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Sapwood to heartwood ratio affects whole-tree water use in dry forest legume and non-legume trees

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Abstract

We investigated vegetation structure, seasonal water use and leaf deciduousness in a seasonally dry forest of Dzibilchaltún, Mexico. Legumes, species which tend to dominate these forests, have an array of water-saving traits. We explored whether legume species had reduced water use under similar growth conditions as other non-legume species of this seasonally dry forest. Sap flux and conductive sapwood area were measured for eight legume and 12 non-legume species. Species abundance, diameter at breast height (DBH), wood density and seasonal leaf cover were characterized in 16, 10 × 10 m2 plots. Seasonal stand water use was calculated using the sap flux and ecological data. As predicted, legumes presented lower whole-tree water use compared with sympatric non-legume species. This difference, however, was related to a higher allocation to non-conductive heartwood in legumes and not to differences in sap flux density. Differences in allocation were higher in wider stems (>10 cm DBH); legumes above 25 cm DBH presented nearly half the daily water use of non-legumes of similar size. Wet (July) and dry (March) season stand water use was 629,000 and 156,000 kg ha−1 month−1, respectively. During the wet season three non-legume species with high basal area dominated the stand water use, but due to early leaf fall in these species, dry season stand water use was dominated by the legumes.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Carlos Cervera for technical assistance, Diana Trejo who allowed access to Dzibilchaltún National Park, and Comisión Nacional del Agua for providing meteorological data. Reyes-García received a Postdoctoral scholarship from Fondo Sectorial Comisión Nacional Forestal-Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología Grant No. 2003-C03-09765 and from Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología No. 050356. This study was supported by the National Science Foundation, grant No. 0516387 to P. Jackson. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Three anonymous reviewers gave very helpful comments to significantly improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán S.A, Calle 43, Núm. 130 Chuburná de Hidalgo, 97200, Mérida, Mexico

    Casandra Reyes-García, José Luis Andrade, J. Luis Simá & Roberth Us-Santamaría

  2. Department of Biology and Physics, College of Science and Math, Kennesaw State University, 1000 Chastain Road, Kennesaw, GA, 30144-5591, USA

    Paula C. Jackson

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  1. Casandra Reyes-García
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  2. José Luis Andrade
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  4. Roberth Us-Santamaría
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  5. Paula C. Jackson
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Correspondence to Casandra Reyes-García.

Additional information

Communicated by A. C. Franco.

Appendix I

Appendix I

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Table 2 Species, number of repetitions (reps.), seasons and stem radius of trees measured for sap flux
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Reyes-García, C., Andrade, J.L., Simá, J.L. et al. Sapwood to heartwood ratio affects whole-tree water use in dry forest legume and non-legume trees. Trees 26, 1317–1330 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-012-0708-5

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