The evolution of root-zone moisture capacities after deforestation: a step towards hydrological predictions under change?

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dc.contributor.authorNijzink, R.en
dc.contributor.authorHutton, C.en
dc.contributor.authorPechlivanidis, I.en
dc.contributor.authorCapell, R.en
dc.contributor.authorArheimer, B.en
dc.contributor.authorFreer, J.en
dc.contributor.authorHan, D.en
dc.contributor.authorWagener, T.en
dc.contributor.authorMcGuire, Kevin J.en
dc.contributor.authorSavenije, H.en
dc.contributor.authorHrachowitz, M.en
dc.contributor.departmentForest Resources and Environmental Conservationen
dc.contributor.departmentVirginia Water Resources Research Centeren
dc.date.accessioned2017-02-22T04:17:32Zen
dc.date.available2017-02-22T04:17:32Zen
dc.date.issued2016en
dc.description.abstractThe core component of many hydrological systems, the moisture storage capacity available to vegetation, is impossible to observe directly at the catchment scale and is typically treated as a calibration parameter or obtained from a priori available soil characteristics combined with estimates of rooting depth. Often this parameter is considered to remain constant in time. Using long-term data (30–40 years) from three experimental catchments that underwent significant land cover change, we tested the hypotheses that: (1) the root-zone storage capacity significantly changes after deforestation, (2) changes in the root-zone storage capacity can to a large extent explain post-treatment changes to the hydrological regimes and that (3) a time-dynamic formulation of the root-zone storage can improve the performance of a hydrological model. A recently introduced method to estimate catchment-scale root-zone storage capacities based on climate data (i.e. observed rainfall and an estimate of transpiration) was used to reproduce the temporal evolution of root-zone storage capacity under change. Briefly, the maximum deficit that arises from the difference between cumulative daily precipitation and transpiration can be considered as a proxy for root-zone storage capacity. This value was compared to the value obtained from four different conceptual hydrological models that were calibrated for consecutive 2-year windows. It was found that water-balance-derived root-zone storage capacities were similar to the values obtained from calibration of the hydrological models. A sharp decline in root-zone storage capacity was observed after deforestation, followed by a gradual recovery, for two of the three catchments. Trend analysis suggested hydrological recovery periods between 5 and 13 years after deforestation. In a proof-of-concept analysis, one of the hydrological models was adapted to allow dynamically changing root-zone storage capacities, following the observed changes due to deforestation. Although the overall performance of the modified model did not considerably change, in 51% of all the evaluated hydrological signatures, considering all three catchments, improvements were observed when adding a time-variant representation of the root-zone storage to the model. In summary, it is shown that root-zone moisture storage capacities can be highly affected by deforestation and climatic influences and that a simple method exclusively based on climate data can not only provide robust, catchment-scale estimates of this critical parameter, but also reflect its timedynamic behaviour after deforestation.en
dc.format.extent4775 - 4799 page(s)en
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-4775-2016en
dc.identifier.orcidMcGuire, Kevin J. [0000-0001-5751-3956]en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/75114en
dc.identifier.volume20en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.relation.urihttp://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/20/4775/2016/en
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.titleThe evolution of root-zone moisture capacities after deforestation: a step towards hydrological predictions under change?en
dc.title.serialHydrology and Earth System Sciencesen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
pubs.organisational-group/Virginia Techen
pubs.organisational-group/Virginia Tech/All T&R Facultyen
pubs.organisational-group/Virginia Tech/Natural Resources & Environmenten
pubs.organisational-group/Virginia Tech/Natural Resources & Environment/CNRE T&R Facultyen
pubs.organisational-group/Virginia Tech/Natural Resources & Environment/Water Resources Research Centeren

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