Riparian floodplains forests in Mediterranean climates are particularly sensitive to water stress and projected trends in regional hydrology over the coming decades may create irreversible consequences for this ecologically important, yet fragile, vanishing biome.
However, regional expressions of climate and climate change in ecohydrology are poorly defined. We propose an interdisciplinary investigation of ecohydrologic links between water availability and Mediterranean riparian tree growth and forest health that will yield new insight into relationships between climate, water in floodplains, and forests.
Our aims are to :
- Improve understanding of water availability in river floodplains and water use by streamside trees over annual to decadal time scales
- Develop tight constraints on relations between water sources and tree-ring cellulose isotopic composition
- Assess the consequences of regional climate change for water availability to floodplain trees and corresponding impacts to riparian forests over the coming decades.