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Research Project: Hydrologic Processes, Scale, Water Resources, and Global Change for Semiarid Watershed Management

Location: Southwest Watershed Research

Title: Riparian Vegetation Structure Influences Growing Season Carbon and Water Exchange in a Semiarid Watershed 1607

Authors
item Potts, D. - UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
item Scott, Russell - russ
item Huxman, T. - UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

Submitted to: Ecological Society Of America Abstracts
Publication Acceptance Date: April 18, 2004
Publication Date: August 9, 2004
Citation: Potts, D.L., Scott, R.L., Huxman, T.E. 2004. Riparian Vegetation Structure Influences Growing Season Carbon And Water Exchange In A Semiarid Watershed [abstract]. Ecological Society Of America Abstracts.

Interpretive Summary: We compared data from a network of three eddy-covariance towers within a semiarid watershed to address the role of riparian vegetation structure in the linkage between ecosystem carbon and water exchange. Towers were located in a riparian grassland, a riparian savanna and a riparian woodland along the San Pedro River in southeastern Arizona, U.S.A. Analysis of 2003 growing-season data suggests that the frequency and magnitude of ecosystem carbon and water exchanges is most tightly linked at the grassland site. Furthermore, ecosystem carbon and water exchange is the most decoupled at the woodland site where the deep-rooted, dominant over-story species, Prosopis velutina, has access to abundant alluvial groundwater. A dynamic linkage of carbon and water exchanges in the riparian woodland during the growing-season reflects the onset of mid-summer convective storms associated with the North American monsoon. This research highlights the complex interaction between growing-season precipitation, plant-available alluvial groundwater and riparian vegetation structure in governing ecosystem carbon and water balance in this semiarid watershed.

Technical Abstract: We compared data from a network of three eddy-covariance towers within a semiarid watershed to address the role of riparian vegetation structure in the linkage between ecosystem carbon and water exchange. Towers were located in a riparian grassland, a riparian savanna and a riparian woodland along the San Pedro River in southeastern Arizona, U.S.A. Analysis of 2003 growing-season data suggests that the frequency and magnitude of ecosystem carbon and water exchanges is most tightly linked at the grassland site. Furthermore, ecosystem carbon and water exchange is the most decoupled at the woodland site where the deep-rooted, dominant over-story species, Prosopis velutina, has access to abundant alluvial groundwater. A dynamic linkage of carbon and water exchanges in the riparian woodland during the growing-season reflects the onset of mid-summer convective storms associated with the North American monsoon. This research highlights the complex interaction between growing-season precipitation, plant-available alluvial groundwater and riparian vegetation structure in governing ecosystem carbon and water balance in this semiarid watershed.

 
Project Team
Goodrich, David - Dave
Moran, Mary - Susan
Scott, Russell - Russ
Emmerich, William - Bill
Nichols, Mary
Martens, Dean
Stone, Jeffry - Jeff

Publications

Related National Programs
  Water Quality & Management (201)
  Global Change (204)

Related Projects
   San Pedro Riparian Evapotranspiration
   Spatial GIS Hydrologic Modeling, Riparian Water Use and Decision Support Tools
   Landscape Indicator Interface with Hydrologic and Ecologic Models
   Carbon Management Policy at the State Level: Carbon Dynamics at Site, Landscape, and Regional Scales for Arizona State Lands
   Using Laser Imaging Data and Ranging (Lidar) to Delineate Watershed Characteristics
   Remote Sensing and GIS for Improved Characterization of Landscapes for Hydrologic Modeling and Estimation of Soil Moisture

 
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