The frequency and severity of summer soil droughts in Central Europe have increased significantly over recent decades, leading to substantial damage in European forests, particularly to Norway spruce. Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii [Mirbel] Franco), a non-native tree species, is being explored as a potential alternative for enhancing forest drought resilience. This study focuses on quantifying and simulating the stand water use of Douglas-fir under future climate scenarios at four different sites in Germany that differ in seasonal precipitation distribution and soil characteristics. Sap flow and stem radial changes of up to ten trees per site were measured in combination with volumetric soil water content during the growing seasons of 2022 and 2023 (Apr 1-Sep 30). For each tree, we trained a Random Forest model to close any gaps in the time series due to power shortages. We estimated the stand water use of Douglas-fir at each site and trained the Random Forest model for each site to simulate stand water use under shifted temperature and soil moisture regimes. Mean growing season tree and stand water use was 23.7 ± 13.7 and 0.78 ± 0.23 mm day-1 (mm = kg m-2, ± standard deviation), respectively. The growing season sum of stand water use is linearly correlated to annual growing season precipitation and soil water depletion across all sites. While around 40%-50% of precipitation is used for transpiration, around 80%-90% of soil water in the upper 40 cm is used for plant uptake. Stand water use for 2022 and 2023 could be modeled using only relative soil water availability and the daily maximum in vapor pressure deficit, yielding an accuracy of ~80%. Simulations of stand water use under shifted temperature and soil moisture regimes reveal a strong reduction in water use when soils get drier under future climate conditions. The year 2022 already presented signs of significant water stress, characterized by low soil water availability and reduced stand water use. Looking ahead, climate projections indicate a continued decline in stand water use, which will likely lead to a corresponding reduction in tree growth, potentially impacting forest health and ecosystem resilience.
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Citation
Niessner A, Ehekircher S, Spangenberg G, Zimmermann R, Land A, Hein S (2025). Measured and simulated tree and stand water use of Douglas-fir along a climatic gradient across Germany. iForest 18: 309-318. - doi: 10.3832/ifor4922-018
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Marco Borghetti
Paper history
Received: Jun 08, 2025
Accepted: Sep 30, 2025
First online: Oct 30, 2025
Publication Date: Oct 31, 2025
Publication Time: 1.00 months
© SISEF - The Italian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology 2025
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