Positive Effects of Scattered Trees on Soil Water Dynamics in a Pasture Landscape in the Tropics

As a result of canopy interception and transpiration, trees are often assumed to have negative effects on the local hydrological budget resulting in reduced soil and groundwater resources. However, it has also been shown that trees can have positive effects through reducing surface run-off and impro...

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Autores principales: Benegas, Laura, Hasselquist, Niles, Bargués-Tobella, Aida, Malmer, Anders, Ilstedt, Ulrik
Otros Autores: Poca, María
Formato: Artículo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://repositorio.catie.ac.cr/handle/11554/11464
id RepoCATIE11464
record_format dspace
spelling RepoCATIE114642022-08-05T16:55:03Z Positive Effects of Scattered Trees on Soil Water Dynamics in a Pasture Landscape in the Tropics Benegas, Laura Hasselquist, Niles Bargués-Tobella, Aida Malmer, Anders Ilstedt, Ulrik Poca, María RECARGA DE AGUAS SUBTERRÁNEAS ORDENACIÓN DE TIERRAS ECOSISTEMAS ESCORRENTÍA SUBTERRÁNEA MEDICIONES ISOTÓPICAS SERVICIOS DE LOS ECOSISTEMAS ÁRBOLES DISPERSOS TIERRAS DE PASTOS CUENCAS HIDROGRÁFICAS RÍO COPAN HONDURAS Sede Central As a result of canopy interception and transpiration, trees are often assumed to have negative effects on the local hydrological budget resulting in reduced soil and groundwater resources. However, it has also been shown that trees can have positive effects through reducing surface run-off and improving soil infiltrability and groundwater recharge, especially in many tropical ecosystems characterized by high rain intensity and degradation-prone soils. In this study, we used isotopic measurements of soil water to better understand the main processes by which trees influence local soil water dynamics within a tropical pasture with scattered tree cover in the Copan River catchment, Honduras. We also determined the stable isotope signature of xylem water in grasses and trees to assess potential competition for water sources during the wet and dry seasons. During the wet season, when soil water availability was not limiting, both grasses and trees primarily utilized soil water near the soil surface (i.e., 0–10 cm). In contrast, during the dry season, we observed niche partitioning for water resources where grasses primarily utilized soil moisture at deeper soil depth (i.e., 90–100 cm) while trees relied heavily on groundwater. Moreover, isotopic data of soil water suggest that trees reduce evaporative water losses from the soil surface, as indicated by the lack of correlation between soil water content and lc-excess (line condition excess) values of surface soil water under trees, and enhance preferential flow as suggested by less negative lc-excess values under trees compared to open areas during the dry season. Taken together, our findings provide further support that trees can have positive effects on the local water balance with implication for landscape management, promoting the inclusion of scattered trees to provide water ecosystem services in silvopastoral systems, adding to other ecosystem services like biodiversity or carbon sequestration. 2021-12-09T20:23:55Z 2021-12-09T20:23:55Z 2021 Artículo Benegas L, Hasselquist N, Bargués-Tobella A, Malmer A and Ilstedt U (2021) Positive Effects of Scattered Trees on Soil Water Dynamics in a Pasture Landscape in the Tropics. Front. Water 3:736824. doi: 10.3389/frwa.2021.736824 https://repositorio.catie.ac.cr/handle/11554/11464 openAccess en Frontiers in Water October 2021 Volume3 p.1-13 https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2021.736824 application/pdf
institution Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza
collection Repositorio CATIE
language Inglés
topic RECARGA DE AGUAS SUBTERRÁNEAS
ORDENACIÓN DE TIERRAS
ECOSISTEMAS
ESCORRENTÍA SUBTERRÁNEA
MEDICIONES ISOTÓPICAS
SERVICIOS DE LOS ECOSISTEMAS
ÁRBOLES DISPERSOS
TIERRAS DE PASTOS
CUENCAS HIDROGRÁFICAS
RÍO COPAN
HONDURAS
Sede Central
spellingShingle RECARGA DE AGUAS SUBTERRÁNEAS
ORDENACIÓN DE TIERRAS
ECOSISTEMAS
ESCORRENTÍA SUBTERRÁNEA
MEDICIONES ISOTÓPICAS
SERVICIOS DE LOS ECOSISTEMAS
ÁRBOLES DISPERSOS
TIERRAS DE PASTOS
CUENCAS HIDROGRÁFICAS
RÍO COPAN
HONDURAS
Sede Central
Benegas, Laura
Hasselquist, Niles
Bargués-Tobella, Aida
Malmer, Anders
Ilstedt, Ulrik
Positive Effects of Scattered Trees on Soil Water Dynamics in a Pasture Landscape in the Tropics
description As a result of canopy interception and transpiration, trees are often assumed to have negative effects on the local hydrological budget resulting in reduced soil and groundwater resources. However, it has also been shown that trees can have positive effects through reducing surface run-off and improving soil infiltrability and groundwater recharge, especially in many tropical ecosystems characterized by high rain intensity and degradation-prone soils. In this study, we used isotopic measurements of soil water to better understand the main processes by which trees influence local soil water dynamics within a tropical pasture with scattered tree cover in the Copan River catchment, Honduras. We also determined the stable isotope signature of xylem water in grasses and trees to assess potential competition for water sources during the wet and dry seasons. During the wet season, when soil water availability was not limiting, both grasses and trees primarily utilized soil water near the soil surface (i.e., 0–10 cm). In contrast, during the dry season, we observed niche partitioning for water resources where grasses primarily utilized soil moisture at deeper soil depth (i.e., 90–100 cm) while trees relied heavily on groundwater. Moreover, isotopic data of soil water suggest that trees reduce evaporative water losses from the soil surface, as indicated by the lack of correlation between soil water content and lc-excess (line condition excess) values of surface soil water under trees, and enhance preferential flow as suggested by less negative lc-excess values under trees compared to open areas during the dry season. Taken together, our findings provide further support that trees can have positive effects on the local water balance with implication for landscape management, promoting the inclusion of scattered trees to provide water ecosystem services in silvopastoral systems, adding to other ecosystem services like biodiversity or carbon sequestration.
author2 Poca, María
author_facet Poca, María
Benegas, Laura
Hasselquist, Niles
Bargués-Tobella, Aida
Malmer, Anders
Ilstedt, Ulrik
format Artículo
author Benegas, Laura
Hasselquist, Niles
Bargués-Tobella, Aida
Malmer, Anders
Ilstedt, Ulrik
author_sort Benegas, Laura
title Positive Effects of Scattered Trees on Soil Water Dynamics in a Pasture Landscape in the Tropics
title_short Positive Effects of Scattered Trees on Soil Water Dynamics in a Pasture Landscape in the Tropics
title_full Positive Effects of Scattered Trees on Soil Water Dynamics in a Pasture Landscape in the Tropics
title_fullStr Positive Effects of Scattered Trees on Soil Water Dynamics in a Pasture Landscape in the Tropics
title_full_unstemmed Positive Effects of Scattered Trees on Soil Water Dynamics in a Pasture Landscape in the Tropics
title_sort positive effects of scattered trees on soil water dynamics in a pasture landscape in the tropics
publishDate 2021
url https://repositorio.catie.ac.cr/handle/11554/11464
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AT barguestobellaaida positiveeffectsofscatteredtreesonsoilwaterdynamicsinapasturelandscapeinthetropics
AT malmeranders positiveeffectsofscatteredtreesonsoilwaterdynamicsinapasturelandscapeinthetropics
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