Dubinin et al. (2026) Can silvicultural thinning regulate water utilization in dryland forests? An ecosystem satellite-based approach

Identification

• Journal: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-07-09
• Authors: Vladislav Moshe Dubinin, Tarin Paz‐Kagan, Dan Yakir, Yagil Osem
• DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2026.111338

Research Groups

• French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Dryland, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
• Earth and Planetary Sciences Department, Weizmann Institute of Science
• Department of Natural Resources, Institute of Plant Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center

Short Summary

This study investigates the effect of silvicultural thinning on water utilization in dryland forests using a remote-sensing-based framework. The results show that thinning can improve water efficiency by reducing transpiration and increasing canopy water-use efficiency.

Objective

• Investigate the impact of silvicultural thinning on evapotranspiration, gross primary production, and ecosystem water-use efficiency in dryland forests

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Forest-stand level
• Temporal Scale: 8-13 years after treatment

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Sentinel-1- and Sentinel-2 derived models for estimating leaf area index, gross primary production, evapotranspiration, and water-use efficiency
• Data sources: Satellite data (Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2), eddy covariance observations, flux-tower-based partitioning framework

Main Results

• Thinning reduced leaf area index, evapotranspiration, and gross primary production by up to 54%, 33%, and 17%, respectively
• Increased canopy water-use efficiency (WUEc) by twofold and ecosystem water-use efficiency (WUEe) by up to 32%
• Disproportionate reduction in transpiration relative to gross primary production contributed to the increase in WUEc

Contributions

• Developed a scalable remote-sensing-based framework for monitoring ecohydrological responses and supporting adaptive forest management under climate change
• Demonstrated that silvicultural thinning can improve water utilization in dryland forests, potentially enhancing resilience to increasing water limitation

Funding

• Not specified

Citation

@article{Dubinin2026Can,
  author = {Dubinin, Vladislav Moshe and Paz‐Kagan, Tarin and Yakir, Dan and Osem, Yagil},
  title = {Can silvicultural thinning regulate water utilization in dryland forests? An ecosystem satellite-based approach},
  journal = {Agricultural and Forest Meteorology},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.agrformet.2026.111338},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2026.111338}
}