Soil moisture thresholds explain a shift from light-limited to water-limited sap velocity in the Central Amazon during the 2015–16 El Niño drought
Lin Meng, Jeffrey Q. Chambers, Charles D. Koven, Gilberto Pastorello, Bruno Gimenez, Kolby Jardine, Yao Tang, Nate G. McDowell, Robinson Negrón‐Juárez, Marcos Longo, Alessandro Araùjo, Javier Tomasella, Clarissa G. Fontes, Midhun Mohan, Níro Higuchi
Abstract
Abstract Transpiration is often considered to be light- but not water-limited in humid tropical rainforests due to abundant soil water, even during the dry seasons. The record-breaking 2015–16 El Niño drought provided a unique opportunity to examine whether transpiration is constrained by water under severe lack of rainfall. We measured sap velocity, soil water content, and meteorological variables in an old-growth upland forest in the Central Amazon throughout the 2015–16 drought. We found a rapid decline in sap velocity (−38 ± 21%, mean ± SD.) and in its temporal variability (−88%) during the drought compared to the wet season. Such changes were accompanied by a marked decline in soil moisture and an increase in temperature and vapor pressure deficit. Sap velocity was largely limited by net radiation during the wet and normal dry seasons; however, it shifted to be primarily limited by soil moisture during the drought. The threshold in which sap velocity became dominated by soil moisture was at 0.33 m 3 m −3 (around −150 kPa in soil matric potential), below which sap velocity dropped steeply. Our study provides evidence for a soil water threshold on transpiration in a moist tropical forest, suggesting a shift from light limitation to water limitation under future climate characterized by increased temperature and an increased frequency, intensity, duration and extent of extreme drought events.