Jordan G. Barr
Victor C. Engel
Jose D. Fuentes
Hongqing Wang
Ken W. Krauss
2014
<p><span>Leaves from mangrove forests are often considered efficient in the use of water during photosynthesis, but less is known about whole-tree and stand-level water use strategies. Are mangrove forests as conservative in water use as experimental studies on seedlings imply? Here, we apply a simple model to estimate stand water use (</span><i>S</i><span>), determine the contribution of </span><i>S</i><span> to evapotranspiration (ET), and approximate the distribution of </span><i>S</i><span> versus ET over annual cycles for three mangrove forests in southwest Florida, USA. The value of </span><i>S</i><span> ranged from 350 to 511 mm year</span><sup>−1</sup><span> for two mangrove forests in Rookery Bay to 872 mm year</span><sup>−1</sup><span> for a mangrove forest along the Shark River in Everglades National Park. This represents 34–49% of ET for Rookery Bay mangroves, a rather conservative rate of</span><i>S</i><span>, and 63–66% of ET for the Shark River mangroves, a less conservative rate of </span><i>S</i><span>. However, variability in estimates of </span><i>S</i><span> in mangroves is high enough to require additional study on the spatial changes related to forest structural shifts, different tidal regimes, and variable site-specific salinity concentrations in multiple mangrove forests before a true account of water use conservation strategies can be understood at the landscape scale. Evidence does suggest that large, well-developed mangrove forests have the potential to contribute considerably to the ET balance; however, regionally most mangrove forests are much smaller in stature in Florida and likely contribute less to regional water losses through stand-level transpiration.</span></p>
application/pdf
10.1016/j.agrformet.2014.11.014
en
Elsevier
Approximations of stand water use versus evapotranspiration from three mangrove forests in southwest Florida, USA
article