Comparing integrated stable isotope and eddy covariance estimates of water-use efficiency on a Mediterranean successional sequence

Water-use efficiency (WUE), thought to be a relevant trait for productivity and adaptation to water-limited environments, was estimated for three different ecosystems on the Mediterranean Pianosa island: Mediterranean macchia (SMM), transition (STR) and abandoned agricultural (SAA) ecosystems, representing a successional series. Three independent approaches were used to study WUE: eddy-covariance measurements, carbon isotope composition of ecosystem respired CO2 and carbon isotope discrimination (Delta) of leaf material (dry matter and soluble sugars). Seasonal variations in carbon-water relations and energy fluxes, compared in SMM and in SAA, were primarily dependent on the specific composition of each plant community. WUE of gross primary productivity was higher in SMM than in SAA at the beginning of the dry season. Both structural and fast-turnover leaf material were, on average, more enriched in 13C in SMM than SAA, indicating relatively higher stomatal control and WUE for the long-living macchia species. This pattern corresponded to 13C enriched respired CO2 in SMM compared to the other ecosystems. Conversely, most of the annual herbaceous SAA species (terophytes) showed a drought-escaping strategy, with relatively high stomatal conductance and low WUE. An ecosystem-integrated D?value was weighted for each ecosystem on the abundance of different life forms, classified according to the Raunkiar's system. Agreement was found between ecosystem WUE calculated using eddy covariance and those estimated using integrated Delta approaches. Comparing the isotopic methods, Delta of leaf soluble sugars provided the most reliable proxy for short-term changes in photosynthetic discrimination and associated shifts in integrated canopy-level WUE along the successional series.