Source: NCSU, 3/29/21

Younger trees take up and release less water than mature trees 10 years or older, researchers from North Carolina State University found in a new study that tracked how water moves through wetland pine forests near the North Carolina coast.

Their findings, published in Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, suggest managers should time timber harvests to leave older trees alongside new growth to mitigate runoff.

“The water balance, especially in coastal sites, is very important,” said the study’s lead author Maricar Aguilos, postdoctoral research associate in forestry and environmental resources at NC State. “We have so much water there. We wanted to understand how land-use changes impact water use and drainage in the forests, as well as how they affect the growth of the trees.”

The findings come from a long-term research project designed to understand how wetland forests in eastern North Carolina – including pine forests managed for timber and a natural hardwood forest at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in Dare County – are responding to changing climate conditions.

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