Examination of a coupled supply- and demand-induced stress function for root water uptake modeling

Abstract

Vegetation water use is closely related to its biophysical functioning and is often under stress from various environmental factors. However, commonly used root water uptake models only consider the stress from root zone moisture availability. There is a need to incorporate the stress from both the above-ground factors and root zone water condition. In this study, a newly developed coupled supply- and demand-induced (S&D) root water uptake model is examined with measurements on two tree species, Guihua in the subtropical monsoon climate and Drooping Sheoak in the Mediterranean climate. The results show that the S&D model outperforms a supply-constraint water stress function (the S-shape model) for both studied species. The S&D model predicts 67% and 84% temporal variability in the measured water stress for Guihua and Drooping Sheoak, respectively. The improvement of the S&D model over the S-shape model is more significant for Guihua than for Drooping Sheoak, which might be associated with the specific climate conditions. A two-step parameterization approach is adopted in this study for the S&D model, and is recommended for future applications. These results further support the validity of the S&D model, and should be considered for the root water uptake modeling.