There are surprisingly few studies in humid temperate forests which provide reliable evidence that soil permeability is enhanced under forests. This work addresses this research gap through a detailed investigation of permeability on a hillslope in the Eddleston Catchment, Scottish Borders UK, to evaluate the impact of land cover, superficial geology and soil types on permeability using measurements of field saturated hydraulic conductivity (Kfs) supported by detailed topsoil profile descriptions and counting of roots with diameters >2mm. Kfs was measured at depth 0.04 to 0.15m using a constant head well permeameter across four paired landcover sites of adjacent tree and intensely grazed grassland. The measured tree types were: 500-year-old mixed woodland; 180-year-old mixed woodland; 45-year-old Pinus sylvestris plantation; and 180-year-old Salix caprea woodland. The respective paired grids of trees and grassland were compared on similar soil texture and topography. The data were used to infer areas of runoff generation by comparing Kfs values with modelled 15 minute maximum intensity duration rainfall with a 1 in 10 year return period.Infiltration prevailed in the 180 and 500 year old mixed and broadleaf woodland, whereas some grassland areas and the floodplain were inferred to generate overland flow. The significantly higher Kfs under deciduous mature forests suggest that the planting deciduous woodlands on hillslopes in clusters or as shelterbelts within grasslands would provide areas of increased capacity for rainfall infiltration and arrest runoff generation during floodproducing storm events.

This work investigated the multi-decadal changes in field saturated hydraulic conductivity, K fs , beneath severely degraded pasture, natural forest and two mature planted Pinus roxburghii stands between two sets of measurements made in 1986 and 2011 at the same locations in the Middle Mountains of Central Nepal. Multiple measurements of K fs were made at the four sites, both at the surface and at depths of 0Á05-0Á15, 0Á15-0Á25 and 0Á25-0Á50 m. The K fs results were subsequently combined with rainfall intensities associated with different time intervals to infer multi-decadal changes in dominant hillslope stormflow pathways. The widely assumed hydrological benefits of reforesting degraded land through the enhancement of near-surface permeability due to such factors as the incorporation of a greater amount of organic matter, formation of macropores, as well as root development were not observed in this study. Continued heavy use of the natural and planted forests of the Middle Mountains, particularly the removal of understory vegetation and leaf litter, and cattle grazing, are considered to be the chief causal factors of the presently observed deterioration in forest hydrological functioning. This situation is typical not only of the Middle Mountain Zone across the Himalaya but is also observed in other densely populated parts of South and South-East Asia. The key conclusion of this work is that simply planting trees in degraded landscapes is not sufficient in itself to restore watershed hydrological functioning. Attention also needs to be given to on-going management of the reforested areas to balance product usage with watershed functions.

[1] Severely degraded hillslopes in the Lesser Himalaya challenge local communities as a result of the frequent occurrence of overland flow and erosion during the rainy season and water shortages during the dry season. Reforestation is often perceived as an effective way of restoring predisturbance hydrological conditions but heavy usage of reforested land in the region has been shown to hamper full recovery of soil hydraulic properties. This paper investigates the effect of reforestation and forest usage on field-saturated soil hydraulic conductivities (K fs ) near Dhulikhel, Central Nepal, by comparing degraded pasture, a footpath within the pasture, a 25 year old pine reforestation, and little disturbed natural forest. The hillslope hydrological implications of changes in K fs with land-cover change were assessed via comparisons with measured rainfall intensities over different durations. High surface and near-surface K fs in natural forest (82-232 mm h À1 ) rule out overland flow occurrence and favor vertical percolation. Conversely, corresponding K fs for degraded pasture (18-39 mm h À1 ) and footpath (12-26 mm h À1 ) were conducive to overland flow generation during medium-to high-intensity storms and thus to local flash flooding. Pertinently, surface and near-surface K fs in the heavily used pine forest remained similar to those for degraded pasture. Estimated monsoonal overland flow totals for degraded pasture, pine forest, and natural forest were 21.3%, 15.5%, and 2.5% of incident rainfall, respectively, reflecting the relative ranking of surface K fs . Along with high water use by the pines, this lack of recovery of soil hydraulic properties under pine reforestation is shown to be a critical factor in the regionally observed decline in base flows following large-scale planting of pines and has important implications for regional forest management.Citation: Ghimire, C. P., M. Bonell, L. A. Bruijnzeel, N. A. Coles, and M. W. Lubczynski (2013), Reforesting severely degraded grassland in the Lesser Himalaya of Nepal: Effects on soil hydraulic conductivity and overland flow production,

Abstract-The challenge of improving water quality is a growing global concern, typified by the European Commission Water Framework Directive and the United States Clean Water Act. The main drivers of poor water quality are economics, poor water management, agricultural practices and urban development. This paper reviews the extensive role of non-point sources, in particular the outdated agricultural practices, with respect to nutrient and contaminant contributions. Water quality monitoring (WQM) is currently undertaken through a number of data acquisition methods from grab sampling to satellite based remote sensing of water bodies. Based on the surveyed sampling methods and their numerous limitations, it is proposed that wireless sensor networks (WSNs), despite their own limitations, are still very attractive and effective for real-time spatio-temporal data collection for WQM applications. WSNs have been employed for WQM of surface and ground water and catchments, and have been fundamental in advancing the knowledge of contaminants trends through their high resolution observations. However, these applications have yet to explore the implementation and impact of this technology for management and control decisions, to minimize and prevent individual stakeholder's contributions, in an autonomous and dynamic manner. Here, the potential of WSN-controlled agricultural activities and different environmental compartments for integrated water quality management is presented and limitations of WSN in agriculture and WQM are identified. Finally, a case for collaborative networks at catchment scale is proposed for enabling cooperation among individually networked activities/stakeholders (farming activities, water bodies) for integrated water quality monitoring, control and management.Index Terms-wireless sensor networks, agricultural activities, water quality monitoring and management, catchment, collaborative. INTRODUCTIONWater is a key natural resource which is vital for the survival of all ecosystems on the planet. However, less than 1% of the earth's water resources are accessible to humans as fresh water, in the form of either surface or ground water (Krchnak et al., 2002, UNESCO, 2006. Although there is currently sufficient water for essential activities (Blanco et al., 2009) including drinking, irrigation, and domestic and industrial use on a global scale, the spatial distribution of water suggests that, in many cases, it is not available where it is required. Because of the unequal distribution of fresh water resources, billions of people around the globe live in water-stressed and water-limited environments. Therefore it is crucial to preserve water resources although in practice it is continually degraded and depleted owing to inappropriately targeted funding initiatives leading to poor water management, redundant and outdated agricultural practices and urban development (Rosegrant et al., 2002, Verhoeven et al., 2006. The key issues relating to global freshwater quality problems in the environment and public hea...

The scale, pace, and intensity of human activity on the planet demands radical departures from the status quo to remain within planetary boundaries and achieve sustainability. The steering arms of society including embedded financial, legal, political, and governance systems must be radically realigned and recognize the connectivity among social, ecological, and technological domains of urban systems to deliver more just, equitable, sustainable, and resilient futures. We present five key principles requiring fundamental cognitive, behavioral, and cultural shifts including rethinking growth, rethinking efficiency, rethinking the state, rethinking the commons, and rethinking justice needed together to radically transform neighborhoods, cities, and regions.