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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 28, NO. 23, PAGES 4495–4497, 2001

Intensive or Extensive Use of Soil Moisture: Plant Strategies to Cope with Stochastic Water Availability

Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe

Princeton Environmental Institute and Graduate Program in Environmental Engineering and Water Resources, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.


Amilcare Porporato

Princeton Environmental Institute and Graduate Program in Environmental Engineering and Water Resources, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.


Francesco Laio

Dipartimento di Idraulica, Transporti e Infrastrutture Civili, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy.


Luca Ridolfi

Dipartimento di Idraulica, Transporti e Infrastrutture Civili, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy.


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.

Received 25 January 2001; accepted 16 July 2001.

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Citation: Rodriguez-Iturbe, I., A. Porporato, F. Laio, and L. Ridolfi (2001), Intensive or Extensive Use of Soil Moisture: Plant Strategies to Cope with Stochastic Water Availability, Geophys. Res. Lett., 28(23), 4495–4497.