AGU 2013 Fall Meeting

Implementation of diverse tree hydraulics in a land surface model

Adam Wolf, Elena Shevliakova, Sergei Malyshev, Steve Pacala

Abstract Increasing attention has been devoted to the occurence of drought kill in forests worldwide.  These mortality events are significant disruptions to the terrestrial carbon cycle, but the mechanisms required to represent drought kill are not represented in terrestrial carbon cycle models. In part, this is due to the challenge of representing the diversity of hydraulic strategies, which include stomatal sensitivity to water deficit and woody tissue vulnerability to cavitation at low water potential. In part, this is due to the challenge of representing this boundary value problem numerically, because the hydraulic components determine water potential at the leaf, but the stomatal conductance on the leaf also determines the hydraulic gradients within the plant.  This poster will describe the development of a land surface model parameterization of diverse tree hydraulic strategies.