Articles | Volume 26, issue 20
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5357-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5357-2022
Research article
 | 
27 Oct 2022
Research article |  | 27 Oct 2022

Is the reputation of Eucalyptus plantations for using more water than Pinus plantations justified?

Don A. White, Shiqi Ren, Daniel S. Mendham, Francisco Balocchi-Contreras, Richard P. Silberstein, Dean Meason, Andrés Iroumé, and Pablo Ramirez de Arellano

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Cited articles

Albaugh, J., Dye, P., and King, J.: Eucalyptus and Water Use in South Africa, Int. J. Forest. Res., 2013, 852540, https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/852540, 2013. 
Allen, R. G., Pereira, L. S., Smith, M., Raes, D., and Wright, J. L.: FAO-56 Dual Crop Coefficient Method for Estimating Evaporation from Soil and Application Extensions, J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 131, 2–13, https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)0733-9437(2005)131:1(2), 2005. 
Almeida, A., Soares, J., Landsberg, J., and Rezende, G.: Growth and water balance of a Eucalyptus grandis hybrid plantation in Brazil during a rotation for pulp production, Forest Ecol. Manage., 251, 10–21, 2007.  
Almeida, A. C., Smethurst, P. J., Siggins, A., Cavalcante, R. B. L., and Borges, N.: Quantifying the effects of Eucalyptus plantations and management on water resources at plot and catchment scales, Hydrol. Process., 30, 4687–4703, https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.10992, 2016. 
Amatya, D. M., Miwa, M., Harrison, C. A., Trettin, C. C., and Sun, G.: Hydrology and Water Quality of Two First Order Forested Watersheds in Coastal South Carolina, St. Joseph, MI, https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.21436, 2006. 
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Short summary
Of all the planting options for wood production and carbon storage, Eucalyptus species provoke the greatest concern about their effect on water resources. We compared Eucalyptus and Pinus species (the two most widely planted genera) by fitting a simple model to the published estimates of their annual water use. There was no significant difference between the two genera. This has important implications for the global debate around Eucalyptus and is an option for carbon forests.