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Title: SCALE ISSUES IN MODELING AGROECOSYSTEMS: A REVIEW

Author
item Ascough Ii, James
item Green, Timothy
item RUAN, H - COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
item Ahuja, Lajpat

Submitted to: Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/6/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: Ascough Ii, J.C., Green, T.R., Ruan, H., Ahuja, L.R. 1999. Scale issues in modeling agroecosystems: a review. Agronomy Abstracts. American Society of Agronomy Meetings. October 31, 1999.

Interpretive Summary: Recent concerns for the effects of agricultural management on agricultural production and environment require that we understand scale issues in hydrology. The development of new scaling methodology should lead to more realistic predictions of agroecosystem hydrologic response at multiple scales. This presentation reviews recent developments in scaling agroecosystem processes and emphasizes the role that spatial variability and changing processes play in hydrological scaling. Recent developments incorporating the effects of spatial variability in different simulation modeling systems are described, as are differences in hydrologic response that arise as a result of the spatial scale of observation. Multiscaling is also reviewed, leading to the conclusion that multiscaling may be promising in describing all moments of spatial probability distribution characteristics of many physical agroecosystem features (e.g., soils, topography, vegetation characteristics, etc.).

Technical Abstract: Recent concerns for the effects of agricultural management on agricultural production and environment require that we understand scale issues in hydrology. The development of new scaling methodology should lead to more realistic predictions of agroecosystem hydrologic response at multiple scales. This presentation reviews recent developments in scaling agroecosystem processes and emphasizes the role that spatial variability and changing processes play in hydrological scaling. Recent developments incorporating the effects of spatial variability in different simulation modeling systems are described, as are differences in hydrologic response that arise as a result of the spatial scale of observation. Multiscaling is also reviewed, leading to the conclusion that multiscaling may be promising in describing all moments of spatial probability distribution characteristics of many physical agroecosystem features (e.g., soils, topography, vegetation characteristics, etc.).