HR: 1340h
AN: B33D-1574    [Abstracts]
TI: Effects of Large Scale Poplar Plantations on the Hydrology of Semiarid Areas in Inner Mongolia
AU: * Wilske, B
EM: Burkhard.Wilske@Utoledo.Edu
AF: The University of Toledo, Department Environmental Sciences, Landscape Ecology and Ecosystem Science, Toledo, OH 43606, United States
AU: Lu, N
AF: The University of Toledo, Department Environmental Sciences, Landscape Ecology and Ecosystem Science, Toledo, OH 43606, United States
AU: Chen, S
AF: Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China
AU: Liu, C
AF: Key Lab Soil and Water Conservation and Desertification Combating, Water and Soil Conservation College, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China
AU: Xu, W
AF: Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China
AU: Noormets, A
AF: Southern Global Climate Change Program, Southern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Raleigh, NC 27606, United States
AU: Wei, L
AF: Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China
AU: Lin, G
AF: Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China
AU: Miao, H
AF: Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China
AU: Wei, Y
AF: Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China
AU: Zhang, Z
AF: Key Lab Soil and Water Conservation and Desertification Combating, Water and Soil Conservation College, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China
AU: Chen, J
AF: Key Lab Soil and Water Conservation and Desertification Combating, Water and Soil Conservation College, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China
AU: Zha, T
AF: Key Lab Soil and Water Conservation and Desertification Combating, Water and Soil Conservation College, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China
AU: Ni, J
AF: Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China
AU: Sun, G
AF: Southern Global Climate Change Program, Southern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Raleigh, NC 27606, United States
AU: Guo, K
AF: Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China
AU: McNulty, S
AF: Southern Global Climate Change Program, Southern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Raleigh, NC 27606, United States
AU: John, R
AF: The University of Toledo, Department Environmental Sciences, Landscape Ecology and Ecosystem Science, Toledo, OH 43606, United States
AU: Chen, J
AF: The University of Toledo, Department Environmental Sciences, Landscape Ecology and Ecosystem Science, Toledo, OH 43606, United States
AB: Tree plantation is widely practiced to counteract desertification. It often involves planting forests in semiarid and arid areas, which are naturally dominated by grass- or shrub steppe. Severe land degradation has been observed in the vast grasslands of Inner Mongolia, China. Under drying climates vegetation may naturally change from grass- to open shrub land. Current programs aim at a large number of poplar plantations to compose a super-scale shelterbelt to curb soil erosion, dust storms, and further loss of vegetation cover. However, the water consumption of poplar plantations can be expected to exceed the water use of grass- or shrub steppe. Hence, large-scale poplar plantation may significantly alter the water budget in the semiarid region. We compared Eddy- Covariance-derived evapotranspiration (ET) of a young poplar plantation and an adjacent shrub land south of the Yellow River in Inner Mongolia. In addition, ET from the semiarid site was compared with ET from an older poplar plantation growing under semi-humid conditions south of Beijing. In spite of 33% lower precipitation, ET was 6% higher from the young poplar plantation (236.52 mm) than from the natural shrub land (223.02 mm) based on the five-month period May- September 2006. The difference was mainly because of higher ET from the poplar plantation during the drier periods of the growing season. Further comparison with the older plantation outlined future potential of the poplars to exceed ET of the shrub land by 100-200%. To highlight potential hydrological consequences of large scale poplar plantations, ET values were set in relation to the total size of plantations projected for the area and the stream flow of the nearby Yellow River. Additional groundwater discharge by mature poplar plantations may equal 6.5-15% of the Yellow River mean stream flow. Thus, the water expenditure of poplar plantations renders them a questionable tool in sustainable arid-land management, particularly as climate predictions suggest higher temperatures and lower water availability in Inner Mongolia in the future.
DE: 0414 Biogeochemical cycles, processes, and modeling (0412, 0793, 1615, 4805, 4912)
DE: 0426 Biosphere/atmosphere interactions (0315)
DE: 0476 Plant ecology (1851)
DE: 1813 Eco-hydrology
DE: 1843 Land/atmosphere interactions (1218, 1631, 3322)
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting