Water budget management of a coastal pine forest in a Mediterranean catchment (Marina Romea, Ravenna, Italy)

In Mediterranean coastal catchments, water management for preservation of pine forests and other natural areas faces particular challenges. Limited rainfall, water consumption by vegetation as well as subsidence, drainage and salt water intrusion all play an important role. Traditionally forest and water management are carried out independent of one another and do not consider water budget calculations. We show with this study that is very important to have quantitative information of all the components of the water budget as well as the size of the fresh water lenses in the aquifer to be able to integrate the water- and forest management. We use an integrated hydrologic-ecologic methodology based on easily attainable data to assess the monthly water budget of a coastal catchment, Marina Romea (Ravenna, Italy). We present detailed monthly water table records, rainfall data, drainage data, tree density and tree perimeter and use published sap flow measurements of single pine trees (Pinus Pinea) to quantify the actual transpiration of single pine trees in different periods of the year. Transpiration amounts to 10–30 l per day per tree. These values are confirmed by independent estimates of tree transpiration based on our water budget calculations: 9–34 l/tree/day. Because typically there are so many trees in planted pine forests, the total transpiration rates over the whole watershed take up a large percentage (up to 200 %) of the precipitation. In Marina Romea, four monitoring periods out of twelve, the tree transpiration is larger than precipitation. In nine monitoring periods, drainage in the watershed is larger than precipitation or tree water transpiration. The measurements and calculations show that not much freshwater is left to recharge the fresh water lens underneath Marina Romea. Monthly monitoring of groundwater table elevation and salinity in the pine forest of Marina Romea from March 2007 to February 2008 shows that the groundwater table strongly fluctuates and groundwater salinity is constantly very high (up to 17.7 g/l). Analytical calculations based on the Ghyben Herzberg Dupuit principle suggest that even a small continuous annual recharge of 15 mm could form a 2-m deep freshwater lens in the unconfined aquifer. This freshwater lens is not present in the study area and this is due to the fact that tree water transpiration and drainage take out most of the fresh water coming into the watershed. In catchments like Marina Romea, water consumption by the (natural) vegetation and seasonal differences as well as the fact that fresh water lenses are limited in salty surroundings should be taken into account in water and forest management.