Hydrology and Earth System Sciences www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net 1027-5606 1607-7938 12 6 2008 10.5194/hess-12-1257-2008 http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/12/1257/2008/ http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/12/1257/2008/hess-12-1257-2008.html http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/12/1257/2008/hess-12-1257-2008.pdf 1257 1271 2008-11-25 Vegetation dynamics and soil water balance in a water-limited Mediterranean ecosystem on Sardinia, Italy N. Montaldo nicola.montaldo@unica.it J. D. Albertson M. Mancini Dipartimento di Ingegneria del Territorio, Università di Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA DIIAR, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy Mediterranean ecosystems are commonly heterogeneous savanna-like ecosystems, with contrasting plant functional types (PFTs, e.g. grass and woody vegetation) competing for water. Mediterranean ecosystems are also commonly characterized by strong inter-annual rainfall variability, which influences the distributions of PFTs that vary spatially and temporally. An extensive field campaign in a Mediterranean setting was performed with the objective to investigate interactions between vegetation dynamics, soil water budget and land-surface fluxes in a water-limited ecosystem. Also a vegetation dynamic model (VDM) is coupled to a 3-component (bare soil, grass and woody vegetation) Land surface model (LSM). The case study is in Orroli, situated in the mid-west of Sardegna within the Flumendosa river basin. The landscape is a mixture of Mediterranean patchy vegetation types: trees, including wild olives and cork oaks, different shrubs and herbaceous species. Land surface fluxes, soil moisture and vegetation growth were monitored during the May 2003–June 2006 period. Interestingly, hydrometeorological conditions of the monitored years strongly differ, with dry and wet years in turn, such that a wide range of hydrometeorological conditions can be analyzed. The coupled VDM-LSM model is successfully tested for the case study, demonstrating high model performance for the wide range of eco-hydrologic conditions. Results demonstrate also that vegetation dynamics are strongly influenced by the inter-annual variability of atmospheric forcing, with grass leaf area index changing significantly each spring season according to seasonal rainfall amount. Aber, J. D. and Melillo, J. M.: Terrestrial ecosystems, Academic press, 556~pp., 2001. Albertson, J. D. and Kiely, G.: On the structure of soil moisture time series in the context of Land Surface Models, J. Hydrol., 243(1–2), 101–119, 2001. Amthor, J. S.: The role of maintenance respiration in plant growth, Plant Cell Environ., 7, 561–569, 1984. Arora, V.: Modeling vegetation as a dynamic component in soil-vegetation-atmosphere transfer schemes and hydrological models, Rev. Geophys., 40(2), 3.1–3.26, 2002. Arora, V. K.: Simulating energy and carbon fluxes over winter wheat using coupled land surface and terrestrial ecosystem models, Agr. Forest Meteorol., 118(1–2), 21–47, 2003. Arora, V. K. and Boer, G. J.: A parameterization of leaf phenology for the terrestrial ecosystem component of climate models, Global Change Biol., 11(1), 39–59, 2005. Baldocchi, D. D., Xu, L., and Kiang, N.: How plant functional-type, weather, seasonal drought, and soil physical properties alter water and energy fluxes of an oak-grass savanna and an annual grassland, Agr. Forest Meteorol., 123, 13–39, 2004. Brunetti, M., Maugeri, M., Nanni, T., and Navarra, A.: Droughts and estreme events in regional daily Italian precipitation series, Int. J. Climatol., 22, 543–558, 2002. Brutsaert, W.: Evaporation into the Atmosphere, Kluwer Academic Publ., Dordrecht, Holland, 299~pp., 1982. Calvet, J. C., Noilhan, J., Roujean, J. L., Bessemoulin, P., Cabelguenne, M., Olioso, A., and Wigneron, J. P.: An interactive vegetation SVAT model tested against data from six contrasting sites, Agr. Forest Meteorol., 92(2), 73–95, 1998. Carlson, T. N. and Ripley, D. A.: On the relation between NDVI, fractional vegetation cover, and leaf area index, Remote Sens. Environ., 62(3), 241–252, 1997. Cavazos, T. and Rivas, D.: Variability of extreme precipitation events in Tijuana, Mexico, Climate Res., 25(3), 229–242, 2004. Cayrol, P., Chehbouni, A., Kergoat, L., Dedieu, G., Mordelet, P., and Nouvellon, Y.: Grassland modeling and monitoring with SPOT-4 VEGETATION instrument during the 1997–1999 SALSA experiment, Agr. Forest Meteorol., 105, 91–115, 2000. Ceballos, A., Martinez-Fernandez, J., and Luengo-Ugidos, M. A.: Analysis of rainfall trends and dry periods on a pluviometric gradient representative of Mediterranean climate in the Duero Basin, Spain, J. Arid Environ., 58(2), 215–233, 2004. Charles-Edwards, D. A., Doley, D., and Rimmington, G. M.: Modelling plant growth and development, Academic press, Orlando, FL, 235~pp., 1986. Chow, V. T., Maidment, D. R., and Mays, L. W.: Applied Hydrology, McGraw-Hill Inc., 572~pp., 1988. Clapp, R. B. and Hornberger, G. M.: Empirical equations for some hydraulic properties, Water Resour. Res., 14, 601–604, 1978. Cox, P. M., Betts, R. A., Bunton, C. B., Essery, R. L. H., Rowntree, P. R., and Smith, J.: The impact of new land surface physics on the GCM simulation of climate and climate sensitivity, Clim. Dynam., 15(3), 183–203, 1999 Detto, M., Montaldo, N., Albertson, J. D., Mancini, M., and Katul, G.: Soil moisture and vegetation controls on evapotranspiration in a heterogeneous Mediterranean ecosystem on Sardinia, Italy, Water Resour. Res., 42(8), W08419, doi:10.1029/2005WR004693, 2006. Eagleson, P. S.: Ecohydrology Darwinian Expression of Vegetation Form and Function, Cambridge University Press, New York, 443~pp., 2002. Farquar, G. D., von~Caemmere, S., and Berry, J. A.: A biochemical model of phosynthesis CO₂ assimilation in leaves of C3~species, Planta, 149, 78–90, 1980. Fernandez, J. B. G., Mora, M. R. G., Novo, F. G.: Vegetation dynamics of Mediterranean shrublands in former cultural landscape at Grazalema Mountains, South Spain, Plant Ecol., 172(1), 83–94, 2004. Gamon, J. A., Field, C. B., Goulden, M. L., Griffin, K. L, Hartley, A. E., Joel, G., Penuelas, J., and Valentini, R.: Relationships between ndvi, canopy structure, and photosynthesis in 3 californian vegetation types, Ecol. Appl., 5(1), 28–41, 1995. Garratt, J. R.: The atmospheric boundary layer, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 316~pp., 1992. Gerten, D., Schaphoff, S., Haberlandt, U., Lucht, W., and Sitch, S.: Terrestrial vegetation and water balance – hydrological evaluation of a dynamic global vegetation model, J. Hydrol., 286(1–4), 249–270, 2004. Hanson, J. D., Skiles, J. W., and Parton, W. J.: A multi-species model for rangeland plant communities, Ecol. Model., 44, 89–123, 1988. Haxeltine, A., Prentice, I. C., and Creswell, D. I.: A coupled carbon and water flux model to predict vegetation structure, J. Veg. Sci., 7(5), 651–666, 1996. Jarvis, P. G., The interpretation of the variations in leaf water potential and stomatal conductance found in canopies in the field, Philos. T. Roy. Soc. B, 273, 593–610, 1976. Kemp, P. R., Reynolds, J. F., Pachepsky, Y., and Chen, J. L.: A comparative modeling study of soil water dynamics in a desert ecosystem, Water Resour. Res., 33(1), 73–90, 1997. Lambers, H., Chapin~III, F. S., and Pons, T. L.: Plant Physiological Ecology, Spinger-Verlag, New York, 540~pp., 1998. Larcher, W.: Physiological plant ecology, Springer, 3rd edn., 506~pp., 1995. Lelieveld, J., Berresheim, H., Borrmann, S., et al.: Global air pollution crossroads over the Mediterranean, Science, 298(5594), 794–799, 2002. Lo~Gullo, M. A., Salleo, S., Rosso, R., and Trifilo, P.: Drought resistance of 2-year-old saplings of Mediterranean forest trees in the field: relations between water relations, hydraulics and productivity, Plant Soil, 250(2), 259–272, 2003. Manabe, S., Milly, P. C. D., and Wetherald, R.: Simulated long-term changes in river discharge and soil moisture due to global warming, Hydrolog. Sci. J., 49(4), 625–642, 2004. Milly, P. C. D.: An event-based simulation model of moisture and energy fluxes at a bare soil surface, Water Resour. Res., 22, 1680–1692, 1986. Montaldo, N. and Albertson, J. D.: On The Use Of The Force-Restore SVAT Model Formulation For Stratified Soils, J. Hydrometeorol., 2(6), 571–578, 2001. Montaldo, N., Rondena, R., Albertson, J. D., and Mancini, M.: Parsimonious Modeling of Vegetation Dynamics for Ecohydrologic Studies of Water-Limited Ecosystems, Water Resour. Res., 41(10), W10416, doi:10.1029/2005WR004094, 2005. Moonen, A. C., Ercoli, L., Mariotti, M., and Masoni, A.: Climate change in Italy indicated by agrometeorological indices over 122 years, Agr. Forest Meteorol., 111(1), 13–27, 2002. Mouillot, F., Rambal, S., and Lavorel, S.: A generic process-based Simulator for meditERRanean landscapes (SIERRA): design and validation exercises, Forest Ecol. Manag., 147, 75–97, 2001. Noihlan, J. and Planton, S.: A Simple parameterization of Land Surface Processes for Meteorological Models, Mon. Weather Rev., 117, 536–549, 1989. Nouvellon, Y., Rambal, S., Lo~Seen, D., Moran, M. S., Lhomme, J. P., Begue, A., Chehbouni, A. G., and Kerr, Y.: Modelling of daily fluxes of water and carbon from shortgrass steppes, Agr. Forest Meteorol., 100(2–3), 137–153, 2000. Parlange, M. B., Albertson, J. D., Eichinger, W. E., Cahill, A. T., and Jackson, T. J.: Evaporation: Use of fast response turbulence sensors, raman lidar and passive microwave remote sensing, in: Vadose Zone Hydrology: Cutting Across Disciplines, edited by: Parlange, M. B. and Hopmans, J.W., Oxford University Press, 260–278, 1999. Ramirez-Sanz, L., Casado, M. A., de~Miguel, J. M., Castro, I., Costa, M., and Pineda, F. D.: Floristic relationship between scrubland and grassland patches in the Mediterranean landscape of the Iberian Peninsula, Plant Ecol., 149(1), 63–70, 2000. Ramos, M. C.: Rainfall distribution patterns and their change over time in a Mediterranean area, Theor. Appl. Climatol., 69(3–4), 163–170, 2001. Reynolds, J. F., Kemp, P. R., and Tenhunen, J. D.: Effects of long-term rainfall variability on evapotranspiration and soil water distribution in the Chihuahuan Desert: A modeling analysis, Plant Ecol., 150(1–2), 145–159, 2000. Richards, J. A.: Remote Sensing Digital Image Analysis, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 439~pp,, 1999. Sakcali, M. S. and Ozturk, M.: Eco-physiological behaviour of some mediterranean plants ad suitable candidates of degraded areas, J. Arid Environ., 57(2), 141–153, 2004. Sanchez, E., Gaertner, M. A., Gallardo, C., Padorno, E., Arribas, A., and Castro, M.: Impacts of a change in vegetation description on simulated European summer present-day and future climates, Clim. Dynam., 29(2–3), 319–332, 2007. Scanlon, T. M., Albertson, J. D., Caylor, K. K., and Williams, C. A.: Determining land surface fractional cover from NDVI and rainfall time series for a savanna ecosystem, Remote Sens. Environ., 82(2–3), 376–388, 2002. Scholes, R. J. and Archer, S. R.: Tree-grass interactions in savannas, Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst., 28, 517–544, 1997. Shuttleworth, W. J. and Wallace, J. S.: Evaporation from sparse crops – an energy combination theory, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 111, 839–855, 1985. Sivapalan, M., Beven, K. and Wood, E. F.: On hydrologic similarity, 2: A scaled model of storm runoff production, Water Resour. Res., 23, 2266–2278, 1987. Tognetti, R., Longobucco, A., Miglietta, F., and Raschi, A.: Transpiration and stomatal behaviour of Quercus ilex plants during the summer in a Mediterranean carbon dioxide spring, Plant Cell Environ., 21(6), 613–622, 1998. Vanrheenen, N. T., Wood, A. W., Palmer, R. N., and Lettenmaier, D. P.: Potential implications of PCM climate change scenarios for Sacramento-San Joaquin River Basin hydrology and water resources, Climatic Change, 62(1–3), 257–281, 2004. Ventura, F., Pisa, P. R., and Ardizzoni, E.: Temperature and precipitation trends in Bologna (Italy) from 1952 to 1999, Atmos. Res., 61(3), 203–214, 2002. Vermote E. F., Tanre, D., Deuze, J. L., Herman, M., and Morcrette, J. J.: Second Simulation of the Satellite Signal in the Solar Spectrum, 6S: An overview, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote, 35(3), 675–686, 1997. Vertessy, R. A., Hatton, T. J., Benyon, R. G., and Dawes, W. R.: Long-term growth and water balance predictions for a mountain ash (\textitEucalyptus regnans) forest catchment subject to clear-felling and regeneration, Tree Physiol., 16(1–2), 221–232, 1996. Walker, B. H. and Langridge, J. L.: Modelling plant and soil water dynamics in semi-arid ecosystems with limited site data, Ecol. Model., 87(1–3), 153–167, 1996. Webb, E. K., Pearman, G. I., and Leuning, R.: Correction of Flux Measurements for Density Effects Due to Heat and Water-Vapor Transfer, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 106(447), 85–100, 1980. Williams, C. A. and Albertson, J. D.: Soil moisture controls on canopy-scale water and carbon fluxes in an African savanna, Water Resour. Res., 40(9), W09302, doi:10.1029/2004WR003208, 2004.