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Watershed Processes in the Face of Dynamic Landscapes and Climate Change

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A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land, Soil and Water".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2023) | Viewed by 21789

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Prof. Dr. Assefa M. Melesse

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Guest Editor

Department of Earth and Environment, AHC-5-390, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th Street, Miami, FL, USA
Interests: remote sensing; watershed modeling; climate change impact; sediment dynamics; river basin management
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Dr. Omid Rahmati

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Guest Editor

Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Research Department, Kurdistan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Sanandaj, Iran
Interests: environmental sustainability; geospatial modeling; watershed management; natural disasters
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Dr. Khabat Khosravi

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Guest Editor

School of Climate Change and Adaptation, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PE C1A 4P3, Canada
Interests: watershed hydrology; flood modeling; river engineering and sediment transport; natural hazards; groundwater modeling and vulnerability assessment; GIS and machine learning in soil and water science
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is organized for selected papers presented at the 2021 Environment and Society conference (https://eas-conference.fiu.edu/). The conference is scheduled for 22–23 November, 2021 at Florida International University, Miami, USA. Various presenters from different regions of the world will participating in the presentation of oral and posters over two days.

The world is facing unprecedented pressure by the growing population and its associated demand for natural resources including land, water, and other related resources. The climate crisis is a reality showing its forces year-after-year, adversely impacting various sectors and processes such as water resources, agriculture, forestry, and nutrient cycling. These two forces, demand driven landscape changes as well as climate change, need to be understood very well. Over the last few decades, many efforts have been made to control the degradation of the land (i.e., agricultural, forest, and range lands) but the process of adoption of new conservation technologies is still under discussion. Additionally, the availability of these new technologies or technical personnel trained for this change is limited in many parts of the world. Their impacts on the various sectors, scales of their impact, vulnerability of communities and environmental resources are key areas of research that will be presented in the conference. Impacts on water availability and quality, land degradation, drought, and flood hazards are focus areas of the conference.

The main thematic area of the conference is understanding the response of watersheds in the face of landscape dynamics and climate change. Topics that will be covered in this Special Issue will be landcover dynamics and scaling, urbanization and urban heat island, land degradation and sediment transport, water pollution, land–lake connectivity and lake pollution, irrigation water management and salinity, transboundary water basins and governance, virtual water and water footprint, remote sensing and machine learning applications in hydrology, drought and flood modeling and forecasting, wetlands, ecosystem services, coastal flooding and vulnerability, climate change and water resources, and other related areas. This Special Issue will provide deep insights towards understanding climate change adaptation strategies.

The Special Issue will be open to submissions by authors who did not present at the conference.

Prof. Dr. Assefa M. Melesse
Dr. Omid Rahmati
Dr. Khabat Khosravi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

soil loss processes (wind, water)
monitoring and modeling soil loss
water conservation and monitoring
reservoirs and sedimentation
erosion controls
land use regulations
economic valuation of environmental restoration
payment for ecosystem services
point and non-point sources pollution and management
land and water interaction
water quality and climate change
harmful algal bloom
rainfall variability and uncertainty
stream flow and groundwater response to climate change
sea level rise, coastal flooding, and saltwater intrusion
climate change, land cover, and wildfires
emerging challenges of climate change impacts mitigation and adaptation strategies
droughts and floods
desertification
deforestation and population dynamics
climate teleconnection and regional hydrology
drought and flood risk analysis and management
land use/land cover change
urban heat island and hydrology
urban flooding
remote sensing application for urban water and energy flux estimation
coastal flooding and ecological impact
ecohydrological importance of lakes and wetlands
wetland delineation and preservation
lake water quality and management
environmental restoration
aquatic weeds and management

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Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

34 pages, 8309 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainable Management for Healthy and Productive Watersheds in Indonesia

by Agung Budi Supangat, Tyas Mutiara Basuki, Yonky Indrajaya, Ogi Setiawan, Nining Wahyuningrum, Purwanto, Pamungkas Buana Putra, Endang Savitri, Dewi Retna Indrawati, Diah Auliyani, Ryke Nandini, Irfan Budi Pramono, Agung Wahyu Nugroho, Agus Wuryanta, Rahardyan Nugroho Adi, Beny Harjadi, Sigit Andy Cahyono, C. Yudi Lastiantoro, Wuri Handayani, Dian Pratiwi, Firda Maftukhakh Hilmya Nada, Luthfi Hanindityasari, Agus Ismanto, Heru Dwi Riyanto, Gipi Samawandana, Daniel Pandapotan Simarmata and Illa Anggraeni Show full author list Hide full author list

Land 2023, 12(11), 1963; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12111963 - 24 Oct 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3645

Abstract

Indonesian watershed management continues to struggle with various problems caused by natural disasters, particularly hydrometeorological disasters, which are worsened by the effects of climate change. Coordinating and synchronizing the interest of many parties in watershed management with various scenarios of natural conditions is a big challenge in the creation of a healthy and productive watershed. Multiple initiatives have been undertaken, from establishing rules and policies to implementing them and assessing the effects, leading to various lessons being learned for better management. This article presents a study on watershed management in Indonesia and recommends alternative improvements toward healthy and productive watershed management. A combination of a descriptive qualitative analysis of the authors’ experience in various research activities and a critical analysis is used to examine existing conditions and to formulate recommendations for better sustainable management toward a healthy and productive watershed. Most Indonesian watersheds are susceptible to degradation due to numerous threats. The challenges in Indonesian watershed management, including land degradation and climate-induced disasters, lack of synchronization and coordination, limited resources, and anthropogenic factors, have led to decreased watershed health and productivity and hindered effective management. Integrated management, especially at the micro-watershed level, addresses these challenges. Successful integrated watershed management requires community involvement, appropriate management action for specific locations, technological support, regulatory alignment, and stakeholder collaboration to ensure a healthy, productive, and sustainable watershed for present and future generations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Watershed Processes in the Face of Dynamic Landscapes and Climate Change)

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19 pages, 12899 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatiotemporal Changes in Water Storage and Its Driving Factors in the Three-River Headwaters Region, Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

by Linlin Zhao, Rensheng Chen, Yong Yang, Guohua Liu and Xiqiang Wang

Land 2023, 12(10), 1887; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12101887 - 8 Oct 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1102

Abstract

Water storage (WS) is a crucial terrestrial ecosystems service function. In cold alpine regions (CAR), the cryosphere elements are important solid water resources, but the existing methods for quantitatively assessing WS usually ignore cryosphere elements. In this study, a revised Seasonal Water Yield model (SWY) in the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST), which considers the effects of frozen ground (FG) and snow cover (SC) on WS, was employed to estimate the spatiotemporal distribution and changes in WS in the Three-Rivers Headwaters region (TRHR) from 1981 to 2020. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to understand the overall effects of multiple factors on WS, as well as the dominant driving factors of WS change at the grid scale in the TRHR. The results show that (1) the WS in the TRHR generally increased from 1981 to 2020 (0.56 mm/year), but the spatial distribution of WS change varied greatly, with a significant increasing trend in the northwest part and a significant decreasing trend in the southeast part. (2) In the last 40 years, increased precipitation (Pre) positively affected WS, while increased potential evapotranspiration (ET₀) reduced it. Increased permeability caused by degradation of frozen ground increased WS, while snow cover and LULC changes reduced it. (3) In the TRHR, Pre primarily affected the WS with the largest area ratio (32.62%), followed by land use/land cover (LULC) (19.69%) and ET₀ (18.49%), with FG being fourth (17.05%) and SC being the least (6.64%). (4) The highly important and extremely important zones generally showed a decreasing trend in WS and should be treated as key and priority conservation regions. It is expected that this research could provide a scientific reference for water management in the TRHR. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Watershed Processes in the Face of Dynamic Landscapes and Climate Change)

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16 pages, 1604 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Quantitative Assessment of the Contribution of Climate and Underlying Surface Change to Multiscale Runoff Variation in the Jinsha River Basin, China

by Shuaijun Yue, Guangxing Ji, Junchang Huang, Mingyue Cheng, Yulong Guo and Weiqiang Chen

Land 2023, 12(8), 1564; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12081564 - 7 Aug 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 986

Abstract

Many studies quantify the impact of climate change and human activities on runoff changes on an annual scale, but few studies have examined this on multiple time scales. This paper quantifies the contribution of different factors to the variability of Jinsha River runoff at multiple time scales (annual, seasonal and monthly). First, the trend analysis of Jinsha River runoff is carried out, and the Mann–Kendall mutation test was then applied to the runoff data for mutation analysis. According to the mutation year, the research period is divided into the base period and the mutation period. By constructing an ABCD hydrological model simulation and monthly scale Budyko model, the contribution rate of human and climate factors to the multitime-scale runoff of Jinsha River is calculated. The results showed that: (1) The sudden year of change in the Jinsha River runoff is 1978, and the Nash coefficients of the ABCD hydrological model in the base period and sudden change period were 0.85 and 0.86, respectively. (2) Climate factors were the dominant factor affecting annual runoff changes (98.62%), while human factors were the secondary factor affecting annual runoff changes (1.38%). (3) The contribution rates of climate factors in spring, summer, autumn, and winter to runoff were 91.68%, 74.08%, 95.30%, and 96.15%, respectively. The contribution rates of human factors in spring, summer, autumn, and winter to runoff were 8.32%, 25.92%, 4.70%, and 3.85%, respectively. (4) The contribution rates of climate factors to runoff in May, June, and July were 95.14%, 102.15%, and 87.79%, respectively. The contribution rates of human factors to runoff in May, June, and July were 4.86%, −2.15%, and 12.21%, respectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Watershed Processes in the Face of Dynamic Landscapes and Climate Change)

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22 pages, 3309 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Land Use and Climate Change Effects on Streamflow and Nutrient Loads in a Temperate Catchment: A Simulation Study

by Gebiaw T. Ayele, Bofu Yu and David P. Hamilton

Land 2023, 12(7), 1326; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12071326 - 30 Jun 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2466

Abstract

Climate and land use changes impact catchment hydrology and water quality (WQ), yet few studies have investigated the amount of land use changes required to meet specific WQ targets under future climate projections. The aim of this study was to determine streamflow and nutrient load responses to future land use change (LUC) and climate change scenarios. We hypothesized that (1) increasing forest coverage would decrease nutrient loads, (2) climate change, with higher temperatures and more intense storms, would lead to increased flow and nutrient loads, and (3) LUC could moderate potential nutrient load increases associated with climate change. We tested these hypotheses with the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), which was applied to a lake catchment in New Zealand, where LUC strategies with afforestation are employed to address lake WQ objectives. The model was calibrated from 2002 to 2005 and validated from 2006 to 2010 using measured streamflow (Q) and total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), nitrate (NO₃-N), and ammonium (NH₄-N) concentrations of three streams in the catchment. The model performance across the monitored streams was evaluated using coefficient of determination (R²) and Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) metrics to provide a basis for model projections. Future scenarios incorporated LUC and climate change (CC) based on the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 and were compared to the baseline streamflow and WQ indicators. Consistent with our hypotheses, Q, TN, and TP loads were predicted to decrease with afforestation. Specifically, afforestation of 1.32 km² in one of the monitored stream sub-catchments (subbasin 3), or 8.8% of the total lake catchment area, would result in reductions of 11.9, 26.2, and 17.7% in modeled annual mean Q, TN, and TP loads, respectively. Furthermore, when comparing simulations based on baseline and projected climate, reductions of 13.6, 22.8, and 19.5% were observed for Q, TN, and TP loads, respectively. Notably, the combined implementation of LUC and CC further decreased Q, TN, and TP loads by 20.2, 36.7, and 28.5%, respectively. This study provides valuable insights into the utilization of LUC strategies to mitigate nutrient loads in lakes facing water quality challenges, and our findings could serve as a prototype for other lake catchments undergoing LUC. Contrary to our initial hypotheses, we found that higher precipitation and temperatures did not result in increased flow and nutrient loading. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Watershed Processes in the Face of Dynamic Landscapes and Climate Change)

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18 pages, 7191 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Are Drought and Wind Force Driving Factors of Wind Erosion Climatic Erosivity in a Changing Climate? A Case Study in a Landlocked Country in Central Europe

by Lenka Lackóová, Tatiana Kaletová and Klaudia Halászová

Land 2023, 12(4), 757; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12040757 - 27 Mar 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2576

Abstract

The intensity and frequency of occurrence of wind erosion have had an increasing tendency in recent years, exacerbating environmental and agricultural problems around the world. The question of whether climate change will have an accelerating impact on wind erosion might be answered by analyzing three driving parameters: wind erosion climatic erosivity (CE), standard precipitation index (SPI), and wind factor (Wf). A time series analysis of historical climatic data over a period of 58 years was performed using ArcGIS software and descriptive statistics, to detect spatiotemporal variations regarding climate change. The results of the analysis indicate that the number and intensity of drought periods are already increasing in Central Europe. Through the CE equation using the key indicators wind speed (U), temperature (T), humidity (r), and precipitation (P), we calculated decadal spatiotemporal variation and potential scenarios of climate change in terms of wind erosion intensity. The results of the study show that there has been a 1.75 °C increase in temperature since 1961 and fluctuating wind erosion intensity in recent decades. The frequency of drought periods has increased only slightly, but there has been an increase in the amount of precipitation in the last two decades of the study period, up to +6.63 and +6.53%. The wind analysis showed that mean maximum wind speed (Umaxmean) had a decreasing trend (R² = 0.32), and the occurrence of erosive wind (Uer) (>5 m/s) exhibited seasonal changes toward spring. Wf exhibited a rise of 11.86 and 3.66% in the first two decades of the study period, followed by a decline of 8.49% in the last decade. CE analysis indicated oscillation in both directions, with decadal changes ranging between −16.95 and +15.21%. Wind erosion is becoming a more significant issue in Central Europe because of climate change, and the situation could worsen in the future. This study provides valuable insights into the impact of climate change on wind erosion in Europe and highlights the need for effective measures to mitigate its effects. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Watershed Processes in the Face of Dynamic Landscapes and Climate Change)

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15 pages, 2529 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Locally Adapted Conservation Tillage on Runoff, Soil Erosion, and Agronomic Performance in Semiarid Rain-Fed Farming in Ethiopia

by Laike Kebede, Melesse Temesgen, Abebe Fanta, Asfaw Kebede, Johan Rockström and Assefa M. Melesse

Land 2023, 12(3), 593; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12030593 - 2 Mar 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2072

Abstract

An on-farm field experiment on a locally adapted conservation tillage method was undertaken to evaluate its effect on soil erosion, surface runoff, and agronomic parameters. It was conducted on five farmer fields with 3–14% slopes in the Rift Valley and the Eastern escarpment of Ethiopia’s central highlands region for two cropping seasons. The treatments were conventional tillage (CT), repeated ploughing performed with a traditional ox-drawn plough named ‘Maresha’, and minimized contour ploughing (MT) at most twice with a locally adapted sweep-like attachment assembled to Maresha. Surface runoff and soil loss in the MT system were 30 to 60% and 49 to 76% lower than those in the CT system on 3 to 14% slopes, respectively. Despite the wide variation in surface runoff, limited differences in soil water content for the depth from 0 to 20 cm were observed between the treatments. Significant differences (p < 0.05) in grain yields (kg ha⁻¹) of 246 and 323 in the 1st and 2nd growing seasons, respectively, were recorded between the MT and CT treatments. The results of this study demonstrated that the MT system can significantly reduce surface runoff and soil loss while improving crop yields in rainfed smallholder farming systems of Ethiopia. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Watershed Processes in the Face of Dynamic Landscapes and Climate Change)

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24 pages, 12389 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of Spatial Landscape Changes for the Period from 1998 to 2021 Caused by Extreme Flood Events in the Hornád Basin in Eastern Slovakia

by Marcela Bindzarova Gergelova, Ludovit Kovanič, Hany F. Abd-Elhamid, Anton Cornak, Miroslav Garaj and Radovan Hilbert

Land 2023, 12(2), 405; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12020405 - 2 Feb 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1710

Abstract

Tracking changes in the structure of landscape dynamics as a result of flood activity is a complex process. This study presents a model for determining changes to landscapes caused by flood events by evaluating a specific territory in Eastern Slovakia, which has been affected by repeated large-scale flood events in the past. The area has not been subject to a comprehensive monitoring of changes in the landscape structure. Based on the observation of several sets of data, a combination of statistical methods and GIS spatial analysis tools (visualizing tools for compare categories, mapping, and modelling techniques, spatial analysis models for land use change and flood modelling) were used to identify changes in the landscape structure in the period from 1998 to 2021. The results point to the significance of the year 2010, with the precipitation totals for this year showing a level significantly higher than the rolling average and confirming the occurrence of an extreme flood event. The dynamics of landscape structure changes were evaluated based on changes in the representation of selected types of land cover classes. The results of a spatial evaluation of the Corine Land Cover demonstrate that the most-significant area changes were recorded in 2012 in the pasture class, with a decrease of 31% or approximately 96.5 ha. The identified difference in the frequency of representation of individual values of the normalized differential vegetation index confirms the loss of landscape diversity and the emergence of a more homogeneous type of landscape. An assessment of the state of pastures in the study area shows that this class has completely disappeared from the site near the watercourse. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Watershed Processes in the Face of Dynamic Landscapes and Climate Change)

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17 pages, 7794 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Cross-Scaling Approach for Water-Flow-Regulating Ecosystem Services: A Trial in Bochum, Germany

by Zhehao Xiong and Yuncai Wang

Land 2022, 11(5), 740; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11050740 - 16 May 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2310

Abstract

Water-flow-regulating ecosystem services (ESs) determine the regulation of hydrological flows on the ground’s surface. A lack of water-flow-regulating ESs would cause environmental problems such as heavy rainfall runoff and urban water logging, leading to floods affecting well-being, especially in dense urban areas. Research on water-flow-regulating ES supply–demand relationships in urban areas is urgently needed to better support the management of urban surface runoff. However, matching the supply–demand relationships of water-flow-regulating ESs remains challenging. In this contribution, a cross-scale approach linking the supply–demand assessment of water-flow-regulating ESs on a macroscale and the evaluation of the constructed urban environment on a microscale was developed. The approach was applied in the city of Bochum, Germany, as a trial of bridging the “science–practice gap”. Our findings show that the supply–demand budget of water-flow-regulating ESs in Bochum exhibits an urban–rural difference and is also partially influenced by land cover transformations such as vegetation degradation. In addition, further assessment of the constructed urban environment confirmed the result from the assessment of water-flow-regulating ESs based on the understanding of the urban hydrological cycle in Bochum. To account for the mismatch in the supply–demand budget, we classified the typical superior and inferior forms of urban water-flow-regulating ESs through field research on the same extreme areas to summarize the operable optimization, enhancement, and protection suggestions for urban construction decision makers. Finally, the cross-scale approach was approved as a possible way to bridge the “science–practice” gap for water-flow-regulating ES research in urban areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Watershed Processes in the Face of Dynamic Landscapes and Climate Change)

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22 pages, 8016 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modelling Runoff within a Small River Basin under the Changing Climate: A Case Study of Using SWAT in the Bălțata River Basin (The Republic of Moldova)

by Igor Sîrodoev, Roman Corobov, Ghennadi Sîrodoev and Ilya Trombitsky

Land 2022, 11(2), 167; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11020167 - 21 Jan 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2744

Abstract

The article focuses on modelling surface runoff in a small river basin taking into consideration climate change projections. The runoff was modelled using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), while three Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5) were considered for modelling the future climate. Despite the identified uncertainties, all the scenarios pointed towards decreasing runoff and losing available water resources. The expected runoff of the case study basin (Bălțata River in the Republic of Moldova) will decrease under all considered scenarios. The risk of diminishing runoff will be low in the middle-term perspective and moderate in the long-term one, if considered from the yearly changes. However, there are months with a high risk of diminishing runoff, especially important for proper crop production. While in the middle-term perspective, traditional adaptation measures can be used, in the long-term one, a totally new approach should be sought. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Watershed Processes in the Face of Dynamic Landscapes and Climate Change)

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