Soil water uptake

Andrea Hanf will focus on the investigation of soil water uptake by different tree and palm species in the four different land-use systems: secondary tropical rain forest, jungle rubber, rubber plantations and oil palm plantations. The partitioning and complementarity of soil water uptake between different species will be investigated by stable isotope (deuterium) analysis on 10 individuals in each of the 32 core sites of the EFForTS project. The comparison of deuterium concentration of wood samples with soil samples of different depths will yield information on the soil water uptake characteristics in the different land-use systems. Another aim is to investigate the relationship between water uptake by different plant species and the respective fine root distribution in the soil, the latter of which will be analyzed by the B04 sub-project. Andrea will also be involved in the sap flux experiments of the A02 project (Work Package 2), a methodology she already applied in her field studies in the ELUC project on Sulawesi, Indonesia.