Water-use strategies of temperate tree species

This dataset represents the data shown in the Figures 2 - 7 of Walthert et al. (2024): Coordination between degree of isohydricity and depth of root water uptake in temperate tree species. Science of the Total Environment (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174346). A detailed methodical description of the data can be found in the Methods section of the paper. Abstract In an increasingly dry environment, it is crucial to understand how tree species use soil water and cope with drought. However, there is still a knowledge gap regarding the relationships between species-specific stomatal behaviour, spatial root distribution, and root water uptake (RWU) dynamics. Our study aimed to investigate above- and below-ground aspects of water use during soil drying periods in four temperate tree species that differ in stomatal behaviour: two isohydric tracheid-bearing conifers, Scots pine and Norway spruce, and two more anisohydric deciduous species, the diffuse-porous European beech, and the ring-porous Downy oak. From 2015 to 2020, soil-tree-atmosphere-continuum parameters were measured for each species in monospecific forests where trees had no access to groundwater. The hourly time s