Identification of the composite parameters of the BBH-B model specifying the effects of biohydrologic processes on the water balance of crop fields

• Published in: Biológia Vol. 64; no. 3; pp. 478 - 482
• Main Authors: Kobayashi, Tetsuo, Junichi Teshima, Makito Mori, Daisuke Yasutake, Weizhen Wang, Hiroyuki Cho
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Versita 01.06.2009; SP Versita
• Subjects: BBH model; biohydrologic process; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cell Biology; evapotranspiration; Life Sciences; macropore flow; Microbiology; Plant Sciences; rain; rainfall interception; soil texture; summer; vegetation; water balance; Zoology; BBH model; water balance; evapotranspiration; biohydrologic process; macropore flow; rainfall interception
• ISSN: 1336-9563; 0006-3088; 1336-9563
• DOI: 10.2478/s11756-009-0083-x

A model of soil hydrology incorporating rainfall interception and macropore flow, which are representative biohydorologic processes, (BBH-B model) has two composite parameters, Π and Φ. These parameters express the ratios of rainfall interception and macropore flow to gross rainfall, respectively. Their values, however, change widely with the vegetation, soil texture and wetness. The results of experiments that have been carried out for various objectives under various conditions by the present authors were reanalyzed to evaluate these two parameters. Further, two supplemental experiments were designed to identify the two parameters. In the experiments, the monthly mean of Π for a cornfield ranged from 0.18 to 0.64 in the summer months, while Φ for a weed-grown field reached a maximum of 0.8 when daily rainfall was more than 40 mm day−1. From these analyses and experiments, we concluded that the effects of biohydrologic processes on the water balance of crop fields are rather large and not negligible.