The impact of rainwater harvesting on improving the condition of Iranian Oak declined trees (Case study: Chavar forests of Ilam province)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Abstract

Severe drought stress restricts the growth of plant species such as oak trees and at the onset of weakness, invasion of pests and diseases and ultimately death is inevitable. The use of rainfall storage techniques provides the water needed for plant growth in the soil. This study aimed to examine the possibility of using two small water catchment (Linear terrace and Crescent pond), to cope with the critical conditions of oak forests, located in Chavar section of Ilam province; comparing to the control (without storage) in a randomized complete block design. Before running the storage systems, trees characteristics, as well as soil and moisture content were measured and during the 4-year period, monthly soil moisture and health status of the trees were recorded. Experimental results showed that soil moisture decreased in proportion to the amount of rainfall in the low season, so that in hot months, the moisture loss crisis reaches even more than one meter deep. Comparison of mean soil moisture changes showed significant effect of rain storage methods on soil moisture content by 21% in linear banquet method and 39% in crescent banquet method. Evaluation of the degree of vitality and health of the trees showed that there was a significant difference between the treatment of rainfed storage and the control treatment at 95% confidence level, indicating the positive effect of the rainfed storage on the health of the trees. Therefore, the use of water catchment systems to store the precipitation is recommended to increase soil moisture and improve the health and vitality of the declined trees.
 
 

Keywords


Abdelkdair, A. and Richard, C.S. 2005. Water harvesting in a runoff-catchment agroforestry system in the dry lands of Ethiopia. Agroforestry Forum, 63: 291-298.
-Bell, K.R., Blanchard, B.J., Schmugge, T.J. and Witczak, M.W. 1980. Analysis of surface moisture variations within large field sites. Water Resources Research16(4): 796-810.
-Bigler, C., Bräker, O.U, Bugmann, H., Dobbertin, M. and Rigling, A. 2006. Drought as an inciting mortality factor in Scots Pine stands of the Valais, Switzerland. Ecosystems, 9: 330-343.
-Condit, R., Aguilar, S., Hernandez, A., Perez, R., Lao, S., Angehr, G., Hubbell, S.P. and Foster, R.B. 2004. Tropical forest dynamics across a rainfall gradient and the impact of an El Nin˜o dry season. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 20: 51-72.
-Delkhosh, M. and Bagheri, R. 2012. The effect of mechanical project of the curved basin on production, plant cover, plant composition and soil moisture in rangeland management project of Chah Goric in Zahedan. First Iranian National Conference on Rainwater Catchment Systems, Mashhad, Iran, 13-14 Dec (In Persian).
-Droppelmann, K.J., Lehmann, J.E., Ephrath, J.E. and Berliner, O.R. 2000. Water use efficiency and uptake patterns in a runoff agroforestry system in an arid-environment. Agroforestry Systems, 49: 223-243.
-Famiglietti, J.S., Rudnicki, J.W. and Rodell, M. 1998. Variability in surface soil content along a hillslope transect: Rattlesnake Hill, Texas. Journal of Hydrology210: 259-281.
-Forouzeh, M.R. and Heshmati, GH.A. 2008. Investigation the effect of floodwater spreading on some of the characteristics of vegetation and soil surface parameters (Case study: Gareh Bygone plain). Pajouhesh & Sazandegi, 79: 11-20 (In Persian).
-Fu, B. and Chen, L. 2000. Agricultural landscape spatial pattern analysis in the semi-arid hill area of the Loess Plateau, China. Journal of Arid Environments44(3): 291-303.
-Gorbani-moghadam, M.F. 2016. Effects of rainwater harvesting methods on initial establishment of rangeland plants in Chahdar rangelands of Mashhad. Iranian Journal of Rainwater Catchment Systems, 4(2): 39-50 (In Persian).
-Grayson, R.B., Western, A.W., Chiew, F.H.S. and Bloschl, G. 1997. Preferred states in spatial soil moisture patterns: Local and nonlocal controls, Water Resources Research, 33(12): 2897-2908.
-Hai, M.T. 1996. Water harvesting experiences for fruit production in ASAL areas of Kenya: A case study of Kaumoni Demonstration, Mwingi District. Paper presented at the First National Agroforestry Conference, 25-29 March. Muguga, Nairobi, Kenya.
-Hosseinzadeh, J. and Pourhashemi, M. 2015. An investigation on the relationship between crown indices and the severity of oak forests decline in Ilam. Iranian Journal of Forest, 7(1): 57-66 (In Persian).
-Hosseinzadeh, J. 2012. Stability Comparison of Forest Species Planted in Mosian Plain Aquifer in Ilam Province, Iran. Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering, B1: 238-243 (In Persian).
-Hosseinzadeh, J., Aazami, A. and Mohammadpor, M. 2015. Influence of topography on Brant's oak decline in Meleh-Siah forest, Ilam province. Iranian Journal of Forest and poplar Research, 23(1): 190-196 (In Persian).
-Hosseinzadeh, J., Aazami, A. and Mohammadpour, M. 2016. Influence of topography on Brant`s oak decline in Meleh-Siah Forest, Ilam Province. Iranian Journal of Forest and Poplar Research, 23(1): 196-203 (In Persian).
-Kaffash, A., Zolfaghari, F. and Mollazehi, M. 2012. Waste water management and vegetation restoration in arid regions by curved basins. First Iranian National Conference on Rain water Catchment Systems, Mashhad, Iran, 13-14 Dec:11 (In Persian).
-Khadem, K., Jangjoo, M. and Mesdaghi, M. 2012. The survey on curve basins efficiency on rainwater catchment (case study: Mohammadabad, Ghaen). First Iranian National Conference on Rainwater Catchment Systems, Mashhad, Iran, 13-14 Dec (In Persian).
-Laurance, W.F., Williamson, B.G., Delamonica, P., Oliveira, A.A., Lovejoy, T.E., Gascon, C. and Pohl, L. 2001. Effects of a strong drought on Amazonian forest fragments and edges. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 17: 771-785.
-Longobardi, A. and Villani, P. 2006. Seasonal response functions for daily stream flow investigation. Physics and Chemistry of the Eaerth, 31: 1107-1117.
-Longobardi, A. 2008. Observing soil moisture temporal variability under fluctuating climatic conditions. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 5: 935-969.
-Luisi, N., Lerario, P. and Vannini, A. 1993. Recent Advances in Studies on Oak Decline. Proceedings of an International Congress, 1992 Selva Di Fassano (Brindisi), Italy. Bari, Italy: Universita degli Studi Bari.
-Mahmood, R. and Hubbard, K.G. 2007. Relationship between soil moisture of near surface and multiple depths of the root zone under heterogeneous land uses and varying hydro climatic condition. Hydrological Processes21: 3449-3462.
-Moore, I.D., Burch, G.J. and Mackenzie, D.H. 1988. Topographic effects on the distribution of surface soil water and the location of ephemeral gullies. Transactions of the American Society of Agriculture Engineering31: 1098-1107.
-Mugwe, J., O'Neill, M., Gachanja, S., Muriuki, J. and Mwangi, J. 2001. Participatory evaluation of water harvesting techniques for establishing improved mango varieties in smallholder farms of Mbeere District, Kenya. Sustaining the Global Farm, 1152-1157.
-Prinz, D. 2001. Water Harvesting for afforestation in Dry Areas. Proceedings, 10th International Conference on Rainwater Catchment Systems, Mannheim, 10-14 Sept., 195-198p.
-Rezaei, A. 2015. Capability of rainwater harvesting systems in semiarid area for establishment of plant coverage. Watershed Management Research, 100:39-49 (In Persian).
-Rigi, M., Pakzad, A. and Fakhireh, A. 2012. The effect of curved basin on plant cover index, (case study: Chahzilan Taftan rangelands). First Iranian National Conference on Rainwater Catchment Systems, Mashhad, Iran, 13-14 Dec. 2012: 9-10 (In Persian).
-Sheikh, M.I., Shah, B.H. and Aleem, A. 2003. Effect of rainwater harvesting methods on the establishment of tree species. Forest Ecology and Management, 8: 257-263.
-Tubeileh, A., Bruggeman, A. and turkelboom, F. 2009. Effect of water harvesting on growth of young olive trees in degraded Syrian dry land. Environment Development and Sustainability, 11(5): 1073-1090.
-Venkatesh, B., Nandagiri, N., Purandara, B.K. and Reddy, B.V. 2011. Modelling soil moisture under different land covers in a sub-humid environment of Western Ghats, India. Journal of Earth System Science120(3): 387-398.
-Western, A.W., Grayson, R.B., Bloschl, G., Willgoose, G.R. and McMohan, T.A. 1999. Observed spatial organization of soil moisture and its relation to terrain indices. Water Resources Research35(3): 797-810.
-Wilson, D.J., Western, A.W. and Grayson, R.B. 2005. A terrain and data based method for generating the spatial distribution of soil moisture. Advances in Water Resources28: 43–54.