A Bibliography of Evapotranspiration with Special Emphasis on Riparian Vegetation

Type:

Miscellaneous Report

Date published

January 2004

Authors:

Moore, J.L.

King, J.P.

Bawazir, A.S.

Sammis, T.W.

Abstract:

The scarcity of water in New Mexico has prompted the search for additional approaches to planning and management. Agriculture and riparian evapotranspiration (ET) is one of the larger loss components in the Middle Rio Grande hydrologic budget. Evapotranspiration has been studied for many years throughout the world and many methods have been proposed and implemented around the world. However, estimating ET in natural conditions is still a challenge to researchers. Many methods exist for measuring and estimating ET including water budget, micrometeorological, physiological, and semiempirical methods. Reviews and analyses of various methods have been documented by Gay (1993), Jensen and others (1990), Cuenca (1989), and Doorenbos and Pruitt (1992). As an example, Gay (1993) compared two meteorological methods (Bowen ratio and eddy covariance) and the systems used in measuring ET; and Jensen and others (1990) described and compared in detail many methods that can be used to measure and estimate ET such as the water budget as well as micrometeorological and climatological methods.

This bibliography was prepared in an effort to collect information related to methods and techniques used in measuring and/or estimating evapotranspiration of riparian and agricultural crops. It focuses on those studies the authors thought to be relevant to the ET of agricultural and riparian vegetation in the Middle Rio Grande with a major emphasis on the water use of phreatophytes such as saltcedar, cottonwood, Russian olive, and saltgrass. Evapotranspiration of agricultural crops have been studied and documented for many years but less is known about the riparian vegetation.

The bibliography includes information on: 1) the methods and techniques used in the past and present in measuring and estimating ET in both agricultural and riparian vegetation; 2) riparian ecosystem changes and various methods of management and control of exotic species such as saltcedar; 3) water requirements of agricultural crops and riparian vegetation; and 4) crop coefficients based on heat units (growing degree days).

Other bibliographies on the subject were reported by Robinson and Johnson (1961) and Johns (1989). Robinson and Johnson’s (1961) bibliography covers references from the 1800s into 1958 while that of Johns (1989) covers from 1920 into 1984. The references selected here extend from the 1940s to the year 2000. While some of the references may overlap, the bibliography is by no means complete due to extensive literature on the subject. However, it provides an update for the subject. Secondary sources searched include CAB (Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux), AGRICOLA (National Agricultural Library), Water Resources Abstracts (NISC), SciSearch (ISI, Institute for Scientific Information) and Dissertation Abstracts International.

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