PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY ›› 2011, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (5): 535-544.doi: 10.11820/dlkxjz.2011.05.003

• Original Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Review of Eco-hydrological Models of Watershed Scale

CHEN Lajiao1,2, ZHU Axing1,3, QIN Chengzhi1, LI Runkui1,2, LIU Jing3, LIU Junzhi1,2   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China;
    2. Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;
    3. Department of Geography, University ofWisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
  • Received:2011-01-01 Revised:2011-04-01 Online:2011-05-25 Published:2011-05-25

Abstract: Eco-hydrological model of watershed scale is an essential tool to assess the impact of environmental change on watershed hydrological and ecological processes. This has made eco-hydrological model a hot research focus, and significant advances have been achieved during recent years. This paper provides a perspective on the current state of the research on eco-hydrological modeling. Firstly we elaborate the characteristics of the interaction between vegetation and hydrological processes and the requirements for watershed eco-hydrological modeling. Then the existing models are classified according to the detail levels of their description of the eco-hydrological interaction. Different types of eco-hydrological models and their respective advantage and disadvantage are summarized. Finally, the key problems and research issues (i.e,eco-hydrological interaction, parameters estimation and the problem of uncertainty) for eco-hydrological modeling are addressed.

Key words: ecohydrological interaction, eco-hydrological model, global change, hydrological processes, vegetation