GWTropiMed

Abstract

Groundwater (GW) drawdown and flooding patterns changes is important to vegetation as can produce dramatic changes in plant communities, on physiological performance or survival of plant species. This will affect vulnerable coastal dune forests, ecosystems particularly sensitive to GW limitation, at Tropical, Meso-mediterranen and Mediterranean areas where future climate change is predicted to drastically change water availability. The aim of the study is to evaluate, along a climatic gradient, the capacity of different plant communities to adapt to GW changes through GW stress indicators’ approach.

The study consider a large climate scale, including coastal dune communities in Brazil, Portugal and Spain, providing an excellent experimental design to study GW dynamics and community functioning in natural ecosystems of high ecological value. To fulfill the main objective, suitable short- and long term ecophysiological GW limitation stress indicators (using an isotopic and reflectance indices approach) can be integrated in spatio-temporal water dynamics. Ultimately, this approach will contribute to trace GW stress in coastal vegetation and help to manage vulnerable communities.