JOURNAL OF NATURAL RESOURCES ›› 2016, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (12): 2034-2046.doi: 10.11849/zrzyxb.20160099

• Resource Ecology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Quantitative Analysis of Hydrological Response to ForestChanges in the Middle of the Tianshan Mountains:A Case Study of the Urumqi River Basin

DING Cheng-feng1, ZHANG Hui-fang1, GAO Ya-qi1, ZHU Ya-li1, Dilixiati BAOERHAN1, LI Wei-tao2, LI Xia2   

  1. 1. Institute of Modern Forestry, Xinjiang Academy of Forestry, Urumqi 830000, China;
    2. School of Geography Information and Tourism, Chuzhou University, Chuzhou 239000, China
  • Received:2016-01-27 Online:2016-12-20 Published:2016-12-20
  • Supported by:

    The Fundamental Research Funds of Public Welfare Research Institute in Xinjiang,No. XMBM000001953; the Cultivation Project of Chuzhou University in Anhui Province, No. 2014PY02.

Abstract:

Taking the Urumqi River Basin as a research area, this paper quantitatively analyzed the hydrological response to forest changes in the middle of the Tianshan Mountains. Based on the analysis of runoff change with hydrological and meteorological data (1980-2013), and using SWAT model and habitat limiting factors of spruce distribution, the influence of the change of spruce forest on runoff in different dry years was determined in five different distribution scenarios of spruce. The result shows that: 1) The calibrated SWAT model can simulate the monthly flows well and has high simulation precision, and the most sensitive parameters influencing model was CN2 according to the actual condition of forest land. The R2 and Ens of calibration and validation periods were all higher than 0.85, and the relative errors |Re| were all less than 5%. 2) In the same climate condition, the spruce forest changes in wet year, normal year, dry year showed linear correlation with runoff, 1% increase of spruce forest area resulting in runoff depth reduction of 0.06, 0.05 and 0.04 mm, respectively; and the runoff increased more significantly in wet year and normal year. 3) With the decrease of spruce forest area (the forest land cover reduced from 17.73% to 0%), the difference of the runoff variation coefficient and the fluctuation range between scenarios increased gradually, and the range of the runoff fluctuation can expand 5.1 times. The spruce forest in mountain area can effectively reduce the surface runoff and its fluctuation range. It has important significance for the stability of water resources (the uneven distribution of runoff), the quantitative research of forest water conservation, and the scientific regulation and management of water resources in forest regions.

Key words: runoff simulation, spruce forest change, SWAT model, Urumqi River Basin

CLC Number: 

  • S715