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| Titel |
Climate and topographic controls on simulated pasture production in a semiarid Mediterranean watershed with scattered tree cover |
| VerfasserIn |
J. Lozano-Parra, M. P. Maneta, S. Schnabel |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| ISSN |
1027-5606
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| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: Hydrology and Earth System Sciences ; 18, no. 4 ; Nr. 18, no. 4 (2014-04-11), S.1439-1456 |
| Datensatznummer |
250120334
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/hess-18-1439-2014.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Natural grasses in semiarid rangelands constitute an effective protection
against soil erosion and degradation, are a source of natural food for
livestock and play a critical role in the hydrologic cycle by contributing
to the uptake and transpiration of water. However, natural pastures are
threatened by land abandonment and the consequent encroachment of shrubs and
trees as well as by changing climatic conditions. In spite of their
ecological and economic importance, the spatiotemporal variations of
pasture production at the decadal–century scales over whole watersheds
are poorly known. We used a physically based, spatially distributed
ecohydrologic model applied to a 99.5 ha semiarid watershed in western Spain
to investigate the sensitivity of pasture production to climate variability.
The ecohydrologic model was run using a 300-year-long synthetic daily
climate data set generated using a stochastic weather generator. The data set
reproduced the range of climatic variations observed under the current climate.
Results indicated that variation of pasture production largely depended on
factors that also determined the availability of soil moisture such as the
temporal distribution of precipitation, topography, and tree canopy cover.
The latter is negatively related with production, reflecting the importance
of rainfall and light interception, as well as water consumption by trees.
Valley bottoms and flat areas in the lower parts of the catchment are
characterized by higher pasture production but more interannual variability.
A quantitative assessment of the quality of the simulations showed that
ecohydrologic models are a valuable tool to investigate long-term (century
scale) water and energy fluxes, as well as vegetation dynamics, in semiarid
rangelands. |
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