A Preliminary Quantification of the Impacts of Aspen to Conifer Succession on Water Yield - II. Modeling Results

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Water Resources Bulletin

Publication Date

1984

Volume

20

Issue

2

Abstract

Heat pulse velocity techniques were developed for effective monitoring of water movement in aspen (Populus tremuloides), subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa), and Englemann spruce (Picea engelmannif). Water loss was monitored in replicated trees of each species for one year. These data were used to modify the plant activity index (a reflection of the ability of plants to transpire water at various times during a year) and the crop coefficient (a reflection of differences in consumptive use rates of water by different vegetation types when all other factors are held constant) for each species within the model ASPCON, a deterministic, lumped-parameter model describing the hydrology of aspen to conifer succession. Results of the modeling in dicate 18.6 cm net loss of moisture available for streamflow when spruce replaced aspen, and a loss of 7.2 cm when fir forests replaced aspen. The aspen to conifer successional trend appears, therefore, to be significantly reducing water yields in the western United States.

Comments

Originally published by Wiley-Blackwell. Publisher's PDF available through remote link.

First Page

181

Last Page

186

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