Modelling the inorganic nitrogen behaviour in a small Mediterranean forested catchment, Fuirosos (Catalonia)

Abstract. Runoff generation processes and pathways vary widely between catchments. Credible simulations of solute and pollutant transport in surface waters are dependent on models which facilitate appropriate, catchment-specific representations of perceptual models of the runoff generation process. Here, we present a flexible, semi-distributed landscape-scale rainfall-runoff modelling toolkit suitable for simulating a broad range of user-specified perceptual models of runoff generation and stream flow occurring in different climatic regions and landscape types. PERSiST (the Precipitation, Evapotranspiration and Runoff Simulator for Solute Transport) is designed for simulating present-day hydrology; projecting possible future effects of climate or land use change on runoff and catchment water storage; and generating hydrologic inputs for the Integrated Catchments (INCA) family of models. PERSiST has limited data requirements and is calibrated using observed time series of precipitation, air temperature and runoff at one or more points in a river network. Here, we apply PERSiST to the river Thames in the UK and describe a Monte Carlo tool for model calibration, sensitivity and uncertainty analysis.

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“…always appropriate outside the temperate and boreal ecoregions (Bernal et al, 2004;Medici et al, 2008Medici et al, , 2010.…”

Section: N Futter Et Al: Persistmentioning

confidence: 99%

PERSiST: a flexible rainfall-runoff modelling toolkit for use with the INCA family of models

Bishop

Erlandsson

Butterfield³

et al. 2014

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…no surface water) of variable duration and spatial extent (Butturini et al, 2008), usually from July until September-October Acuñ a et al, 2004). Dissolved N and P peak in winter and summer, respectively (Bernal, Butturini & Sabater, 2005;von Schiller et al, 2008;Medici et al, 2010), although the stream is considered P-limited for most of the hydrologic period (von Schiller et al, 2008;Sabater et al, 2011). Abrupt changes in the physicochemical characteristics of stream water occur before and after the dry phase (Vázquez et al, 2007, Ylla et al, 2011von Schiller et al, 2011).…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Functional responses of stream biofilms to flow cessation, desiccation and rewetting

et al. 2012

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Summary 1. Mediterranean climate regions are characterised by long summer droughts that usually involve flow intermittency in low‐ to mid‐order streams. Flow intermittency implies flow cessation, drying and subsequent rewetting of the streambed, and affects both autotrophic and heterotrophic processes. The balance between these processes, as well as the balance in the use of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) may change because of the ongoing increase in stream flow intermittency caused by global change in many regions. It is therefore crucial to understand better the consequences of this phenomenon. 2. Our two initial hypotheses were (i) that flow intermittency would impact more on autotrophic than on heterotrophic processes in stream biofilms owing to the higher water dependence of autotrophs, as well as differences in the water storage capacity of the stream biofilm compartments where autotrophic and heterotrophic processes mainly occur (surface cobbles versus hyporheic sediments) and (ii) that the C‐N‐P use by biofilms would change during the dry period (terrestrial phase) owing to the extreme water stress conditions. These hypotheses were tested by analysing the functional response of the main stream biofilms (epilithic, epipsammic and hyporheic) during flow cessation, desiccation and rewetting in a Mediterranean forested stream. The autotrophic response was characterised through changes in the photon yield, whereas the heterotrophic response was characterised by changes in the extracellular enzyme activities. 3. Streambed desiccation had clear effects on the functioning of stream biofilms. Autotrophic biomass decreased by 80% with streambed desiccation, but recovered rapidly after flow resumption. Heterotrophs were more resistant to water stress, especially in the epipsammic and hyporheic biofilms where bacterial cell density decreased only by 20%. 4. Extracellular enzyme activities remained relatively high, and the balance in the C‐N‐P use by biofilms changed during the dry period. The C and P breakdown capacities were maintained during dry conditions, especially in the epipsammic and hyporheic biofilms, but the degradation of N compounds sharply decreased. Elemental molar ratios (C:N and C:P) of the different biofilms also changed with streambed desiccation. C:P ratios increased from 80 to 300, while the C:N ratios increased from 10 to 16. 5. Given the contrasting responses of autotrophic and heterotrophic processes in the different biofilms, our results suggest that the current increase in flow intermittency extent is likely to increase the relative importance of heterotrophic processes in stream ecosystems, as well as the relative contribution of the hyporheic biofilm to C‐N‐P use. Our results further suggest that the longer streams remain dry, the more the biofilm stoichiometry will change.

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“…Riparian ecosystems are coupled to streams; they depend on the hydrological regime, and they also are key elements in the water cycle. Within riparian ecosystems, the riparian vegetation exerts an essential role in sediment retention processes (Naiman et al, 2002;Hupp and Rinaldi, 2010), water quality control (Altier et al, 2002;Rayne et al, 2008;Medici et al, 2010) and fauna habitat distribution along the river (Naiman et al, 2005). Riparian species have developed adaptations and synchronized life history traits with the variable conditions of the river dynamics (Stella et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementing a dynamic riparian vegetation model in three European river systems

et al. 2012

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Riparian ecosystems are required to be preserved to achieve the good ecological status. The Water Framework Directive (WFD 2000/60/EC) specifically supports the assessment of new management tools that allow the European Member States to achieve the good ecological status of the river related ecosystems. Within several approaches, a dynamic riparian vegetation distributed model (CASiMiR-vegetation), with a time step of one year, has been selected as a useful first-step tool to achieve the WFD requirements. The model has been implemented into three river reaches with different climatic and hydrologic settings, located in three European countries. Common bases were established in the model set-up. The model was calibrated independently in the Kleblach reach (Drau River, Austria), the Ribeira reach (Odelouca River, Portugal), and the Terde reach (Mijares River, Spain) with simulation periods of 8, 11 and 41 years respectively. The parameters values and the results were comparable between the different countries. The calibration performance achieved high correctly classified instances (CCI ≈ 60%). Additionally, weighted kappa values ranged from 0.52 to 0.66 in distinguishing riparian succession phases. The model behaved similarly in the validation, even offering better results in most cases. This work demonstrates the applicability of this model in This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF version following peer review of the article: García-Arias A., Francés F., Ferreira T., Egger G., Martínez-Capel F., Garófano-Gómez V., Andrés-Doménech I., Politti E., Rivaes R., Rodríguez-González P.M. (2013). Implementing a dynamic riparian vegetation model in three European river systems. Ecohydrology, 6(4):635-651. doi: 10.1002/eco.1331, which has been published in definitive publisher-authenticated form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Modelling the inorganic nitrogen behaviour in a small Mediterranean forested catchment, Fuirosos (Catalonia)

Cited by 11 publications

References 48 publications

PERSiST: a flexible rainfall-runoff modelling toolkit for use with the INCA family of models

PERSiST: a flexible rainfall-runoff modelling toolkit for use with the INCA family of models

Functional responses of stream biofilms to flow cessation, desiccation and rewetting

Implementing a dynamic riparian vegetation model in three European river systems

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