Miloslav Šír

Field measurement of soil water repellency and its impact on water flow under different vegetation

Numerous recent laboratory studies have shown that vegetation can influence soil water flow by inducing very low levels of water repellency. In this study we extended on this previous research by developing a field-based test using a miniature infiltrometer to assess low levels of water repellency from physically based measurements of liquid flow in soil. The field-based test was verified through a simple laboratory experiment and then applied to determine the impact of vegetation and antecedent soil water content. The soil hydraulic properties determined were hydraulic conductivity, sorptivity, as well as the persistence and index of water repellency. Tests were conducted following a dry spell and wet spell on (1) forest soil (0 cm depth), (2) glade soil (0 cm depth) and (3) glade soil (50 cm depth). It was found that both the persistence and index of water repellency, R, decreased in the order as follows: forest soil > glade soil (0 cm) > glade soil (50 cm) for both dry and wet spell. The range of values of R was 0.28 (wettable) to 360 (highly water repellent), which affected hydraulic conductivity kr(−2 cm). R increased and hence kr(−2 cm) decreased in the order: forest soil < glade soil (0 cm) < glade soil (50 cm) for both the dry and wet spell. There were clear interactions between vegetation and changes to water flow caused by presence of repellency.

Grass Cover Influences Hydrophysical Parameters and Heterogeneity of Water Flow in a Sandy Soil

Vegetation cover has a major effect on water flow in soils. Two sites, separated by distance of about 50 m, were selected to quantify the influence of grass cover on hydrophysical parameters and heterogeneity of water flow in a sandy soil emerging during a heavy rain following a long hot, dry period. A control soil (pure sand) with limited impact of vegetation or organic matter was obtained by sampling at 50 cm depth beneath a glade area, and a grassland soil was covered in a 10 cm thick humic layer and colonised by grasses. The persistence of water repellency was measured using the water drop penetration time test, sorptivity and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity using a mini disk infiltrometer, and saturated hydraulic conductivity using a double-ring infiltrometer. Dye tracer experiments were used to assess the heterogeneity of water flow, and both the modified method for estimating effective cross section and an original method for assessing the degree of preferential flow were used to quantify this heterogeneity from the images of dyed soil profiles. Most hydrophysical parameters were substantially different between the two surfaces. The grassland soil had an index of water repellency about 10 times that of pure sand and the persistence of water repellency almost 350 times that of pure sand. Water and ethanol sorptivities in the grassland soil were 7% and 43%, respectively, of those of the pure sand. Hydraulic conductivity and saturated hydraulic conductivities in the grassland soil were 5% and 16% of those of the pure sand, respectively. Dye tracer experiments revealed a stable flow with “air-draining” condition in pure sand and well-developed preferential flow in grassland soil, corresponding to individual grass tussocks and small micro-depressions. The grassland soil was substantially more water repellent and had 3 times the degree of preferential flow compared to pure sand. The results of this study reinforce our view that the consequences of any change in climate, which will ultimately influence hydrology, will be markedly different between grasslands and bare soils.

Influence of vegetation cover on thermal regime of mountainous catchments

Air temperature at heights of 5 and 200 cm above soil surface, as well as soil temperature at depths of 15, 30 and 60 cm were studied in the cold climatic zone at three localities (catchments) under different plant cover during the growing season of 2002. The catchments Kout (dead forest), Doupě (clearing) and Stolec (mature spruce forest) are situated in the National Park of the Šumava Mts. (Czech Republic) in elevation of 1105–1330 m a.s.l., in which Kout and Doupě form some small “islands” inside an extensive spruce forest. Plant transpiration was not limited by water shortage in all the three localities. It was found that both soil and air temperatures were influenced with plant cover. In hot and dry days, the extremes in daily and night air temperatures were a function of transpiring vegetation height, with higher daily maximum and lower night minimum for smaller vegetation. For the whole growing season (from 29 July to 10 October 2002), the mean values of air temperature were independent upon the plant cover, but the magnitude of the dispersion variance followed the sequence in ascending order: mature forest-clearing-dead forest.

Plant transpiration and net entropy exchange on the Earth’s surface in a Czech watershed

The influence of plant transpiration on the entropy exchange was quantified as associated with the degradation of solar energy on the Earth’s surface covered by plants. Two surfaces were studied: (1) productive surface — plant transpiration taken as equal to the potential one, (2) non-productive surface — plant transpiration taken as equal to zero. The entropy exchanges associated with the absorption of solar radiation and with the conversion of absorbed solar radiation into the sensible heat and latent heat were taken into account. These processes were examined in the experimental watershed Liz (828–1074 m a.s.l.) located in the Bohemian Forest (Czech Republic). We found that in the growing season 1992 the net entropy exchange in humid hydrologic period (the Earth’s surface is productive) was considerably higher than in the arid one (the Earth’s surface was productive in 39% of days, and non-productive in 61% of days). Considering that the biotic effect on the Earth’s functioning can be measured with the help of the net entropy exchange, we can assume that the theory that biotic activities — represented by plant transpiration here — are the cause of the self-organizing processes in Earth’s environment is proved in the watershed scale.

Influence of vegetation cover on air and soil temperatures in the Šumava Mts. (Czech Republic)

Air temperature at heights of 5 and 200 cm above soil surface, and soil temperature at depths of 15, 30 and 60 cm, were measured in the cold climatic zone at three localities (catchments) under different plant cover during the growing seasons 2002-2007. The catchments Kout (dead forest), Doupě (clearing) and Stolec (mature spruce forest) are situated in the National Park of the Sumava Mts. (Czech Republic) at an elevation of 1105-1330 m a. s. 1. This region is part of the metamorphic complex – Moldanubicum. It is formed mainly by metamorphosed rocks (paragneiss with smaller anomalies). The three catchments have very similar natural conditions, but differ significantly in vegetation cover. The catchments are covered with acid brown soil developed on paragneiss. The clearing and dead forest catchments both exist as small islands inside an extensive spruce forest. The following conclusions were obtained from the interpretation of measured data: (1) The air temperature of the catchment covered by the dead forest had a greater daily fluctuation compared to the stands covered by clearing or mature forest. (2) The air temperature of catchments covered by mature forest had the smallest daily fluctuations. (3) The more extreme air temperatures in the dead forest caused the systematic raising of the soil temperature at a depth of 15 cm compared to soil in the clearing and mature forest. These conclusions are valid for a cold climatic zone during a vegetation season in which plant transpiration plays a governing role in solar energy dissipation.

Comparison of two methods to assess heterogeneity of water flow in soils

Abstract The heterogeneity of water flow and solute transport was assessed during radioactive tracer infiltration experiment in a black clay loam soil using modified methods to estimate the effective cross section (ECS) and the degree of preferential flow (DPF). The results of field and numerical experiments showed that these parameters characterized the heterogeneity of water flow in the soils unequivocally. The ECS decreases non-linearly and the DPF increases linearly with an increase of the bypassing ratio (ratio of macropore flow rate to total flow rate). The ECS decreased and the DPF increased with depth, which suggests an increase in the heterogeneity of water flow with depth. The plot of the DPF against ECS values calculated from the tracer experiment data was consistent with the relationship obtained by the numerical simulation assuming preferential flow in the neighbourhood of three probes.

Simulation of phytomass productivity based on the optimum temperature for plant growth in a cold climate.

During long-term monitoring (more than 20 years) of the hydrologic regime at 20 mountainous sites in the Czech Republic (altitude 600–1400 m a.s.l.; vegetation season April-September; mean air temperature 8–10°C; mean total precipitation 400–700 mm; mean duration of sunshine 1100–1300 hours; mean potential transpiration 200–250 mm) it was found that plant temperature does not rise above about 25°C when plants transpire. According to the ecological optimality theory, the phytocenosis that is able to survive unfavourable conditions and produce the biggest amount of phytomass will prevail at sites occurring in long-term stable natural conditions. Simulation of phytomass productivity based on the optimum temperature for plant growth showed that plants with an optimum leaf temperature of about 25°C can survive the unfavourable conditions and produce the largest amount of phytomass at the site studied in the long-term.

The effect of grass transpiration on the air temperature

Oscillations of the air temperature and tensiometric pressure of the soil water were measured in the experimental slope Tomšovka (Czech Republic, Jizera Mts, 822 m a.s.l.). The brown forest soil (Dystric Cambisols) is covered with Calamagrostis villosa, Avenella flexuosa and Vaccinium myrtilus. Thermometers were placed at a height of 5 and 200 cm above the grassland. The tensiometer was installed in the root zone of grass at a depth of 15 cm. Oscillations in a cloudless day, August 24, 2001, (sunshine duration 12.1 hour/day, daily total of global radiation 22.4 MJ/m2/day, maximum intensity of global radiation 1008 W/m2, transpiration 13.7 MJ/m2/day) were analysed in detail. The oscillations with a period of about 30 to 60 minutes were recorded in the air temperature course taken from 11 am to 5 pm. At the height of 200 cm oscillations ranged from 24 to 28°C. Concurrently, in the depth of 15 cm, the oscillations of tensiometric pressure in the range of −6 to −11 kPa were recorded from 8 am to 4 pm. It was concluded that the oscillations in the air temperature resulted from autonomous and self-regulated oscillations in the intensity of transpiration. It is evident that the 2-m air temperature was significantly influenced by transpiration of plants around the large area. The fact that the air temperature oscillated sharply confirms that the rate of transpiration was synchronized in this area. Vegetative cover thus created a self-regulated superorganism that substantially affected the temperature of the near-ground atmosphere layer.

Measuring and modelling forest transpiration

Two transpiration models were tested, one with evaporation control, and another without evaporation control. The principle of the model with evaporation control is that the physical mechanism of transpiration is evaporation, which is actively controlled by plants. The supposed mechanism is: part of the heat (heat equivalent to the energy absorbed from solar radiation) that would cause heating of the plant above 25 °C is dissipated by evaporation. The model has four physical parameters, which are in principle measurable independently. The model without evaporation control is based on the assumption that evaporation dissipates a constant fraction of the incoming solar radiation. In this model, no physical mechanism of transpiration is given. The latter model needs only one parameter, which can be found by means of parameter search. Both models were tested by comparing their results with transpiration measured in the floodplain forest growing along the bank of the Dyje River close to Pohansko (Moravia, Czech Republic). Both models produced a typical difference of about 1.5 mm d-1 between measured and calculated daily transpiration totals. We can therefore say that both models are equally valid.