Abstract
It is important to understand the response of vegetation dynamics and surface water budget to the changing climate. To investigate the effects of vegetation and climate change on evapotranspiration and runoff on a basin scale, the SSiB4T/TRIFFID (SSiB4/TRIFFID coupled with TOPMODEL) is used to perform long-term dynamic simulations of vegetation succession and the water balance under different climate scenarios for a subalpine basin. The results of all experiments show that fraction of vegetation changes from a dominance of C3 grasses to tundra shrubs and then gradually approaches equilibrium with a dominance of forests. Change to evapotranspiration is very sensitive to temperature changes but is not sensitive to precipitation changes when the temperature remains unchanged. Runoff is very sensitive to changes in both temperature and precipitation. In the increase of temperature, evapotranspiration of forests increases the most among the three vegetation types. From the control run to the [T+5, (1+40%)P] run (A temperature increase of 5 °C, an increase in precipitation of 40%), the role of forests in increasing runoff changes to a reduction in runoff.
Highlights
The Earth’s climate is the dominant control on the spatial distribution of the major vegetation types on a global scale (Woodward et al, 2004) and the composition and distribution of plant communities are of fundamental importance for evapotranspiration and the generation of runoff (Dunn & Mackay, 1995)
This study focused on: (1) the impact of vegetation succession on evapotranspiration and runoff; (2) the response of vegetation and the water balance to changes in climate; and (3) the role of climate in the spatial variation of forest–runoff relationships and the water use efficiency (WUE) of forest ecosystems
During the early time period of model integration, the vegetation fractions change from a dominance of C3 grasses to a dominance of tundra shrubs and gradually approach equilibrium after about the 400th simulation year
Summary
The Earth’s climate is the dominant control on the spatial distribution of the major vegetation types on a global scale (Woodward et al, 2004) and the composition and distribution of plant communities are of fundamental importance for evapotranspiration and the generation of runoff (Dunn & Mackay, 1995). Plants affect runoff via features such as albedo and interception, stomatal behavior and transpiration, rooting strategy, leaf area and phenology (Dunn & Mackay, 1995). There have been some inconsistent responses, suggesting the response intensity. Deng et al Use of the SSiB4/TRIFFID model coupled with topmodel to investigate the effects of vegetation and
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Journal of Environmental Engineering and Landscape Management
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
