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Forest age and water yield

Nature volume 578, pages E16–E18 (2020)Cite this article

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The Original Article was published on 17 June 2019

Arising from: Evaristo, J. & McDonnell, J. J. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1306-0 (2019); Addendum Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1586-4 (2019); Author Correction Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1588-2 (2019); Retraction Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-1945-1 (2020).

Planting and removal of forest affect average streamflow (also referred to as water yield), but there is ongoing debate as to what extent this long-term difference between precipitation and evapotranspiration is modulated by local conditions. A recent paper by Evaristo and McDonnell1 introduces a conceptual vegetation-to-bedrock model to explain variability in reported streamflow responses to changes in forest cover based on an analysis of seven factors that describe climate, soil properties and catchment size. Their analysis excludes well known controls—such as the percentage of catchment area under change2, forest type and time since afforestation—that we show here to be important. By excluding these primary controls, Evaristo and McDonnell risk attributing water yield response to co-varying secondary controls rather than to the underlying causes.

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Fig. 1: Impact of forest age on water yield response to forest planting.
Fig. 2: Global tree canopy cover change distribution and record length of water yield response to forest planting.

Data availability

Five-year-average water yield observations used in the analysis are provided in Extended Data Table 1.

References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hydrology and Quantitative Water Management Group, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Adriaan J. Teuling & Anne J. Hoek van Dijke

  2. Laboratory of Geo-Information Science and Remote Sensing, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Anne J. Hoek van Dijke

  3. Environmental Sensing and Modelling, Environmental Research and Innovation Department, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), Belvaux, Luxembourg

    Anne J. Hoek van Dijke

Authors
  1. Adriaan J. Teuling
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  2. Anne J. Hoek van Dijke
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Contributions

A.J.T. conceived the idea and carried out the analysis. A.J.H.v.D. contributed to interpretation of results and writing of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Adriaan J. Teuling.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Extended data figures and tables

Extended Data Table 1 Observed water yield at long-term lysimeter stations
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Teuling, A.J., Hoek van Dijke, A.J. Forest age and water yield. Nature 578, E16–E18 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-1941-5

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