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Water status and growth phenology of a Saharan shrub in north Africa
Author(s) -
Abdallah Lotfi,
Chaieb Mohamed
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
african journal of ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.499
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1365-2028
pISSN - 0141-6707
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2028.2006.00683.x
Subject(s) - phenology , shrub , deserts and xeric shrublands , precipitation , decoupling (probability) , environmental science , economic shortage , ecosystem , geography , ecology , wet season , biology , habitat , linguistics , philosophy , control engineering , government (linguistics) , meteorology , engineering
An experimental study of the relationship between the phenological phases, water relations and climatic conditions was conducted on one shrub species, Spartidium saharae , in Saharan ecosystem of southern Tunisia. The results show that the water potential remained significantly higher than that recorded in other desert shrubs. However, a relationship between the water potential of S. saharae and precipitation was not evident suggesting that access to permanent ground water may be a factor of this decoupling. Although shoot elongation of the species occurred outside the wet season, water shortage induced a decrease in fruit production.