A conceptual dynamic vegetation-soil model for arid and semiarid zones
Résumé
Plant ecosystems in arid and semiarid zones show high complexity from the point of view of water resources, since they depend on water availability to carry out their vital processes. In these climates, water stress is the main factor controlling vegetation development.
The available water in the system results from a water balance where the soil, vegetation and the atmosphere are the key issues; but it is the vegetation which modulates (to a great extent) the total balance of water and the mechanisms of the feedback between soil and atmosphere, being the knowledge about soil moisture quite relevant for assessing available water and, as a consequence, for growth and plants maintenance and the final water balance in the system.
A conceptual dynamic vegetation-soil model (CDVSM) for arid and semiarid zones was developed. This model based in a tank type conceptualization represents in a suitable way, for Mediterranean climate, the vegetation responses to soil moisture fluctuations. Two tanks interconnected were considered using the water balance equation and the appropriate dynamic equation for all considered fluxes. The first one corresponds to the interception process done by the vegetation. The second one models the upper soil moisture determination. In this tank parameters are based on soil and vegetation properties. The transpiration of the vegetation is a function of the soil moisture, the vegetation type and the biomass. Once all water state variables are evaluated at each time step, the modifications in the biomass are made as a function of transpiration rate and water stress.
Simulations for monoculture of Quercus Coccifera L. were carried out. Results shows that CDVSM is able to represent the vegetation dynamic, reflecting how the monoculture is stabilized around 0.7 of relative biomass, with adaptation to the soil moisture fluctuations in the long term. The model shows the vegetation adaptation to the variability of the climatic conditions, demonstrating how either in the presence or shortage of water, the vegetation regulates its biomass as well as its rate of transpiration trying to minimize the total water stress.
The available water in the system results from a water balance where the soil, vegetation and the atmosphere are the key issues; but it is the vegetation which modulates (to a great extent) the total balance of water and the mechanisms of the feedback between soil and atmosphere, being the knowledge about soil moisture quite relevant for assessing available water and, as a consequence, for growth and plants maintenance and the final water balance in the system.
A conceptual dynamic vegetation-soil model (CDVSM) for arid and semiarid zones was developed. This model based in a tank type conceptualization represents in a suitable way, for Mediterranean climate, the vegetation responses to soil moisture fluctuations. Two tanks interconnected were considered using the water balance equation and the appropriate dynamic equation for all considered fluxes. The first one corresponds to the interception process done by the vegetation. The second one models the upper soil moisture determination. In this tank parameters are based on soil and vegetation properties. The transpiration of the vegetation is a function of the soil moisture, the vegetation type and the biomass. Once all water state variables are evaluated at each time step, the modifications in the biomass are made as a function of transpiration rate and water stress.
Simulations for monoculture of Quercus Coccifera L. were carried out. Results shows that CDVSM is able to represent the vegetation dynamic, reflecting how the monoculture is stabilized around 0.7 of relative biomass, with adaptation to the soil moisture fluctuations in the long term. The model shows the vegetation adaptation to the variability of the climatic conditions, demonstrating how either in the presence or shortage of water, the vegetation regulates its biomass as well as its rate of transpiration trying to minimize the total water stress.
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