Using foliar δ13C from high-Andean plants (Silala River basin) as a measure of potential evapotranspiration through water use efficiency

The water-dependent nature of arid ecosystems is closely related to the coupling between energy input through photosynthesis and the loss of water through transpiration (T_r), which can be expressed as water use efficiency (WUE). The relationship, however, between environmental factors and plant physiology in controlling evapotranspiration is not well understood in high-altitude arid environments. Here, we review the use of carbon isotope fractionation (δ¹³C) to indirectly track fluctuations in WUE and the use of the portable chamber method to partition landscape actual evapotranspiration (ET_a) into T_r and bare soil evaporation (E_bs) in the alluvial deposits of the Silala River, a high elevation watershed located in northern Chile. Landscape ET_a was also measured with Eddy covariance (EC) systems in the basin's riparian wetland and alluvial hillslope deposits. Carbon isotope results were consistent with what is known from the literature regarding these high-elevation ecosystems. WUE, as estimated by carbon isotope discrimination values, decreased in summer (the wet season), and increased in winter at all sites. These results were consistent with the EC measurements. Changes in WUE were much greater in the valley wetlands than along the hillslopes, most likely due to a large drop in available soil moisture along the valley bottom during the dry season. Portable chamber results obtained during summer and winter field campaigns showed that at the landscape scale, hillslope ET_a was mainly dominated by bare soil evaporation; and ET_a partitioning into T_r and E_bs had a seasonal change.