Thesis (M.A.)--University of Montana, 2008. / Title from title screen. Description based on contents viewed Aug. 12, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-94).

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 1998. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 103-107). Also available online.

Thesis (M.Env.Stud.)--Victoria University of Wellington, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1959. / Typescript. Abstracted in Dissertation abstracts, v. 20 (1959) no. 3, p. 910. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 307-315).

Water use efficiency (WUE), measured as the ratio of plant biomass to water consumption, is an essential agronomical trait for enhancing crop production under drought. Measuring water consumption is logistically difficult, especially in field conditions. The general objective of the present Thesis is to respond to three main questions: (i) can WUE be determined by using carbon isotope discrimination (CID), easy to measure?, (ii) how WUE and CID variation analysis can contribute to the genotypic selection of sunflower subjected to drought?, and (iii) can WUE variation be revealed by the variation of plant-water relation traits. Four experiments were carried out in greenhouse across two different years: (i) on two drought scenarios, progressive soil drying and stable water-stress, and (ii) on five levels of soil water content. The main traits that have been measured include WUE, CID, as well as plant-water relation traits, i.e. control of transpiration (FTSWt), water extraction capacity (TTSW), and dehydration tolerance (OA). A highly significant negative correlation was observed between WUE and CID, and a wide phenotypic variability was observed for both WUE and CID. A wide variability was also observed for FTSWt, TTSW and OA. The results provide new insight into the genetic control of WUE and CID related-traits, which, unlike to other crops, genetic control of WUE, CID, and TTSW in sunflower have never been reported in the literature. Further, quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping for FTSWt was never reported in any plant species. The QTL for WUE and CID were identified across different drought scenarios. The QTL for CID is considered as a ‘‘constitutive’’ QTL, because it is consistently detected across different drought scenarios. The QTL for CID co-localized with the QTL for WUE, biomass and cumulative water transpired. Co-localization was also observed between the QTL for FTSWt and TTSW, between the QTL for TTSW and WUE-CID-biomass, as well as between the QTL for FTSWt-TTSW and biomass. This study highlights that WUE is physiologically and genetically associated with CID. CID is an excellent surrogate for WUE measurement, and can be used to improve WUE by using marker-assisted selection (MAS) to achieve the ultimate goal of plant breeding at genomic level.

Climate models have projected that arid and semiarid lands will experience warmer and drier conditions for the next 100 years. For the last twenty years, the Southwestern US has been experiencing one of the worst droughts over the last century, not only threatening ecological systems but also the water security of its population. Understanding the environmental processes that affect arid and semiarid forests are essential to better understand the water and carbon cycles, and tree-ring research has contributed valuable knowledge in this regard. There is a common understanding that moisture-stress has significant impacts on forested ecosystems and thereby on the global carbon and water cycles. Under persistent moisture deficit, a decline in growth, an increased proportion of wildfires, insect outbreaks, and mass-tree-mortality are often observed in arid and semi-arid forests, having large impacts on their carbon budgets and their capacity to act as a carbon sink. This study addresses the seasonal and regional climatic influences on the water-carbon relations in the ponderosa pine forests of the southwestern US (SW). This region is characterized by a complex climatology related to the North American Monsoon system (NAMS). A topic of interest in this dissertation is the role of the summer rainfall after the early-summer hyper-arid period in the region, providing a unique seasonal condition for these ecosystems to thrive. While these forests clearly rely on winter snowpack to drive much of their annual net primary productivity, the temporal and regional extent to which they supplement winter moisture with summer monsoon moisture needs to be clarified. The core of this dissertation is a study of the spatial and temporal variability of the stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in the cellulose of subsections of the tree rings (e.g., earlywood and latewood) collected from a network of thirteen sites along a latitudinal gradient extending from southern Arizona and New Mexico, through southwest Colorado, and up to northern Utah. The analysis is based on biological and physical processes and their close relationships with isotope effects to infer eco-physiological responses to climate variations over the last century. The stable carbon isotopes are used to derive intrinsic Water-Use Efficiency (iWUE) defined by the molar ratio of carbon gain to water loss. The stable oxygen isotope ratio is used to infer the variations on evaporative flux at the leaf level, which depend on stomatal conductance, atmospheric vapour pressure deficit at the leaf surface, and variations in the isotopic ratio of the source water. Both isotopic ratios are used to document variations in tree productivity and hydrologic vulnerability within the context of climate change impacts on this region. During the study, it was found that climate change in the SW has impacted the carbon and water cycles of these forests for at least the past twenty years. Additionally, seasonality influence the eco-physiology of ponderosa pine change along the latitudinal gradient, as shown by significant differences between EW and LW. These differences are explained by the large shifts in seasonal VPD, which are more evident in the southern part of our study region due to the mid-summer arrival of monsoon rains. These findings will be useful for regional natural resource managers and improves our understanding of seasonal influences on forest water–carbon relationships. This approach will also be useful to develop seasonally resolved paleoclimate and paleo-ecophysiological reconstructions to characterize the long-term influence of winter versus summer moisture on carbon-water relations in forested ecosystems.

Master of Science / Department of Agronomy / Robert M. Aiken / Doohong Min / Finding a high-value forage crop with limited water requirements to produce livestock feed is becoming increasingly important as producers adapt to restricted water supply conditions. Our objectives were to determine the forage yield, nutritive values, and crop water productivity (CWP) of teff grass (Eragrostis tef [Zucc.] Trotter) under field conditions when compared to sorghum sudangrass (SS, S. x drummondii[(Nees ex. Steud.) Millsp. & Chase]) and pearl millet (PM, P. glaucum [L.]R.Br.). Crop water productivity was determined by dividing above-ground biomass by crop water use. Crop water use was determined by the summation of soil water depletion, precipitation, and irrigation. Yield was determined by quadrat area clippings of above-ground biomass. Nutritive value was determined using wet chemical analysis. Cultivars showed significant differences in biomass production and CWP in both years. Excalibur teff grass variety had the greatest CWP (418 kg ha-1 cm-1) 40 days after planting (DAP) in 2016, and was similar to SS and PM for the rest of the season until 58 DAP. Pearl millet had the greatest overall CWP (443 kg ha-1 cm-1) at 44 DAP. In 2017, sorghum sudangrass had significantly greater CWP than teff grass and pearl millet throughout most of the season. Among the teff varieties, Haymore had the greatest CWP (239 kg ha-1 cm-1) when harvested 10 days after boot stage (DAB). Crude protein values of teff grass varieties ranged from 9.3% to 21.3%, depending on the harvest date and year. Teff grass showed equivalent or greater nitrogen use efficiency (27.8 – 88.8 kg biomass kg-1 N applied) in our study than previously reported. Teff grass demonstrated potential to provide producers with a fast-growing and competitive forage crop with less overall water use due to a shortened growing season.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Invasive alien plants (IAPs) are often reported to use more water than indigenous plants. Inaddition, IAPs have an ability to adapt to harsh environmental conditions and they tend to spread at rapid rates, thereby threatening the country’s water resources, agricultural land, and biodiversity. Much of South Africa is expected to get drier in future due to climate change and the new climatic conditions are also predicted to accelerate the rate at which alien plants will spread. Approximately 10 million hectares are currently estimated to have been invaded by alien plants in South Africa, with an estimated average annual rate of spread of more than 5%. The first objective of this study was to compare the water use by deep rooted tree species which include invasive alien Prosopis (sp) trees and the co-occurring indigenous A. karroo. These trees are growing in a flood plain of a groundwater dependent catchment in the Northern Cape Province. Both species are dependent on groundwater and thus compete with local communities for this resource. The second objective was to determine the sources of water that the trees were using in order to understand the impacts of each species on groundwater resources. Transpiration was measured using the heat ratio method of the heat pulse velocity sap flow technique while the volumetric soil water content was monitored at several depths down the soil profile using automated capacitance soil water content probes. Weather data was collected using an automatic weather station. Stable isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen from plant, soil and groundwater samples were analysed to determine the sources of water used by the trees. Average tree density was approximately 613 stems per hectare for Prosopis compared to about 100 stems per hectare for A. karroo. Comparative measurements of water use shows that the annual stand level transpiration from Prosopis invasions was approximately 353 mm/year while that from A. karroo was only about 137 mm/year. Differences in stand transpiration were a result of the higher plant density for Prosopis than A. karroo. There were no significant differences in the transpiration rates of the two species for trees with a similar transpiring leaf area. Application of a two compartment linear mixing model for the oxygen isotope ratio during the peak transpiration period in summer showedthat Prosopis derived 23% of its water from the unsaturated zone and 77% from the saturated zone. A. karroo on the other hand derived 53% of its water from the unsaturated zone and47% from the saturated zone. Diurnal fluctuations in groundwater levels were strongly related to the transpiration dynamics of both species. This supports the observation that these deep rooted trees have substantial impacts on groundwater at the study site. Root sap flow patterns of Prosopis showed evidence of hydraulic redistribution wherein the groundwater abstracted by the tap roots was deposited in the shallow soil layers by lateral roots. However, the root sap flow patterns of A. karroo growing adjacent to the Prosopis did not show this phenomenon.

The issues concerning women and their participation (or rather lack thereof) in the development process have been increasingly examined over the last few decades. The interpretation of women's roles and gender relations, especially in water supply and sanitation projects, have been marked by shifting positions and changing political priorities over the last few decades. This study contributes to the knowledge regarding issues surrounding the roles and equality of women and men in water supply and sanitation projects in the Eastern Cape Province. It provides a background to the origins and development of gender and gender mainstreaming in the developing world in relation to the changing roles and responsibilities of women in water supply and sanitation projects. The roles and responsibilities of women, men and children are closely interlinked with their cultural perceptions, the way they grow up and the way they are brought up within their cultural environment and relationships with people close to them. The key to understanding how development work affects women, men, girls and boys, is in grasping the concept of gender. The term "gender" refers to those characteristics of women and men that are socially determined. This dissertation discusses gender-awareness approaches in development projects such as water supply and sanitation and the effect these projects have had to date on the empowerment, position and roles of women. The research in the Eastern Cape Province for this study is one of only a few case studies which could be identified in South Africa. This research and the case studies illustrate that development in South Africa needs to be made gender aware and gender sensitive, and that the mainstreaming of gender in South Africa is a long way behind the rest of the developing world. / Dissertation (MA (Antropology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Anthropology and Archaeology / unrestricted

Afforestation and reforestation programs utilizing available fields for biofuel production, carbon sequestration, and other uses linked to climate change are looking to tree physiologists to identify species and genotypes best-suited to their purposes. The ideal poplar genotype for use in Canadian programs would be drought-resistant, cold-climate adapted, and fast-growing, thus requiring an understanding of links between a variety of physiological traits linked to growth and productivity. This study examined the basis for variations in water-use efficiency within four selected populations of Populus trichocarpa and Populus balsamifera (2 provenances each). Each species included both a northern and a southern provenance. Correlations between water-use efficiency, nitrogen-use efficiency, ¹³C/¹²C isotope ratio, stomatal conductance, and overall productivity were evaluated. Gas exchange variables measured included net photosynthesis, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, and intercellular CO₂ content. Water-use efficiency and ¹³C content across all genotypes were highly correlated. Results suggested that variation in water-use efficiency was primarily related to variation in stomatal conductance across all genotypes. Whereas differences in net photosynthesis in this study were not significant between species, P. balsamifera did reveal a higher average stem volume overall. Although variation in stomatal conductance was the major determinant of differences in water-use efficiency, positive correlations were found between ¹³C isotope abundance and net photosynthesis in both P. balsamifera provenances. In this regard, results for the northern P. balsamifera provenance are the most consistent across all gas-exchange and growth trait correlations, in terms of meeting expectations for sink-driven water-use efficiency. The findings in this study suggest the possibility of identifying poplar genotypes with an absence of trade-off between water-use efficiency and nitrogen-use efficiency, notably among genotypes from the northern P. balsamifera provenance, near Gillam. / Forestry, Faculty of / Graduate