Issue |
La Houille Blanche
Number 3, Juin 2002
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Page(s) | 24 - 32 | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/lhb/2002038 | |
Published online | 01 July 2009 |
Réservoir en eau des sols forestiers tempérés : spécificité et difficultés d'évaluation
Forest soil extractable water : specificity and estimation
INRA, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Centre de Nancy, Ecologie et Ecophysiologie Forestières, Equipe Phytoécologie, 54280 Champenoux Tél: 03 83 39 40 48, Fax: 03 83 39 40 22
Auteur de correspondance : breda@nancy.inra.fr
Abstract
The amount of water stored in soils and available to roots is among the most difficult but critical measurement to obtain. It's a key parameter for forest soil water balance and hydroloy, at both local and regional scales. The estimation of extractable soil water is difficult and still subject of debate. Forest soils exhibited specific properties and constrains, like deep depths, contrasted soil layers, high carbon content, large amount of coarse elements... Forest trees themselves exhibited specific ability to extract water at very low soil water potentials. As a consequence, the extrapolation of agronomic evaluation of available water, established for annual plants and cultivated soils, to forest soils is discussed. Finally, the state of knowledge about soil extractable water in the French forest is presented and the lack of in situ observations is pointed out. It seems actually difficult oa draw up a map of forest soils extractable water at ntional scale.
© Société Hydrotechnique de France, 2002