Groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs) - including meadows, wetlands, rivers, and some forests and shrublands - play a critical role in sustaining biodiversity and supporting human and nature's water needs. These systems rely on accessible water levels, making them particularly vulnerable to changes in groundwater availability caused by climate variability and human activities. The Nevada GDE Water Needs Explorer Tool was developed by the Desert Research Institute, The Nature Conservancy, and the University of Madison-Wisconsin to fill a gap in understanding of the connections between groundwater availability and ecosystem response of GDEs. The tool uses model results from observed data to explore the water needs of GDEs in Nevada. The purpose of the tool is to enable users to get insights on how GDE groundwater needs vary across climate, soils and vegetation type.
The tool provides estimations of the groundwater component of evapotranspiration (ETGW) and the groundwater subsidy (GW subsidy).
Materials
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Fact sheet
Information about the tool. Download
Disclaimers
This map tool presents results of modeling for Reclmation Applied Science project R19AP00278 Quantifying Environmental Water Requirements for Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems for Resilient Water Management.
This tool provides estimates of how a GDE would respond IF it existed at the selected location with the chosen characteristics. However, GDEs do not occur in many locations and it is the user's responsibility to understand that results relate to a hypothetical system at the location specified. Estimates of GDE water needs are based on what water a hypothetical GDE might use under the climate conditions associated with the location on a map and the soil, vegetation, and groundwater depth characteristics the user defines.. The soil hydraulic properties, vegetation characteristics and health and groundwater conditions in an actual GDE might differ and coult therefore cause actual water use to be substantially different. Furthermore, the model developed here is a simplification of our current understanding of ecosystem processes and may not accurately quantify water use in all cases.