Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Sap flow of irrigated Populus alba var. pyramidalis and its relationship with environmental factors and leaf area index in an arid region of Northwest China

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Forest Research

Abstract

Populus alba L. var. pyramidalis Bge. (Populus) is a main tree of the farmland shelter-belt system in the arid region of Northwest China. However, soil moisture cannot satisfy the water requirements of normal Populus growth under local natural conditions, thus studying the transpiration characteristics of irrigated Populus and its relationship with the environmental factors and growth parameters is very important to the growth of the trees in this region. In this study, the sap flow of two irrigated Populus trees was measured during May to September from 2005 to 2008 using the heat-pulse technique. The results show that the maximum and minimum daily sap fluxes in Populus were 15.7–24.0 and 3.0–4.0 L day−1, respectively. And the sum of sap fluxes from June to August accounted for approximately 63–69% of the total sap flux during May to September (almost the whole growing season). The order of the meteorological factors affecting the daily sap flux of Populus was: vapor pressure deficit > solar radiation > mean air temperature > wind speed. Furthermore, a highly linear relationship between the ratio of daily sap flux to the reference evapotranspiration (SF/ET0) and the amount of soil water in the 0–2.0 m layer was found, indicating that the amount of soil water at this layer was quite important to the growth of Populus in this region. Especially, the amount of soil water in the 0.5–1.0 m soil layer contributed to most of the plant transpiration as the highest coefficient of determination at this layer. Based on the environmental factors and leaf area index influencing sap flux, an empirical transpiration model was constructed to estimate daily transpiration.

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

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alarcón JJ, Domingo R, Green SR, Sánchez-Blano MJ, Rodríguez P, Torrecillas A (2000) Sap flow as an indicator of transpiration and the water status of young apricot trees. Plant Soil 227:77–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allen RG, Pereira LS, Raes D, Smith M (1998) Crop evapotranspiration—Guidelines for computing crop water requirements. FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56, Rome, Italy

  • Chang X, Zhao W, Zhang Z, Su Y (2006) Sap flow and tree conductance of shelter-belt in arid region of China. Agr For Meteorol 138:132–141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davies WJ, Zhang J (1991) Root signals and the regulation of growth and development of plants in drying soil. Annu Rev Plant Biol 42:55–76

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards W, Warwick N (1984) Transpiration from a kiwifruit vine as estimated by the heat pulse technique and the Penman–Monteith equation. New Zeal J Agr Res 27:537–543

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards WRN, Becker P, Eermak J (1996) A unified nomenclature for sap flow measurements. Tree Physiol 17:65–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Gong D, Wang J, Kang S, Hu X, Zhang F, Li Z (2001) Variations of stem and root sap flow of peach tree under different water status. Trans CSAE 17:34–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall RL, Allen SJ, Rosier P, Hopkins R (1998) Transpiration from coppiced poplar and willow measured using sap-flow methods. Agric For Meteorol 90:275–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hatton TJ, Catchpole EA, Vertessy RA (1990) Integration of sapflow velocity to estimate plant water use. Tree Physiol 6:201–209

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Incoll LD, Jewer PC (1987) Cytokinins and stomata. In: Zeiger E, Farquhar GD, Cowan IR (eds) Stomatal function. Stanford University Press, Stanford, pp 281–292

    Google Scholar 

  • Legates DR, McCabe GJ Jr (1999) Evaluating the use of “goodness-of-fit” measures in hydrologic and hydroclimatic model validation. Water Resour Res 35:233–241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li CP (2003) Studies on the special characteristics of water consumption of Populus alba var. pyramidalis in shelter belt of Hetao-irrigated region. Soil and Water Conservation and Desertification Control Thesis, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University

  • Lundblad M, Lindroth A (2002) Stand transpiration and sapflow density in relation to weather, soil moisture and stand characteristics. Basic Appl Ecol 3:229–243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McJannet D, Fitch P, Disher M, Wallace J (2007) Measurements of transpiration in four tropical rainforest types of north Queensland, Australia. Hydrol Process 21:3549–3564

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meiresonne L, Nadezhdin N, Cermak J, Van Slycken J, Ceulemans R (1999) Measured sap flow and simulated transpiration from a poplar stand in Flanders (Belgium). Agric For Meteorol 96:165–180

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nadezhdina N (1999) Sap flow index as an indicator of plant water status. Tree Physiol 19:885–891

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Niu L, Yue G, Zhao H, Zhang T, Zhao X, Liu X, Zhao W (2008) Evaluating transpiration from Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica and Caragana microphylla using sap flow method. J Beijing For Univ 30:1–8

    Google Scholar 

  • Noilhan J, Planton S (1989) A simple parameterization of land surface processes for meteorological models. Am Meteorol Mon Weather Rev 177:536–549

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qu Y, Kang S, Li F, Zhang J, Xia G, Li W (2007) Xylem sap flows of irrigated Tamarix elongata Ledeb and the influence of environmental factors in the desert region of Northwest China. Hydrol Process 21:1363–1369

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Si J, Feng Q, Zhang X, Chang Z, Su Y, Xi H (2007) Sap flow of populus euphratica in a desert riparian forest in an extreme arid region during the growing season. J Integr Plant Biol 49:425–436

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swanson RH, Whitfield D (1981) A numerical analysis of heat pulse velocity theory and practice. J Exp Bot 32:221–239

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tognetti R, D’Andria R, Morelli G, Calandrelli D, Fragnito F (2004) Irrigation effects on daily and seasonal variations of trunk sap flow and leaf water relations in olive trees. Plant Soil 263:249–264

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vertessy RA, Benyon RG, O’Sullivan SK, Gribben PR (1995) Relationships between stem diameter, sapwood area, leaf area and transpiration in a young mountain ash forest. Tree Physiol 15:559–567

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vertessy RA, Hatton TJ, Reece P, O’Sullivan SK, Benyon RG (1997) Estimating stand water use of large mountain ash trees and validation of the sap flow measurement technique. Tree Physiol 17:747–756

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Xia G, Kang S, Li F, Zhang J, Zhou Q (2008) Diurnal and seasonal variations of sap flow of Caragana korshinskii in the arid desert region of north-west China. Hydrol Process 22:1197–1205

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xiong W, Wang Y, Xu D (2003) Regulation of water use for transpiration of Larix Principi-Rupprechtii plantation and its response on environmental factors in southern Ningxia hilly area. Sci Silv Sin 39:1–7

    Google Scholar 

  • Yin G, Zhou G, Wang X, Chu G, Huang Z (2003) A study on sap flux density of two eucalyptus (Eucalyptus ueophylla) plantation in southeastern China by heat-pulse method. Acta Ecol Sin 23:1984–1990

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang X, Gong J (2004) Study on volume and velocity of stem sap flow of Haloxylon ammodendron by heat-pulse technique. Acta Bot Bor Occident Sin 24:2250–2254

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the research grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (40771034, 50869001), the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program, 2006AA100203), PCSIRT (IRT0657) and Program 200801104-2 supported by the Ministry of Water Resources of China.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Agricultural Water Research in China, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100083, China

    Xiaoyan Xu, Ling Tong & Shaozhong Kang

  2. College of Agriculture, Guangxi University, Nanning, 530005, Guangxi, China

    Fusheng Li

  3. Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water and Soil Engineering in Arid and Semi-arid Areas, Ministry of Education, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China

    Yanping Qu

Authors
  1. Xiaoyan Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ling Tong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Fusheng Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Shaozhong Kang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Yanping Qu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ling Tong.

About this article

Cite this article

Xu, X., Tong, L., Li, F. et al. Sap flow of irrigated Populus alba var. pyramidalis and its relationship with environmental factors and leaf area index in an arid region of Northwest China. J For Res 16, 144–152 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10310-010-0220-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10310-010-0220-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation