During the rainy season of 1998, a field experiment was established in Cocula, Guerrero (hot subhumid climate, Awo) and in Montecillo, México (semiarid climate, BS₁), to evaluate the effect of nitrogen (0, 10 and 20 g m⁻²) and environment on phenology, yield and its components, water use efficiency (WUE), and crop evapotranspiration (ETc) and heat units (HU) accumulated during the growth cycle of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) cv. Victoria. The crop was planted on June 1 at a density of 7.5 pl m⁻² in both climates. In Cocula, maximum and minimum temperatures were more extreme and rainfall was more intense, while soil was poor in total nitrogen, compared with Montecillo. Crop growth, yield and its components, and water use efficiency were affected significantly by the environment, nitrogen and the interaction environment * nitrogen. The crop cycle in the hot environment was 36 days shorter, with a greater accumulation of HU and ETc. Yield and its components and water use efficiency were significantly higher in Cocula. Nitrogen positively affected the evaluated variables. The interactive effect of environment * nitrogen was observed clearly, since in Cocula there was response to the application of nitrogen in most of the variables evaluated, while in Montecillo there was not.

Although impacts of land-use changes on groundwater recharge have been widely demonstrated across diverse environmental settings, most previous research has focused on the role of agriculture. This study investigates recharge impacts of tree plantations in a century-old experimental forest surrounded by mixed-grass prairie in the Northern High Plains (Nebraska National Forest), USA. Recharge was estimated using solute mass balance methods from unsaturated zone cores beneath 10 experimental plots with different vegetation and planting densities. Pine and cedar plantation plots had uniformly lower moisture contents and higher solute concentrations than grasslands. Cumulative solute concentrations were greatest beneath the plots with the highest planting densities (chloride concentrations 225–240 % and sulfate concentrations 175–230 % of the grassland plot). Estimated recharge rates beneath the dense plantations (4–10 mm yr⁻¹) represent reductions of 86–94 % relative to the surrounding native grassland. Relationships between sulfate, chloride, and moisture content in the area’s relatively homogenous sandy soils confirm that the unsaturated zone solute signals reflect partitioning between drainage and evapotranspiration in this setting. This study is among the first to explore afforestation impacts on recharge beneath sandy soils and sulfate as a tracer of deep drainage.