Modelling the water balance of wetlands for ecological management - Considerations of scale

Wetland water balances are modelled at a variety of scales, depending on the purpose of the exercise. Three primary scales are identified: regional modelling, in which major water resource allocation is a frequent issue; local scale modelling, which that considers the water table mosaic within a wetland at a field scale; and microscale modelling which considers the water table relevant to ecological processes at a point. At each scale, different models are appropriate. There is no one model that can be used at all scales.