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| Author(s): |
Elizabethe de Campos Ravagnani
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Master's Dissertation |
| Press: | Piracicaba. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura (CENA/STB) |
| Defense date: | 2010-10-14 |
| Examining board members: |
Luiz Antonio Martinelli;
Maurício Ranzini;
Humberto Ribeiro da Rocha
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| Advisor: | Luiz Antonio Martinelli |
| Abstract | |
The Atlantic Forest is recognized as an endangered ecosystem, considered one of the prioritary biomes for the development of conservation policies. Its Forest area, nowadays reduced to less than 12% of its original coverage, needs special attention concerning the understanding of its functioning as a subside to its adequate conservation. Nitrogen plays a fundamental role in life maintenance. When present in low concentrations can act as a refrainer of aquatic and terrestrial primary production. The comprehension of N dynamics, however, is complex, and the use of models can, besides helping this comprehension, turn faster the understanding of transport mechanisms and foresee future scenarios. Thus, the present study parameterized and validated the model INCA (Integrated Nitrogen in CAtchments) in a catchment of the Ipiranga stream, in Serra do Mar State Park, with the aim to investigate the influence of the chemical processes contemplated by the model in N dynamics. The present study also aimed to fulfill a gap in these types of studies in tropical areas. The results show that the model simulated relatively well the hydrological processes, mainly the issues related to baseflow, however the flow peaks were frequently sub estimated. Concerning the nitrogen, average annual values were obtained at the same magnitude order, meanwhile seasonal variations were not well simulated. One of the possible causes is the inadequation of the model in tropical regions and the small quantity of nitrogen found in every studied compartment, considering that the catchment presents few nitrogen sources of anthropogenic origin (AU) | |