Cited by 92Fire effects on ecosystemsPlant Water Relations and Carbon DynamicsHydrology and Watershed Management Studies

Changes in evapotranspiration following wildfire in resprouting eucalypt forests

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Nolan, Rachael H., Lane, Patrick N. J., Benyon, Richard G., Bradstock, Ross A., Mitchell, Patrick J.·2014·Ecohydrology

Abstract

ABSTRACT Forests that recover from disturbance predominately via vegetative resprouting may be expected to have different catchment water balance dynamics following wildfire than forests recovering from seed. However, the impacts of wildfire on forest water use are largely unknown in resprouting forest types. This is despite their dominance across the majority of southern Australia's forested catchments and the large areas burnt in recent years. We hypothesized that postfire changes in evapotranspiration (Et) would be a function of fire severity and topography and that partitioning of Et would change after fire because of altered stand structure. We tested these hypotheses by monitoring Et and component fluxes across different topographic positions and fire severities in a mixed eucalypt species forest located in water supply catchments for the city of Melbourne. For this forest type, wildfire triggers vegetative resprouting from lignotubers and epicormic shoots on the bole and branches of the overstorey trees, in addition to prolific seedling germination. Monitoring was undertaken over 1–3 years following the 2009 Black Saturday wildfires. We found that Et was on average 41% lower in forest burnt at high severity compared with unburnt forest, whereas Et from forest burnt at moderate severity was only 3% lower than unburnt forest over 1–2 years postfire but on average 9% higher over 2–3 years postfire. Et losses were driven by tree and shrub mortality in conjunction with lower transpiration in surviving trees. Lower Et was partially offset by regenerating seedlings that drove increases in forest floor Et and interception loss. Finally, we found that topography, through its effects on evaporative demand and forest structure, was a strong determinant of total Et but did not affect the nature of postfire recovery. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Crossref · 10.1002/eco.1463

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Authors
Nolan, R. H., Lane, P. N. J., Benyon, R. G., Bradstock, R. A., & Mitchell, P. J.
Affiliations
  • The University of Melbourne (AU)
  • University of Wollongong (AU)
  • Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (AU)
Corresponding author
Nolan, Rachael H.
Venue
Ecohydrology
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2014-01-02
Volume
7
Issue
5
Pages
1363-1377
ISSN
  • 1936-0584 (ISSN-L)
  • 1936-0592
OpenAlex
W2138237269
Cited by
92
References
81
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 7
FWCI
3.81
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Ecohydrology (publishedVersion)
  • eCite Digital Repository (University of Tasmania) (submittedVersion)
  • Research Online (University of Wollongong) (submittedVersion)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • UTS ePRESS (University of Technology Sydney) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Parks Victoria
  • Melbourne Water
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Fire effects on ecosystems
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies
Keywords
evapotranspiration, forest fires, eucalypt forest, fire severity, post-fire recovery, transpiration, interception loss, tree mortality, seedling regeneration, topography, evaporative demand, water balance

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