Hydrological impacts of converting tropical montane cloud forest to pasture in northern Costa Rica
Researcher: Arnoud Frumau
Current affiliation: Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands, Petten, The Netherlands
Researcher: Conrado Tobón
Current affiliation: Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellin, Colombia
Collaborators:
- L.A. Bruijnzeel - VU University (project coordination)
- R. Burkard - formerly University of Bern, Switzerland (fog deposition)
- J.C. Calvo Alvarado - ITCR, Cartago, Costa Rica (forest hydrology)
- W. Eugster - ETH Zurich, Switzerland (fog meteorology)
- J. Fallas - UNC, Heredia, Costa Rica (spatial analysis)
- L. Koehler - University of Goettingen, Germany (epiphytes)
- M. Mulligan - King's College, London, UK (spatial modelling)
- J. Schellekens - VU University (hydrological modelling)
- Y. Wård - SUAS, Umeå, Sweden
Duration: 2001-2006
Funding: Forestry Research Programme of the UK Department for International Development, project no. R 7991.
Research questions
- What is the impact of cloud forest conversion to pasture on streamflow at the local scale (Monteverde-Arenal area), the national scale (Costa Rica), and the regional scale (Central America and adjacent countries)?
- How do key ecohydrological processes like rainfall interception, fog interception, soil water uptake and drainage differ between cloud forest and pasture?
- How do key soil physical characteristics differ between cloud forest and pasture?
Publications
- Frumau, K.F.A., Bruijnzeel, L.A., Tobón, C. (2011a). Precipitation measurement and derivation of precipitation inclination in a windy mountainous area in northern Costa Rica. Scientific Briefing. Hydrological Processes 25, 499-509.
- Frumau, K.F.A., Burkard, R., Schmid, S., Bruijnzeel, L.A., Tobón, C., Calvo-Alvarado, J.C. (2011b). A comparison of the performance of three types of passive fog gauges under conditions of wind-driven fog and precipitation. Hydrological Processes 25, 374-384.
- Schmid, S., Burkard, R., Frumau, K.F.A., Tobón, C., Bruijnzeel, L.A., Siegwolf, R., Eugster, W. (2011). Using eddy covariance and stable isotope mass balance techniques to estimate fog water contributions to a Costa Rican cloud forest during the dry season. Hydrological Processes 25, 429-437.
- Tobón, C., Köhler, L., Frumau, K.F.A., Bruijnzeel, L.A., Burkard, R., Schmid, S. (2010). Water dynamics of epiphytic vegetation in a lower montane cloud forest: fog interception, storage and evaporation. In Tropical Montane Cloud Forest. Science for Conservation and Management, Bruijnzeel, L.A., Scatena, F.N., Hamilton, L.S. (Editors). Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK; pp. 261-267.
- Tobón, C., Bruijnzeel, L.A., Frumau, K.F.A., Calvo-Alvarado, J.C. (2010). Changes in soil physical properties alter conversion of tropical montane cloud forest to pasture in northern Costa Rica. In Tropical Montane Cloud Forest. Science for Conservation and Management, Bruijnzeel, L.A., Scatena, F.N., Hamilton, L.S. (Editors). Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK; pp. 502-515.
- Wård, Y. (2007). Tropical montane clpoud forests - Fire disturbance and water input after disturbance. Licenciate Thesis, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, 28 pp.
- Koehler, L., Tobón, C., Frumau, K.F.A., Bruijnzeel, L.A. (2007). Biomass and water dynamics of epiphytes in old-growth and secondary montane cloud forests in Costa Rica. Plant Ecology 193, 171-184.
- Bruijnzeel, L.A. (compiler) and 15 others (2006). Hydrological impacts of converting tropical montane cloud forest to pasture, with initial reference to northern Costa Rica. Final Technical Report on DFID-FRP Project no. R7991. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Forestry Research Progamme of the UK Department for International Development, Aylesford, 52 pp.
- Frumau, K.F.A., Bruijnzeel, L.A., Tobón, C. (2006a). Hydrological measurement protocol for montane cloud forests. Final Technical Report, DFID-FRP Project no. R7991, Annex 2. Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, and Forestry Research Progamme of the UK Department for International Development, Aylesford, 101 pp.
- Frumau, K.F.A., Bruijnzeel, L.A., Tobón, C. (2006b). Measurement of precipitation in montane tropical catchments: Comparative performance of conventional, spherical and 'potential' rain gauges. pp. 104-108 in Liu, S.R., Sun, G., and Sun, P.S. (Editors), Forest and Water in a Changing Environment. IUFRO, Vienna and Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing.
- Mulligan, M., Frumau, K.F.A., Bruijnzeel, L.A. (2006). Falling at the first hurdle: spatial rainfall variability and the problem of closing catchment water budgets in tropical montane environments. pp. 114-117 in Liu, S.R., Sun, G., and Sun, P.S. (Editors), Forest and Water in a Changing Environment. IUFRO, Vienna and Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing.
- Schellekens, J. (2006). CQ-FLOW: A distributed hydrological model for the prediction of impacts of land-cover change, with special reference to the Rio Chiquito catchment, NW Costa Rica. Final Technical Report, DFID-FRP Project no. R7991, Annex 3, 71 pp.
- Mulligan, M, Burke, S.M. (2005). FIESTA: Fog Interception for the Enhancement of Streamflow in Tropical Areas. Final Technical Report for KCL/AMBIOTEK Contribution to DFID-FRP project R7991, 173 pp.
- Carvajal Salas, A. (2003). Distribucion de raices finas en suelos del bosque nuboso y pastos, en Monteverde, Costa Rica. Bachelors Thesis, ITCR, Cartago, Costa Rica, 78 pp.
Selected related publications
- Bruijnzeel, L.A., Mulligan, M., Scatena, F.N. (2011). Hydrometeorology of tropical montane cloud forests: emerging patterns. Hydrological Processes25, 465-498.
- Hoelscher, D., Koehler, L., Van Dijk, A.I.J.M., Bruijnzeel, L.A. (2004). The importance of epiphytes to total rainfall interception by a tropical montane rain forest in Costa Rica. Journal of Hydrology 292, 308-322.
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