Description
Mediterranean evergreen oak woodlands of southern Portugal (montados) are savannah-type ecosystems
with a widely sparse tree cover, over extensive grassland. Therefore, ecosystem water fluxes derive from
two quite differentiated sources: the trees and the pasture. Partitioning of fluxes according to these different
sources is necessary to quantify overall ecosystem water losses as well as to improve knowledge
on its functional behaviour. In southern Iberia, these woodlands are subjected to recurrent droughts.
Therefore, reaction/resilience to water stress becomes an essential feature of vegetation on these ecosystems.
Long-term tree transpiration was recorded for 6 years from a sample of holm oak (Quercus ilex ssp.
rotundifolia) trees, using the Granier sap flow method. Ecosystem transpiration was measured by the eddy
covariance technique for an 11-month period (February to December 2005), partly coincident with a
drought year. Pasture transpiration was estimated as the difference between ecosystem (eddy covariance)
and tree (sap flow) transpiration. Pasture transpiration stopped during the summer, when the surface
soil dried up. In the other seasons, pasture transpiration showed a strong dependence on rainfall
occurrence and on top soil water. Conversely, trees were able to maintain transpiration throughout the
summer due to the deep root access to groundwater. Q. ilex trees showed a high resilience to both seasonal
and annual drought. Tree transpiration represented more than half of ecosystem transpiration, in
spite of the low tree density (30 trees ha 1) and crown cover fraction (21%). Tree evapotranspiration
was dominated by transpiration (76%), and interception loss represented only 24% of overall tree
evaporation
; David, Teresa S. 
