PNNL

Abstract

We tested whether using stomatal conductance could capture the dynamic in transpiration with forest age. To do this we by answered the question “If we chose a reference stomatal conductance from one stand age of the entire chronosequence to put into a model, would modeled transpiration be biased from the other ages?” with a resounding yes. We found that obtaining the right stomatal conductance was crucial for accurate models in two different chronosequences. This strongly suggests that stomatal conductance is the appropriate integrator of inter- and intra-species change in tree transpiration with forest age. If we had tried to use a single reference canopy stomatal conductance, it would not have been able to capture the variability in transpiration with stand age despite the suggestion that hydraulic limitation was consistently acting on the trees; the situation is even more complex in many boreal systems, where a transition to nonstomatal bryophytes may occur over the course of succession. Because we used a biophysical approach, even if our and other researchers’ chronosequences do not fit the assumptions, the results are still useful. Further, our synthesis of sap flux based estimates of tree transpiration showing a large dynamic suggest that our approach to modeling is crucial in the face of anthropogenic changes to forest age structure. We have now provided the framework for a mechanistically rigorous yet simple approach based on simple tree hydraulics to measuring and modeling stand transpiration with changing forest age and/or species composition.