The water acquisition strategies of trees in agroforestry systems may affect adjacent crops through competition for resources. This study characterizes the water uptake zones of Juglans nigra (walnut) and Populus sp. (hybrid of Populus deltoids X Populus nigra clone DN-177) (poplar) in a temperate agroforestry system. Isotopic analysis (δ18O) of soil water and tree xylem water occurred in early season and late season samples from the Agroforestry Research Station in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Direct inference and multiple source mass-balance approaches showed that poplar exhibited a primary soil water uptake zone at 20 cm in early season, while walnut uptake was higher in the soil profile at 10 cm. Late season water uptake zones shifted to lower in the soil profile (40-70 cm) for both poplar and walnut trees. This study indicates: i) species dependent water acquisition zones, and ii) a shift to lower in the soil profile later in the growing season.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/65588 |
| Date | 03 July 2014 |
| Creators | Link, Candice |
| Contributors | Isaac, Marney |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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