As trees grow taller, decreased xylem path conductance imposes a major constraint on plant water and carbon balance, and is thus a key factor underlying forest productivity decline with age. The responses of stomatal conductance, leaf area: sapwood area ratio ( A L : A S ) and soil–leaf water potential gradient ( DY S–L ) to height growth were investigated in maritime pine trees. Extensive meas...

We replace the existing land surface parameterization scheme, the Biosphere-Atmosphere Transfer Scheme (BATS), in a regional climate model (RegCM) with the newly developed Common Land Model (CLM0). The main improvements of CLM0 include a detailed 10-layer soil model, the distinction between soil ice and water phases, a linked photosynthesis-stomatal conductance model, a multilayer snow model, a...

Current climate change models for arid ecosystems challenge our ability to understand the effects of droughts on plant population dynamics. In a sandy soil plant community from the Patagonian steppe, we studied soil water dynamics and its effects on grass regeneration. Our hypothesis was that a decrease in precipitation would not change soil water dynamics of the top soil layer where most of th...

In situ volumetric soil-water contents were measured on 11 days at 0.20 m depth intervals to 1.0 m in a field experiment with four replicates of a dry-land corn hybrid (Pioneer 3140) at plant populations of 37, 49, and 62 thousand plants haÿ1. These measurements were used to estimate total soil-water losses in each of the 12 field plots for each of the 10 measurement intervals. The area of the ...

In temperate European climates, the season of peak water demand by vegetation (summer) is out of phase with the season of greatest rainfall (winter). This results in seasonal fluctuations in soil water content and, in clay soils, associated problems of shrinking and swelling that can in turn contribute to strain-softening and progressive slope failure. This paper presents field measurements of ...

Growth and carbon (C) fluxes are severely altered in plants exposed to soil water deficit. Correspondingly, it has been suggested that plants under water deficit suffer from C shortage. In this study, we test this hypothesis in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) by providing an overview of the responses of growth, C balance, metabolites, enzymes of the central metabolism, and a set of sugar-res...

The monitoring of irrigation requirements at district or regional scale can be based on the use of ecological process-based models and remote sensing data. The former simulates the time evolution (usually at daily scale) of the main biophysical variables which determine crop photosynthesis and water consumption rates; the latter allows to provide the spatial distribution of these variables over...

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management is investigating alternatives to conventional cover designs for uranium mill tailings. A cover constructed in 2000 near Monticello, Utah, USA, was a redundant design with a conventional low-conductivity composite cover overlain with an alternative cover designed to mimic the natural soil water balance as measured in nearby undisturbed na...

Introduction Conclusions References Tables Figures ◭ ◮ ◭ ◮ Back Close Full Screen / Esc Papers published in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions are under open-access review for the journal Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Abstract Introduction Conclusions References Tables Figures ◭ ◮ ◭ ◮ Back Close Full Screen / Esc Abstract The soil-water balance and plant water use are investi...