Insights for the Partitioning of Ecosystem Evaporation and Transpiration in Short‐Statured Croplands

Abstract

AbstractReducing water losses in agriculture needs a solid understanding of when evaporation (E) losses occur and how much water is used through crop transpiration (T). Partitioning ecosystem T is however challenging, and even more so when it comes to short‐statured crops, where many standard methods lead to inaccurate measurements. In this study, we combined biometeorological measurements with a Soil‐Plant‐Atmosphere Crop (SPA‐Crop) model to estimate T and E at a Swiss cropland over two crop seasons with winter cereals. We compared our results with two data‐driven approaches: The Transpiration Estimation Algorithm (TEA) and the underlying Water Use Efficiency (uWUE). Despite large differences in the productivity of both years, the T to evapotranspiration (ET) ratio had relatively similar seasonal and diurnal dynamics, and averaged to 0.72 and 0.73. Our measurements combined with a SPA‐Crop model provided T estimates similar to the TEA method, while the uWUE method produced systematically lower T even when the soil and leaves were dry. T was strongly related to the leaf area index, but additionally varied due to climatic conditions. The most important climatic drivers controlling T were found to be the photosynthetic photon flux density (R2 = 0.84 and 0.87), and vapor pressure deficit (R2 = 0.86 and 0.70). Our results suggest that site‐specific studies can help establish T/ET ratios, as well as identify dominant climatic drivers, which could then be used to partition T from reliable ET measurements. Moreover, our results suggest that the TEA method is a suitable tool for ET partitioning in short‐statured croplands.