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Sensitivity of pine flatwoods hydrology to climate change and forest management in Florida, USA

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Abstract

Pine flatwoods (a mixture of cypress wetlands and managed pine uplands) is an important ecosystem in the southeastern U.S. However, long-term hydrologic impacts of forest management and climate change on this heterogeneous landscape are not well understood. Therefore, this study examined the sensitivity of cypress-pine flatwoods hydrology to climate change and forest management by using the physically based, distributed hydrologic modeling system, MIKE SHE. The model was first calibrated and validated with a long-term data set, and then applied using several hypothetical scenarios developed in north central Florida. Our study showed that MIKE SHE could simulate the temporal and spatial dynamics of the shallow ground-water table. The model also identified and confirmed three horizontal ground-water flow patterns at this study site. The modeling results suggested that forest removal and climate change (i.e., warming and drying) would have pronounced impacts on the ground-water table during the dry periods, but these impacts may be minor under wet conditions at this typical flatwoods landscape. At the landscape scale, depressional wetlands may have higher responses to tree removal and climate change than surrounding uplands.

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Author notes

  1. Jianbiao Lu

    Present address: Greenhorne & O’Mara, Inc., 5565 Centerview Drive, Suite 107, 27606, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Southern Global Change Program Southern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, 920 Main Campus Drive, Venture II, Suite 300, 27606, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

    Jianbiao Lu, Ge Sun & Steven G. McNulty

  2. Soil and Water Science Department, University of Florida, 2169 McCarty Hall, Box 110290, 32611, Gainesville, Florida, USA

    Nicholas B. Comerford

Authors
  1. Jianbiao Lu
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  2. Ge Sun
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  3. Steven G. McNulty
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  4. Nicholas B. Comerford
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Correspondence to Jianbiao Lu.

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Lu, J., Sun, G., McNulty, S.G. et al. Sensitivity of pine flatwoods hydrology to climate change and forest management in Florida, USA. Wetlands 29, 826–836 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1672/07-162.1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1672/07-162.1

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