Seedling survivorship of temperate grassland perennials is remarkably resistant to projected changes in rainfall

2012 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. Perring ◽  
Mark J. Hovenden

Recruitment is central to the maintenance of any plant population, particularly in disturbed or drought-prone environments. Recruitment relies on both seedling emergence and subsequent survival to establishment, processes susceptible to changes in soil water potential. Here, we use an existing relationship between seedling survivorship and soil water potential from the TasFACE global change impacts experiment situated in Tasmanian grassland, elucidate relationships between rainfall and soil water potential, and then simulate seedling survivorship responses to potential changes in both the amount and seasonal distribution of precipitation. Annual rainfall was a poor predictor of survivorship, suggesting the importance of seasonal and daily distribution of rain in determining establishment patterns. Modelled seedling survivorship was remarkably resistant to declines in rainfall, with a rainfall reduction of 40% reducing survivorship only by ~10%. Reducing spring rainfall only markedly reduced seedling survivorship when the rain removed was not added to winter rainfall. Our results show that soil water recharge during winter is critical to seedling survivorship of perennial species at the study site. Providing rainfall regimes allow recharge to occur, seedling survivorship of perennial grassland species may be maintained despite large reductions in rainfall, indicating that these grassland species may have an inherent capacity that limits the impacts of reductions in rainfall.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marinos Eliades ◽  
Adriana Bruggeman ◽  
Hakan Djuma ◽  
Melpomeni Siakou ◽  
Panagiota Venetsanou ◽  
...  

<p>The water storage in soil is a dynamic process that changes with soil, vegetation and climate properties. Water retention curves, that describe the relationship between the soil water content (θ) and the soil water potential (ψ), are used to model soil water flow and root water uptake by the plants. The overall objective of this study is to derive the retention curves of soils at two forested (Agia Marina, Platania) and two irrigated (Galata, Strakka) sites in Cyprus from in-situ soil moisture and soil water potential observations. <br>The long-term (1980 – 2010) average annual rainfall at Strakka olive grove (255 m elevation), Agia Marina P. brutia forest (640 m), Galata peach orchard (784 m) and Platania P. brutia forest (1160 m) is 298, 425, 502 and 839 mm, respectively.  The average soil depth at Agia Marina is 14 cm, while at other sites it is around 1 m. We installed a total of 18 TEROS21 soil water potential sensors, 37 5TM and 19 SMT100 soil moisture sensors, at different soil depths at the four sites. <br>Results from January 2019 to January 2021 show differences in the water retention curves of the four sites due to different soil textures. At the forested sites, θ reached wilting point at the summer period, indicating that trees extend their roots beyond the soil profile, to the bedrock in order to survive. At the irrigated sites, θ exceeds field capacity during irrigation, indicating over-irrigation. We found different water retention relations after rainfall and after irrigation, indicating that irrigation has an uneven spatial distribution. These findings suggest that the irrigation in these fields is not optimal and farmers may need to increase the number of irrigation drippers, while reducing the irrigation amount per dripper. From a monitoring perspective, increasing the number of sensors may give a better representation of the soil moisture conditions. <br>The research has received financial support from the ERANETMED3 program, as part of the ISOMED project (Environmental Isotope Techniques for Water Flow Accounting), funded through the Cyprus Research and Innovation Foundation.</p>


1979 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. DE JONG ◽  
K. F. BEST

Daily emergence counts were made on Canthatch wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grown in five soil types, at four soil temperatures and three water potentials and planted at five different depths. Regardless of soil type, soil water potential or depth of planting, 50% emergence generally occurred within a week at 19.4 and 26.7 °C, and within 2 wk at 12.2 °C, but it took up to 6 wk at 5 °C. The heat sum required to attain 50% seedling emergence did not increase significantly with decreasing soil water potentials, but the minimum temperature for emergence dropped from 1.3 to 0.2 °C as the water potential decreased from −⅓ to −10 bar. It was suggested that the seedlings compensated for the increased water stress by lowering their minimum temperature requirements. Increasing the planting depth not only increased the heat requirement for emergence, but it also increased the variability of emergence, especially at low temperatures. Practical aspects concerning planting dates and depths were considered.


Weed Science ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 341-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason K. Norsworthy ◽  
Marcos J. Oliveira

The objective of this research was to develop a model to predict common cocklebur seedling emergence in spring tillage and no-spring-tillage systems in the presence and absence of a soybean canopy. A Weibull function was used to accumulate heat units (i.e., growing degree days) at a 2.5 cm soil depth on days when mean soil temperature, soil water potential, and soil thermal fluctuation were above established thresholds. The base temperature, soil water potential, and soil thermal fluctuation thresholds used for model development were 17 C, −100 kPa, and 7.5 C, respectively. A single function adequately described common cocklebur seedling emergence in the presence and absence of drill-seeded soybean from data combined over an artificial (2004) and natural seedbank (2005) (R2= 0.986). Model parameterization differed between the artificial and natural seedbank in the absence of spring tillage, but emergence was adequately described, regardless of soybean presence. Separate parameter estimates for the artificial and natural seedbanks were needed to adequately describe emergence in the system without spring tillage (R2= 0.975 to 0.984). The ability of the model to account for reduced emergence when soil moisture is limited or when daily thermal fluctuation requirements are not met could assist practitioners with assessments associated with field scouting for weeds as well as other management decisions.


1986 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 185-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markku Tenhovuori

The time for 50 % emergence of wheat and barley increases linearly with decreasing matric potential. This increase actually begins at matric pressures above pF 2.7. The rise in temperature makes emergence faster with in the range of minimum temperature (3.1°C for wheat and 1.9°C for barley) and the temperature where growth begins to slow down(about 31°C for wheat and 27°C for barley).The optimum range for 50 % emergence was obtained at a matric pressure range of pF 1.3—2.7 or —5.0— —0.20 m (water column) at a temperature of 10°C, which quite well corresponds to the situation in Finland during the emergence period in spring. A clear increase can be observed in the required heat sum for wheat and barley when the soil water potential reaches a critical point which was pF 2.8 or—6.3m for wheat and pF 2.7 or —5.0 m for barley. The total emergence as a function of matric potential for wheat and barley was determined over a period of 30 days at 10°C. In the wet side, pF 1,0 can be considered a limit, the total emergence decreasing with lower values. In the dry side, a corresponding decrease can be noticed in total emergence at pF above 3.0. The water uptake by seeds speeded up with increasing temperature from 10 to 25°C. Radicles of wheat and barley began to appear when the water uptake by the seed was approximately 50—60 % of the initial weight of the seed. The initial water uptake caused by the moistening of the pericarp due to capillarity was about 3 % for wheat and 5 % for barley at a soil water potential of pF 1.2.


1975 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erkki Aura

By means of theoretical calculations and laboratory experiments, this study attempted to elucidate the effects of excessive and of inadequate soil moisture on the germination and seedling emergence of sugar beet. The results of this study confirmed the opinion that water contained in the sugar beet seed or surrounding the seed as a water film is a barrier to the adequate intake of oxygen by the seed only when the value of the water potential is close to zero. The soil water potential at which the passage of oxygen into the seed is prevented depends largely on the structure of the seed bed. With a semi-permeable membrane of cellulose acetate and a solution of polyethylene glycol, it was shown that the sugar beet seed will still germinate fairly well at a potential of —10 atm, but at —13 atm germination is slight. The soil water potential appeared to have nearly the same effect on germination as did the water potential of the polyethylene glycol solution. The seedling emergence percentage was, however, smaller than the germination percentage in experiments with the semi-permeable membrane. This was considered to be caused by the slow extension growth of the radicle due to a low water potential, at the stage of seedling emergence. According to studies made, the initial water intake of the sugar beet seed planted in soil is rapid. Poor contact between the seed and the soil slows down water intake and seedling emergence, but does not impair the final seedling emergence. Removal of the fruit coat was shown to improve germination markedly when the water potential is low. This treatment would have little practical significance, since the growth of the radicle at a low water potential is very slow.


1979 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. 980-982 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. G. Heatherly ◽  
W. J. Russell

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1208
Author(s):  
Massimiliano Bordoni ◽  
Fabrizio Inzaghi ◽  
Valerio Vivaldi ◽  
Roberto Valentino ◽  
Marco Bittelli ◽  
...  

Soil water potential is a key factor to study water dynamics in soil and for estimating the occurrence of natural hazards, as landslides. This parameter can be measured in field or estimated through physically-based models, limited by the availability of effective input soil properties and preliminary calibrations. Data-driven models, based on machine learning techniques, could overcome these gaps. The aim of this paper is then to develop an innovative machine learning methodology to assess soil water potential trends and to implement them in models to predict shallow landslides. Monitoring data since 2012 from test-sites slopes in Oltrepò Pavese (northern Italy) were used to build the models. Within the tested techniques, Random Forest models allowed an outstanding reconstruction of measured soil water potential temporal trends. Each model is sensitive to meteorological and hydrological characteristics according to soil depths and features. Reliability of the proposed models was confirmed by correct estimation of days when shallow landslides were triggered in the study areas in December 2020, after implementing the modeled trends on a slope stability model, and by the correct choice of physically-based rainfall thresholds. These results confirm the potential application of the developed methodology to estimate hydrological scenarios that could be used for decision-making purposes.


1988 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 569-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
YADVINDER SINGH ◽  
E. G. BEAUCHAMP

Two laboratory incubation experiments were conducted to determine the effect of initial soil water potential on the transformation of urea in large granules to nitrite and nitrate. In the first experiment two soils varying in initial soil water potentials (− 70 and − 140 kPa) were incubated with 2 g urea granules with and without a nitrification inhibitor (dicyandiamide) at 15 °C for 35 d. Only a trace of [Formula: see text] accumulated in a Brookston clay (pH 6.0) during the transformation of urea in 2 g granules. Accumulation of [Formula: see text] was also small (4–6 μg N g−1) in Conestogo silt loam (pH 7.6). Incorporation of dicyandiamide (DCD) into the urea granule at 50 g kg−1 urea significantly reduced the accumulation of [Formula: see text] in this soil. The relative rate of nitrification in the absence of DCD at −140 kPa water potential was 63.5% of that at −70 kPa (average of two soils). DCD reduced the nitrification of urea in 2 g granules by 85% during the 35-d period. In the second experiment a uniform layer of 2 g urea was placed in the center of 20-cm-long cores of Conestogo silt loam with three initial water potentials (−35, −60 and −120 kPa) and the soil was incubated at 15 °C for 45 d. The rate of urea hydrolysis was lowest at −120 kPa and greatest at −35 kPa. Soil pH in the vicinity of the urea layer increased from 7.6 to 9.1 and [Formula: see text] concentration was greater than 3000 μg g−1 soil. There were no significant differences in pH or [Formula: see text] concentration with the three soil water potential treatments at the 10th day of the incubation period. But, in the latter part of the incubation period, pH and [Formula: see text] concentration decreased with increasing soil water potential due to a higher rate of nitrification. Diffusion of various N species including [Formula: see text] was probably greater with the highest water potential treatment. Only small quantities of [Formula: see text] accumulated during nitrification of urea – N. Nitrification of urea increased with increasing water potential. After 35 d of incubation, 19.3, 15.4 and 8.9% of the applied urea had apparently nitrified at −35, −60 and −120 kPa, respectively. Nitrifier activity was completely inhibited in the 0- to 2-cm zone near the urea layer for 35 days. Nitrifier activity increased from an initial level of 8.5 to 73 μg [Formula: see text] in the 3- to 7-cm zone over the 35-d period. Nitrifier activity also increased with increasing soil water potential. Key words: Urea transformation, nitrification, water potential, large granules, nitrifier activity, [Formula: see text] production


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