<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Mediterranean ecosystems are typically heterogeneous and savanna-like, with trees and grass competing for water use. By measuring sap flow, we estimated high transpiration of wild olive, a common Mediterranean tree, in Sardinia despite dry conditions. This estimate agrees with independent estimates of tree transpiration based on energy balance, highlighting the wild olive’s strong tolerance of dry conditions. The wild olive can develop an adaptation strategy to tolerate dry conditions. In this Sardinian case study, the wild olive grew in shallow soil, and the tree roots expanded into the underlying fractured basalt. The trees survived in dry periods using water infiltrated during wet seasons into fractured rocks and held in soil pockets. We estimated a high upward vertical flux through the bottom soil layer from the underlying substrate, which reached 97% evapotranspiration in August 2011. The water taken up by tree roots from bedrock hollows is usually neglected in ecohydrological modeling.</p></abstract>

Mediterranean ecosystems are typically heterogeneous and savanna-like, with trees and grass competing for water use. By measuring sap flow, we estimated high transpiration of wild olive, a common Mediterranean tree, in Sardinia despite dry conditions. This estimate agrees with independent estimates of tree transpiration based on energy balance, highlighting the wild olive’s strong tolerance of dry conditions. The wild olive can develop an adaptation strategy to tolerate dry conditions. In this Sardinian case study, the wild olive grew in shallow soil, and the tree roots expanded into the underlying fractured basalt. The trees survived in dry periods using water infiltrated during wet seasons into fractured rocks and held in soil pockets. We estimated a high upward vertical flux through the bottom soil layer from the underlying substrate, which reached 97% evapotranspiration in August 2011. The water taken up by tree roots from bedrock hollows is usually neglected in ecohydrological modeling.

On the transpiration of wild olives under water-limited conditions in a heterogeneous ecosystem with shallow soil over fractured rock

Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile Ambientale e Architettura

Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Mediterranean ecosystems are typically heterogeneous and savanna-like, with trees and grass competing for water use. By measuring sap flow, we estimated high...

On the transpiration of wild olives under water-limited conditions in a heterogeneous ecosystem with shallow soil over fractured rock

Published Online: Oct 20, 2020

Page range: 338 - 350

Received: Dec 17, 2019

Accepted: Jun 06, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/johh-2020-0022

Keywords
Evapotranspiration, Rock moisture, Water uptake, Sap flow, Energy balance

© 2020 Roberto Corona et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

On the transpiration of wild olives under water-limited conditions in a heterogeneous ecosystem with shallow soil over fractured rock

Published Online: Oct 20, 2020

Page range: 338 - 350

Received: Dec 17, 2019

Accepted: Jun 06, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/johh-2020-0022

KeywordsEvapotranspiration, Rock moisture, Water uptake, Sap flow, Energy balance

© 2020 Roberto Corona et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Evapotranspiration, Rock moisture, Water uptake, Sap flow, Energy balance