupled soil-root moisture transport
journal, January 2008
- Amenu, G. G.; Kumar, P.
- Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, Vol. 12, Issue 1
Partitioning overstory and understory evapotranspiration in a semiarid savanna woodland from the isotopic composition of water vapor
journal, October 2003
- Yepez, Enrico A.; Williams, David G.; Scott, Russell L.
- Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Vol. 119, Issue 1-2
An improved heat pulse method to measure low and reverse rates of sap flow in woody plants
journal, June 2001
- Burgess, S. S. O.; Adams, M. A.; Turner, N. C.
- Tree Physiology, Vol. 21, Issue 9
The magnitude of hydraulic redistribution by plant roots: a review and synthesis of empirical and modeling studies: Tansley review
journal, March 2012
- Neumann, Rebecca B.; Cardon, Zoe G.
- New Phytologist, Vol. 194, Issue 2