INTEGRATION OF FOREST ECOSYSTEM AND CLIMATIC MODELS WITH A HYDROLOGICMODEL

The effects of changes in the landscape and climate over geological ti me are plain to see in the present hydrological regime. More recent an thropogenic changes may also have effects on our way of life. A prereq uisite to predicting such effects is that we understand the interactio ns between climate, landscape and the hydrological regime. A semi-dist ributed hydrological model (SLURP) has been developed which can be use d to investigate, in a simple way, the links between landscape, climat e and hydrology for watersheds of various sizes. As well as using data from the observed climate network, the model has been used with data from atmospheric models to investigate possible changes in hydrology. A critical input to such a model is knowledge of the links between lan dscape and climate. While direct anthropogenic effects such as changes in forested area may presently be included, the indirect effects of c limate on landscape and vice verse are not yet modeled well enough to be explicitly included. The development of models describing climate-l andscape relationships such as regeneration, development and breakup, water and carbon fluxes at species, ecosystem and biome level is a nec essary step in understanding and predicting the effects of changes in climate on landscape and on water resources. Forest is the predominant land cover in Canada covering 453 Mha and productivity/succession mod els for major forest types should be included in an integrated climate -landscape-water simulation.