From Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin (www.beg.utexas.edu).
For more information, please contact the author.

Bureau Seminar, September 18, 2009

Estimating the effects of vegetation and climate change on streamflow

Lu Zhang
CISRO, AustraliaLLC

Many catchments around the world have experienced changes in both climatic and vegetation characteristics resulting in water resources and environmental problems. Information on the impact of these changes on streamflow can help water resource managers to develop sustainable management plans. In this talk, I will describe a method for separating vegetation and climatic effects on streamflow. The vegetation effect can be estimated using either a paired catchment method or time-trend method, while the climatic effect can be determined using a sensitivity-based method by considering changes in rainfall and potential evapotranspiration. The applicability of these methods was evaluated using data from paired catchments in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Results showed that these methods yield consistent estimates of vegetation and climatic effects on streamflow.