Forest regeneration can positively contribute to local hydrological ecosystem services: Implications for forest landscape restoration

1. Governments are increasingly committing to significant forest restoration. While carbon sequestration is a major objective, the case for restoration often includes benefits to local communities. However, the impacts of forest restoration on local hydrological services (e.g. flood and erosion risk, stream flow during dry periods) are surprisingly poorly understood. Particularly limited information is available on the impacts of passive tropical forest restoration following shifting cultivation. 2. The outcome depends on the trade-off between the improved soil infiltration capacity (reducing overland flow and increasing soil and groundwater recharge) and greater evapotranspiration (diminishing local water availability). 3. Using measurements from highly instrumented plots under three vegetation types in the shifting cultivation cycle in Madagascar's eastern rainforests (forest, tree fallow and degraded abandoned agricultural land), and infiltration measurements for the same vegetation types across the landscape, we explore the impacts of forest regeneration on the ecohydrological processes that underpin locally important ecosystem services. 4. Overland flow was minimal for the tree fallow (similar to the forest) and much lower than for the degraded land, likely leading to a lower risk of erosion and flooding compared to the degraded land. Conversely, evapotranspiration losses were lower for the tree fallow than the forest, leading to a higher net recharge, likely resulting in more streamflow between rainfall events. 5. These results demonstrate that young regenerating tropical forest vegetation can positively contribute to locally important hydrological ecosystem services. Allowing tree fallows to recover further is unlikely to further reduce the risk of overland flow but may, at least temporarily, result in less streamflow. 6. Synthesis and applications. Encouraging natural regeneration is increasingly seen as a cost-effective way to deliver forest landscape restoration. Our data suggest that increasing the abundance of young secondary forest in the tropics, by increasing fallow lengths in the shifting cultivation cycle, could make a positive contribution to locally important hydrological ecosystem services (specifically reducing overland flow and therefore erosion and flooding, while maintaining streamflows). Such empirical understanding is needed to inform the models used for planning forest landscape restoration to maximize benefits to local communities

Soil water- and overland flow dynamics in a tropical catchment subject to long-term slash-and-burn agriculture

Years of slash-and-burn activities across the tropics have led to very a patchy land-cover with vegetation in various stages of regrowth but, the associated effects on runoff generation remain under-studied. We analysed soil moisture-, perched water level- and overland flow (OF) dynamics during two periods (15 February–2 November 2015 and 20 December 2015–2 March 2016) for plots in a small catchment in Eastern Madagascar where slash-and-burn agriculture has been practiced for more than 50 years: a 1.58 ha tree fallow (TF2), a 1.93 ha terraced shrub fallow (TSF), and a 0.08 ha degraded grassland plot with regularly coppiced and burned eucalypt trees (EUC). Near-surface saturated soil hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) was distinctly lower beneath TF2 compared to TSF and EUC, leading to distinctly different perched water level responses and OF occurrence. OF was highest for TF2 and lowest for TSF. Soil moisture content was lowest for EUC, resulting in the lowest antecedent moisture plus precipitation threshold for OF occurrence (82 mm compared to 129 mm for TSF and 137 mm for TF2). OF was generally in the form of saturation overland flow (SOF) and reflected perched water level dynamics, except at EUC where the occurrence of a perched water level was rare during the first measurement period. Soil moisture responses to rainfall at EUC were highly variable and became larger after harvesting and burning the plot prior to the second measurement period. These results show that soil physical properties and runoff-generation processes in areas with a long history of slash-and-burn agriculture can vary markedly over small spatial scales and need to be taken into account if catchment scale runoff responses are to be simulated or predicted

Transpiration and stomatal conductance in a young secondary tropical montane forest : Contrasts between native trees and invasive understorey shrubs

It has been suggFested that vigorous secondary tropical forests can have very high transpiration rates, but sap flow and stomatal conductance dynamics of trees and shrubs in these forests are understudied. In an effort to address this knowledge gap, sap flow (thermal dissipation method, 12 trees) and stomatal conductance (porometry, six trees) were measured for young (5-7 years) Psiadia altissima (DC.) Drake trees, a widely occurring species dominating young regrowth following abandonment of swidden agriculture in upland eastern Madagascar. In addition, stomatal conductance (gs) was determined for three individuals of two locally common invasive shrubs (Lantana camara L. and Rubus moluccanus L.) during three periods with contrasting soil moisture conditions. Values of gs for the three investigated species were significantly higher and more sensitive to climatic conditions during the wet period compared with the dry period. Further, gs of the understorey shrubs was much more sensitive to soil moisture content than that of the trees. Tree transpiration rates (Ec) were relatively stable during the dry season and were only affected somewhat by soil water content at the end of the dry season, suggesting the trees had continued access to soil water despite drying out of the topsoil. The Ec exhibited a plateau-shaped relation with vapour pressure deficit (VPD), which was attributed to stomatal closure at high VPD. Vapour pressure deficit was the major driver of variation in Ec, during both the wet and the dry season. Overall water use of the trees was modest, possibly reflecting low site fertility after three swidden cultivation cycles. The observed contrast in gs response to soil water and climatic conditions for the trees and shrubs underscores the need to take root distributions into account when modelling transpiration from regenerating tropical forests.</p

Contrasts in top soil infiltration processes for degraded vs. Restored lands. a case study at the perijá range in Colombia

Governments are increasingly committing to significant ecological restoration. However, the impacts of forest restoration on local hydrological services are surprisingly poorly understood. Particularly, limited information is available about the impacts of tree planting on soil infiltration processes and runoff pathways. Thus, we investigated the saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks ) and preferential flow pathways in three land-cover types: (i) Active Restoration, (ii) Degraded Land, and (iii) Reference Forest, with contrasting differences in soil profile and land use history in the municipality of La Jagua de Ibirico, César department, Colombia. We conducted soil sampling, using the Beerkan method to determine Ks values. We also measured vegetation attributes (i.e., canopy cover, vegetation height, diameter at breast height, and total number of trees) and carried out three dye tracer experiments for each study site. The blue dye experiments revealed that near surface matrix infiltration was dominant for Degraded Land, while at the Active Restoration and Reference Forest, this only occurred at local surface depressions. The general infiltration pattern at the three land uses is indicated as being macropore flow with mixed interaction with the matrix and highly affected by the presence of rock fragments. The deeper infiltration patterns occur by preferential flow due to the presence of roots and rock fragments. The mean Ks for the Active Restoration (240 mm h−1 ) was much higher than the Ks at Degraded Land (40 mm h−1 ) but still considerably lower than the Reference Forest (324 mm h−1 ). These results indicate that top soil infiltration capacity and soil physical parameters not only directly regulate the amount of infiltration but also infiltration patterns and runoff processes, leading to lower infiltration and increased excess overland flow for Degraded Land than for other land uses

Measurement and modeling of rainfall interception by two differently aged secondary forests in upland eastern Madagascar

Secondary forests occupy a larger area than old-growth rain forests in many tropical regions but their hydrological functioning is still poorly understood. In particular, little is known about the various components of evapotranspiration in these possibly vigorously regenerating forests. This paper reports on a comparison of measured and modeled canopy interception losses (I) from a semi-mature (ca. 20 years) and a young (5–7 years) secondary forest in the lower montane rain forest zone of eastern Madagascar. Measurements of gross rainfall (P), throughfall (Tf), and stemflow (Sf) were made in both forests for one year (October 2014–September 2015) and the revised analytical model of Gash et al. (1995) was tested for the first time in a tropical secondary forest setting. Overall measured Tf, Sf and derived I in the semi mature forest were 71.0%, 1.7% and 27.3% of incident P, respectively. Corresponding values for the young forest were 75.8%, 6.2% and 18.0%. The high Sf for the young forest reflects the strongly upward thrusting habit of the branches of the dominant species (Psiadia altissima), which favours funneling of P. The value of I for the semi-mature forest is similar to values reported for old-growth tropical lower montane rain forests elsewhere but I for the younger forest is higher than reported for similarly aged tropical lowland forests. These findings can be explained largely by the prevailing low rainfall intensities and the frequent occurrence of small rainfall events. The revised analytical model was able to reproduce measured cumulative I at the two sites accurately and succeeded in capturing the variability in I associated with the seasonal variability in rainfall intensity, provided that Tf-based values for the average wet-canopy evaporation rates were used instead of values derived with the Penman-Monteith equation

Rebuilding soil hydrological functioning after swidden agriculture in eastern Madagascar

Land-use change due to the widespread practice of swidden agriculture affects the supply of ecosystem services. However, there is comparatively little understanding of how the hydrological functioning of soils, which affects rainfall infiltration and therefore flood risk, dry-season flows and surface erosion, is affected by repeated vegetation clearing and burning, the extent to which this can recover following land abandonment and vegetation regrowth, and whether active restoration speeds up recovery. We used interviews with local land users and indicator plant species to reconstruct the land-use history of 19 different sites in upland eastern Madagascar that represent four different land-use categories: semi-mature forests that were never burnt but were influenced by manual logging until 15–20 years ago; fallows that were actively reforested 6–9 years ago; 2–10 year old naturally regenerating fallows; and highly degraded fire-climax grassland sites. Surface- and near-surface (down to 30 cm depth) saturated soil hydraulic conductivities (Ksat), as well as the dominant flow pathways for infiltration and percolation were determined for each land-cover type. Surface Ksat in the forest sites was very high (median: 724 mm h⁻¹) and infiltration was dominated by flow along roots and other preferential flow pathways (macropores), whereas Ksat in the degraded land was low (median: 45 mm h⁻¹) with infiltration being dominated by near-surface matrix flow. The total area of blue-dye stains was inversely correlated to the Ksat. Both surface- and near-surface Ksat had increased significantly after 6–9 years of forest regeneration (median values of 203 and 161mm h⁻¹ for reforestation and natural regeneration, respectively). Additional observations are needed to more fully understand the rates at which soil hydrological functioning can be rebuilt and whether active replanting decreases the time required to restore soil hydrological functioning or not

Transpiration and stomatal conductance in a young secondary tropical montane forest: contrasts between native trees and invasive understorey shrubs

It has been suggested that vigorous secondary tropical forests can have very high transpiration rates, but sap flow and stomatal conductance dynamics of trees and shrubs in these forests are understudied. In an effort to address this knowledge gap, sap flow (thermal dissipation method, 12 trees) and stomatal conductance (porometry, six trees) were measured for young (5–7 years) Psiadia altissima (DC.) Drake trees, a widely occurring species dominating young regrowth following abandonment of swidden agriculture in upland eastern Madagascar. In addition, stomatal conductance (gs) was determined for three individuals of two locally common invasive shrubs (Lantana camara L. and Rubus moluccanus L.) during three periods with contrasting soil moisture conditions. Values of gs for the three investigated species were significantly higher and more sensitive to climatic conditions during the wet period compared with the dry period. Further, gs of the understorey shrubs was much more sensitive to soil moisture content than that of the trees. Tree transpiration rates (Ec) were relatively stable during the dry season and were only affected somewhat by soil water content at the end of the dry season, suggesting the trees had continued access to soil water despite drying out of the topsoil. The Ec exhibited a plateau-shaped relation with vapour pressure deficit (VPD), which was attributed to stomatal closure at high VPD. Vapour pressure deficit was the major driver of variation in Ec, during both the wet and the dry season. Overall water use of the trees was modest, possibly reflecting low site fertility after three swidden cultivation cycles. The observed contrast in gs response to soil water and climatic conditions for the trees and shrubs underscores the need to take root distributions into account when modelling transpiration from regenerating tropical forests

Vapour pressure deficit and solar radiation are the major drivers of transpiration in montane tropical secondary forests in eastern Madagascar

Young secondary tropical forests occupy a larger area than mature forests nowadays but our understanding of their ecohydrological functioning, particularly with respect to tree water uptake, remains poor. Deep soil water uptake may make mature forests resilient to periods of water stress, but little is known in this regard for young forests with possibly less extensive root networks. We, therefore, studied sap flow dynamics for one year in two 50 m x 50 m forest plots: a young secondary forest (YSF, 5–7 years) and a semi-mature forest (SMF; 20 years) in montane eastern Madagascar. Temporal variations in the depth of water uptake were inferred from the stable isotope compositions of soil- and xylem water. Transpiration rates were low for both forest sites (265 and 462 mm y−1 for the YSF and SMF, respectively). Vapour pressure deficit and global radiation explained most of the variation in transpiration rates at both sites. There was little evidence of transpiration limitation by soil water, despite an extended dry season. Trees in the YSF extracted water mostly from the intermediate soil depth (30–70 cm) during the dry season. In the SMF, the depth of uptake increased as the dry season progressed for some species (Abrahamia, Brachylaena and Cryptocaria), but not for others (Ocotea and Eugenia). Although the transpiration rates are low for both forests, they are comparable to results reported for other tropical montane sites after normalising for net energy input and leaf area. Estimated evapotranspiration totals (including interception loss, understorey and litter evaporation) were 679 mm and 1063 mm y−1 for the YSF and SMF, respectively (42% and 61% of precipitation, respectively). These results suggest that the stage of forest regrowth affects water uptake, and thus the water balance during forest succession

Vapour pressure deficit and solar radiation are the major drivers of transpiration in montane tropical secondary forests in eastern Madagascar

Young secondary tropical forests occupy a larger area than mature forests nowadays but our understanding of their ecohydrological functioning, particularly with respect to tree water uptake, remains poor. Deep soil water uptake may make mature forests resilient to periods of water stress, but little is known in this regard for young forests with possibly less extensive root networks. We, therefore, studied sap flow dynamics for one year in two 50 m x 50 m forest plots: a young secondary forest (YSF, 5–7 years) and a semi-mature forest (SMF; 20 years) in montane eastern Madagascar. Temporal variations in the depth of water uptake were inferred from the stable isotope compositions of soil- and xylem water. Transpiration rates were low for both forest sites (265 and 462 mm y−1 for the YSF and SMF, respectively). Vapour pressure deficit and global radiation explained most of the variation in transpiration rates at both sites. There was little evidence of transpiration limitation by soil water, despite an extended dry season. Trees in the YSF extracted water mostly from the intermediate soil depth (30–70 cm) during the dry season. In the SMF, the depth of uptake increased as the dry season progressed for some species (Abrahamia, Brachylaena and Cryptocaria), but not for others (Ocotea and Eugenia). Although the transpiration rates are low for both forests, they are comparable to results reported for other tropical montane sites after normalising for net energy input and leaf area. Estimated evapotranspiration totals (including interception loss, understorey and litter evaporation) were 679 mm and 1063 mm y−1 for the YSF and SMF, respectively (42% and 61% of precipitation, respectively). These results suggest that the stage of forest regrowth affects water uptake, and thus the water balance during forest succession