<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Ecotones, as for example riparian zones, have long interested ecologists, due to their potential role in generating species biodiversity and evolutionary novelty, as well as their sensitivity to environmental changes. Along riparian areas, vegetation is recognized for its ecological importance in several ecosystemic processes. In the Central Monte Desert (central-west Argentina), <italic>Prosopis flexuosa</italic> grows in territories characterized by a permanent access to water reservoirs, e.g. along riverbanks, where the species forms the classic gallery forests. Despite the ecosystemic role of the different <italic>Prosopis</italic> species distributed in arid lands, thus far no analysis has been conducted regarding the relation between their radial growth and hydrological changes, namely streamflow variability, in riparian settings. To fill this gap of knowledge, we performed a dendrochronological analysis considering several riparian <italic>P. flexuosa</italic> trees differing in their spatial position in relation to the riverbank. Pointer years, correlation function, and regression analyses show differences in the dendrohydrological signal of the studied species, probably function of tree distance from the river. In this sense, radial growth of trees distributed near the riverbank is tightly coupled to spring-summer (September to March) stream-flow variability, whereas for farthest trees the ring development is driven by a combination of winter and spring river discharge and late-summer precipitation amount. The presented results demonstrate the potentiality of <italic>P. flexuosa,</italic> and in a broader sense of the <italic>Prosopis</italic> genus, in dendrohydrological studies.</p></abstract>

Ecotones, as for example riparian zones, have long interested ecologists, due to their potential role in generating species biodiversity and evolutionary novelty, as well as their sensitivity to environmental changes. Along riparian areas, vegetation is recognized for its ecological importance in several ecosystemic processes. In the Central Monte Desert (central-west Argentina), Prosopis flexuosa grows in territories characterized by a permanent access to water reservoirs, e.g. along riverbanks, where the species forms the classic gallery forests. Despite the ecosystemic role of the different Prosopis species distributed in arid lands, thus far no analysis has been conducted regarding the relation between their radial growth and hydrological changes, namely streamflow variability, in riparian settings. To fill this gap of knowledge, we performed a dendrochronological analysis considering several riparian P. flexuosa trees differing in their spatial position in relation to the riverbank. Pointer years, correlation function, and regression analyses show differences in the dendrohydrological signal of the studied species, probably function of tree distance from the river. In this sense, radial growth of trees distributed near the riverbank is tightly coupled to spring-summer (September to March) stream-flow variability, whereas for farthest trees the ring development is driven by a combination of winter and spring river discharge and late-summer precipitation amount. The presented results demonstrate the potentiality of P. flexuosa, and in a broader sense of the Prosopis genus, in dendrohydrological studies.

Assessing the Sensitivity of Riparian Algarrobo Dulce (<italic>Prosopis flexuosa</italic> DC) Radial Growth to Hydrological Changes

Laboratorio de Dendrocronología e Historia Ambiental, IANIGLA, CCT-CONICET-Mendoza, Av. Ruiz Leal s/n, Parque Gral. San Martín, CC 330, PO Box 5500 Mendoza,

Geochronometria

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Assessing the Sensitivity of Riparian Algarrobo Dulce ( DC) Radial Growth to Hydrological Changes

Ecotones, as for example riparian zones, have long interested ecologists, due to their potential role in generating species biodiversity and evolutionary...

Plot	N	Period	TRW (mm)	MC	MS	EPS	RBAR
EMN	19(21)	1964-2010	1.56	0.518	0.470	0.74	0.16
EMF	13(17)	1960-2010	1.52	0.505	0.419	0.58	0.12

Plot	Altitude (m)	DRB (m)	GWD (m)	Latitude (°S)	Longitude (°W)
EMN	514	15	2.9	32°14′18.3″	67°41′14.7″
EMF	513	400	3.6	32°14′30.7″	67°41′21.8″

Plot	Constant	Parameter	p	Slope	Parameter	Slope	p	R²adj.
EMN	0.9867	StrFI(SDJFM)	0.0222	>0	StrFI(SDJFM)²	<0	0.0464	0.3516
EMF	0.791567	StrFI(August)	0.00731	>0	P(March)	>0	0.06887	0.416

Assessing the Sensitivity of Riparian Algarrobo Dulce (Prosopis flexuosa DC) Radial Growth to Hydrological Changes

Article Category: Research Article

Published Online: Feb 18, 2016

Page range: 1 - 8

Received: Sep 23, 2015

Accepted: Dec 14, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/geochr-2015-0027

Keywords
genus, riparian forest dynamics, river discharge, semi-arid woodland, tree-ring width

© 2016 S. Piraino and F.A. Roig

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Geographical and hydrological settings of the sampled plots. EMN — El Mateo near; EMF — El Mateo far. DRB — plot distance from the riverbank. GWD — groundwater depth.

Assessing the Sensitivity of Riparian Algarrobo Dulce (Prosopis flexuosa DC) Radial Growth to Hydrological Changes

Article Category: Research Article

Published Online: Feb 18, 2016

Page range: 1 - 8

Received: Sep 23, 2015

Accepted: Dec 14, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/geochr-2015-0027

Keywordsgenus, riparian forest dynamics, river discharge, semi-arid woodland, tree-ring width

© 2016 S. Piraino and F.A. Roig

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Geographical and hydrological settings of the sampled plots. EMN — El Mateo near; EMF — El Mateo far. DRB — plot distance from the riverbank. GWD — groundwater depth.

Keywords
genus, riparian forest dynamics, river discharge, semi-arid woodland, tree-ring width