The Parthe River between Cradefeld and Steinertsberg

Ecohydrological models are important tools to estimate the effects of changes in landuse and landmanagement on water and nutrient cycling of a watershed. Thereby model simulations can support watershed management decisions.

The Landscape Modeling Framework (LMF) is a distributed grid-based model for the simulation of water and nutrient cycling on the watershed scale. It consists of modules from the Library of Eco-Hydrologic modules (LHEM) and the Spatial Modeling Environment (SME), which connects these modules. The model has been applied to the Everglades (Florida), the Patuxent watershed (Maryland) and the Hunting Creek watershed (Maryland). As a modification for wetlands was used for the Everglades Landscape Model and the Hunting Creek is a subwatershed of the Patuxent watershed, further studies are needed to evaluate the transferability of the model.

The aim of this study is to determine if the hydrology of the 360 km² Parthe watershed Southeast of Leipzig, Germany can be described with the Landscape Modeling Framework.