Deep root water uptake in tropical Amazonian forests has been a major discovery during the last 15 yr. However, the effects of extended droughts, which may increase with climate change, on deep soil moisture utilization remain uncertain. The current study utilized a 1999–2005 record of volumetric water content (VWC) under a throughfall exclusion experiment to calibrate a one-dimensional model of the hydrologic system to estimate VWC, and to quantify the rate of root uptake through 11.5 m of soil.

Post-fire response by vegetation may reflect the severity of the damage suffered, but we still know little about the species-specific nature of responses to fire or their predictors. Here, we evaluated 26 woody species before and after a fire event in an Cerrado...