Rafat QubajaArizona State University | ASU · School of Sustainability
Rafat Qubaja
PhD
Urban ecology and water sustainability
About
23
Publications
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194
Citations
Introduction
Urban ecology and water sustainability: the role of irrigated urban landscapes in the socioecology, ecohydrology, and microclimate of cities
Additional affiliations
October 2008 - October 2013
Publications
Publications (23)
Tree species differ in their carbon (C) allocation strategies during environmental change. Disentangling species‐specific strategies and contribution to the C balance of mixed forests requires observations at the individual tree level. We measured a complete set of C pools and fluxes at the tree level in five tree species, conifers and broadleaves,...
The global carbon sequestration potential of semi-arid forests is described. Organic and inorganic carbon sequestration was studied in Israel’s planted Yatir forest, a 28 km2 Aleppo pine forest growing at the semi-arid timberline (with no irrigation or fertilization). The organic carbon sequestration rate (above and below ground) was measured as 55...
The chapter describes a long-term (2000-2019) perspective of carbon and energy fluxes from the leaf to the whole ecosystem scale in a semi-arid Aleppo pine forest plantation (the Yatir Forest) in the northern edge of the Negev desert (Israel), using the eddy covariance approach combined with meteorological and supplemental small-scale measurements....
Characterizing the carbon and water economy of non-commercial urban citrus orchards can help determine their value in urban settings. This includes provisions of urban ecology and ecosystem services, such as shade, conservation of biodiversity, and carbon sequestration, under space and water limitations that may be particularly suitable in the semi...
During the regular seasonal drought conditions in our semi-arid pine forest, soil water content decrease below the 16% threshold of no transpirable soil water availability, and VPD increase to values of >5 kPa. Soil drought in one forest plot was eliminated by using supplemental drip irrigation during summer. We used automatic branch chambers to me...
A large terrestrial carbon sink significantly influences the rate of change in atmospheric CO 2 concentrations, but uncertainties associated with its estimate are considerable. Here we combined carbon stock (CS) and eddy covariance (EC) flux measurements that were collected over a period of 15 years (2001-2016) in a 55-year-old 30 km 2 pine forest...
Soil evaporation (Es) is a significant hydrological component in dry ecosystems and its quantification is critical to the understanding of ecosystem response to change. It is, however, often estimated as a residual in the hydrological balance because of measurement difficulties. Here, we use continuous, high precision chamber-based direct measureme...
Supplement of: Partitioning of canopy and soil CO2 fluxes in a pine forest at the dry timberline across a 13-year observation period
Partitioning carbon fluxes is key to understanding the process underlying ecosystem response to change. This study used soil and canopy fluxes with stable isotopes (13C) and radiocarbon (14C) measurements in an 18 km2, 50-year-old, dry (287 mm mean annual precipitation; nonirrigated) Pinus halepensis forest plantation in Israel to partition the net...
The rate of change in atmospheric CO2 is significantly affected by the terrestrial carbon sink, but the size and spatial distribution of this sink, and the extent to which it can be enhanced to mitigate climate change are highly uncertain. We combined carbon stock (CS) and eddy covariance (EC) flux measurements that were collected over a period of...
The future of forests and their productivity in dry environments will depend on both water availability through precipitation and ecosystem and plant water use characteristics. It is increasingly recognized that better understanding water use patterns and their response to change depends on our ability to partition evapotranspiration (ET). Here, we...
Short abstract: The objective was to quantify soil CO2 and H2O fluxes as a basis for partitioning net ecosystem-atmosphere exchange of carbon and water vapor, which, in-turn, is a critical limiting factor in understanding ecosystem and the land biosphere response to climate change. Within this framework, this work focused on semi-arid ecosystems th...
Partitioning carbon fluxes is key to understanding the process underlying ecosystem response to change. This study used soil and canopy fluxes with stable isotopes (¹³C) and radiocarbon (¹⁴C) measurements of a 50-year-old dry (i.e., 287 mm of annual precipitation) pine forest to partition the ecosystem’s CO2 flux into gross primary productivity (GP...
Carbonyl sulfide (COS) is used as a tracer of CO2 exchange at the ecosystem and larger scales. The robustness of this approach depends on knowledge of the soil contribution to the ecosystem fluxes, which is uncertain at present. We assessed the spatial and temporal variations in soil COS and CO2 fluxes in a Mediterranean citrus orchard combining su...
Carbonyl sulfide (COS) is used as a as a tracer of CO2 exchange at the ecosystem and larger scales. The robustness of this approach depends on knowledge of the soil contribution to the ecosystem fluxes, which is uncertain at present. We assessed the spatial and temporal variations of soil COS and CO2 fluxes in the Mediterranean citrus orchard combi...
We investigate the effects of an isolated meso-\(\gamma \)-scale surface heterogeneity for roughness and albedo on the atmospheric boundary-layer (ABL) height, with a case study at a semi-arid forest surrounded by sparse shrubland (forest area: \(28~\text{ km }^2\), forest length in the main wind direction: 7 km). Doppler lidar and ceilometer measu...
The Balance of Carbon Dioxide in the Unsaturated Zone, the case of Nizzanim in the southern coastal area of Israel
I. Carmi 1,2,3*, M. Stiller 3, Y. Yechieli 3, R. Qubaja 1
1 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
2 Environmental and Earth Sciences, Tel Aviv University
3 Geological Survey of Isra...
Abstract
A large terrestrial carbon sink is significantly influencing the rate of change in atmospheric CO2 concentration, but its location and size remains uncertain. This uncertainty stems from that in the primary measurement methodology at the ecosystem scale (primarily eddy-covariance) and its extension to global scale, and its implementation i...
Carbonyl sulfide (COS) is a tracer of ecosystem photosynthesis that can advance carbon cycle research from leaf to global scales; however, a range of newly reported caveats related to sink/source strength of various ecosystem components hinder its application. Using comprehensive eddy‐covariance and chamber measurements, we systematically measure e...
The utilization of brackish water residues from desalination units for fish mariculture in
Palestine could represent an environmental friendly alternative of disposing brine water which could have
an adverse effect on wild life. In this study, three juvenile marine fish species (Gilt-head bream S.
aurata, European sea bass D. labrax, and red drum S...