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Water use by a warm-temperate deciduous forest under the influence of the Asian monsoon: contributions of the overstory and understory to forest water use

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Abstract

The warm temperate deciduous forests in Asia have a relatively dense understory, hence, it is imperative that we understand the dynamics of transpiration in both the overstory (E O) and understory (E U) of forest stands under the influence of the Asian monsoon in order to improve the accuracy of forest water use budgeting and to identify key factors controlling forest water use under climate change. In this study, E O and E U of a temperate deciduous forest stand located in South Korea were measured during the growing season of 2008 using sap flow methods. The objectives of this study were (1) to quantify the total transpiration of the forest stand, i.e., overstory and understory, (2) to determine their relative contribution to ecosystem evapotranspiration (E eco), and (3) to identify factors controlling the transpiration of each layer. E O and E U were 174 and 22 mm, respectively. Total transpiration accounted for 55 % of the total E eco, revealing the importance of unaccounted contributions to E eco (i.e., soil evaporation and wet canopy evaporation). During the monsoon period, there was a strong reduction in the total transpiration, likely because of reductions in photosynthetic active radiation, vapor pressure deficit and plant area index. The ratio of E U to E O declined during the same period, indicating an effect of monsoon on the partitioning of E eco in its two components. The seasonal pattern of E O was synchronized with the overstory canopy development, which equally had a strong regulatory influence on E U.

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Acknowledgments

This study was carried out as part of the International Research Training Group TERRECO (GRK 1565/1) funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) in cooperation with the University of Bayreuth, Germany and the Korean Research Foundation (KRF) at Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, S. Korea and a Grant (code 1-8-3) from Sustainable Water Resources Research Center of Twenty-First Century Frontier Research Program. We would like to acknowledge the input from Ms. Margarete Wartinger of Plant Ecology Department, University of Bayreuth and students of Seoul National University and Kangwon National University for their support during fieldwork.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Ecology, University of Bayreuth, 95440, Bayreuth, Germany

    Eun-Young Jung, Dennis Otieno, Hyojung Kwon, Bora Lee & John Tenhunen

  2. Department of Forest Conservation, Korea Forest Research Institute, Seoul, 130-712, Korea

    Jong-Hwan Lim

  3. Department of Landscape Architecture and Rural Systems Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-742, Korea

    Hyojung Kwon & Joon Kim

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  1. Eun-Young Jung
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Correspondence to Eun-Young Jung.

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Jung, EY., Otieno, D., Kwon, H. et al. Water use by a warm-temperate deciduous forest under the influence of the Asian monsoon: contributions of the overstory and understory to forest water use. J Plant Res 126, 661–674 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-013-0563-5

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