Some policymakers who are not specialist in ecology think forest plantations (i.e. Eucalypt) consume a higher amount of water than other agricultural species. As experts in this field, could you share your experiences about the water consumption of different tree species?
Thank you.
The transpiration of a plant in general and a tree in particular can be analyzed with the Penman-Monteith model and generates very good results. Obviously, there are several factors involved in transpiration, being of a physical and physiological nature. In my experience, the eucalyptus (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) transpires per unit area almost the same as any other like an ash tree (Fraxinus uhdei)... So in this case it depends more on the leaf area index than in the case of this eucalyptus and thus the ash tree transpires more ( You can check the "Ballinas M, Barradas VL. 2016. Transpiration and stomatal conductance as potential mechanisms to mitigate the heat load in Mexico City. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 20: 152-159. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2016.08.004").
What is a fact is that eucalyptus trees generate lower water potentials than native flora, so they can extract water from places where other species cannot competing strongly for water.
Transpiration rate is important factor and do does water productivity of the tree species. i.e quantity of water used (mm) to produce kg of dry matter. Its also known as water use efficiency. A few species uses minimum water but produce maximum dry matter and vice versa.
Very interesting question! Here are some of my thoughts on this topic:
Article A whole-plant perspective of isohydry: Stem-level support fo...
Article An ecophysiological and developmental perspective on variati...
Article Species diversity and identity effects on the water consumpt...
Not sure if all the above-mentioned factors are universally applicable for all the species and all ecosystems.
Hope this information is helpful!
Cheers,
Sharath
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