Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Response of Populus euphratica Oliv. sap flow to environmental variables for a desert riparian forest in the Heihe River Basin, Northwest China

  • Published:
Journal of Arid Land Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Being an important desert riparian forest in the lower reaches of the Heihe River Basin, Populus euphratica Oliv. forest functions as a natural barrier in maintaining and preserving the stability of local oases. Accordingly, accurately estimating the water use of P. euphratica is important for vegetation protection and water resource allocation. To date, little data are available for evaluating the hysteretic effects between sap flow and environmental variables, and for estimating the water use of desert riparian forest. In this study, we measured the sap flow velocity (V s ) of P. euphratica using the heat ratio method during the growing season of 2012. Based on the response of V s to solar radiation (R s ) and vapor pressure deficit (VPD), we estimated the hourly Vs and daily Vs using the multivariable linear regression and a modified Jarvis-Stewart (JS) model, respectively. Hysteretic response of R s to environmental variables was then evaluated using a sap flow model. We found the thresholds of R s responses to R s and VPD at both hourly and daily scales during the growing season, and successfully estimated the seasonal variations of hourly R s and daily R s using the JS model. At an hourly scale, the maximum R s occurred earlier than the maximum VPD by approximately 0.5 h but later than the maximum R s by approximate 1.0 h. At a daily scale, the maximum R s lagged behind the maximum VPD by approximately 2.5 h while occurred earlier than the maximum R s by approximately 2 h. However, hysteretic response of V s was weakened when R s and VPD were measured together using the JS model at both hourly and daily scales. Consequently, short-term and intensive field campaigns, where V s and environmental variables can be measured, may be used to estimate short-run sap flow and stand transpiration using only two environmental variables.

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

  • Bernier P Y, Bréda N, Granier A, et al. 2002. Validation of a canopy gas exchange model and derivation of a soil water modifier for transpiration for sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) using sap flow density measurements. Forest Ecology and Management, 163(1–3): 185–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burgess S S O, Adams M A, Turner N C, et al. 2001. An improved heat pulse method to measure low and reverse rates of sap flow in woody plants. Tree Physiology, 21(9): 589–598.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bush S, Pataki D E, Hultine K R, et al. 2008. Wood anatomy constrains stomatal responses to atmospheric vapor pressure deficit in irrigated, urban trees. Oecologia, 156(1): 13–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen L X, Zhang Z Q, Li Z D, et al. 2011. Biophysical control of whole tree transpiration under an urban environment in Northern China. Journal of Hydrology, 402(3–4): 388–400.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Compbell G S, Norman J M. 1998. An Introduction to Environmental Biophysics. New York: Springer, 37–75.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • David T S, Ferreira M I, Cohen S, et al. 2004. Constraints on transpiration from an evergreen oak tree in southern Portugal. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 122(3–4): 193–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dierick D, Hölscher D. 2009. Species-specific tree water use characteristics in reforestation stands in the Philippines. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 149(8): 1317–1326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dragoni D, Caylor K K, Schmid H P. 2009. Decoupling structural and environmental determinants of sap velocity. Part II. Observational application. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 149(3–4): 570–581.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Du S, Wang Y L, Kume T, et al. 2011. Sapflow characteristics and climatic responses in three forest species in the semiarid Loess Plateau region of China. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 151(1): 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ford C R, Coranson C E, Mitchell R J, et al. 2005. Modeling canopy transpiration using time series analysis: A case study illustrating the effect of soil moisture deficit on Pinus taeda. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 130(3–4): 163–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granier A, Huc R, Barigah S T. 1996. Transpiration of natural rain forest and its dependence on climatic factors. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 78(1–2): 19–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guan D X, Zhang X J, Yuan F H, et al. 2012. The relationship between sap flow of intercropped young poplar trees (Populus×euramericana cv. N3016) and environmental factors in a semiarid region of northeastern China. Hydrological Processes, 26(19): 2925–2937.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Han L, He K N, Hu X B, et al. 2012. Canopy transpiration response to environmental variations in Platycladus orientalis: properties and modelling. Pakistan Journal of Botany, 44(2): 541–545.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hernández-Santana V, Dacid T S, Martínez-Fernández J. 2008. Environmental and plant-based controls of water use in a Mediterranean oak stand. Forest and Ecology Management, 255(11): 3707–3715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang L, Zhang Z S, Li X R. 2010. Sap flow of Artemisia ordosica and the influence of environmental factors in a revegetated desert area: Tengger Desert, China. Hydrological Processes, 24(10): 1248–1253.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hultine K R, Nagler P L, Morino K, et al. 2010. Sap flux-scaled transpitaion by tamarisk (Tamarix spp.) before, during and after episodic defoliation by the saltcedar leaf beetle (Diorhabda carinulata). Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 150(11): 1467–1475.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jarvis P G. 1976. The interpretation of the variations in leaf water potential and stomatal conductance found in canopies in the field. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 273(927): 593–610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Köhler M, Dierick D, Schwendenmann L, et al. 2009. Water use characteristics of cacao and Gliricidia trees in an agroforest in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Ecohydrology, 2(4): 520–529.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Komatsu H, Kang Y, Kume T, et al. 2006. Transpiration from a Cryptomeria japonica plantation part 2: responses of canopy conductance to meteorological factors. Hydrological Processes, 20(6): 1321–1334.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumagai T, Aoki S, Shimizu T, et al. 2007. Sap flow estimates of stand transpiration at two slope positions in a Japanese cedar forest watershed. Tree Physiology, 27(2): 161–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumagai T, Aoki S, Otsuki K, et al. 2009. Impact of stem water storage on diurnal estimates of whole-tree transpiration and canopy conductance from sap flow measurements in Japanese cedar and Japanese cypress trees. Hydrological Processes, 23(16): 2335–2344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li W, Si J H, Feng Q, et al. 2013. Response of transpiration to water vapour pressure defferrential of Populus euphratica. Journal of Desert Research, 33(5): 1377–1384. (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu C W, Du T S, Li F S, et al. 2012. Trunk sap flow characteristics during two growth stages of apple tree and its relationships with affecting factors in an arid region of northwest China. Agricultural Water Management, 104: 193–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu P, Urbab L, Zhao P. 2004. Granier’s thermal dissipation probe (TDP) method for measuring sap flow in trees: theory and practice. Acta Botanica Sinica, 46(6): 631–646. (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Macfarlane C, White D A, Adams M A. 2004. The apparent feed-forward response to vapour pressure deficit of stomata in droughted, field-grown Eucalyptus globulus Labill. Plant, Cell & Environment, 27(10): 1268–1280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marquardt D W. 1963. An algorithm for least-squares estimation of non-linear parameters. Journal of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, 11: 431–441.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naithani K J, Ewers B E, Pendall E. 2012. Sap flux-scaled transpiration and stomatal conductance response to soil and atmospheric drought in a semi-arid sagebrush ecosystem. Journal of Hydrology, 464–465: 176–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien J J, Oberbauer S F, Clark D B. 2004. Whole tree xylem sap flow responses to multiple environmental variables in a wet tropical forest. Plant, Cell & Environment, 27(5): 551–567.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Grady A P, Worledge D, Battaglia M. 2008. Constraints on transpiration of Eucalyptus globulus in southern Tasmania, Australia. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 148(3): 453–465.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oguntunde P G, van de Giesen N, Savenije H H G. 2007. Measurement and modelling of transpiration of a rain-fed citrus orchard under subhumid tropical conditions. Agricultural Water Management, 87(2): 200–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oren R, Phillips N, Ewers B E, et al. 1999. Sap-flux-scaled transpiration responses to light, vapor pressure deficit, and leaf area reduction in a flooded Taxodium distichum forest. Tree Physiology, 19(6): 337–347.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pataki D E, Oren R. 2003. Species differences in stomatal control of water loss at the canopy scale in a mature bottomland deciduous forest. Advance in Water Resources, 26(12): 1267–1278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qu Y P, Kang S Z, Li F S, et al. 2007. Xylem sap flows of irrigated Tamarix elongata Ledeb and the influence of environmental factors in the desert region of Northwest China. Hydrological Processes, 21(10): 1363–1369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rousseaux M C, Figuerola P I, Correa-Tedesco G, et al. 2009. Seasonal variations in sap flow and soil evaporation in an olive (Olea europaea L.) grove under two irrigation regimes in an arid region of Argentina. Agricultural Water Management, 96(6): 1037–1044.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez-Costa E, Poyatos R, Sabaté S. 2015. Contrasting growth and water use strategies in four co-occurring Mediterranean tree species revealed by concurrent measurements of sap flow and stem diameter variations. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 207: 24–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Si J H, Feng Q, Zhang X Y, et al. 2007. Sap flow of Populus euphratica in a desert riparian forest in an extreme arid region during the growing season. Journal of Integrative Plant Biology, 49(4): 425–436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Si J H, Feng Q, Cao S K, et al. 2014. Water use sources of desert riparian Populus euphratica forests. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 186(9): 5469–5477.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singer J W, Heitman J L, Hernandez-Ramirez G, et al. 2010. Contrasting methods for estimating evapotranspiration in soybean. Agricultural Water Management, 98(1): 157–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steppe K, De Pauw D J W, Doody T M, et al. 2010. A comparison of sap flux density using thermal dissipation, heat pulse velocity and field deformation methods. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 150(7–8): 1046–1056.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tognetti R, Giovannelli A, Lavini A, et al. 2009. Assessing environmental controls over conductances through the soil-plant-atomsphere continuum in an experimental olive tree plantation of southern Italy. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 149(8): 1229–1243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitley R, Medlyn B, Zeppel M, et al. 2009. Comparing the Penman-Monteith equation and a modified Jarvis-Stewart model with an artificial neural network to estimate stand-scale transpiration and canopy conductance. Journal of Hydrology, 373(1–2): 256–266.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yin L H, Zhou Y X, Huang J T, et al. 2014. Dynamics of willow tree (Salix matsudana) water use and its response to environmental factors in the semi-arid Hailiutu River catchment, Northwest China. Environmental Earth Sciences, 71(12): 4997–5006.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu T F, Feng Q, Si J H, et al. 2013. Patterns, magnitude, and controlling factors of hydraulic redistribution of soil water by Tamarix ramosissima roots. Journal of Arid Land, 5(3): 396–407.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeppel M J B, Murray B R, Barton C, et al. 2004. Seasonal responses of xylem sap velocity to VPD and solar radiation during drought in a stand of native trees in temperate Australia. Functional Plant Biology, 31(5): 461–470.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng C L, Wang Q. 2014. Water-use response to climate factors at whole tree and branch scale for a dominant desert species in central Asia: Haloxylon ammodendron. Ecohydrology, 7(1): 56–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng H, Wang Q F, Zhu X J, et al. 2014. Hysteresis responses of evapotranspiration to meteorological factors at a diel timescale: Patterns and Causes. PLoS ONE, 9(6): e98857, doi: 10.1371/journal.Pone.0098857.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Resources Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Wei Li & Xiaoyan Li

  2. Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Wei Li, Jianhua Si & Tengfei Yu

  3. State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Wei Li & Xiaoyan Li

Authors
  1. Wei Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jianhua Si
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Tengfei Yu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Xiaoyan Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jianhua Si.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Li, W., Si, J., Yu, T. et al. Response of Populus euphratica Oliv. sap flow to environmental variables for a desert riparian forest in the Heihe River Basin, Northwest China. J. Arid Land 8, 591–603 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-016-0045-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-016-0045-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation