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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Riverside, California » Agricultural Water Efficiency and Salinity Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #396836
Research Project: Water Management for Crop Production in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions and the Safe Use of Alternative Water Resources

Location: Agricultural Water Efficiency and Salinity Research Unit

Title: Understanding ecohydrologic processes of irrigated agricultural ecosystems by integrating in-situ and modeling approaches

Author
item AJAMI, HOORI - University Of California, Riverside
item TRIANA, JUAN - University Of California, Riverside
item YUAN, YUSEN - University Of California, Riverside
item Anderson, Raymond - Ray
item Wang, Dong
item Kelley, Jason

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/4/2022
Publication Date: 12/12/2022
Citation: Ajami, H., Triana, J.S., Yuan, Y., Anderson, R.G., Wang, D., Kelley, J.R. 2022. Understanding ecohydrologic processes of irrigated agricultural ecosystems by integrating in-situ and modeling approaches. Meeting Abstract. N/A.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Sustainable management of agricultural ecosystems is a great challenge in the 21st century due to the increasing demand for food production and decreases in freshwater availability. Irrigated agriculture produces 40% of the food globally and accounts for 70% of global freshwater use, including surface water and groundwater. Therefore, understanding ecohydrologic processes of irrigated agricultural ecosystems, such as estimates of plant water use, is crucial for sustainable water management and maximizing irrigation efficiency. Evapotranspiration (ET) is one of the major component of the water budget, and transpiration represents between 22% to 90% of total ET globally. Partitioning of ecosystem-scale ET fluxes between soil/canopy evaporation (E) and plant transpiration (T) in irrigated agriculture ecosystems is not well understood, causing large uncertainties in simulated water budget. In this study, we used ET and T data from multiple ET partitioning approaches in two citrus orchards in the Central Valley of California to constrain vegetation parameters in an integrated land surface–groundwater model, ParFlow.CLM. Field scale simulation results indicate that using both T and ET data reduces uncertainty in ET estimates compared to baseline crop parameters. Next, we developed a ParFlow.CLM model for the Kaweah River Watershed to simulate the impacts of various irrigation strategies on the water budget. Our results are expected to inform growers and groundwater sustainability agencies to formulate sustainable and effective water management practices in highly managed agroecosystems.