The importance of tree cover for water resources in semiarid West Africa

The current paradigm in forest hydrology implies that an increase in tree cover always leads to reduced water yields as a result of increased interception and transpiration (ET) losses. This trade-off theory, in which more trees mean less water, has led to concerns that the establishment of trees in drylands may jeopardize scarce water resources. But in the seasonally dry tropics relevant studies are scarce, and few have explored the impact of intermediate tree densities on water yields in degraded soils, which greatly limits the applicability of the trade-off theory in this region. Here, I propose an alternative optimum tree cover theory in which, under conditions typical of the seasonally dry tropics, groundwater recharge is maximized at an intermediate tree cover. At tree covers below this optimum, the gains from more trees on soil hydraulic properties exceed their additional ET losses, leading to increased groundwater recharge. The overall aim of this thesis is to test this hypothesis and to clarify the main processes influencing the relationship between tree cover and groundwater recharge. To do this, a number of measurements were taken in an agroforestry parkland in semiarid West Africa; these included soil infiltrability, soil water drainage, tree transpiration and degree of preferential flow, in combination with stable isotope data. Results from this thesis show that deep soil water drainage was minimal near the tree stem, reached a maximum close to the canopy edge and from there decreased linearly with increasing distance to the nearest tree. This pattern is probably the result of a combination of increased ET losses next to the tree and reduced infiltrability and preferential flow with increasing distance from the nearest tree. The combined increase in infiltrability and degree of preferential flow close to trees allows for enhanced soil and groundwater recharge. Tree transpiration data were used in combination with the observed pattern in soil water drainage and data on tree water sources to model groundwater recharge as a function of tree cover. Modelling results confirm that groundwater recharge was maximized under intermediate tree cover irrespective of the scenarios considered. That trees do not always reduce water yields but can substantially improve them suggests new opportunities for tree protection and tree-based restoration in the seasonally dry tropics, benefitting hundreds of millions of people

Trees, forests and water: Cool insights for a hot world

Forest-driven water and energy cycles are poorly integrated into regional, national, continental and global decision-making on climate change adaptation, mitigation, land use and water management. This constrains humanity’s ability to protect our planet’s climate and life-sustaining functions. The substantial body of research we review reveals that forest, water and energy interactions provide the foundations for carbon storage, for cooling terrestrial surfaces and for distributing water resources. Forests and trees must be recognized as prime regulators within the water, energy and carbon cycles. If these functions are ignored, planners will be unable to assess, adapt to or mitigate the impacts of changing land cover and climate. Our call to action targets a reversal of paradigms, from a carbon-centric model to one that treats the hydrologic and climate-cooling effects of trees and forests as the first order of priority. For reasons of sustainability, carbon storage must remain a secondary, though valuable, by-product. The effects of tree cover on climate at local, regional and continental scales offer benefits that demand wider recognition. The forest- and tree-centered research insights we review and analyze provide a knowledge-base for improving plans, policies and actions. Our understanding of how trees and forests influence water, energy and carbon cycles has important implications, both for the structure of planning, management and governance institutions, as well as for how trees and forests might be used to improve sustainability, adaptation and mitigation efforts

Positive Effects of Scattered Trees on Soil Water Dynamics in a Pasture Landscape in the Tropics

As a result of canopy interception and transpiration, trees are often assumed to have negative effects on the local hydrological budget resulting in reduced soil and groundwater resources. However, it has also been shown that trees can have positive effects through reducing surface run-off and improving soil infiltrability and groundwater recharge, especially in many tropical ecosystems characterized by high rain intensity and degradation-prone soils. In this study, we used isotopic measurements of soil water to better understand the main processes by which trees influence local soil water dynamics within a tropical pasture with scattered tree cover in the Copan River catchment, Honduras. We also determined the stable isotope signature of xylem water in grasses and trees to assess potential competition for water sources during the wet and dry seasons. During the wet season, when soil water availability was not limiting, both grasses and trees primarily utilized soil water near the soil surface (i.e., 0–10 cm). In contrast, during the dry season, we observed niche partitioning for water resources where grasses primarily utilized soil moisture at deeper soil depth (i.e., 90–100 cm) while trees relied heavily on groundwater. Moreover, isotopic data of soil water suggest that trees reduce evaporative water losses from the soil surface, as indicated by the lack of correlation between soil water content and lc-excess (line condition excess) values of surface soil water under trees, and enhance preferential flow as suggested by less negative lc-excess values under trees compared to open areas during the dry season. Taken together, our findings provide further support that trees can have positive effects on the local water balance with implication for landscape management, promoting the inclusion of scattered trees to provide water ecosystem services in silvopastoral systems, adding to other ecosystem services like biodiversity or carbon sequestration

An integrated agroforestry-bioenergy system for enhanced energy and food security in rural sub-Saharan Africa

Most people in rural sub-Saharan Africa lack access to electricity and rely on traditional, inefficient, and polluting cooking solutions that have adverse impacts on both human health and the environment. Here, we propose a novel integrated agroforestry-bioenergy system that combines sustainable biomass production in sequential agroforestry systems with biomass-based cleaner cooking solutions and rural electricity production in small-scale combined heat and power plants and estimate the biophysical system outcomes. Despite conservative assumptions, we demonstrate that on-farm biomass production can cover the household’s fuelwood demand for cooking and still generate a surplus of woody biomass for electricity production via gasification. Agroforestry and biochar soil amendments should increase agricultural productivity and food security. In addition to enhanced energy security, the proposed system should also contribute to improving cooking conditions and health, enhancing soil fertility and food security, climate change mitigation, gender equality, and rural poverty reduction

Forest restoration: Transformative trees

Accepted Author ManuscriptWater Resource