Hydrological Research Aims and Objectives

The overall aim of the hydrological component of HERB Research is to increase our understanding of the hydrological functioning of TMCF ecosystems and examine their functional role in the hydrological balance of tropical hillsides. TMCF is one of the most hydrologically unknown ecosystems and yet they are clearly hydrologically unique with very high rainfall inputs coupled with signioficant inputs from occult precipitation. TMCF also tends to occur on steep slopes with a distinctive vegetation cover which is atypical for the tropics. In order to further understand the hydrological significance of these systems the HERB project aims to fulfill the following objectives:

(1) To quantify the controls upon and the magnitude of occult precipitation to TMCF catchments,
(2) To quantify the altitudinal spatial control on meteorological variability in TMCF,
(3) To further understand processes of interception and interception loss in TMCF,
(4) To develop regional scale models for soil hydrological processes such as infiltration and overland flow in TMCF,
(5) To further understand the spatial variability of soils and vegetation properties in TMCF,
(6) To develop catchment wide hydrological models for TMCF and use these models to understand the impact of climate and land use change on TMCF hydrology,
(7) To understand the sensitivity of TMCF to land use and climate change and how this sensitivity varies spatially,
(8) To understand processes and patterns of land use change in the hillsides of Latin America.

These objectives will be met through a combination of advanced field monitoring techniques using electronic dataloggers, targeted field campaigns and various sensors, and the development of GIS based hydrological models to provide enhanced theoretical awareness and the capacity for simulating medium and long term behaviour of the system.