Flooding in semi-arid streams is highly variable but distinguished from its humid counterpart in terms of forcing conditions, landscape response, flood severity, and stream-aquifer connectivity. These floods have the potential for great benefit in a water-limited environment, but also great devastation when powerful floods encounter human infrastructure. This dissertation employs an integrative approach to address several facets of flooding in semi-arid streams. In particular, information from field sampling during flood events combined with modeling are used to evaluate the processes of post-disturbance sediment transport, flood routing, transient bank storage, and stream disconnection. The major findings show: (1) Suspended sediment composition in floods following wildfire depends on the number, timing, and intensity of preceding storms and flood events, implicating overland flow hillslope processes as a dominant mass wasting mechanism (2) Isotopic chemographs for two representative intense convective storm events demonstrate that the flash flood bore develops from predominantly high elevation event water that overcomes, incorporates, and pushes baseflow to the front of the hydrograph peak (3) Isotope information combined with a plug-flow model can simulate this flood bore mixing process simultaneously in two separate canyons in the basin in order to calculate the timing and quantity of flow; this could be a useful tool for watersheds that are not extensively instrumented, or for calibrating a more complex or distributed model, (4) For a stream connected to an underlying aquifer, a circulation pattern develops at the onset of flooding that causes an upwelling of antecedent water into the unsaturated zone, challenging the assumptions of one dimensional, lateral flow and transport into the streambank, and (5) For small stream-aquifer disconnections, large increases in infiltration, large decreases in seepage, and a dominantly vertical profile for floodwater were observed. This implies that a stream that supports a wide riparian corridor may be in danger of vegetation die-offs with even shallow depletions of the groundwater table.

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Prior observations by Koch (2005) suggest the presence of soil water mixed with current rainfall in runoff samples at the Kendall subwatershed of the USDA-Agricultural Research Service Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed (WGEW). However, previous observations elsewhere in the WGEW have shown runoff to consist mainly of current precipitation (Goodrich et al., 2004). The disparity between the two studies demonstrates a need for continued research; therefore, this study uses isotope and solute geochemical tracers to determine the sources contributing to runoff at the Lucky Hills subwatershed of the WGEW during the 2015 monsoon season. A comparison of the stable isotopes of water (2H and 18O) in runoff to those in precipitation and soil water, shows that runoff and precipitation are distinct (p < 0.05), while soil water cannot be differentiated from runoff (p > 0.05). However, graphical representations of chloride and sulfate concentrations in the three water sources (precipitation, soil water and runoff), conclusively reveal that there is negligible soil water present in the runoff at Lucky Hills. Therefore, it is likely that there is no soil water mixing into the runoff at the Lucky Hills subwatershed, but more research is necessary to confirm these results. Because no runoff or soil water data was generated at the Kendall subwatershed during the 2015 monsoon season, continued research is necessary to draw conclusions about the sources contributing to runoff in the Kendall subwatershed, and in other portions of the Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed.

No description available.

No description available.

Rainfall in semi-arid areas is generally insufficient to meet crop water requirements, and above all erratic in distribution. This leads to crop yield fluctuation, which drastically affects food security. Rainwater harvesting technologies have been implemented in these areas in order to mitigate the effect of perennial droughts. The successful adoption of these technologies can contribute to poverty alleviation, and therefore improve the livelihood of resource-poor subsistence farmers. Field trials for testing different rainwater harvesting scenarios are expensive, time consuming and laborious. As a result, crop models must be used to help study these systems, and thereby make prudent water harvesting design choices for specific situations. For this purpose, a simple, one-dimensional soil water balance model (Soil Water Balance-SWB) was modified by incorporating linear runoff estimation models in order to predict the soil water balance and crop yield under different rainwater harvesting design scenarios and to select the design most likely to succeed in a particular locality. Field data collected during the 2007/2008 maize growing season, on sandy clay loam soils, at the Hatfield Experimental Farm of the University of Pretoria, was used to parameterize the different runoff models and to calibrate the SWB crop model. Various rainwater harvesting design scenarios were run for two different semi-arid areas, on different soil types to illustrate the application of the SWB model as a tool to help design the most appropriate rainwater harvesting strategy, taking into account whether arable land is limiting or not limiting for crop production. The SWB model was successfully calibrated. Simulation results reveal that in drier years bigger design ratios (cropping area: runoff area) of the in-field rainwater harvesting technique (IRWH) are most likely to be successful, while in wetter years smaller design ratios of the IRWH technique or even simpler rainwater harvesting strategies such as the tied ridge and the conventional tillage techniques can harvest sufficient rainfall for maximum crop production. Results from field trials conducted in Pretoria, on sandy clay loam soils, confirmed that, in a wet season, maize yield is maximized by a smaller IRWH design (1:1B). The SWB model can be used as a tool to help selecting the most appropriate rainwater harvesting strategy under specific conditions with minimum input requirements. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Plant Production and Soil Science / unrestricted

<p>Irrigation with saline waters is an agricultural practicethat is becoming increasingly common as competition for freshwater increases. In this thesis the mechanisms behind salinityand drought stress has been studied using data from fieldexperiments in combination with a modelling tool, theCoupModel. Measurements from field experiments on salinity,boron toxicity and drought stressed tomatoes grown during twoclimatically different seasons in the Arava desert, Israel,showed a linear relationship between relative growth andevapotranspiration, for all treatments and seasons. Data fromthe spring was used to concurrently simulate growth andtranspiration, hence accounting for feedback mechanisms betweenthe plant and the environment. Salinity stress was modelled asan osmotic effect (reduction of water uptake at high soilsalinities, W approach) or a toxicity effect (direct reductionof photosynthesis with soil salinity, G approach). Goodagreement between simulated growth and transpiration wasachieved with both salinity stress approaches, with twoexceptions. When growth and transpiration were simulated withthe W approach at different salinity levels, transpiration wasunderestimated at high stress. The G approach resulted in anunderestimation of growth at high water stress under moderatesalinity. A direct decrease of photosynthesis leads to adecreasing water-use efficiency with salinity while water-useefficiency remains constant with salinity when the salinitystress is modelled as a reduction in water uptake. Measurementsshowed decreasing water-use efficiency for the salinitygradient, explaining why the W approach was not applicable. Itwas not possible to detect any considerable differences betweenthree different approaches for water uptake tested in thestudy.</p><p><b>Keywords:</b>Water-use efficiency; osmotic effect; iontoxicity; semi-arid.</p>

This thesis explains two aspects of animal spatial foraging behaviour arising as a direct consequence of animals' need to drink water: the concentration of animal impacts, and the response of animals to those impacts. In semi-arid rangelands, the foraging range of free-ranging large mammalian herbivores is constrained by the distribution of drinking water during the dry season. Animal impacts become concentrated around these watering sites according to the geometrical relationship between the available foraging area and the distance from water, and the spatial distribution of animal impacts becomes organised along a utilisation gradient termed a "piosphere". During the dry season the temporal distribution of the impacts is determined by the day-to-day foraging behaviour of the animals. The specific conditions under which these spatial foraging processes determine the piosphere pattern have been identified in this thesis. At the core of this investigation are questions about the response of animals to the heterogeneity of their resources. Aspects of spatial foraging are widely commented on whilst explaining the consequences of piosphere phenomena for individual animal intake, population dynamics, feeding strategies and management. Implicated are our notions of optimal foraging, scale in animal response, and resource matching. This thesis addressed each of these. In the specific context of piospheres, the role of energy balance in optimal foraging was also tested. Field experiments for this thesis showed a relationship between goat browsing activity and measures of spatial impact. As a preliminary step to investigating animal response to resource heterogeneity, the spatial pattern of foraging behaviour/impacts was described using spatial statistics. Browsing activity varied daily revealing animal assessment of the spatial heterogeneity of their resources and an energetic basis for foraging decisions. This foraging behaviour was shown to be determined by individual plants rather than at larger scales of plant aggregation. A further experiment investigated the claim that defoliation has limited impact on browser intake rate, suggesting that piospheres may have few consequences for browser intake. This experiment identified a constraining influence of browse characteristics at the small scale on goat foraging by relating animal intake rate to plant bite size and distribution. Computer simulation experiments for this thesis supported these empirical findings by showing that the distribution of spatial impacts was sensitive to the marginal value of forage resources, and identified plant bite size and distribution as the causal factors in limiting animal intake rate in the presence of a piosphere. As a further description of spatial pattern, piospheres were characterised by applying a contemporary ecological theory that ranks resource patches into a spatial hierarchy. Ecosystem dynamics emerge from the interactions between these patches, with piospheres being an emergent property of a natural plant-herbivore system under specific conditions of constrained foraging. The generation of a piosphere was shown to be a function of intake constraints and available foraging area, whilst piosphere extent was shown to be independent of daily energy balance including expenditure on travel costs. A threshold distance for animal foraging range arising from a hypothesised conflict between daily energy intake and expenditure was shown not to exist, whereas evidence for an intermediate distance from water as a focus for accumulated foraging activity was identified. Individual animal foraging efficiency in the computer model was shown to be sensitive to the piosphere, while animal population dynamics were found to be determined in the longer term by dry season key resources near watering points. Time lags were found to operate in the maintenance of the gradient, and the density dependent moderation of the animal population. The latter was a direct result of the inability of animal populations to match the distribution of their resources with the distribution of their foraging behaviour, because of their daily drinking requirements. The result is that animal forage intake was compromised by the low density of dry season forage in the vicinity of a water point. This thesis also proposes that piospheres exert selection pressures on traits to maximise energy gain from the spatial heterogeneity of dry season resources, and that these have played a role in the evolution of large mammalian herbivores.

This study develops understanding of vegetation change and water, sediment and carbon dynamics in semi-arid environments. Objectives were addressed using an integrated ecohydrological and biogeochemical approach. Fieldwork, over two contrasting grass-woody transitions at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico, USA; quantified vegetation structure, soil structure and the spatial distribution of soil carbon resources. Over both transitions; woody sites showed a lower percentage vegetation cover and a greater heterogeneity in vegetation pattern, soil properties and soil carbon. Soil organic carbon differed in both quantity and source across the sites; with levels higher under vegetation, particularly at the woody sites. Biogeochemical analysis revealed soil organic carbon to be predominantly sourced from grass at the grassland sites. In contrast, at the woody sites soil organic carbon under vegetation patches was predominantly sourced from woody vegetation, whilst inter-patch areas exhibited a strong grass signature. Investigation of function focussed on the hydrological response to intense rainfall events. Rainfall-runoff monitoring showed woody sites to exhibit greater; runoff coefficients, event discharge, eroded sediment and event carbon yields. In contrast to grass sites, biogeochemical analysis showed the loss of organic carbon from woody sites to exhibit a mixed source signal, reflecting the loss of carbon originating from both patch and interpatch areas. To examine the linkages between vegetation structure and hydrological function, a flow length metric was developed to quantify hydrological connectivity; with woody sites shown to have longer mean flow pathways. Furthermore, in addition to rainfall event characteristics, flow pathway lengths were shown to be a significant variable for explaining the variance within fluxes of water, sediment and carbon. Results demonstrating increased event fluxes of sediment and carbon from woody sites have important implications for the quality of semi-arid landscapes and other degrading ecosystems globally. It is thus necessary to translate the understanding of carbon dynamics developed within this study to the landscape scale, so changing fluvial carbon fluxes can be incorporated into carbon budgets, research frameworks and land management strategies at policy-relevant scales.

Magister Artium - MA / Changes in climate patterns have raised concerns for environmentalists globally and across southern Africa. The changes greatly affect the growth dynamics of vegetation to such an extent that climate elements such as rainfall have become the most important determinant of vegetation growth. In arid and semi-arid environments, vegetation relies on near-surface groundwater as the main source of water. Changes in the environment due to climate can be examined by using remotely sensed data. This approach offers an affordable and easy means of monitoring the impact of climate variability on vegetation growth. This study examined the response of vegetation to rainfall and temperature, and assessed the dependence thereof on groundwater in a climatically variable region of the semi-arid Karoo. The methodology used included sampling plant species in the riparian and non-riparian areas over two plant communities in seven vegetation plots. The Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) derived from the Landsat OLI and TM was used to measure vegetation productivity. This was compared with rainfall totals derived from the Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS) and the mean monthly temperature totals. A drought index, (Standardised Precipitation Index – SPI) was an additional analysis to investigate rainfall variability. Object-based Image Analysis (OBIA) and Maximum Likelihood supervised classification approaches together with indicators of groundwater discharge areas (Topographic Wetness Index – TWI, and profile curvature) were used to map vegetation and surface water that depend on groundwater.