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Abstract
The southeast U.S. is the nation’s wood-basket producing 63% of the nation’s forest products from only 32% of the forest. Forests products have considerable economic and environmental value but consumptively use more water than most non-forest lands. Demand for increased biofuel production from intensively managed woody crops and the link between plant productivity and water use raises concerns of decreased streamflows. However, there is limited knowledge about the potential water yield effects of increased production of woody biomass in the region. This dissertation analyzed the current regional forest water use patterns and developed plot level water budgets for intensively managed Pinus taeda (pine) and Eucalyptus benthamii (eucalypt). This information is valuable for estimating potential water yield effects of developing bioenergy feedstocks from intensively managed woody crops. At the regional scale we found that current forest water use is greater for evergreen than deciduous forests, that total forest cover had a very weak relationship with watershed ET, and abiotic factors affect ET more than forest cover. At the plot scale we found that eucalypt used more water than pine but produced more biomass making them more water use efficient. Higher water use of intensively managed woody crops could be mitigated through management of plantation sizes.