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Modelling wetland hydrology and the impact of human interference on its hydrological processes

Final Activity Report Summary - WETLANDMODEL (Modelling wetland hydrology and the impact of human interference on its hydrological processes)

The project aimed at developing software tools and new techniques to improve sustainable management and conservation of tropical alpine wetlands. The water cycle of these environments differs strongly from other ecosystem, mainly due to the specific volcanic soils and the extreme meteorological conditions such as temperature and rainfall.

The project has fulfilled it aims through the following actions:

- a new model was developed, based on existing modelling frameworks for shallow, mountainous catchments and applied to 4 experimental catchments in the Ecuadorian Andes. Field data collected before and during the fellowship were incorporated in the model to improve its representatity and performance

- A new uncertainty framework was developed to improve the prediction of human impacts on the water cycle. The framework is based on state-of-the-art uncertainty techniques (the Extended Generalised Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation). It explores the uncertainty of model predictions in non-stationary conditions, improves data assimilation in the model, and facilitates the extraction of new information from existing data.

- The results of the first part of the project were published in several peer-reviewed journals during the first and second year of the project (Earth-Science Reviews, Geomorphology, Catena, Forest Ecology and Management). The results of the second part of the project are submitted as two papers to Journal of Hydrology.

- The project has given the researcher the possibility to expand his research network considerable. He has visited universities and research institutes in the UK, Belgium, US, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru. He has given oral presentations at several international scientific meetings and was invited for presentations and interviews in NGO's, institutes and national and internationacl policy bodies such as CGIAR, the Ecuadorian government and the Comunidad Andina de Naciones.