Groundwater dependence of riparian woodlands and the disrupting effect of anthropogenically altered streamflow.

ABSTRACT: Riparian ecosystems fundamentally depend on groundwater, especially in dryland regions, yet their water requirements and sources are rarely considered in water resource management decisions. Until recently, technological limitations and data gaps have hindered assessment of groundwater influences on riparian ecosystem health at the spatial and temporal scales relevant to policy and management. Here, we analyze Sentinel-2-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI; n = 5,335,472 observations), field-based groundwater elevation (n = 32,051 observations), and streamflow alteration data for riparian woodland communities (n = 22,153 polygons) over a 5-y period (2015 to 2020) across California. We find that riparian woodlands exhibit a stress response to deeper gro

SUBMITTER: Rohde MM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8237578 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature