Comparative hydrology of Mediterranean shrublands : promo 1990-1992

Abstract

A comparative hydrology approach was proposed to analyze the hydrological behavior of small mediterranean shrubland watersheds and provide a potential basis for regionalization studies. Four simple regressiontype models were used to describe the behavior of nine mediterranean shrubland watersheds from France, California and South Africa. The values of the models' paramaters were found significantly different. To explain the differences, a set of morphometric and climatic variables was selected, and a stepwise regression analysis was done. The results show that most of the variability encountered among the parameters was the effect of the watersheds' morphometry and of the summer rainfall amount in each region. Additional watershed data is needed to validate the parameters' explanatory equations. However, the approach proposed here seems to present valuable opportunities for the comparative study of other vegetation types, the regionalization of hydrological models parameters, and the study of the effects of watershed management practices.