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Separating impacts of vegetation change and climate variability on streamflow using hydrological models together with vegetation data

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Abstract

Vegetation information is seldom considered in lumped conceptual rainfall-runoff models. This paper uses two modified rainfall-runoff models, the Xinanjiang-ET and SIMHYD-ET models in which vegetation leaf area index is incorporated, to investigate impacts of vegetation change and climate variability on streamflow in a Southern Australian catchment, the Crawford River experimental catchment, where Tasmanian blue gum plantations were introduced gradually from 1998 till 2005. The Xinanjiang-ET and SIMHYD-ET models incorporate remotely-sensed leaf area index (LAI) data obtained from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on board NOAA polar orbiting satellites. Compared to the original versions, the Xinanjiang-ET and SIMHYD-ET models show marginal improvements in runoff simulations in the pre-plantation period (1882–1997). The calibrated Xinanjaing-ET and SIMHYD-ET models are then used to simulate plantation impact on streamflow in the post-plantation period. The total change in streamflow between the pre-plantation and post-plantation periods is −32.4 mm/a. The modelling results from the two models show that plantation reduces streamflow by 20.5 mm/a, and climate variability reduces streamflow by 11.9 mm/a. These results suggest that increase in plantations can reduce streamflow substantially, even more than climate variability.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nanjing Institute of Geography & Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    HuiYun Li

  2. CSIRO Land and Water, GPO BOX 1666, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia

    YongQiang Zhang

  3. Faculty of Infrastructure Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China

    HuiYun Li & BenDe Wang

Authors
  1. HuiYun Li
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  2. YongQiang Zhang
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  3. BenDe Wang
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Correspondence to YongQiang Zhang.

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Li, H., Zhang, Y. & Wang, B. Separating impacts of vegetation change and climate variability on streamflow using hydrological models together with vegetation data. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 55, 1964–1972 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-012-4859-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-012-4859-9

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