Forested watersheds provide the highest water quality among all land cover types, but the benefit of this ecosystem service depends on landscape context

Caldwell, Peter V.; Martin, Katherine L.; Vose, James M.; Baker, Justin; Warziniack, Travis; Costanza, Jennifer K.; Frey, Gregory E.; Nehra, Arpita; Mihiar, Christopher M.

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163550

Cited by 9 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 59 publications

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“…To this end, decades of research and literally hundreds of independent studies have demonstrated that relatively simple statistical models can be effective tools that support informed decision-making when developing integrated management plans (du Plessis et al, 2015;Giri & Qiu, 2016;Rodríguez-Romero et al, 2018;Ullah et al, 2018;Lacher et al, 2019;Cheng et al, 2022;Li et al, 2022a;Gobry et al, 2023). These studies show that while the relationship between LULC and water quality is undeniably complex and often regionally specific, certain anthropogenic classes of LULC (e.g., built-up areas, farmland, mines, and forestry plantations) tend to be sources of diffuse pollution, whereas most classes of natural vegetation (e.g., indigenous forests, grasslands, and wetlands) serve as sinks by intercepting, filtering, and remediating contaminated runoff (Lintern et al, 2018;Fernandes et al, 2021;Wang et al, 2021;Cheng et al, 2022;de Mello et al, 2022;Li et al, 2022b;Caldwell et al, 2023;Qiu et al, 2023;Siqueira et al, 2023;Xu et al, 2023a;Zhang et al, 2023).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating Thresholds of Natural Vegetation for the Protection of Water Quality in South African Catchments

Locke

2024

Preprint

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Many of South Africa’s water quality problems are directly attributable to the negative impacts of anthropogenic land use transformations, including urban and agricultural expansion. To mitigate these impacts, the preservation of an adequate amount of natural vegetation within catchment areas is an important management strategy. However, it is unclear how much natural vegetation cover is required to provide adequate levels of protection, nor at which scale(s) this strategy would be most effective. Accordingly, regression analysis was used to model relationships between water quality (measured using Nemerow’s Pollution Index) and metrics of natural vegetation at multiple scales across a sample of sub-catchments located within South Africa’s Eastern and Western Cape provinces. With conspicuous outliers removed, the models were able to explain between 69 and 82% of variation in the sample. Moreover, a statistically significant, nonlinear, and inverse relationship was found between proportions of natural vegetation cover and pollution levels. This relationship was strongest when measured (1) across the whole catchment and (2) within a 200 m riparian buffer zone. The models further indicated that approximately 80 to 90% natural vegetation cover was necessary at these scales to maintain water quality at ecologically acceptable levels. Additional nonlinear thresholds estimated using breakpoint analysis suggested that if proportions of natural vegetation fall below 45% (across the whole catchment) and 60% (within a 200 m riparian buffer zone) a dramatic increase in pollution levels can be expected.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating Thresholds of Natural Vegetation for the Protection of Water Quality in South African Catchments

Locke

2024

Preprint

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Using land surface phenology and information theory to assess and map complex landscape dynamics

Pomara,

Lee,

Brooks

et al. 2024

Landsc Ecol

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Context Characterizing landscape ecological complexity and change requires integrated description of spatial and temporal landscape organization and dynamics, as suggested by the shifting mosaic concept. Remotely sensed land surface phenology allows the detection of even small differences among landscape patches and through time, allowing for the analysis of landscapes as shifting mosaics. Objectives We sought to quantify aspects of the complex landscape behaviors that are implied by spatiotemporal variation in land surface phenology. We adapted an information-theoretic (IT) framework from ecosystem ecology to capture landscape-level spatiotemporal complexity and organization and map these properties across large areas. Methods Phenology data were derived from remotely sensed, pixel-level time series of a vegetation greenness index, across a large portion of North America. We summarized multi-year, multi-pixel dynamics in transition matrices, calculated IT metrics from the matrices, and used matrix projection to quantify disequilibrium dynamics and long-term trajectories of the metrics. Results Mapping the IT metrics and their disequilibria revealed gradients in the spatiotemporal complexity and organization of multi-year land surface phenology dynamics at continental to local scales. These gradients suggest influences of biophysical and biogeographic setting, ecological development and disturbances, land use, and other drivers of landscape ecological dynamics. The spatiotemporal IT metrics were influenced by both year-to-year dynamics and spatial landscape heterogeneity, but correlations with spatial and temporal complexity measures varied among the IT metrics. Landscapes showing the strongest disequilibrium dynamics were mostly in the western part of the continent and appeared to be associated with large-scale disturbances including severe fire, forest pathogens, climate variability, and land use change—important subjects for further study. Conclusions This approach reveals novel features of the shifting landscape mosaic, with implications for understanding landscape resilience and sustainability. Resulting spatial data products describing long-term landscape dynamics have potential applications in broad-scale ecological modeling, monitoring, assessment, and prediction.

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Small water bodies influence river water quality in agricultural watersheds

Liu,

Li,

Shen

et al. 2024

Agricultural Water Management

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Forested watersheds provide the highest water quality among all land cover types, but the benefit of this ecosystem service depends on landscape context

Cited by 9 publications

References 59 publications

Estimating Thresholds of Natural Vegetation for the Protection of Water Quality in South African Catchments

Estimating Thresholds of Natural Vegetation for the Protection of Water Quality in South African Catchments

Using land surface phenology and information theory to assess and map complex landscape dynamics

Small water bodies influence river water quality in agricultural watersheds

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