EarthRef.org Reference Database (ERR)
Development and Maintenance by the EarthRef.org Database Team

Detailed Reference Information
Collins et al. 2004
Collins, D.B.G., Bras, R.L. and Tucker, G.E. (2004). Modeling the effects of vegetation-erosion coupling on landscape evolution. Journal of Geophysical Research 109: doi: 10.1029/2003JF000028. issn: 0148-0227.

From rainfall interception at the canopy to added soil cohesion within the root zone, plants play a significant role in directing local geomorphic dynamics, and vice versa. The consequences at the regional scale, however, are known in less quantitative terms. In light of this, the numerical Channel-Hillslope Integrated Landscape Development model is equipped with coupled vegetation-erosion dynamics, allowing for sensitivity analysis on the various aspects of vegetation behavior. The processes considered are plant growth, plant death, and the additional resistance imparted by plants against erosion. With each process is associated a single parameter, whose effects on the spatiotemporal nature of a 1 km2 basin is studied. Through their inhibition of erosion, plants steepened the topography and reduced drainage density, yet, in doing so, made erosive events more extreme. Plants more susceptible to erosion act to decouple neighboring cells and cause extensive and perennial network and channel adjustments.

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Hydrology, Geomorphology, Hydrology, Plant ecology, Mathematical Geophysics, Modeling, Hydrology, Erosion and sedimentation, ecogeomorphology, fluvial, erosion, landscape, modeling
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
http://www.agu.org/journals/jb/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
2000 Florida Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009-1277
USA
1-202-462-6900
1-202-328-0566
service@agu.org
Click to clear formClick to return to previous pageClick to submit