Abstract
Following large-scale conversion of rainforest, rubber and oil palm plantations dominate lowland Sumatra (Indonesia)and other parts of South East Asia today, with potentially far-reaching ecohydrological consequences. We assessed how such land-use change affects plant transpiration by sap flux measurements at 42 sites in selectively logged rainforests, agroforests and rubber and oil palm monoculture plantations in the lowlands of Sumatra. Site-to-site variability in stand-scale transpiration and tree-level water use were explained by stand structure, productivity, soil properties and plantation age. Along a land-use change trajectory forest-rubber-oil palm, time-averaged transpiration decreases by 43 ± 11% from forest to rubber monoculture plantations, but rebounds with conversion to smallholder oil palm plantations. We uncovered that particularly commercial, intensive oil palm cultivation leads to high transpiration (827 ± 77 mm yr−1), substantially surpassing rates at our forest sites (589 ± 52 mm yr−1). Compared to smallholder oil palm, land-use intensification leads to 1.7-times higher transpiration in commercial plantations. Combined with severe soil degradation, the high transpiration may cause periodical water scarcity for humans in oil palm-dominated landscapes. As oil palm is projected to further expand, severe shifts in water cycling after land-cover change and water scarcity due to land-use intensification may become more widespread.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 160-171 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Agricultural and Forest Meteorology |
Volume | 274 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 15 Aug 2019 |
Keywords
- Forest
- Jungle rubber
- Land-cover change
- Land-use intensification
- Oil palm
- Rubber plantation
- Sap flux
- Tropics
- Water use