Landforms Effects on the Distribution of Grasses in a Semiarid Landscape
Javier Homero Flores Cervantes, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
Landforms affect the distribution of vegetation in the landscape by their control on water distribution. Among these controls are the spatially variable evaporation and transpiration rates in a rugged terrain that result from the variability of solar radiation on such a terrain. The control of water availability on vegetation dynamics is quite strong in water-limited environments such as the American Southwest. Vegetation, in turn, affects the erosion and sedimentation processes that shape landforms by protecting the surface from erosion and by capturing water and sediments. The capture of water reduces its erosive power.
The focus of my research is the bidirectional interaction between plants and topography. I specifically look at the interaction at two sites covered with grasses and a rugged terrain, one in the Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed, AZ, and another at the Sevilleta Wildlife Refuge, NM. Through modeling, I aim to represent this interaction.
In this seminar I will present 1) an analysis of the spatial distribution of vegetation with respect to topographic attributes at the two sites mentioned above; and 2) preliminary modeling results of my effort to represent vegetation dynamics in these semiarid settings.