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Abstract

Mediterranean mountain areas are especially vulnerable to global warming. An increase of extreme event frequency is the more probable situation, for instance droughts and heatwaves. Dehesas are a mediterranean mountain ecosystem, which result from a co-evolution of autochthonous ecosystems and human settlement in a sustainable balance, with high relevance from the environmental (biodiversity) and socioeconomic (livestock farming) perspective. They are complex systems with a vegetation structure composed of isolated trees, shrubs and pasture. The evolution of this vegetation along the year, with different phenological cycles, highly conditions the partitioning of water fluxes. In this work we quantify the role of vegetation by contrasting three different hydrological simulations using the distributed and physically-based hydrological model WiMMed (Watershed Integrated Model for Mediterranean Areas): i) non-vegetation, ii) static vegetation, and iii) dynamic vegetation. Fixed and variable fractional vegetation cover from land cover maps and Sentinel-2 spectral mixture analysis is used respectively. All water fluxes in the water balance are quantified and compared between the three simulations. The Martin Gonzalo watershed upstream of the Martin Gonzalo dam, located within the Cardeña-Montoro Natural Park (southern Spain). Results highlight similar water partitioning between non-vegetation and dynamic vegetation simulations, with significant changes when compared to the static vegetation simulation. Therefore, the outcomes suggest that non-vegetation assumption to be more accurate than static vegetation assumption when modelling water fluxes over these Mediterranean landscapes.