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Intensive or extensive use of soil moisture: Plant strategies to cope with stochastic water availability
Author(s) -
RodriguezIturbe Ignacio,
Porporato Amilcare,
Laio Francesco,
Ridolfi Luca
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2001gl012905
Subject(s) - environmental science , groundwater recharge , water content , dominance (genetics) , hydrology (agriculture) , moisture , growing season , vegetation (pathology) , ecohydrology , soil science , ecology , geology , ecosystem , meteorology , geography , groundwater , geotechnical engineering , medicine , biochemistry , chemistry , pathology , biology , aquifer , gene
Some plants rely on a dependable winter recharge, as opposed to others that quickly respond to the intermittent and uncertain rainfall during the growing season. Using a stochastic model for the soil moisture process and a quantitative measure of plant water stress, we find climate, soil, and vegetation characteristics leading to the dominance or possible coexistence of these two strategies of water use.