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The Calibration and Use of Capacitance Sensors to Monitor Stem Water Content in Trees
Published on: December 27, 2017
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Water availability predicts forest canopy height at the global scale.
Tamir Klein1, Christophe Randin1,2, Christian Körner1
1Institute of Botany, University of Basel, Schönbeinstrasse 6, Basel, 4056, Switzerland.
Ecology Letters
|October 2, 2015
Summary
Forest canopy height globally increases with water availability, defined as precipitation minus potential evapotranspiration. This relationship helps predict forest growth and impacts under climate change and human disturbance.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Forestry
- Climate Science
Background:
- A universal relationship between water availability and forest canopy height (H) was previously lacking.
- Forest height is influenced by environmental factors, but a global correlation with water availability needed quantification.
Discussion:
- A global map of water availability (precipitation minus potential evapotranspiration, P-PET) was correlated with forest canopy height (H) at 1-km resolution.
- A general model, Hmean (m) = 19.3 + 0.077*(P-PET), describes the increase in mean forest height with water availability.
- Maximum forest canopy height approaches 50m and saturates around 45m when P-PET exceeds 500mm.
Key Insights:
- Forest height is strongly linked to water availability across global forests.
- Cold, boreal, and disturbed regions show forests growing below their maximum height potential.
- The P-PET metric provides a valuable tool for assessing forest health and potential.
Outlook:
- This research offers a new method for studying forest dynamics under future climate change scenarios.
- Quantifying anthropogenic forest disturbance can be improved using the established forest height-water availability relationship.
- Future research can refine the model and explore regional variations in forest height responses to water availability.
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