Isotopic approaches to quantify root water uptake and redistribution: a review and comparison of methods Youri Rothfuss1, Mathieu Javaux1,2,3 1Institute of Bio- and Geosciences, IBG-3 Agrosphere, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, 52425, Germany 5 2Earth and Life Institute, Environnemental Sciences, Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Louvain-la-Neuve, 1348, Belgium 3Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, University of California Davis, Davis, California, 95616, USA. Correspondence to: Youri Rothfuss (
[email protected]) Abstract. Plant root water uptake (RWU) and release (i.e., hydraulic redistribution – HR, and its particular case hydraulic 10 lift – HL) have been documented for the past five decades from water stable isotopic analysis. By comparing the (hydrogen or oxygen) stable isotopic composition of plant xylem water to those of potential contributive water sources (e.g., water from different soil layers, groundwater, water from recent precipitation or from a nearby stream) studies could determine the relative contributions of these water sources to RWU. Other studies have confirmed the existence of HR and HL from the isotopic analysis of the plant xylem water following a labelling pulse. 15 In this paper, the different methods used for locating / quantifying relative contributions of water sources to RWU (i.e., graphical inference, statistical (e.g., Bayesian) multi-source linear mixing models) are reviewed with emphasis on their respective advantages and drawbacks. The graphical and statistical methods are tested against a physically based analytical RWU model during a series of virtual experiments differing in the depth of the groundwater table, the soil surface water status, and the plant transpiration rate value.