Roell, A.Niu, F.Meijide, A.Ahongshangbam, J.Ehbrecht, M.Guillaume, T.Gunawan, D.Hardanto, A.HendrayantoHertel, D.Kotowska, M. M.Kreft, H.Kuzyakov, Y.Leuschner, C.Nomura, M.Polle, A.Rembold, K.Sahnerq, J.Seidel, D.Zemp, D. C.Knohl, A.Hoelscher, D.2019-06-282019-06-282019-06-282019-08-1510.1016/j.agrformet.2019.04.017https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/158640WOS:000471356600015Following large-scale conversion of rainforest, rubber and oil palm plantations dominate lowland Sumatra (Indonesia) and other parts of South East Asia today, with potentially far-reaching ecohydrological consequences. We assessed how such land-use change affects plant transpiration by sap flux measurements at 42 sites in selectively logged rainforests, agroforests and rubber and oil palm monoculture plantations in the lowlands of Sumatra. Site-to-site variability in stand-scale transpiration and tree-level water use were explained by stand structure, productivity, soil properties and plantation age. Along a land-use change trajectory forest rubber-oil palm, time-averaged transpiration decreases by 43 +/- 11% from forest to rubber monoculture plantations, but rebounds with conversion to smallholder oil palm plantations. We uncovered that particularly commercial, intensive oil palm cultivation leads to high transpiration (827 +/- 77 mm yr(-1)), substantially surpassing rates at our forest sites (589 +/- 52 mm yr(-1)). Compared to smallholder oil palm, land-use intensification leads to 1.7-times higher transpiration in commercial plantations. Combined with severe soil degradation, the high transpiration may cause periodical water scarcity for humans in oil palm-dominated landscapes. As oil palm is projected to further expand, severe shifts in water cycling after land-cover change and water scarcity due to land-use intensification may become more widespread.AgronomyForestryMeteorology & Atmospheric SciencesAgricultureforestjungle rubberland-cover changeland-use intensificationoil palmtropicsrubber plantationsap fluxwater useoil palm expansionwater-usesap flowleaf-areaenvironmental variablesstand transpirationrubber plantationsjambi provincetreestext::journal::journal article::research article