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Abstract
We investigated the water relations of obligate riparian plants on paired diverted and undiverted reaches on Bishop Creek, Eastern Sierra Nevada. Riparian plants on diverted reaches had reduced stomatal conductance and water potential compared to plants on undiverted reaches in a dry year, but not in a high runoff year. Juvenile plants on diverted reaches had reduced stomatal conductance and lower midday water potentials relative to surrounding mature trees, a trend that was not observed on undiverted reaches. Plants on diverted reaches possessed significantly smaller, thicker leaves and a reduced total leaf area relative to trees on streamside reaches. Reduced community leaf area and effective stomatal control of water loss may allow riparian corridors on diverted reaches to retain their canopies in low runoff years. However, a long term consequence of partial streamflow diversion may be selective mortality of juvenile plants because of the elimination of floods and high flows.
Parent Publication
Citation
Smith, Stanley D.; Nachlinger, Janet L.; Wellington, A. Bruce; Fox, Carl A. 1989. Water Relations of Obligate Riparian Plants as a Function of Streamflow Diversion on the Bishop Creek Watershed. In: Abell, Dana L., Technical Coordinator. 1989. Proceedings of the California Riparian Systems Conference: protection, management, and restoration for the 1990s; 1988 September 22-24; Davis, CA. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-110. Berkeley, CA: Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; p. 360-365
