Water subsidies from mountains to deserts: Their role in sustaining groundwater-fed oases in a sandy landscape

Ecological Applications

Volumn 21, Issue 3, 2011, Pages 678-694

  Jobbagy E G ^a,b   Nosetto, M D ^a,b,c   Villagra, P E ^d   Jackson, R B ^e  

^a Instituto de Matematica Aplicada San Luis   (Argentina)

^b UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE SAN LUIS   (Argentina)

^c Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias   (Argentina)

^d INSTITUTO ARGENTINO DE NIVOLOGÍA   (Argentina)

^e DUKE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Algarrobo woodlands; Arid oasis; Central Monte Desert; Cordillera de los Andes; Groundwater recharge discharge; Larrea shrublands; Mendoza River; Monte Desert; Phreatophytes; Prosopis flexuosa woodlands; Telteca Provincial Reserve (Argentina); Western Argentina

Indexed keywords

WATER;

AQUIFER; DRAINAGE; ECOHYDROLOGY; EVAPOTRANSPIRATION; GROUNDWATER RESOURCE; INFILTRATION; ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION; LANDSCAPE; MEASUREMENT METHOD; METEORIC WATER; MOUNTAIN REGION; OASIS; PHREATIC ZONE; POPULATION STRUCTURE; RAINFALL; RECHARGE; SHRUB; SHRUBLAND; SNOWMELT; SOIL PROFILE; VULNERABILITY; WATER TABLE; WOODLAND;

ARGENTINA; ARTICLE; CHEMISTRY; DESERT CLIMATE; ECOSYSTEM; ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING; SEDIMENT; SOIL; TIME; WATER FLOW;

ARGENTINA; DESERT CLIMATE; ECOSYSTEM; ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING; GEOLOGIC SEDIMENTS; SOIL; TIME FACTORS; WATER; WATER MOVEMENTS;

ANDES; ARGENTINA; MENDOZA; MENDOZA RIVER; MONTE DESERT;

LARREA; PROSOPIS FLEXUOSA;

EID: 78149404761     PISSN: 10510761     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1890/09-1427.1     Document Type: Article

References (76)

1. Abraham, E., H. F. del Valle, F. Roig, L. Torres, J. O. Ares, F. Coronato, and R. Godagnone. 2009. Overview of the geography of the Monte Desert biome (Argentina). Journal of Arid Environments 73(2):144-153.
2. Abraham, E., and M. Prieto. 1981. Enfoque diacró nico de los cambios ecoló gicos y de las adaptaciones humanas en el N.E. á rido mendocino. Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios Interdisciplinarios de Fronteras Argentinas 8:107-139.
3. Adar, E. M., I. Gev, J. Lipp, D. Yakir, J. Gat, and Y. Cohen. 1995. Utilization of oxygen-18 and deuterium in stem flow for the identification of transpiration sources: soil water versus groundwater in sand dune terrain. IAHS-AISH Publication 232:329-338. (Pubitemid 28333268)
4. Alley, W. M., R. W. Healy, J. W. LaBaugh, and T. E. Reilly. 2002. Flow and storage in groundwater systems. Science 296: 1985-1990. (Pubitemid 34627513)
5. Allison, G. B., W. J. Stone, and M. W. Hughes. 1985. Recharge in karst and dune elements of a semi-arid landscape as indicated by natural isotopes and chloride. Journal of Hydrology 76:1-25.
6. Alvarez, J. A., P. E. Villagra, M. A. Cony, E. M. Cesca, and J. A. Boninsegna. 2006. Structure and conservative condition of the Prosopis flexuosa D. C. (Fabaceae, subfamily: Mimosoideae) woodlands in northeast Mendoza (Argentina). Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 79:75-87. (Pubitemid 43759324)
7. Athavale, R. N., R. Rangarajan, and D. Muralidharan. 1998. Influx and efflux of moisture in a desert soil during a 1 year period. Water Resources Research 34:2871-2877. (Pubitemid 28494921)
8. Baldi, G., M. D. Nosetto, R. M. Aragó n, F. Aversa, J. M. Paruelo, and E. G. Jobbágy. 2008. Long-term satellite ndvi data sets: evaluating their ability to detect ecosystem functional changes in South America. Sensors 8:5397-5425.
9. Canadell, J., R. B. Jackson, R. J. Ehleringer, H. A. Mooney, O. E. Sala, and E.-D . Schulze. 1996. Maximum rooting depth of vegetation types at the global scale. Oecologia 108: 583-595.
10. Carril, A. F., M. E. Doyle, V. R. Barros, and M. N. Núñez. 1997. Impacts of climate change on the oases of the Argentinean cordillera. Climate Research 9:121-129.
11. Cavagnaro, J. B., and C. B. Passera. 1993. Relaciones hí dricas de Prosopis flexuosa (algarrobo dulce) en el Monte, Argentina. 73-78 in Contribuciones Mendocinas a la Quinta Reunió n de Regional para Amé rica Latina y el Caribe de la Red de Forestació n del CIID Conservación y Mejoramiento de Especies del Gé nero Prosopis. Volume 1. IADIZA, Mendoza, Argentina.
12. Chen, J. S., L. Li, J. Y. Wang, D. A. Barry, X. F. Sheng, W. Z. Gu, X. Zhao, and L. Chen. 2004. Water resources: groundwater maintains dune landscape. Nature 432:459-460. (Pubitemid 39576519)
13. Cooper, D. J., J. S. Sanderson, D. I. Stannard, and D. P. Groeneveld. 2006. Effects of long-term water table drawdown on evapotranspiration and vegetation in an arid region phreatophyte community. Journal of Hydrology 325:21-34. (Pubitemid 43870072)
14. Craig, H. 1961. Standards for reporting concentrations of deuterium and oxygen-18 in natural waters. Science 133: 1833-1834.
15. Departamento General de Irrigació n. 2004. Informe de resultados de usos de la tierra segú n el tratamiento digital de imá genes de satellite Landsat para la provincial de Mendoza. PNUD-FAO-ARG-00/08. Gobierno de Mendoza, Mendoza, Argentina.
16. Devitt, D. A., D. J. Donovan, T. Katzer, and M. A. Johnson. 2002. A reevaluation of the ground water budget for Las Vegas Valley, Nevada, with emphasis on ground water discharge. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 38:1735-1751. (Pubitemid 36186205)
17. Eamus, D., T. Hatton, and P. Cook. 2006. Ecohydrology: vegetation function, water and resource management. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
18. Ehleringer, J. R., S. L. Phillips, W. S. F. Schuster, and D. R. Sandquist. 1991. Differential utilization of summer rains by desert plants. Oecologia 88:430-434. (Pubitemid 23397545)
19. Engel, V., E. G. Jobbágy, M. Stieglitz, M. Williams, and R. B. Jackson. 2005. Hydrological consequences of Eucalyptus afforestation in the Argentine Pampas. Water Resources Research 41:1-14.
20. Frankenberger, W. T., M. A. Tabaitabai, D. C. Adriano, and H. E. Doner. 1996. Bromine, Chlorine and Fluorine. 833-868 in S. L. Sparks, editor. Methods of soil analysis. Part 3. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
21. Freckman, D. W., and R. A. Virginia. 1989. Plant-feeding nematodes in deep-rooting desert ecosystems. Ecology 70: 1665-1678. (Pubitemid 20424298)
22. Freeze, R. A., and J. A. Cherry. 1979. Groundwater. Prentice- Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA.
23. Gardner, W. H. 1986. Water content. 493-544 in A. Klute, editor. Methods of soil analysis. Part 1. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
24. Gates, J. B., W. M. Edmunds, J. Ma, and B. R. Scanlon. 2008. Estimating groundwater recharge in a cold desert environment in northern China using chloride. Hydrogeology Journal 16:893-910.
25. Gee, G. W., and J. W. Bauder. 1986. Particle-size analysis. 383-410 in A. Klute, editor. Methods of soil analysis. Part 1. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
26. Gonzalez Loyarte, M., A. G. Rodeghiero, E. Buk, and S. Trione. 2000. Aná lisis comparativo de dos comunidades en el bosque de Prosopis flexuosa dc. del NE de Mendoza, Argentina. Multequina 9:75-89.
27. Gries, D., F. Zeng, A. Foetzki, S. K. Arndt, H. Bruelheide, F. M. Thomas, X. Zhang, and M. Runge. 2003. Growth and water relations of Tamarix ramosissima and Populus euphratica on Taklamakan desert dunes in relation to depth to a permanent water table. Plant, Cell and Environment 26:725-736. (Pubitemid 36631989)
28. Haase, P., F. I. Pugnaire, E. M. Fernaì ndez, J. Puigdefaì bregas, S. C. Clark, and L. D. Incoll. 1996. An investigation of rooting depth of the semiarid shrub Retama sphaerocarpa (L.) Boiss. by labelling of ground water with a chemical tracer. Journal of Hydrology 177:23-31.
29. Heuperman, A. 1999. Hydraulic gradient reversal by trees in shallow water table areas and repercussions for the sustainability of tree-growing systems. Agricultural Water Management 39:153-167. (Pubitemid 29096826)
30. Huete, A., K. Didan, T. Miura, E. P. Rodriguez, X. Gao, and L. G. Ferreira. 2002. Overview of the radiometric and biophysical performance of the MODIS vegetation indices. Remote Sensing of Environment 83(1-2):195-213. (Pubitemid 35307469)
31. Hultine, K. R., R. L. Scott, W. L. Cable, D. C. Goodrich, and D. G. Williams. 2004. Hydraulic redistribution by a dominant, warm-desert phreatophyte: seasonal patterns and response to precipitation pulses. Functional Ecology 18:530-538. (Pubitemid 39059411)
32. IAEA/WMO [International Atomic Energy Agency; World Meteorological Organization]. 2006. Global network of isotopes in precipitation (GNIP). The GNIP database. (http://isohis.iaea.org)
33. Jackson, R. B., E. G. Jobbágy, R. Avissar, S. B. Roy, D. J. Barrett, C. W. Cook, K. A. Farley, D. C. Le Maitre, B. A. McCarl, and B. C. Murray. 2005. Trading water for carbon with biological carbon sequestration. Science 310:1944-1947. (Pubitemid 43005985)
34. Jackson, R. B., E. G. Jobbágy, and M. D. Nosetto. 2009. Ecohydrology in a human-dominated landscape. Ecohydrology 2:383-389.
35. Jobbágy, E. G., and R. B. Jackson. 2007. Groundwater and soil chemistry changes under phreatophytic tree plantations. Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences 112:246-261.
36. Loheide, S. P., II, J. J. Butler, Jr., and S. M. Gorelick. 2005. Estimation of groundwater consumption by phreatophytes sing diurnal water table fluctuations: A saturated-unsaturated flow assessment. Water Resources Research 41:1-14. (Pubitemid 41197309)
37. Masiokas, M. H., R. Villalba, B. H. Luckman, C. Le Quesne, and J. C. Aravena. 2006. Snowpack variations in the central Andes of Argentina and Chile, 1951-2005: large-scale atmospheric influences and implications for water resources in the region. Journal of Climate 19:6334-6352. (Pubitemid 46085149)
38. Meyboom, P. 1967. Mass-transfer studies to determine the groundwater regime of permanent lakes in hummocky moraine of western Canada. Journal of Hydrology 5:117-142.
39. Milner, A. M., L. E. Brown, and D. M. Hannah. 2009. Hydroecological response of river systems to shrinking glaciers. Hydrological Processes 23:62-77.
40. Montaña, E., L. M. Torres, E. Abraham, E. Torres, and G. Pastor. 2005. Los espacios invisibles. Subordinació n, marginalidad y exclusió n de los territorios no irrigados en tierras secas de Mendoza, Argentina. Regió n y Sociedad (Mexico) 17:3-32.
41. Morello, J. 1958. La provincia fitogeográfica del Monte. Fundación Miguel Lillo, Tucumán, Argentina.
42. Muñoz-Reinoso, J. C., and F. García Novo. 2005. Multiscale control of vegetation patterns: the case of Doñana (SW Spain). Landscape Ecology 20:51-61. (Pubitemid 40870298)
43. Naumburg, E., R. Mata-Gonzalez, R. G. Hunter, T. McLendon, and D. W. Martin. 2005. Phreatophytic vegetation and groundwater fluctuations: a review of current research and application of ecosystem response modeling with an emphasis on Great Basin vegetation. Environmental Management 35:726-740. (Pubitemid 40853997)
44. New, M., D. Lister, M. Hulme, and I. Makin. 2002. A highresolution data set of surface climate over global land areas. Climate Research 21:1-25. (Pubitemid 34838195)
45. Nichols, W. D. 1994. Groundwater discharge by phreatophyte shrubs in the Great Basin as related to depth to groundwater. Water Resources Research 30:3265-3274.
46. Nosetto, M. D., E. G. Jobbágy, G. A. Sznaider, and R. B. Jackson. 2009. Reciprocal influence of crops and shallow ground water in sandy landscapes of the Inland Pampas. Field Crops Research 113:138-148.
47. Nosetto, M. D., E. G. Jobbágy, T. Toth, and C. M. Di Bella. 2007. The effects of tree establishment on water and salts dynamics in naturally salt-affected grasslands. Oecologia 152:695-705. (Pubitemid 46944681)
48. Noy-Meir, I. 1973. Desert ecosystems: environment and producers. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 4: 25-51.
49. Ostrovsky, V. N. 2007. Comparative analysis of groundwater formation in arid and super-arid deserts (with examples from central Asia and northeastern Arabian Peninsula). Hydrogeology Journal 15:759-771. (Pubitemid 46893948)
50. Phillips, F. M. 1994. Environmental tracers for water movement in desert soils of the American Southwest. Soil Science Society of America Journal 58:15-24. (Pubitemid 284324)
51. Rundel, P., P. E. Villagra, M. O. Dillon, S. A. Roig-Juñent, and G. Debandi. 2007. Arid and semi-arid ecosystems. 158-183 in T. T. Veblen, K. Young, and A. Ormel, editors. The physical geography of South America. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
52. Sanderson, J. S., and D. J. Cooper. 2008. Ground water discharge by evapotranspiration in wetlands of an arid intermountain basin. Journal of Hydrology 351:344-359.
53. Sapanov, M. K. 2000. Water uptake by trees on different soils in the Northern Caspian Region. Eurasian Soil Science 33: 1157-1165.
54. Scanlon, B. R., and R. S. Goldsmith. 1997. Field study of spatial variability in unsaturated flow beneath and adjacent to playas. Water Resources Research 33:2239-2252. (Pubitemid 27426683)
55. Scanlon, B. R., K. E. Keese, A. L. Flint, L. E. Flint, C. B. Gaye, W. M. Edmunds, and I. Simmers. 2006. Global synthesis of groundwater recharge in semiarid and arid regions. Hydrological Processes 20:3335-3370. (Pubitemid 44604595)
56. Scanlon, B. R., D. G. Levitt, R. C. Reedy, K. E. Keese, and M. J. Sully. 2005. Ecological controls on water-cycle response to climate variability in deserts. Proeedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 102:6033-6038. (Pubitemid 40594250)
57. Schenk, H. J., and R. B. Jackson. 2002. Rooting depths, lateral root spreads and below-ground/above-ground allometries of plants in water-limited ecosystems. Journal of Ecology 90: 480-494. (Pubitemid 34616947)
58. Scholes, R. J., and S. R. Archer. 1997. Tree-grass interactions in Savannas. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 28: 517-544. (Pubitemid 28012302)
59. Scott, R. L., W. L. Cable, and K. R. Hultine. 2008. The ecohydrologic significance of hydraulic redistribution in a semiarid savanna. Water Resources Research 44. [doi: 10.1029/2007WR006149]
60. Scott, R. L., J. W. Shuttleworth, D. C. Goodrich, and T. Maddock III. 2000. The water use of two dominant vegetation communities in a semiarid riparian ecosystem. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 105:241-256.
61. Seyfried, M. S., S. Schwinning, M. A. Walvoord, W. T. Pockman, B. D. Newman, R. B. Jackson, and F. M. Phillips. 2005. Ecohydrological control of deep drainage in semiarid regions. Ecology 86:277-287. (Pubitemid 40356060)
62. Small, E. E. 2005. Climatic controls on diffuse groundwater recharge in semiarid environments of the southwestern United States. Water Resources Research 41:1-17. (Pubitemid 40707957)
63. Sosa, H., and S. Vallvé . 1999. Lagunas de Guanacache (centrooeste de Argentina). Procedimiento de inclusión a la Convensió n sobre los humedales (Ramsar, 71). Multiequina 8:71-85.
64. Stromberg, J. C., J. A. Tress, S. D. Wilkins, and S. D. Clark. 1992. Response of velvet mesquite to groundwater decline. Journal of Arid Environments 23:45-58. (Pubitemid 23396572)
65. Subsecretarí a de Recursos Hí dricos. 2004. Estadí stica hidroló gica de la Repú blica Argentina. EVARSA, Buenos Aires, Argentina. [CD-ROM]
66. Thomas, F. M., S. K. Arndt, H. Bruelheide, A. Foetzki, D. Gries, J. Huang, M. Popp, G. Wang, X. Zhang, and M. Runge. 2000. Ecological basis for a sustainable management of the indigenous vegetation in a central Asian Desert: presentation and first results. Journal of Applied Botany 74: 212-219. (Pubitemid 32169694)
67. Torres, L. M. 2008. Hilos de agua, lazos de sangre: enfrentando la escasez en el desierto de Lavalle (Mendoza, Argentina). Ecosistemas (Spain) 17:46-59.
68. Tóth, J. 1999. Groundwater as a geologic agent: an overview of the causes, processes, and manifestations. Hydrogeology Journal 7:1-14. (Pubitemid 129636085)
69. Tripaldi, A., and S. L. Forman. 2007. Geomorphology and chronology of Late Quaternary dune fields of western Argentina. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 251:300-320. (Pubitemid 47030610)
70. Villagra, P. E., J. A. Boninsegna, J. A. Alvarez, M. Cony, E. Cesca, and R. Villalba. 2005. Dendroecology of Prosopis flexuosa woodlands in the Monte Desert: Implications for their management. Dendrochronologia 22:209-213. (Pubitemid 41127251)
71. Villagra, P. E., and F. A. Roig. 1999. Vegetació n de las má rgenes de inundació n del Río Mendoza en su zona de divagació n (Mendoza, Argentina). Kurtziana 27:309-317.
72. Wang, X.-P., R. Berndtsson, and E.-S. Kang. 2004. Water balance change for a re-vegetated xerophyte shrub area. Hydrological Sciences Journal 49:283-296. (Pubitemid 38572591)
73. Wilson, J. L., and H. Guan. 2004. Mountain-block hydrology and mountain-front recharge. 139-158 in F. M. Phillips, J. Hogan, and B. Scanlon, editors. Groundwater recharge in a desert environment, Southwest United States. Water Science Application Series, volume 9. American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C., USA.
74. Wurster, F. C., D. J. Cooper, and W. E. Sanford. 2003. Stream/ aquifer interactions at Great Sand Dunes National Monument, Colorado: influences on interdunal wetland disappearance. Journal of Hydrology 271:77-100. (Pubitemid 36141147)
75. Zencich, S. J., R. H. Froend, J. V. Turner, and V. Gailitis. 2002. Influence of groundwater depth on the seasonal sources of water accessed by Banksia tree species on a shallow, sandy coastal aquifer. Oecologia 131:8-19. (Pubitemid 36059190)
76. Zeng, F., X. Zhang, A. Foetzki, X. Li, and M. Runge. 2003. Comparative study on the water characteristics of Populus euphratica with different depths of underground water in the foreland of Takelamakan Desert. Proceedings of SPIE-The International Society for Optical Engineering 4890:501-511.