Dynamic simulation model to valuate ecological hydrological services at Piracicaba, Capivari e Jundiaí rivers basin

Author(s)

Alba Maria Guadalupe Orellana Gonzalez

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Piracicaba.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALA/BC)
• Defense date: 2010-12-16

Examining board members

Marcos Vinicius Folegatti; Maria Victoria Ramos Ballester; René Porfirio Camponez do Brasil; Sergio Nascimento Duarte; Elias Silva

• Advisor: Marcos Vinicius Folegatti

Abstract

The main objective of this research was to develop a dynamic simulation model to valuate ecological hydrological ecosystem services. The principles of System Dynamics were applied using the software STELLA. A basic hypothesis was adopted: ecological valuation of ecosystem services must use a tool to integer all the elements involved in ecological modeling, as a basic requirement to understand the ecosystem dynamic that generates water fluxes as hydrological ecosystems services (HES). HES are the benefits generated from complex interactions that occur within the hydrologic cycle; those interactions deals with the preservation of available water, in quantity and quality. The model was developed after a systemic analysis of the ecosystem processes involved in the hydrologic cycle; pointing out the main variables and the interrelations that constitute it. Then, the structure of those relations was represented in a causal diagram; becoming the base to built up the stocks and flows diagram. This later diagram established the mathematical model that allowed the numerical simulation. The time step of the model is one day during 365 days, estimating annual water HES. The model was parameterized at Poses sub-watershed, Extrema County, Minas Gerais. In Extrema was established the first payment for HES project in Brazil, based on the relationship between forest land and water availability. Thirty six scenarios were studied considering surface, infiltrated and stored water services fluxes; affecting the availability of water. The objective of those scenarios was to evaluate the impact that variables such as: soil texture, vegetation height, leaf area index and groundwater depth have on water flux generation. The model developed enables to increase the understanding of HES fluxes, becoming a tool with a broad spectrum of applications during the stages of assessing and scoping alternatives for payment of environmental services and to monitor HES programs in Brazil. (AU)