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On the Ecology of Mountainous Forests in a Changing Climate: A ...

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96 Chapter 4<br />

easily. Thus, soil moisture data were ga<strong>the</strong>red from <strong>the</strong> literature, and FORCLIM-E was<br />

used to simulate <strong>the</strong>se <strong>in</strong>dependent data as a small validation study.<br />

A considerable body <strong>of</strong> data on soil moisture content was found for sites close to Basel,<br />

which are characterized by considerable drought occurrence (Tab. 4.1). Monthly temperature<br />

and precipitation data for <strong>the</strong> years where measurements <strong>of</strong> soil moisture had been<br />

made were obta<strong>in</strong>ed from <strong>the</strong> climate station Rhe<strong>in</strong>felden (SMA 1971-1984). The field<br />

capacity parameter (kFC) required by FORCLIM-E was calculated from <strong>the</strong> data <strong>in</strong><br />

Tab. 4.2. It should be noted that <strong>the</strong> extremely large root<strong>in</strong>g depths at two sites lead to<br />

values <strong>of</strong> kFC that probably are exaggerated; yet <strong>the</strong> FORCLIM-E model is little sensitive<br />

to <strong>the</strong> value <strong>of</strong> kFC unless it is below 25 cm.<br />

Frequency<br />

uAET, Bever<br />

1200<br />

1000<br />

800<br />

600<br />

400<br />

200<br />

0<br />

300 320 340 360 380 400 420 440<br />

uAET<br />

uAET, Locarno<br />

1400<br />

1200<br />

1000<br />

800<br />

600<br />

400<br />

200<br />

0<br />

500 550 600 650 700 750 800<br />

uAET<br />

Fig. 4.1: Frequency distribution <strong>of</strong> simulated annual actual evapotranspiration rates<br />

(uAET, mm·yr -1 ) at <strong>the</strong> sites Bever (north-fac<strong>in</strong>g slope, left) and Locarno (right), tak<strong>in</strong>g<br />

<strong>in</strong>to account <strong>the</strong> cross-correlation between temperature and precipitation.<br />

Frequency<br />

uncorrelated T and P<br />

1400<br />

1200<br />

1000<br />

800<br />

600<br />

400<br />

200<br />

0<br />

-.01 0 .01 .02 .03 .04 .05 .06<br />

uDrStr<br />

correlated T and P<br />

1400<br />

1200<br />

1000<br />

800<br />

600<br />

400<br />

200<br />

0<br />

-.01 0 .01 .02 .03 .04 .05 .06<br />

uDrStr<br />

Fig. 4.2: Frequency distribution <strong>of</strong> simulated drought stress (uDrStr) at <strong>the</strong> site Adelboden,<br />

where <strong>the</strong> largest differences occur (cf. Tab. 4.1). Although <strong>the</strong>y look similar, <strong>the</strong> distributions<br />

are significantly different at p = 0.0031 (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Zar 1984).

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