Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Patterns and mechanisms of transpiration in a large subalpine Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.)

  • Original Articles
  • Published:
Ecological Research

In situ water relations of a large subalpine Norway spruce (Picea abies) were analyzed by simultaneous measurements of sap flow at different crown positions. In the diurnal scale, transpiration varied greatly, both spatially and temporally. Over longer periods, however, different parts of the crown transpired in fairly constant proportions. The average estimated transpiration was about 3.5 times greater in the upper than in the lower half and decreased 1.6-fold from south to north. Water intercepted from rain, fog and dew buffered and significantly decreased the transpiration. The effect was strongest in those parts which were least coupled to the free atmosphere. The top of the crown seemed to experience a regular shortage of water shortly after starting transpiration, when it was forced to switch from internal reserves to sources in the soil. Further, lower branches then started transpiring, which may have led them to compete for the water. An enhanced nocturnal sap flow during warm and dry winds (Foehn) indicated that the tree also transpired at night. Shaded twigs had more capacity to intercept water externally than twigs in the sun. The significance of the crown structure for interaction with water in both liquid and vapour phases is discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baldocchi D. (1989) Canopy-atmosphere water vapour exchange: Can we scale from a leaf to a canopy? In: Proceedings of a workshop on estimation of areal evapotranspiration. Vancouver, Canada, August 1987. (eds T. A. Black, D. L. Spittlehouse, M. D. Novak & D. T. Price) International Association of Hydrological Science Publication177: 21–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Balek J., ČErmÁk J., KuČera, Prax A. (1983) A direct method for forest transpiration measurement. Journal of Hydrology 66: 123–131.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beier C., Hansen C. B. K., Gundersen P. (1993) Spatial variability of throughfall fluxes in a spruce forest. Environmental Pollution 81: 257–267.

    Google Scholar 

  • Black T. A. (1979) Evapotranspiration from Douglas Fir stands exposed to soil water deficits. Water Resources Research 15: 164–170.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brehmer U. (1981) Licht- und Schattennadeln der Fichte (Picea abies (L.) Karst.). Beiträge zu Anatomie, Morphologie und Wasserhaushalt. Dissertation an der Forstwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München (in German).

  • Caldwell M. M. & Richards J. H. (1989) Hydraulic lift: water efflux from upper roots improves effectiveness of water uptake by deep roots. Oecologia 79: 1–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter G. A. & Smith W. K. (1985) Influence of twig structure on light interception and photosynthesis in conifers. Plant Physiology 79: 1038–1043.

    Google Scholar 

  • ČermÁk J., Deml M., Penka M. (1973) A new method of sap flow rate determination in trees. Biologia Plantarum 15: 171–178.

    Google Scholar 

  • ČermÁk J. & KuČera J. (1981) The compensation of natural temperature gradient at the measuring point during the sap flow rate determination in trees. Biologia Plantarum 23: 469–471.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denmead O. T. (1984) Plant physiological methods for studying evapotranspiration: problems of telling the forest from the trees. Agricultural Water Management 8: 167–189.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diawara A., Loustau D., Berbigier P. (1991) Comparison of two methods for estimating the evaporation of a Pinus pinaster (Ait.) stand: sap flow and energy balance with sensible heat flux measurements by an eddy covariance method. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 54: 49–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dugas W. A., Wallace J. S., Allen S. J., Roberts J. M. (1993) Heat balance, porometer and deuterium estimates of transpiration from potted trees. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 64: 47–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerdes G., Allison B. E., Pereira L. S. (1994) Overestimation of soybean crop transpiration by sap flow measurements under field conditions in Central Portugal. Irrigation Science 14: 135–139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goulden M. L. & Field C. B. (1994) Three methods for monitoring the gas exchange of individual tree canopies: ventilated-chamber, sap-flow and Penman-Monteith measurements on evergreen oaks. Functional Ecology 8: 125–135.

    Google Scholar 

  • Granier A. (1985) Une nouvelle méthode pour la mesure du flux de sève brute dans le tronc des arbres. Annales des Sciences Forestières 42: 193–200 (in French).

    Google Scholar 

  • Granier A. (1987) Evaluation of transpiration in a Douglas-fir stand by means of sap flow measurements. Tree Physiology 3: 309–320.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • GutiÉrrez M. V., Harrington R. A., Meinzer F. C., Fownes J. H. (1994) The effect of environmentally induced stem temperature gradients on transpiration estimates from the heat balance method in two tropical woody species. Tree Physiology 14: 179–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • HÄsler R., Savi C., Herzog K. (1991) Photosynthese und stomatäre Leitfähigkeit der Fichte unter dem Einfluss von Witterung und Luftschadstoffen. In: Luftschadstoffe und Wald. Band 5. Ergebnisse aus dem Nationalen Forschungsprogramm 14 (ed. M. Stark) pp. 143–168. Verlag der Fachvereine, Zürich (in German).

    Google Scholar 

  • Herzog K. M. (1995) Water relations of a mature subalpine Norway spruce (Picea abies(L.) Karst.). PhD dissertation no. 11126. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herzog K. M., HÄsler R., Thum R. (1995) Diurnal changes in the radius of a subalpine Norway spruce stem: their relation to the sap flow and their use to estimate transpiration. Trees 10: 94–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herzog K. M., Thum R., HÄsler R. (1994) Diurnal variation in stem radii and transpiration flow at different crown levels of a Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.). In: Verhandlungen derGesellschaft für Ökologie. Band 23(ed. J. Pfadenhauer) pp. 143–147. Gesellschaft für Ökologie, Freising-Weihenstephan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herzog K. M., Thum R., Zweifel R., HÄsler R. (1997) Heat balance measurements—to quantify sap flow in thin stems only? Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 83: 75–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hinckley T. M., Lassoie J. P., Running S. W. (1978) Temporal and spatial variations in the water status of forest trees. Forest Science Monograph 20: 37–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hinckley T. M. & Ritchie G. A. (1970) Within-crown patterns of transpiration, water stress, and stomatal activity in Abies amabilis. Forest Science 16: 490–492.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarvis P. G. (1980) Stomatal response to water stress in conifers. In: Adaptations of plants to water and high temperature stress (eds N. C. Turner & P. J. Kramer), pp. 105–122. John Wiley and Sons, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarvis P. G. & Catsky J. (1971) Assimilation chambers and the scope and limitation of their application. In: Plant photosynthetic production. Manual of methods (eds Z. Sestak, J. Catsky & P. G. Jarvis) pp. 58–59. Dr W. Junk Publishers, The Hague.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kozlowski T. T. (1979) Tree Growth and Environmental Stresses. University of Washington Press, Seattle.

    Google Scholar 

  • KuČera J. & Penka M. (1977) Improved thermal method of continual recording the transpiration flow rate dynamics. Biologia Plantarum 19: 413–420.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levitt J. (1980) Stress terminology. In: Adaptation of plants to water and high temperature stress (eds N. C. Turner & P. J. Kramer) pp. 437–439. John Wiley and Sons, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovett G. M. & Reiners W. A. (1986) Canopy structure and cloud water deposition in subalpine coniferous forests. Tellus 38B: 319–327.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maier-Maercker U. & Koch W. (1992) The effect of air pollution on the mechanism of stomatal control. Trees 7: 12–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matyssek R., Čerma’k J., KuČera J. (1991) Ursacheneingrenzung eines lokalen Buchenster-bens mit einer Messmethode der Kronentrans-piration. Schweizerische Zeitschriftfur das Forstwesen 142: 809–828 (in German).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mcnaughton K. G. & Jarvis P. G. (1983) Predicting effects of vegetation changes on transpiration and evaporation. Water Deficit and Plant Growth 7: 1–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reich P. B. & Hinckley T. M. (1989) Influence of pre-dawn water potential and soil-to-leaf hydraulic conductance on maximum daily leaf diffusive conductance in two oak species. Functional Ecology 3: 719–726.

    Google Scholar 

  • Running S. W. (1980) Field estimates of root and xylem resistances in Pinus contorta using root excision. Journal of Experimental Botany 31: 555–569.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sakuratani T. (1984) Improvement of the probe for measuring water flow rate with the stem heat balance method. Journal of Agricultural Meteorology 40: 273–277.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoettle A. W. & Smith W. K. (1991) Interrelation between shoot characteristics and solar irradiance in the crown of Pinus contorta ssp. latifolia. Tree Physiology 9: 245–254.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulze E.-D., ČermÁk J., Matyssek R.et al. (1985) Canopy transpiration and water fluxes in the xylem of the trunk of Larix and Picea trees—a comparison of xylem flow, porometer and cuvette measurement. Oecologia66: 475–483.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sellin A. A. (1988) Hydraulic architecture of Norway spruce. Soviet Plant Physiology 35: 839–845.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stark M., Primault B., SchÜpbach E. (1991) Die Beobachtungsflächen an der Lägeren, im Alptal und in Davos. In: Luftschadstoffe und Wald. Band 5. Ergebnisse aus dem Nationalen Forschungsprogramm 14 (ed. M. Stark) pp. 15–24. Verlag der Fachvereine, Zürich (in German).

    Google Scholar 

  • Swanson R. H. (1994) Significant historical developments in thermal methods for measuring sap flow in trees. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 72: 113–132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tardieu F. & Davies W. J. (1993) Integration of hydraulic and chemical signalling in the control of stomatal conductance and water status of droughted plants. Plant, Cell and Environment 16: 341–349.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valentini R., Scarascia-Mugnozza G. E., Sabatti M. (1989) Evapotranspiration measurements in a Mediterranean forest stand by means of ecophysiological and microclimatic techniques. Annales des Sciences Forestieres 46 (Suppl.) 325s–329s.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vogt R. & Jaeger L. (1990) Evaporation from a pine forest – using the aerodynamic method and Bowen ratio method. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 50: 39–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang Y. P. & Jarvis P. G. (1990) Influence of crown structural properties on PAR absorption, photosynthesis, and transpiration in Sitka spruce: application of a model (MAESTRO). Tree Physiology 7: 297–316.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL/FNP), CH-8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland

    Karl Martin Herzog, Roland Thum & Rudolf Häsler

  2. Institute of Botany, University of Innsbruck, Sternwartestr.15, A-6020, Innsbruck, Austria

    Gerhard Kronfus

  3. Department of Ecology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstr. 190, CH-8057, Zurich, Switzerland

    Hans-Jakob Heldstab

Authors
  1. Karl Martin Herzog
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Roland Thum
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Gerhard Kronfus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hans-Jakob Heldstab
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Rudolf Häsler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

About this article

Cite this article

Herzog, K., Thum, R., Kronfus, G. et al. Patterns and mechanisms of transpiration in a large subalpine Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.). Ecol Res 13, 105–116 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-1703.1998.00250.x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-1703.1998.00250.x

Keywords

Search

Navigation