Comparative Study of Ecosystem Hydrological Services Modeling Tools

Ecosystem services modeling has been the focus over the past two decades as a solution to reduce the problems caused by unstable management of natural resources and water-related ecosystem services are among the most studied. There are two types of ecosystem hydrological services modeling include traditional hydrological softwares and specialized softwares of ecosystem services. The present study introduces and compares some softwares according to required data for run the model, ease of use, ability to answer the questions and interpretation the results. SWAT and VIC are examples of traditional softwares with an emphasis on constructive processes of ecosystem services, while InVEST and ARIES are specialized ecosystem services softwares with an emphasis on spatial visualization of these services at the landscape level. If the appropriate data and required expertise are available to implement the model, SWAT and VIC softwares are suggested that can provide more information and details to the user such as evapotranspiration, surface runoff, subsurface flow, sediment load, nitrate and total phosphorus. While InVEST and ARIES softwares are more suitable for non-specialists and they are able to provide a general picture of ecosystem services with less data.