Local groundwater decline exacerbates response of dryland riparian woodlands to climatic drought.

ABSTRACT: Dryland riparian woodlands are considered to be locally buffered from droughts by shallow and stable groundwater levels. However, climate change is causing more frequent and severe drought events, accompanied by warmer temperatures, collectively threatening the persistence of these groundwater dependent ecosystems through a combination of increasing evaporative demand and decreasing groundwater supply. We conducted a dendro-isotopic analysis of radial growth and seasonal (semi-annual) carbon isotope discrimination (Δ¹³ C) to investigate the response of riparian cottonwood stands to the unprecedented California-wide drought from 2012 to 2019, along the largest remaining free-flowing river in Southern California. Our goals were to identify principal drivers and indicators of droug

SUBMITTER: Williams J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9804274 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature