Intermediate tree cover can maximize groundwater recharge in the seasonally dry tropics
Water scarcity contributes to the poverty of around one-third of the world’s people. Despite many benefits, tree planting in dry regions is often discouraged by concerns that trees reduce water availability. Yet relevant studies from the tropics are scarce and the impacts of intermediate tree cover...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | Inglés |
| Published: |
Springer
2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/94149 |
| _version_ | 1855519749943853056 |
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| author | Ilstedt, Ulrik Tobella, B. Bazié, H.R. Verbeeten, E. Nyberg, G. Benegas, S.L. Murdiyarso, Daniel Laudon, H. Sheil, D. Malmer, A. |
| author_browse | Bazié, H.R. Benegas, S.L. Ilstedt, Ulrik Laudon, H. Malmer, A. Murdiyarso, Daniel Nyberg, G. Sheil, D. Tobella, B. Verbeeten, E. |
| author_facet | Ilstedt, Ulrik Tobella, B. Bazié, H.R. Verbeeten, E. Nyberg, G. Benegas, S.L. Murdiyarso, Daniel Laudon, H. Sheil, D. Malmer, A. |
| author_sort | Ilstedt, Ulrik |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Water scarcity contributes to the poverty of around one-third of the world’s people. Despite many benefits, tree planting in dry regions is often discouraged by concerns that trees reduce water availability. Yet relevant studies from the tropics are scarce and the impacts of intermediate tree cover remain unexplored. We developed and tested an optimum tree cover theory in which groundwater recharge is maximized at an intermediate tree density. Below this optimal tree density the benefits from any additional trees on water percolation exceed their extra water use, leading to increased groundwater recharge, while above the optimum the opposite occurs. Our results, based on groundwater budgets calibrated with measurements of drainage and transpiration in a cultivated woodland in West Africa, demonstrate that groundwater recharge was maximised at intermediate tree densities. In contrast to the prevailing view, we therefore find that moderate tree cover can increase groundwater recharge and that tree planting and various tree management options can improve groundwater resources. We evaluate the necessary conditions for these results to hold and suggest that they are likely to be common in the seasonally dry tropics, offering potential for widespread tree establishment and increased benefits for hundreds of millions of people. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace94149 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publishDateRange | 2016 |
| publishDateSort | 2016 |
| publisher | Springer |
| publisherStr | Springer |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace941492025-06-17T08:23:29Z Intermediate tree cover can maximize groundwater recharge in the seasonally dry tropics Ilstedt, Ulrik Tobella, B. Bazié, H.R. Verbeeten, E. Nyberg, G. Benegas, S.L. Murdiyarso, Daniel Laudon, H. Sheil, D. Malmer, A. water trees dry forests Water scarcity contributes to the poverty of around one-third of the world’s people. Despite many benefits, tree planting in dry regions is often discouraged by concerns that trees reduce water availability. Yet relevant studies from the tropics are scarce and the impacts of intermediate tree cover remain unexplored. We developed and tested an optimum tree cover theory in which groundwater recharge is maximized at an intermediate tree density. Below this optimal tree density the benefits from any additional trees on water percolation exceed their extra water use, leading to increased groundwater recharge, while above the optimum the opposite occurs. Our results, based on groundwater budgets calibrated with measurements of drainage and transpiration in a cultivated woodland in West Africa, demonstrate that groundwater recharge was maximised at intermediate tree densities. In contrast to the prevailing view, we therefore find that moderate tree cover can increase groundwater recharge and that tree planting and various tree management options can improve groundwater resources. We evaluate the necessary conditions for these results to hold and suggest that they are likely to be common in the seasonally dry tropics, offering potential for widespread tree establishment and increased benefits for hundreds of millions of people. 2016 2018-07-03T10:57:02Z 2018-07-03T10:57:02Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/94149 en Open Access Springer Ilstedt, U., Tobella, B., Bazié, H.R., Verbeeten, E., Nyberg, G., Benegas, S.L., Murdiyarso, D., Laudon, H., Sheil, D., Malmer, A.. 2016. Intermediate tree cover can maximize groundwater recharge in the seasonally dry tropics Scientific Reports, 6 : 21930. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep21930 |
| spellingShingle | water trees dry forests Ilstedt, Ulrik Tobella, B. Bazié, H.R. Verbeeten, E. Nyberg, G. Benegas, S.L. Murdiyarso, Daniel Laudon, H. Sheil, D. Malmer, A. Intermediate tree cover can maximize groundwater recharge in the seasonally dry tropics |
| title | Intermediate tree cover can maximize groundwater recharge in the seasonally dry tropics |
| title_full | Intermediate tree cover can maximize groundwater recharge in the seasonally dry tropics |
| title_fullStr | Intermediate tree cover can maximize groundwater recharge in the seasonally dry tropics |
| title_full_unstemmed | Intermediate tree cover can maximize groundwater recharge in the seasonally dry tropics |
| title_short | Intermediate tree cover can maximize groundwater recharge in the seasonally dry tropics |
| title_sort | intermediate tree cover can maximize groundwater recharge in the seasonally dry tropics |
| topic | water trees dry forests |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/94149 |
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