Preserving isohydricity: vertical environmental variability explains Amazon forest water-use strategies.

Increases in hydrological extremes, including drought, are expected for Amazon forests. A fundamental challenge for predicting forest responses lies in identifying ecological strategies which underlie such responses. Characterization of species-specific hydraulic strategies for regulating water-use, thought to be arrayed along an 'isohydric-anisohydric' spectrum, is a widely used approach. However, recent studies have questioned the usefulness of this classification scheme, because its metrics are strongly influenced by environments, and hence can lead to divergent classifications even within the same species. Here, we propose an alternative approach positing that individual hydraulic regulation strategies emerge from the interaction of environments with traits. Specifically, we hypothesize that the vertical forest profile represents a key gradient in drought-related environments (atmospheric vapor pressure deficit, soil water availability) that drives divergent tree water-use strategies for coordinated regulation of stomatal conductance (gs) and leaf water potentials (ΨL) with tree rooting depth, a proxy for water availability. Testing this hypothesis in a seasonal eastern Amazon forest in Brazil, we found that hydraulic strategies indeed depend on height-associated environments. Upper canopy trees, experiencing high vapor pressure deficit (VPD), but stable soil water access through deep rooting, exhibited isohydric strategies, defined by little seasonal change in the diurnal pattern of gs and steady seasonal minimum ΨL. In contrast, understory trees, exposed to less variable VPD but highly variable soil water availability, exhibited anisohydric strategies, with fluctuations in diurnal gs that increased in the dry season along with increasing variation in ΨL. Our finding that canopy height structures the coordination between drought-related environmental stressors and hydraulic traits provides a basis for preserving the applicability of the isohydric-to-anisohydric spectrum, which we show here may consistently emerge from environmental context. Our work highlights the importance of understanding how environmental heterogeneity structures forest responses to climate change, providing a mechanistic basis for improving models of tropical ecosystems.

Concentração e fluxo de CO2 sobre o reservatório hidrelétrico de Balbina (AM) / CO2 concentration and flux in hydroelectric reservoir of Balbina (AM)

RESUMO O reservatório de Balbina (59º 28’ 50’’ W, 1º 53’ 25’’ S), localizado próximo à cidade de Manaus, Amazonas, na Amazônia Central, é o segundo maior reservatório hidrelétrico em área localizado na Bacia Amazônica. Nesse reservatório foram realizadas medições de CO2 em alta frequência (10 Hz), do fluxo de CO2, com analisador de gás por infravermelho (IRGA) acoplado a uma câmara flutuante, e de variáveis meteorológicas, com uma boia instrumentada a 2 m da superfície do lago. A concentração média de CO2 foi de 392 e 426 ppm para o dia e a noite, respectivamente, e a taxa de emissão média diária, de 40.427±24.040 µmol.m-­2.d-1. A acumulação da concentração de CO2 sobre o lago à noite, além da respiração, mostra ter sido afetada por baixas velocidades do vento e convecção do lado da água, processos físicos que trazem altas concentrações de CO2 para a superfície e a presença de brisa terrestre. Os fluxos não apresentaram diferenças estatisticamente significantes com as variáveis meteorológicas e foram consideravelmente mais baixos do que os encontrados em um estudo anterior para o mesmo lago. No entanto, os valores concordam com os encontrados em outros estudos em lagos tropicais amazônicos e outros reservatórios.

ABSTRACT The reservoir Balbina (59º 28’ 50W, 1º 53’ 25’’ S), located near the city of Manaus, Amazonas, in Central Amazônia, Brazil, is the second largest hydroelectric reservoir in an area located in the Amazon Basin. In this reservoir, CO2 measurements were performed at high frequency (10 Hz), CO2 flux with gas analyzer infrared (IRGA) coupled to a floating chamber and meteorological variables with a buoy instrumented to 2 m from the lake surface. The average CO2 concentration was 392 and 426 ppm for the day and night, respectively, and the daily average emission rate was 40.427±24.040 µmol-1.m-2.d-1. The accumulation of CO2 in the lake overnight, beyond respiration, shows to be affected by low wind speeds, waterside convection, physical processes involving high concentrations of CO2 for the surface and the presence of land breeze. The fluxes show no statistically significant difference with the meteorological variables and were considerably lower than a previous study for the same lake. However, the values are in agreement with other studies in Amazonian tropical lakes and other reservoirs.