TY - CONF A1 - Mantovani, Dario A1 - Veste, Maik A1 - Böhm, Christian A1 - Freese, Dirk A2 - Palma, Joao H. N. T1 - Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) in agroforestry systems: spatial and temporal variation of the plant water status and growth T2 - 2nd European Agroforestry Conference: Integrating Science and Policy to Promote Agroforestry in Practice, June 2014, Cottbus, Germany N2 - Short-rotation forestry and agroforestry systems have the potential to become an ecologically valuable and economically profitable land use alternative on marginal lands. Therefore, our project focuses on determining the water demand for biomass production of black locust in the Lusatia region (Eastern Germany). The area is characterized by relative low annual rainfall (560-600 mm/yr) and drought periods during spring and summer. Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) is planted in short rotation plantations as well as in agroforestry systems at reclaimed post-mining sites of the opencast mining area “Welzow Süd” and on a conventionally managed field near the town Forst (both study sites are located about 120 km to the south of Berlin). Due to mining activities the ground water table in “Welzow-Süd” is below 100 m, while on the field site in Forst the ground water table is about 2 m below the soil surface. Because of the water accessibility directly affecting the yield, it is crucial to identify the spatial variation of the soil water availability and its influence on black locust growth. The main question of this study is how the drought periods affect black locust’s growth and recovery and about the drought mitigation effect obtainable by an accessible water table. The growth rate is being estimated monthly by measuring the maximum height and the trunk diameter at 10 and 130 cm. Furthermore, several trees are equipped with dendrometers to record their diameter increment in daily intervals. The pre-dawn water potential for selected trees is evaluated periodically to quantify plant water stress and relate it to the growth pattern. Water availability and microclimatic condition are monitored continuously. At the end of the vegetation period, information gathered from the field will be used to develop a growth model to link the soil water availability and plant water status with the growth rate of the trees. Y1 - 2014 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-UBICO/frontdoor/index/index/docId/11418 UR - http://www.repository.utl.pt/handle/10400.5/6764 SN - 978-972-97874-4-7 SP - 263 EP - 264 ER -