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<br />92 <br /> <br />cycle consists of two loops (Figure 2) (Odum 1978). Thl~ uphill part of the <br />loop 1s driyen, by solar energy and involves evaporation, evapotranspiration, <br />desalination, and cloud formation. The downhill part oJ: the loop, rain and <br />runoff, provides potential energy that is available for useful work. Where <br />wetlands occur in the runoff circuit, they assume a number of important <br />biological and hydrological functions (see l'iter). Som,. of the water flow <br />energy may be used by the biological community to enhan<:e its productivity <br />(Odum 1978). <br /> <br /> <br />/-8 <br /> <br />.~ : <br /> <br />"'AT <br /> <br />- - <br /> <br />- SEA <br />~, <br /> <br />" <br /> <br />Figure 2. the vater C)'cla .. it relat.. to wethlOld. and eoerl:r (]low. <br />(Fr~ ~ 1978). <br /> <br />Water entering, stored in, and leaving a wetland over long periods of <br />time tends to be constant. That is, inflow usually equllls outflow. <br />Therefore, water budgets or mass balance equlLtions can be used to determine <br /> <br />and understand the close association between ground watl~r and surface <br />waters, and its overriding influence on cOIIlIIIJn1ty structure snd function. <br />The principal flow components in a wetland wclter budget can be expressed in <br />the form of an equation (Csrter et al. 1979). <br /> <br />P + SWI - QIl + ET + SWO + CWO + AS <br /> <br />Where: <br /> <br />P is precipitation <br /> <br />SWI is surface water inflow (including overland runoff) <br /> <br />QWI is ground water inflow <br />.'!j> <br />iT is evaportranspiration <br /> <br />, <br />'$WO is surface water outflow <br /> <br />CWO is ground water outflow (discharge through aquIfers, see p,age ) <br /> <br />$\1, <br />I <br /> <br />the change in storage <br /> <br />'-~--I <br />, I <br />