NUMERICAL MODELING OF RIVER ECOSYSTEM AND APPLICATION TO CHANNEL NETWORK STRUCTURE IN A RIVER BASIN

Abstract

 A numerical simulation model was proposed to describe the material cycling and the river ecosystem in river channel network, in which river continuum concept and flood pulse concept were modeled and the stream order and the link magnitude were employed to characterize the river channel network structures. The model was applied to the Ibogawa-river basin in Hyogo, Japan. The results of the numerical simulation show that the present simulation model can describe the longitudinal distribution of the production/respiration ratio and the decomposition of coarse particulate organic matter along stream.