The combined effect of diffuse radiation and leaf wetness on functional traits and transpiration efficiency on a cloud forest species.

Cloud forests are unique biomes that thrive in foggy environments for a substantial part of the season. Fog in cloud forests plays two critical roles: it reduces incoming radiation and creates a humid environment, leading to the wetting of the canopy. This paper aims to investigate the combined effect of both radiation and wetness on Myrica faya Wilbur-a cloud forest species present in subtropical regions-both directly in plants and through simulations. Experiments consisted of a controlled environment with two levels of radiation and leaf wetness: low radiation/wet conditions, and high radiation/no-wetness; and three treatments: continuous low radiation and wetness, continuous high radiation and no wetness and alternate high low radiation and alternate wetness. The results revealed that a combination of low radiation and leaf wetness significantly improves leaf stomata conductance and increases the specific leaf area (SLA). Changes in SLA were driven by leaf size changes. However, the minimum leaf conductance (gmin) did not respond to any of the treatments. The simulations focused on exploring the impact of radiation and canopy wetness on transpiration efficiency (TE), i.e. the ratio between photosynthesis (An) and transpiration (Tc). The simulations demonstrated that TE increased exponentially as the canopy was gradually wetted, regardless of the radiation environment. This increase in TE results from Tc approaching zero while An maintains positive values. Overall, this study provides an integrated understanding of how fog alters M. faya functioning and, potentially, other cloud forest tree species.

Scaling Erica arborea transpiration from trees up to the stand using auxiliary micrometeorological information in a wax myrtle-tree heath cloud forest (La Gomera, Canary Islands).

We investigate evapotranspiration, sap flow and top soil water content variations in a wax myrtle-tree heath ('fayal-brezal' in Spanish) cloud forest in the Garajonay National Park (La Gomera, Canary Islands) over a 1-year period. We provide transpiration estimates for one of the representative species, the shrubby needle-like Erica arborea L., present in this relict subtropical forest. An ad hoc tree up to the stand scaling method that combines the sap flow and auxiliary reference evapotranspiration data is illustrated, showing to be useful when sap flow in a limited number of trees has been monitored. Individual daily-based scaling curves of the Gompertz type were necessary to explain the observed sap flow variability in E. arborea during the 1-year period investigated (r(2) ≥ 0.953 with mode of r(2) = 0.9999). The mean daily sap flow of an E. arborea individual amounted to 8.37 ± 5.65 kg day(-1) tree(-1), with a maximum of 20.48 kg day(-1) tree(-1), yielding an annual total of 3052.89 kg tree(-1). A comparison of the computed daily transpiration with the continuous micrometeorological time series monitored in the studied plot suggested that solar radiation was the main driving force of transpiration in E. arborea (cross correlation index = 0.94). Fog may also affect tree transpiration via its reduction of radiation and temperature, such that during foggy periods the mean daily water loss estimate of E. arborea was 5.35 ± 4.30 kg day(-1) tree(-1), which sharply contrasted with the 2.4-fold average transpiration values obtained for fog-free days, i.e., 12.81 ± 4.33 kg day(-1) tree(-1). The annual water balance rendered a 288 mm year(-1) water input to the forest and evidenced the need for accurately quantifying the contribution of fog water dripping from the canopy.

Fog reduces transpiration in tree species of the Canarian relict heath-laurel cloud forest (Garajonay National Park, Spain).

The ecophysiologic role of fog in the evergreen heath-laurel 'laurisilva' cloud forests of the Canary Islands has not been unequivocally demonstrated, although it is generally assumed that fog water is important for the survival and the distribution of this relict paleoecosystem of the North Atlantic Macaronesian archipelagos. To determine the role of fog in this ecosystem, we combined direct transpiration measurements of heath-laurel tree species, obtained with Granier's heat dissipation probes, with micrometeorological and artificial fog collection measurements carried out in a 43.7-ha watershed located in the Garajonay National Park (La Gomera, Canary Islands, Spain) over a 10-month period. Median ambient temperature spanned from 7 to 15 degrees C under foggy conditions whereas higher values, ranging from 9 to 21 degrees C, were registered during fog-free periods. Additionally, during the periods when fog water was collected, global solar radiation values were linearly related (r2=0.831) to those under fog-free conditions, such that there was a 75+/-1% reduction in median radiation in response to fog. Fog events greatly reduced median diurnal tree transpiration, with rates about 30 times lower than that during fog-free conditions and approximating the nighttime rates in both species studied (the needle-like leaf Erica arborea L. and the broadleaf Myrica faya Ait.). This large decrease in transpiration in response to fog was independent of the time of the day, tree size and species and micrometeorological status, both when expressed on a median basis and in cumulative terms for the entire 10-month measuring period. We conclude that, in contrast to the turbulent deposition of fog water droplets on the heath-laurel species, which may be regarded as a localized hydrological phenomenon that is important for high-altitude wind-exposed E. arborea trees, the cooler, wetter and shaded microenvironment provided by the cloud immersion belt represents a large-scale effect that is crucial for reducing the transpirational water loss of trees that have profligate water use, such as those of the 'laurisilva'.

An alternative method to estimate zero flow temperature differences for Granier's thermal dissipation technique.

Calibration of the Granier thermal dissipation technique for measuring stem sap flow in trees requires determination of the temperature difference (DeltaT) between a heated and an unheated probe when sap flow is zero (DeltaT(max)). Classically, DeltaT(max) has been estimated from the maximum predawn DeltaT, assuming that sap flow is negligible at nighttime. However, because sap flow may continue during the night, the maximum predawn DeltaT value may underestimate the true DeltaT(max). No alternative method has yet been proposed to estimate DeltaT(max) when sap flow is non-zero at night. A sensitivity analysis is presented showing that errors in DeltaT(max) may amplify through sap flux density computations in Granier's approach, such that small amounts of undetected nighttime sap flow may lead to large diurnal sap flux density errors, hence the need for a correct estimate of DeltaT(max). By rearranging Granier's original formula, an optimization method to compute DeltaT(max) from simultaneous measurements of diurnal DeltaT and micrometeorological variables, without assuming that sap flow is negligible at night, is presented. Some illustrative examples are shown for sap flow measurements carried out on individuals of Erica arborea L., which has needle-like leaves, and Myrica faya Ait., a broadleaf species. We show that, although DeltaT(max) values obtained by the proposed method may be similar in some instances to the DeltaT(max) predicted at night, in general the values differ. The procedure presented has the potential of being applied not only to Granier's method, but to other heat-based sap flow systems that require a zero flow calibration, such as the Cermák et al. (1973) heat balance method and the T-max heat pulse system of Green et al. (2003).