Widespread woody plant use of water stored in bedrock.
Nature
; 597(7875): 225-229, 2021 09.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34497393
ABSTRACT
In the past several decades, field studies have shown that woody plants can access substantial volumes of water from the pores and fractures of bedrock1-3. If, like soil moisture, bedrock water storage serves as an important source of plant-available water, then conceptual paradigms regarding water and carbon cycling may need to be revised to incorporate bedrock properties and processes4-6. Here we present a lower-bound estimate of the contribution of bedrock water storage to transpiration across the continental United States using distributed, publicly available datasets. Temporal and spatial patterns of bedrock water use across the continental United States indicate that woody plants extensively access bedrock water for transpiration. Plants across diverse climates and biomes access bedrock water routinely and not just during extreme drought conditions. On an annual basis in California, the volumes of bedrock water transpiration exceed the volumes of water stored in human-made reservoirs, and woody vegetation that accesses bedrock water accounts for over 50% of the aboveground carbon stocks in the state. Our findings indicate that plants commonly access rock moisture, as opposed to groundwater, from bedrock and that, like soil moisture, rock moisture is a critical component of terrestrial water and carbon cycling.
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Plantas
/
Madeira
/
Água Subterrânea
/
Recursos Hídricos
/
Transpiração Vegetal
/
Mapeamento Geográfico
/
Análise Espaço-Temporal
País como assunto:
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article