RETRACTED ARTICLE: Estimation of landscape pattern change on stream flow using SWAT-VRR

Abstract

ABSTRACT With the development of landscape ecology and hydrology, the research in relationship between landscape pattern changes and hydrological process is pushed into a further level, and also to proposed a higher request to the development of related models. The SWAT-VRR model (Soil and Water Assessment Tool with Vegetation Runoff Regulation) is a distributed hydrological model to better show the effect of land use landscape change on hydrological processes. The Qihe watershed in Danjiangkou reservoir area was selected in a case study, and the applicability of SWAT-VRR was verified firstly, then set up two typical water-soil conservation scenario simulations to analyze the response to landscape pattern changes under SWAT-VRR. The results indicate that, the SWAT-VRR model achieved a notable improvement in monthly and daily hydrological simulation comparing to the SWAT model (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) simulation during 2003 to 2006. Compared with the two land use scenarios, the 300 m forest riparian along the Qihe River can adjust the runoff more effectively than the area greater than 15° is forest, and show a strong stability in water-soil conservation effect during different rainfall. The SWAT-VRR provides a more accurate scientific basis to estimate landscape pattern change on stream flow.