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Intraseasonal Variation in Water and Carbon Dioxide Flux Components in a Semiarid Riparian Woodland

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Abstract

We investigated how the distribution of precipitation over a growing season influences the coupling of carbon and water cycle components in a semiarid floodplain woodland dominated by the deep-rooted velvet mesquite (Prosopis velutina). Gross ecosystem production (GEP) and ecosystem respiration (R eco) were frequently uncoupled because of their different sensitivities to growing season rainfall. Soon after the first monsoon rains, R eco was high and was not proportional to slight increases in GEP. During the wettest month of the growing season (July), the system experienced a net carbon loss equivalent to 46% of the carbon accumulated over the 6-month study period (114 g C m−2; May–October). It appears that a large CO2 efflux and a rapid water loss following precipitation early in the growing season and a later CO2 gain is a defining characteristic of seasonally dry ecosystems. The relative contribution of plant transpiration (T) to total evapotranspiration (ET) (T/ET) was 0.90 for the entire growing season, with T/ET reaching a value of 1 during dry conditions and dropping to as low as 0.65 when the soil surface was wet. The evaporation fraction (E) was equivalent to 31% of the precipitation received during the study period (253 mm) whereas trees and understory vegetation transpired 38 and 31%, respectively, of this water source. The water-use efficiency of the vegetation (GEP/T) was higher later in the growing season when the C4 grassy understory was fully developed. The influence of rain on net ecosystem production (NEP) can be interpreted as the proportion of precipitation that is transpired by the plant community; the water-use efficiency of the vegetation and the precipitation fraction that is lost by evaporation.

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Acknowledgments

We were able to carry out this work thanks to financial support from the SAHRA-NSF Science and Technology Center (EAR-9876800), the Upper San Pedro Partnership and CONACYT-Mexico for granting a graduate fellowship (150496) to EAY. Patrick Ellsworth, Joost van Haren, Danielle Pierce, Rico Gazal and Marcela Lopez provided invaluable support and an anonymous reviewer provided comments to improve this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Natural Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85721, USA

    Enrico A. Yepez

  2. Southwest Watershed Research Center, USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Tucson, Arizona, 85719, USA

    Russell L. Scott & William L. Cable

  3. Department of Renewable Resources and Botany, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, 82071, USA

    William L. Cable & David G. Williams

  4. Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Castetter Hall Room 167, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87131, USA

    Enrico A. Yepez

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  1. Enrico A. Yepez
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  2. Russell L. Scott
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  3. William L. Cable
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Correspondence to Enrico A. Yepez.

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Yepez, E.A., Scott, R.L., Cable, W.L. et al. Intraseasonal Variation in Water and Carbon Dioxide Flux Components in a Semiarid Riparian Woodland . Ecosystems 10, 1100–1115 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-007-9079-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-007-9079-y

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