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WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH, VOL. 44, W03429, doi:10.1029/2006WR005588, 2008

Vegetation-hydrology dynamics in complex terrain of semiarid areas: 1. A mechanistic approach to modeling dynamic feedbacks

Valeriy Y. Ivanov

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Center for the Environment, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA


Rafael L. Bras

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA


Enrique R. Vivoni

Department of Earth and Environmental Science, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, New Mexico, USA


Abstract

Vegetation, particularly its dynamics, is the often-ignored linchpin of the land-surface hydrology. This work emphasizes the coupled nature of vegetation-water-energy dynamics by considering linkages at timescales that vary from hourly to interannual. A series of two papers is presented. A dynamic ecohydrological model [tRIBS + VEGGIE] is described in this paper. It reproduces essential water and energy processes over the complex topography of a river basin and links them to the basic plant life regulatory processes. The framework focuses on ecohydrology of semiarid environments exhibiting abundant input of solar energy but limiting soil water that correspondingly affects vegetation structure and organization. The mechanisms through which water limitation influences plant dynamics are related to carbon assimilation via the control of photosynthesis and stomatal behavior, carbon allocation, stress-induced foliage loss, as well as recruitment and phenology patterns. This first introductory paper demonstrates model performance using observations for a site located in a semiarid environment of central New Mexico.

Received 4 October 2006; accepted 3 January 2008; published 29 March 2008.

Keywords: ecohydrology; hydrology; vegetation-water-energy dynamics; distributed hydrologic modeling; semiarid regions; biophysical and biochemical processes.

Index Terms: 1813 Hydrology: Eco-hydrology; 1878 Hydrology: Water/energy interactions (0495); 1847 Hydrology: Modeling; 1879 Hydrology: Watershed.

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Citation: Ivanov, V. Y., R. L. Bras, and E. R. Vivoni (2008), Vegetation-hydrology dynamics in complex terrain of semiarid areas: 1. A mechanistic approach to modeling dynamic feedbacks, Water Resour. Res., 44, W03429, doi:10.1029/2006WR005588.