Browsing by Author "McNulty, Steve G"

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    A comparison of three methods to estimate evapotranspiration in two contrasting loblolly pine plantations: Age-related changes in water use and drought sensitivity of evapotranspiration components
    (Forest Science, 2012-10-02) Domec, Jean-Christophe; Sun, Ge; Noormets, Asko; Gavazzi, Michael J; Treasure, Emrys A; Cohen, Erika; Swenson, Jennifer J; McNulty, Steve G; King, John S
    Increasing variability of rainfall patterns requires detailed understanding of the pathways of water loss from ecosystems to optimize carbon uptake and management choices. In the current study we characterized the usability of three alternative methods of different rigor for quantifying stand-level evapotranspiration (ET), partitioned ET into tree transpiration (T), understory transpiration, interception, and soil evaporation (E S) and determined their sensitivity to drought, and evaluated the reliability of soil moisture measurements by taking into account deep soil moisture dynamic. The analyses were conducted in an early- and in a mid-rotation stand of loblolly pine, the predominant species of southern US forest plantations. The three alternative methods for estimating ET were the eddy covariance measurements of water vapor fluxes (ET EC), the water table fluctuation (ET WT), and the soil moisture fluctuation (ET SM). On annual and monthly scales, the three methods agreed to within 10-20%, whereas on a daily scale, the values of ET SM and ET EC differed by up to 50% and ET SM and ET WT differed by up to 100%. The differences between the methods were attributed to root water extraction below measurement depth and to the sampling at different spatial scales. Regardless of the method used, ET at the early-rotation site was 15-30% lower than that at the mid-rotation site. The dry years did not affect ET at the mid-rotation site but reduced significantly ET at the early-rotation site. Soil moisture trends revealed the importance of measuring water content at several depths throughout the rooting zone because less than 20% of the water is stored in the top 30 cm of soil. Annually, E S represented approximately 9 and 14% of ET EC at the mid-rotation site and the early-rotation site, respectively. At the mid-rotation site, T accounted for approximately 70% of ET EC. Canopy interception was estimated to be 5-10% of annual precipitation and 6-13% of total ET EC. At the early-rotation site, T accounted for only 35% of ET EC. At this site, transpiration from subdominant trees and shrubs represented 40-45% of ET EC, indicating that understory was a significant part of the water budget. We concluded that the eddy covariance method is best for estimating ET at the fine temporal scale (i.e., daily), but other soil moisture and water table-based methods were equally reliable and cost-effective for quantifying seasonal ET dynamics.© 2012 by the Society of American Foresters.
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    Conversion of natural forests to managed forest plantations decreases tree resistance to prolonged droughts
    (Forest Ecology and Management, 2015-01-01) Domec, Jean-Christophe; King, John S; Ward, Eric; Christopher Oishi, A; Palmroth, Sari; Radecki, Andrew; Bell, Dave M; Miao, Guofang; Gavazzi, Michael; Johnson, Daniel M; McNulty, Steve G; Sun, Ge; Noormets, Asko
    © 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V.Throughout the southern US, past forest management practices have replaced large areas of native forests with loblolly pine plantations and have resulted in changes in forest response to extreme weather conditions. However, uncertainty remains about the response of planted versus natural species to drought across the geographical range of these forests. Taking advantage of a cluster of unmanaged stands (85-130year-old hardwoods) and managed plantations (17-20year-old loblolly pine) in coastal and Piedmont areas of North Carolina, tree water use, cavitation resistance, whole-tree hydraulic (Ktree) and stomatal (Gs) conductances were measured in four sites covering representative forests growing in the region. We also used a hydraulic model to predict the resilience of those sites to extreme soil drying. Our objectives were to determine: (1) if Ktree and stomatal regulation in response to atmospheric and soil droughts differ between species and sites; (2) how ecosystem type, through tree water use, resistance to cavitation and rooting profiles, affects the water uptake limit that can be reached under drought; and (3) the influence of stand species composition on critical transpiration that sets a functional water uptake limit under drought conditions. The results show that across sites, water stress affected the coordination between Ktree and Gs. As soil water content dropped below 20% relative extractable water, Ktree declined faster and thus explained the decrease in Gs and in its sensitivity to vapor pressure deficit. Compared to branches, the capability of roots to resist high xylem tension has a great impact on tree-level water use and ultimately had important implications for pine plantations resistance to future summer droughts. Model simulations revealed that the decline in Ktree due to xylem cavitation aggravated the effects of soil drying on tree transpiration. The critical transpiration rate (Ecrit), which corresponds to the maximum rate at which transpiration begins to level off to prevent irreversible hydraulic failure, was higher in managed forest plantations than in their unmanaged counterparts. However, even with this higher Ecrit, the pine plantations operated very close to their critical leaf water potentials (i.e. to their permissible water potentials without total hydraulic failure), suggesting that intensively managed plantations are more drought-sensitive and can withstand less severe drought than natural forests.
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    Modeling the Potential Impacts of Climate Change on the Hydrology of Selected Forested Wetlands in the Southeastern United States
    (Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions, 2017-10-29) Zhu, Jie; Sun, Ge; Li, Wenhong; Zhang, Yu; Miao, Guofang; Noormets, Asko; McNulty, Steve G; King, John S; Kumar, Mukesh; Wang, Xuan