Employing stable isotopes to determine the residence times of soil water and the temporal origin of water taken up by Fagus sylvatica and Picea abies in a temperate forest

• Published in: The New phytologist Vol. 219; no. 4; pp. 1300 - 1313
• Main Authors: Brinkmann, Nadine, Seeger, Stefan, Weiler, Markus, Buchmann, Nina, Eugster, Werner, Kahmen, Ansgar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England New Phytologist Trust 01-09-2018; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Drought; Environmental impact; Fagus sylvatica; Global Network of Isotopes in Precipitation (GNIP); Herbivores; Hydrologic data; Hydrologic models; Hydrology; Isotopes; Moisture content; Picea abies; Precipitation; Residence time; Residence time distribution; Seasonal variation; Seasonal variations; Soil; Soil depth; Soil water; Stable isotopes; Temperate forests; temporal origin; Trees; Water depth; Water supply; Winter; Xylem; xylem water; stable isotopes; temporal origin; xylem water; Global Network of Isotopes in Precipitation (GNIP); soil water; residence time; Picea abies; Fagus sylvatica
• ISSN: 0028-646X; 1469-8137
• DOI: 10.1111/nph.15255

We assessed how the seasonal variability of precipitation δ2H and δ18O is propagated into soil and xylem waters of temperate trees, applied a hydrological model to estimate the residence time distribution of precipitation in the soil, and identified the temporal origin of water taken up by Picea abies and Fagus sylvatica over 4 yr.
Residence times of precipitation in the soil varied between a few days and several months and increased with soil depth. On average, 50% of water consumed by trees throughout a year had precipitated during the growing season, while 40% had precipitated in the preceding winter or even earlier. Importantly, we detected subtle differences with respect to the temporal origin of water used by the two species.
We conclude that both current precipitation and winter precipitation are important for the water supply of temperate trees and that winter precipitation could buffer negative impacts of spring or summer droughts.
Our study additionally provides the means to obtain realistic estimates of source water δ2H and δ18O values for trees from precipitation isotope data, which is essential for improving model-based interpretations of δ18O and δ2H values in plants.