Intensive or extensive use of soil moisture: Plant strategies to cope with stochastic water availability Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Some plants rely on a dependable winter recharge, as opposed to others that quickly respond to the intermittent and uncertain rainfall during the growing season. Using a stochastic model for the soil moisture process and a quantitative measure of plant water stress, we find climate, soil, and vegetation characteristics leading to the dominance or possible coexistence of these two strategies of water use.

published proceedings

  • Geophysical Research Letters

author list (cited authors)

  • RodriguezIturbe, I., Porporato, A., Laio, F., & Ridolfi, L.

citation count

  • 67

complete list of authors

  • Rodriguez‐Iturbe, Ignacio||Porporato, Amilcare||Laio, Francesco||Ridolfi, Luca

publication date

  • December 2001