TITLE:
Evapotranspiration and Above Ground Biomass of Acer rubrum from Liners to 8 m Tall Trees
AUTHORS:
Richard C. Beeson Jr.
KEYWORDS:
Acer rubrum, Irrigation Scheduling, Irrigation Modelling, Container Production, Field Production, Landscape Irrigation
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.7 No.17,
December
13,
2016
ABSTRACT: To meet minimum spring flows, water management districts in Florida sought to
make both agriculture and urban landscapes water efficient, which includes tree
farms. Acer rubrum L. (red maple) trees are endemic to Central Florida and native to
the eastern portion of the United States. Urban and suburban expansion has increased
use of A. rubrum in landscape plantings and their production in nurseries.
In Florida A. rubrum is planted around stormwater retention areas, but also in urban
landscapes. To provide a basis for irrigation allocations both during production and
in landscapes, daily actual evapotranspiration (ETA) for three red maple trees were
measured with weighing lysimeters, beginning with rooted cuttings and continuing
until trees averaged 8 m in height. Empirical models were derived to calculate ETA based on crown horizontal projected area or trunk caliper, adjusted daily by changes
in reference evapotranspiration (ETo). Water use efficiency, based on carbon sequestered
in above ground wood mass, was calculated at the end of five growing seasons.
Average ETA to produce these maples was 29,107 L over 4.75 years, with an average
water use efficiency of 1 kg dry mass of wood per 709 L of water lost by transpiration.