{"id":23078,"date":"2012-07-18T17:21:41","date_gmt":"2012-07-19T00:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=23078"},"modified":"2018-02-01T22:38:26","modified_gmt":"2018-02-01T22:38:26","slug":"bay-area-landscape-likely-to-come-up-short-on-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/07\/18\/bay-area-landscape-likely-to-come-up-short-on-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Bay Area Landscape Likely to Come Up Short on Water"},"content":{"rendered":"

Facing the difference between how much water plants need, and how much they’ll get
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Scientists are looking at climatic water deficit, the water plants need but don't have.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We hear a lot about how climate change will affect rainfall in California, but climate scientists are increasingly looking at a new indicator: water deficit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cClimatic water deficit\u201d relates to how much water plants need to survive. \u201cIt\u2019s the difference between what a plant would use if it had the water and what is actually available,\u201d Alan Flint, research hydrologist with the US Geological Survey, explained on Wednesday at the North America Congress for Conservation Biology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The value combines temperature, rainfall, the soil\u2019s capacity to hold water and how plants use water. In agriculture, farmers irrigate their crops to make up the water deficit, but plants in the natural world aren’t so lucky.<\/p>\n

Using modeling, Flint and his colleagues are finding that the Bay Area\u2019s water deficit is likely to increase, even under a wetter climate future. \u201cWe see that excess water go to runoff in the wintertime. But if you\u2019re a plant species trying to live in March and April and growing leaves, you only have the water that\u2019s in the ground,\u201d Flint said.<\/p>\n

Warmer air temperature increases evapotranspiration <\/a>\u2013 the water lost through evaporation from soil and from plants themselves. That increases a plant\u2019s demand for water.<\/p>\n

\u201cWater deficit is going to be a big issue. It\u2019s what will control the health of forests in the Sierra Nevada. It will control landscape changes in the Bay Area,\u201d said Flint.<\/p>\n

That could include oaks, which are often found on north-facing slopes in the Bay Area, \u201cwhere the water deficit is low. On the south slopes, we don\u2019t see them there,\u201d said Flint. In a warmer future, \u201cif those areas where oaks live have the same water deficits as the south facing slopes, the oaks may not be able to regenerate there. They may survive, but they may not be able to regenerate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Water deficits could also have a large impact in the Sierra Nevada, which Flint calls a potential \u201cworst case.\u201d Water deficits are associated with fires and with forest die-offs. \u201cIt will really stress the plants and allow bark beetles or other things to come in and kill them. And it doesn\u2019t have to change by a lot,\u201d said Flint.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Facing the difference between how much water plants need, and how much they’ll get<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":239,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[230],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-23078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thescience","category-water","tag-forests"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"yoast_head":"\nBay Area Landscape Likely to Come Up Short on Water | Climate Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/07\/18\/bay-area-landscape-likely-to-come-up-short-on-water\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bay Area Landscape Likely to Come Up Short on Water | Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Facing the difference between how much water plants need, and how much they'll get\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/07\/18\/bay-area-landscape-likely-to-come-up-short-on-water\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-07-19T00:21:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-02-01T22:38:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2012\/07\/leaf.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lauren Sommer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lauren Sommer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/07\/18\/bay-area-landscape-likely-to-come-up-short-on-water\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/07\/18\/bay-area-landscape-likely-to-come-up-short-on-water\/\",\"name\":\"Bay Area Landscape Likely to Come Up Short on Water | Climate Watch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-07-19T00:21:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-02-01T22:38:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/2028303b891a88d762725b47b4b689ed\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/07\/18\/bay-area-landscape-likely-to-come-up-short-on-water\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/07\/18\/bay-area-landscape-likely-to-come-up-short-on-water\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/07\/18\/bay-area-landscape-likely-to-come-up-short-on-water\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bay Area Landscape Likely to Come Up Short on Water\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\",\"name\":\"Climate Watch\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/2028303b891a88d762725b47b4b689ed\",\"name\":\"Lauren Sommer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/fb47fb7f6f643a79f68702c434e94f49\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/33aa3772bb86c6ad45b8aca6a238bbdf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/33aa3772bb86c6ad45b8aca6a238bbdf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lauren Sommer\"},\"description\":\"Lauren is a radio reporter formerly covering environment, water, and energy for KQED Science. 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