Modelling floodplain inundation for environmental flows: Gwydir wetlands, Australia

S.J. Powell, R.A. Letcher and B.F.W. Croke

Ecological Modelling, 2008, vol. 211, issue 3, 350-362

Abstract: Floodplain wetlands rely on catchment flows to maintain the flooding cycles critical to their ecological integrity. The development of water resources has significantly altered the flow patterns in many river systems. Recent research into water requirements for wetland systems shows that duration, frequency, depth, timing and extent of flooding are the most important influences on ecological communities. Modelling these systems is hampered by a lack of data and inappropriate model structures. Remote sensing using AVHRR satellite data were shown to be an effective option for assessing flood dynamics. Vegetation communities and flood patterns of the Gwydir floodplain were analysed to provide a model structure based on channel, flowpath and core wetland components. The temporal and spatial behaviour of each component was described using water balance principles. The model was calibrated and tested under a range of climatic conditions and the results demonstrate that the model can simulate ecologically significant flood dynamics of the floodplain wetland. This study demonstrates that a conceptually based, semi-distributed water balance approach can provide the basis for an effective decision support system for water management.

Keywords: Wetland model; Water balance; Wetlands; Floodplains; Water management; Remote sensing; Decision support; Terminal floodplain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304380007004784
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:211:y:2008:i:3:p:350-362

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2007.09.013

Access Statistics for this article

Ecological Modelling is currently edited by Brian D. Fath

More articles in Ecological Modelling from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().