Dinámica hidrológica ecosistémica en un bosque tropical seco asociado a un medio fracturado

Abstract

Tropical dry forests are seasonal ecosystems that usually develop under a very complex hydrological dynamic. In order to analyze the processes related to groundwater in these ecosystems, three micro-basins were studied on the southern coast of the state of Jalisco, Mexico, which support a dry tropical forest in a state of conservation on fractured granite, where research has been carried out on the dynamics of physical and biotic media for more than 40 years, but very little is known about the functioning of groundwater. The analysis was carried out by: 1) LiDAR images and fieldwork, 2) vegetation distribution and characterization of the fractured environment; 3) automated measurements of the precipitation-runoff response; 4) numerical simulations of the soil for the study of the infiltration process towards the fractured medium, and 5) integration and synthesis of existing multidisciplinary knowledge that adds key ecosystem components adding the physiology of the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. The results showed that the distribution of vegetation and its phenology follows patterns that indicate the existence of local underground flows and that the process of infiltration through the soil is very fast towards the strongly fractured rock, leading to the formation of base flow in the streams. Thus, the infiltration and groundwater recharge are greater than previously considered. A basic conceptual model of water movement is proposed, which guides research on ecosystem hydrology in tropical dry forests in a markedly seasonal context.