Influence of environmental factors on evapotranspiration in a peatland ecosystem in Central China

Environmental factors affect evapotranspiration and usually cause a serious loss of water content from wetland ecosystems. Accurate estimation of evapotranspiration is vital to determine the amount of water necessary to preserve wetlands, particularly peatlands in Central China. The period studied was 24 months. The highest value (0.157 mm/hr) occurred in first growing season, and the lowest value (0.045 mm/hr) occurred in the non-growing season of 2017. Seasonal differences in evapotranspiration occurred in the active growth seasons June through October. The peak value of net radiation was 369 W.m2 in September 2017. There was a clear relationship between evapotranspiration and air temperature but a weak correlation with precipitation; annual precipitation was 19 mm. The Bowen ratio showed no correlation with evapotranspiration. The average rate of evapotranspiration throughout the study period was 80%-95%. The eddy covariance technique was used to determine the effect of certain environmental factors on wetland evapotranspiration.