Publication Details

AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS

SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH

agricultural and biological sciences

Trees in African drylands can promote deep soil and groundwater recharge in a future climate with more intense rainfall

Land Degradation and Development, Volume 31, No. 1, Year 2020

Tropical regions are likely to experience more intense rainfall events in the future. Such an increase in rainfall intensities will affect soil and groundwater recharge, with potential consequences for millions of people. However, little is known about the impact of tree cover on soil and groundwater recharge under higher rainfall intensities. Here, we investigated the effect of tree cover and rainfall intensity on soil water drainage in an agroforestry parkland in West Africa. We collected soil water drainage from lysimeters located at 50 and 150 cm depth in both small and large open areas among trees, which represent contrasting degrees of tree cover, and analyzed a subset of water samples for δ18O and δ2H to gain insights into the mechanisms of water flow within the soil profile. We found that under high rainfall intensities (>20 mm d−1), the median daily soil water drainage amount at 150 cm was 13 times higher in the small compared with the large open areas, whereas at 50 cm, there were no significant differences. Low rainfall intensities (<10 mm d−1) resulted in little soil water drainage both at 50 and 150 cm depth, regardless of canopy opening size. The isotopic signature of soil water drainage suggested less evaporation and a higher degree of preferential flow in small compared with large open areas. Our results suggest that maintaining or promoting an appropriate tree cover in tropical African drylands may be key to improving deep soil and groundwater recharge under a future climate with more heavy rainfall.
Statistics
Citations: 16
Authors: 6
Affiliations: 4
Identifiers
Research Areas
Environmental
Study Locations
Multi-countries