Modelling plant water relations and net primary productivity as affected by reclamation cover depth in reclaimed forestlands of northern Alberta

• DOI: 10.1007/s11104-019-04363-9
• Publication Date: 2019-12-04T07:02:31Z
• Authors: N. P. Y. Welegedara; R. F. Grant; Sylvie A. Quideau; Simon M. Landhäusser; Morgane Merlin; E. Lloret
• Keywords: 0401 agriculture, forestry, and fisheries; 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences; 15. Life on land

Success in establishing upland forests on landforms constructed from overburden is determined by the characteristics of the reclamation soil covers and depth. We explored whether an ecosystem model that uses water potential gradients to simulate soil-plant-atmosphere water transfers can be used to forecast effects of water availability on plant water relations and net primary productivity (NPP) with different cover depths in these constructed landforms. Plant water relations and growth were simulated with ecosys and tested against measured soil moisture content, rooting depth, transpiration, leaf area and biomass production in three soil cover depths over 5 years. Shallow reclamation soil cover depth caused greater water potential gradients and less soil water content, tree water uptake and growth to be modelled, consistent with measured data. Modelled transpiration increased nonlinearly with increasing cover depth, indicating a threshold depth above which additional gains in transpiration and hence NPP would be limited. This study highlights the importance of sufficient cover depth on forest community end-land use re-establishment. It also demonstrated that a terrestrial ecosystem model such as ecosys can be a useful tool in forecasting land capability for reclamation soil covers of different depths and properties under diverse climates.