Browsing by Author "Barrientos, Guillermo"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Differences in rainfall interception among Eucalyptus genotypes
    (2023) Valverde, Juan Carlos; Rubilar, Rafael; Barrientos, Guillermo; Medina, Alex; Pincheira, Matias; Emhart, Veronica; Zapata, Alvaro; Bozo, Daniel; Espinoza, Yosselin; Campoe, Otavio C.
    Key messageHydrological indicators such as rainfall interception of Eucalyptus genotypes are essential to guarantee the water sustainability of forest plantations under climate change scenarios.Rainfall interception is a critical component of water balance in Eucalyptus plantations and may provide better water sustainability by reducing potential adverse effects under drought scenarios. This study evaluated rainfall interception of Eucalyptus globulus and E. nitens x globulus (high and low yield), E. nitens, E. badjensis, E. smithii, and E. camaldulensis x globulus. Rainfall, stemflow, throughfall, and interception (calculated as rainfall-stemflow-throughfall) were measured for 2 years (2020-2022) and correlated with plantation characteristics [diameter at breast height, total height, stem growth, and leaf area index (LAI)]. Our results showed an average rainfall of 1063.6 mm year(-1); only stemflow did not show differences among genotypes with an average value of 193.4 mm year(-1) (18.2% of annual rain). In contrast, throughfall and interception presented significant differences among genotypes, and both parameters showed a strong relationship with LAI. Therefore, three independent groups were obtained: E. badjensis and E. smithii showed the highest LAI (average 5.7 m(2) m(-2)) with 517.0 mm year(-1) of average interception and 427.6 mm year(-1) of average throughfall (48.6% and 40.2% respectively). For E. globulus (low-yield), E. nitens x globulus (low-yield), and E. nitens, that showed the lowest LAI (average 3.3 m(2) m(-2)), average throughfall reached 730.8 mm year(-1) (68.7%), and average interception reached 197.3 mm year(-1) (18.5%). Finally, E. globulus (high-yield), E. nitens x globulus (high-yield), and E. camaldulensis x globulus with an average LAI of 4.5 m(2) m(-2), average interception reached 345.2 mm year(-1) (32.5%), and average throughfall reached 602.7 mm year(-1) (56.7%). Our results suggest that understanding differences between taxas/genotypes may contribute to developing hydrological indicators that may improve estimates of plantation water sustainability under water scarcity climate change scenarios.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Drought and Wildfire Trends in Native Forests of South-Central Chile in the 21st Century
    (2024) Duarte, Efrain; Rubilar, Rafael; Matus, Francisco; Garrido-Ruiz, Claudia; Merino, Carolina; Smith-Ramirez, Cecilia; Aburto, Felipe; Rojas, Claudia; Stehr, Alejandra; Dorner, Jose; Najera, Francisco; Barrientos, Guillermo; Jofre, Ignacio
    Over the last decades, Chile has experienced a long-term drought with significant consequences for water availability, forest productivity, and soil degradation, ultimately dramatically increasing the surface of burned area. Here, we quantify the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) to ascertain the extent of "moisture deficiency" across the central-southern region of Chile from 2000 to 2023 to assess the drought's relationship with the frequency of wildfires focusing on the impact of native forests. Our methodology quantifies the PDSI from the burned area data using MODIS MCD64A1 satellite imagery, validated by in situ wildfire occurrence records. The findings indicate that 85.2% of fires occurred under moderate to severe drought conditions. We identified 407,561 ha showing varying degrees of degradation due to wildfires, highlighting the critical areas for targeted conservation efforts. A significant increase in both the frequency of wildfires and the extent of the affected area in native forests was observed with the intensification of drought conditions in the 21st century within mesic to humid Mediterranean climatic zones where drought explains up to 41% of the variability in the burned area (r(2) = 0.41; p < 0.05). This study highlights the relationship between drought conditions and wildfire frequency, showing the paramount need to adopt comprehensive wildfire mitigation management in native forests.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Geomorphic and stream flow influences on large wood dynamics and displacement lengths in high gradient mountain streams (Chile)
    (2018) Iroumé, Andrés; Ruiz‐Villanueva, Virginia; Mao, Luca; Barrientos, Guillermo; Stoffel, Markus; Vergara, Gastón
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Runoff variation and progressive aridity during drought in catchments in southern-central Chile
    (2023) Barrientos, Guillermo; Rubilar, Rafael; Duarte, Efrain; Paredes, Alberto
    Persistent drought events frequently intensify the aridity of ecosystems and cause catchment runoff depletion. Here, using large and long-term data sets of meteorological and hydrologic variables (precipitation, runoff, temperature, and potential evapotranspiration) investigated the major causes that modulated catchment runoff depletion between years 1980 and 2020 in southern-central Chile. We identify the hydrological years where aridity index intensified and analyzed its relationship with annual runoff, and evaluated the effect of the annual evaporation index and annual aridity index on water balance of 44 catchments with different precipitation regimes located between 35 degrees and 40 degrees S. Our results showed that observed precipitation and runoff significantly decreased between 1980 and 2020 in 64% of the catchments in the study area. Potential evapotranspiration increased significantly in 39% of the catchments. Hydrological years in which precipitation decreased, showed a decreased runoff trend. This result suggests that meteorological droughts tend to significantly decrease observed runoff. The runoff value decreased as the aridity index increased from 0.3 to 6.7, and the Budyko curve captured 98.5% of the annual variability of all catchments.