Vegetation series, curve numbers and soil water availabilities. Application to forest restoration in drylands

摘要

Vegetation series related with plants succession in the ecosystems are associated to hydrologic properties of the land such as runoff curve numbers, runoff thresholds and soil water availability. The most evolved vegetation stages in a successional series usually present better soil and hydrologic conditions. In this way curve numbers decrease meanwhile runoff thresholds increase, and therefore water availability grows in the ecosystem. These postulates are analyzed in this paper using field data (7 sampling points) and a hydrologic model (MODIPE). One vegetation series (specifically: "Guadarramico-Iberica (supra-meso) holm oak siliceous series") and its successional stages have been chosen to find out its associated curve numbers and ecosystem water availability using MODIPE model. The objective is to apply these items to hydrologic planning and forest restoration in drylands, where water floods and water scarcity control urban and ecosystem development and restoration measures.