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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Boise, Idaho » Northwest Watershed Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #87901
Title: EVAPOTRANSPIRATION FLUXES WITHIN A RANGELAND WATERSHED

Author
item Hanson, Clayton
item WIGHT, ROSS - USDA-ARS-NWRC

Submitted to: Society for Range Management Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/23/1995
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Evapotranspiration (ET) is a major component of the water balance in arid and semiarid rangeland ecosystems and often accounts for nearly all of the precipitation input. An understanding of the ET process is important to the study of plant dynamics and hydrological processes within these ecosystems. Daily and seasonal ET fluxes were measured over several plant communities within a shrub-dominated watershed in southwestern Idaho using the Bowen ratio-energy balance system. Mean and annual precipitation varied from 300 mm to 764 mm on the study sites where the elevation varied from 1414 m to 2097 m respectively. Maximum ET varied form 4.0 mm per day from dry low sagebrush (Artemisia arbuscula) sites to over 5 mm per day from the wetter big sagebrush (A. Tridentata vaseyana) sites. The paper discusses ET rates as affected by location within the watershed and season of the year.