Managing water resources in complex tropical basins: tailored SWAT ecohydrological modeling to the Rio das Velhas, Brazil

ABSTRACT Hydrological modeling in decision-making is particularly challenging in tropical countries such as Brazil. There are numerous modeling tools; however, many applications have focused on watersheds with a total area of 0.6 in all sub-basins on a monthly basis. We also explored how four contrasting land use scenarios affected four water-flow variables (surface runoff, base flow, percolation, and total streamflow). Our results show that by using multiple flow-monitoring stations and multisite calibration approaches, ecohydrological models can be useful for managing basin-extent water resources in countries of continental dimensions such as Brazil. RESUMO O uso de ferramentas de modelagem hidrológica na tomada de decisão é particularmente desafiador em países tropicais como o Brasil. Existem inúmeras ferramentas de modelagem disponíveis; entretanto muitas aplicações destas ferramentas são focadas em bacias hidrográficas com área total