DOI: 10.5061/dryad.5b743
title: Data from: Comparative water use by maize, perennial crops, restored prairie, and poplar trees in the US Midwest

description: Water use by plant communities across years of varying water availability
 indicates how terrestrial water balances will respond to climate change
 and variability as well as to land cover change. Perennial biofuel crops,
 likely grown mainly on marginal lands of limited water availability,
 provide an example of a potentially extensive future land cover
 conversion. We measured growing-season evapotranspiration (ET) based on
 daily changes in soil profile water contents in five perennial
 systems—switchgrass, miscanthus, native grasses, restored prairie, and
 hybrid poplar—and in annual maize (corn) in a temperate humid climate
 (Michigan, USA). Three study years (2010, 2011 and 2013) had normal
 growing-season rainfall (480–610 mm) whereas 2012 was a drought year (210
 mm). Over all four years, mean (±SEM) growing-season ET for perennial
 systems did not greatly differ from corn (496 ± 21 mm), averaging 559
 (±14), 458 (±31), 573 (±37), 519 (±30), and 492 (±58) mm for switchgrass,
 miscanthus, native grasses, prairie, and poplar, respectively. Differences
 in biomass production largely determined variation in water use efficiency
 (WUE). Miscanthus had the highest WUE in both normal and drought years
 (52–67 and 43 kg dry biomass ha−1 mm−1, respectively), followed by maize
 (40–59 and 29 kg ha−1 mm−1); the native grasses and prairie were lower and
 poplar was intermediate. That measured water use by perennial systems was
 similar to maize across normal and drought years contrasts with earlier
 modeling studies and suggests that rain-fed perennial biomass crops in
 this climate have little impact on landscape water balances, whether
 replacing rain-fed maize on arable lands or successional vegetation on
 marginal lands. Results also suggest that crop ET rates, and thus
 groundwater recharge, streamflow, and lake levels, may be less sensitive
 to climate change than has been assumed.
description: Data table for Fig 1
 b,c,d & Fig 2a in paper_ step-wise procedure to estimate ET from daily
 soil water contentThis data file has the
 information of daily soil water of miscanthus (G6) for the year 2012 (as
 in fig 1 b,c,d) that demonstrates the step-wise procedure for water use
 calculation from daily soil water content. Each column in the data file
 has been described in a separate Readme.txt file.Data
 table.xlsData table for Fig 1 b,
 c, d & Fig 2a_ daily soil water content of different
 cropsThis data file has
 information on the daily soil water content of different crops based on
 TDR measurements. Each column in the data file has been described in a
 separate Readme.txt file.Data table for Fig 1a
 & 2a_ PrecipitationThis data file has the
 information of daily precipitation (mm) recorded at the LTER station, KBS
 Hickory Corners, Michigan. Each column in the data file has been described
 in a separate Readme.txt file.Data table for Fig 2b_
 Maximum Biomass of switchgrass, miscanthus, prairie and grass
 mixtureThis data table has the
 information of maximum biomass for switchgrass (G5), miscanthus (G6),
 native grass mixture (G7), and restored prairie (G10). Each column in the
 data file has been described in a separate Readme.txt
 file.Data table for Fig 2b_
 Maximum Biomass of cornThis data table has the
 information of maximum biomass for corn (G1). Each column in the data file
 has been described in a separate Readme.txt file.Data table for Fig 2b_
 Maximum Biomass of PoplarThis data table has the
 information of maximum biomass for hybrid poplar (G8) and made available
 from Poplar growth curves. Each column in the data file has been described
 in a separate Readme.txt file.Data table for Fig
 2c_WUE-biomass of all cropsThis data table has the
 information of calculated WUE-maximum biomass (kg/ha/mm) for different
 crops. Each column in the data file has been described in a separate
 Readme.txt fileData table for Fig
 2d_Harvest yieldThis data table has the
 information of harvest yield of corn (grain, corn stover and residual
 stover), switchgrass, miscanthus, grass mixture, hybrid poplar and
 restored prairie (whole biomass yield). Each column in the data file has
 been described in a separate Readme.txt file.Data table for Fig S2_
 Drained upper limitThis data table has
 information of drained upper limit (DUL) of the soil profile (0-150 cm) at
 the start of the growing season in each year based on TDR measurements.
 Each column in the data file has been described in a separate Readme.txt
 file.Data table for Fig
 S3_Growing season lengthsThis data table has
 information of growing season lengths of different cropping systems during
 the four years of study. Each column in the data file has been described
 in a separate Readme.txt file.Data table for Fig
 S1_Percent of days using SALUSThis data table has
 information of percent of days during growing period when we used SALUS
 model to estimate the evapotranspiration.Each column in the data file has
 been described in a separate Readme.txt file.