Abstract

Black locust accounts for over 90% of artificial forests in China’s Loess Plateau region. However, water use of black locust is an uphill challenge for this semi-arid region. To accurately quantify tree water use and to explain the related hydrological processes, it is important to collect reliable data for application in the estimation of sap flow and its response to environmental factors. This study measured sap flow in black locust in the 2015 and 2016 growth seasons using the thermal dissipation probes technique and laboratory-calibrated Granier’s equation. The study showed that the laboratory calibrated coefficient α was much larger than the original value presented by Granier, while the coefficient β was similar to the original one. The average daily transpiration was 2.1 mm day−1 for 2015 and 1.6 mm day−1 for 2016. Net solar radiation (Rn) was the key meteorological factor controlling sap flow, followed by vapor pressure deficit (VPD) and then temperature (T). VPD had a threshold control on sap flow at threshold values of 1.9 kPa for 2015 and 1.6 kPa for 2016. The effects of diurnal hysteresis of Rn, VPD and T on sap flow were evident, indicating that black locust water use was conservative.

Details

Title
Environmental controls on sap flow in black locust forest in Loess Plateau, China
Author
Ma, Changkun 1 ; Luo, Yi 2 ; Shao, Mingan 2 ; Li, Xiangdong 3 ; Sun, Lin 2 ; Jia, Xiaoxu 2 

 College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China; State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China 
 Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China 
 State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China 
Pages
1-12
Publication year
2017
Publication date
Oct 2017
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
1957859806
Copyright
© 2017. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.