Premium
Ensemble modeling of watershed‐scale hydrologic effects of short‐rotation woody crop production
Author(s) -
Vache Kellie,
Meles Menberu Bitew,
Griffiths Natalie A,
Jackson C Rhett
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
biofuels, bioproducts and biorefining
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.931
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1932-1031
pISSN - 1932-104X
DOI - 10.1002/bbb.2247
Subject(s) - environmental science , evapotranspiration , watershed , hydrology (agriculture) , biomass (ecology) , groundwater recharge , short rotation forestry , vegetation (pathology) , climate change , water cycle , bioenergy , groundwater , ecology , computer science , biofuel , medicine , geotechnical engineering , pathology , machine learning , aquifer , engineering , biology
Short‐rotation woody crop (SRWC) production involves a set of silvicultural practices that aim to produce large volumes of biomass over relatively short time frames. The area over which these practices are employed is likely to increase in the coming decades as the demand for bioenergy increases, but the potential effects of this change in land management, including the hydrologic effects, are largely unknown. Here we outline the results from an ensemble modeling study that was developed to forecast the range of potential hydrological responses to the implementation of SRWC production over areas that are large (>1000 ha) relative to the size of individual clearcuts. The three models, SWAT, MIKE‐SHE, and Envision‐SRS, a physically based model designed to represent watersheds with dynamic land cover, represent a range of simulation tools that include hydrological response to landcover change. Results suggest that SRWC production will affect the hydrologic balance, primarily through changes in the volume of transpired water associated with the rapidly growing young stands. In particular, average annual actual evapotranspiration (ET) rates tend to decline under SRWC production in response to the less mature vegetation. These reductions in ET are balanced in the hydrological cycle through elevated groundwater recharge, expressed in the model results as elevated annual stream discharge. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd