Articles | Volume 26, issue 22
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5773-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5773-2022
Research article
 | 
16 Nov 2022
Research article |  | 16 Nov 2022

The effect of rainfall amount and timing on annual transpiration in a grazed savanna grassland

Matti Räsänen, Mika Aurela, Ville Vakkari, Johan P. Beukes, Juha-Pekka Tuovinen, Pieter G. Van Zyl, Miroslav Josipovic, Stefan J. Siebert, Tuomas Laurila, Markku Kulmala, Lauri Laakso, Janne Rinne, Ram Oren, and Gabriel Katul

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Cited articles

Archibald, S. and Scholes, R. J.: Leaf green-up in a semi-arid African savanna – separating tree and grass responses to environmental cues, J. Veg. Sci., 18, 583–594, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1654-1103.2007.tb02572.x, 2007. 
Aurela, M., Lohila, A., Tuovinen, J.-P., Hatakka, J., Riutta, T., and Laurila, T.: Carbon dioxide exchange on a northern boreal fen, Boreal Environ. Res., 14, 699–710, 2009. 
Barnes, R. D., Fagg, C. W., and Milton, S. J.: Acacia Erioloba: Monograph and Annotated Bibliography, Oxford Forestry Institute, University of Oxford, https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:9f260e92-d72d-4fff-988d-5ef95e716f94 (last access: 15 November 2022), 1997. 
Bengtsson, J., Bullock, J. M., Egoh, B., Everson, C., Everson, T., O'Connor, T., O'Farrell, P. J., Smith, H. G., and Lindborg, R.: Grasslands – more important for ecosystem services than you might think, Ecosphere, 10, e02582, https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2582, 2019. 
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Short summary
The productivity of semiarid grazed grasslands is linked to the variation in rainfall and transpiration. By combining carbon dioxide and water flux measurements, we show that the annual transpiration is nearly constant during wet years while grasses react quickly to dry spells and drought, which reduce transpiration. The planning of annual grazing strategies could consider the early-season rainfall frequency that was linked to the portion of annual transpiration.
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