Linking Topography, Hydrology, and Biodiversity to Understand Terrestrial Impacts on Aquatic Systems
Huston M, Gomezdelcampo E, Nesteruk RS. 2004. Linking Topography, Hydrology, and Biodiversity to Understand Terrestrial Impacts on Aquatic Systems. Interdisciplinary Solutions for Environmental Sustainability, Inc.. Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Understanding and managing biodiversity is complicated by the spatial complexity created by variations in physical environmental characteristics. Features such as climate, topography, soil nutrient availability and the distribution of water determine patterns of plant productivity across landscapes. Areas of high productivity react differently to natural and human-made disturbances than areas of low productivity. Understanding how disturbance and productivity interact to affect biodiversity can help natural resource managers maintain and restore biodiversity to an area. One of the primary issues for understanding patterns of species diversity, as well as hydrologic processes, is the interaction of climate and topography to produce variation in soil moisture conditions across landscapes. This soil moisture is the principal determinant of how quickly plants grow and how large they can become, assuming that conditions are warm enough for growth and adequate soil nutrients are available. Consequently, the spatial variation in soil moisture determines the spatial patterns of plant growth, forest structure, and many components of biodiversity on landscapes. We are developing a model that predicts spatial patterns of soil moisture by estimating the differences between topographically redistributed rainfall and spatial variation in evapotranspiration based on hourly variation in air temperature and solar radiation over the course of a day. When air temperatures are low and/or precipitation high, most of the landscape is wet and there should be little variation in vegetation type and structure over the landscape. In contrast, when air temperatures are higher and/or precipitation lower, there are strong differences in soil moisture availability, and thus in the types and sizes of plants that can survive on different portions of the landscape. We present test results of the model over different topography and climatic conditions.
- Type
- Generic Document
- Authors
- Huston, Michael; Gomezdelcampo, Enrique; Nesteruk, Rachel
- Date of Issue
- 2004-05
- Publisher
- Interdisciplinary Solutions for Environmental Sustainability, Inc.
- Units
- GRSM
- Keywords
- Aquatic Sciences, aquatic systems, Biodiversity, Evapotranspiration, Hydrology, Plant Ecology, Plant Studies, Soil Moisture, Topography