Land use change effects on catchment streamflow response in a humid tropical montane cloud forest region, central Veracruz, Mexico

López-Ramírez, Sergio; Sáenz, Leonardo; Mayer, Alex; Muñoz-Villers, Lyssette E.; Asbjornsen, Heidi; Berry, Z. Carter; Looker, Nathaniel; Manson, Robert H.; Gómez-Aguilar, León Rodrigo

doi:10.1002/hyp.13800

Cited by 19 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…Land use change has been shown to alter rainfall‐runoff relationships and groundwater recharge processes in ways that can affect flow intermittency. For example, conversion of natural ecosystems to crops or pasture have been shown to increase baseflow contribution to streamflow, likely in response to reduced evapotranspiration from deforestation (e.g., Bosch et al., 2016; Germer et al., 2010; López‐Ramírez et al., 2020) and installation of artificial subsurface drainage (Arenas Amado et al., 2017; Ayers et al., 2021; Schilling & Helmers, 2008). In California, however, several studies have reported decreases in baseflow associated with agricultural land use, related to groundwater withdrawals and surface water diversions (e.g., Konikow & Kendy, 2005; Russo & Lall, 2017; Zipper et al., 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perennial and Non‐Perennial Streamflow Regime Shifts Across California, USA

Ayers,

Yarnell,

Baruch

et al. 2024

Water Resources Research

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Despite rises in drought frequency and human water demands, streamflow regime shifts from perennial to non‐perennial have not been evaluated in many arid/semi‐arid regions. To document shifts, we created a methodology that classifies streams as naturally perennial or non‐perennial. Our classification used historical, minimally disturbed‐quality USGS streamflow gages (1950–2015) across California. The number of consecutive zero flow days (≥5 days) was used to classify 61% (96/158) and 39% (62/158) of gages as perennial and non‐perennial, respectively. We developed a random forest model to predict flow regime class based on climate and watershed characteristics. To identify regime shifts, we compared the observed class of contemporary (1980–2023) minimally disturbed and disturbed gages with their modeled, natural class. For most minimally disturbed gages, the observed and natural predicted classes were the same, but 13% (7/52) of gages had a modeled perennial regime with an observed non‐perennial class, indicating a drying trend. Among disturbed gages, 22% (64/290) shifted from perennial to non‐perennial and 7% (21/290) from non‐perennial to perennial. Trends in the minimum 7‐day moving average and number of zero‐flow days provided further evidence of drying at minimally disturbed streams, but no pattern at disturbed gages. Our results indicate that few minimally disturbed perennial streams have become non‐perennial to date, but many streams have experienced drying from climate. Streams impacted by human activities had greater drying rates, but regulation has caused some non‐perennial streams to become perennial. By quantifying expected natural streamflow regimes, this work can help monitor, manage, and conserve stream ecosystems.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perennial and Non‐Perennial Streamflow Regime Shifts Across California, USA

Ayers,

Yarnell,

Baruch

et al. 2024

Water Resources Research

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“…Flow response is dependent on antecedent conditions, which will be similar for our sites as they are closely located to each other. We note that it is not possible to identify catchments that are identical in all aspects, so it remains possible that catchment differences drive some of the observed differences in flow response (Lana‐Renault et al, 2011; López‐Ramírez et al, 2020). Establishing measurements in multiple small catchments (here three woodland and six pasture catchments) will help to reduce these uncertainties.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of semi‐natural broadleaf woodland and pasture on soil properties and flood discharge

Monger

Spracklen

Kirkby

et al. 2022

Hydrological Processes

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Woodlands can reduce the risk of rainfall-generated flooding through increased interception, soil infiltration and available storage. Despite growing evidence, there is still low confidence in using woodlands as a flood mitigation method due to limited empirical data, particularly for broadleaf woodlands. We measured soil properties and streamflow for nine small (<0.2 km 2 ) upland catchments and compared mature semi-natural broadleaf woodland where no stock grazing occurs to pasture with varied grazing intensity. We compared streamflow across 28 storm events including a 1 in 10-year event, two 1 in 4-year events and five 1 in 1.5-year events, identified over a 13-month period. We found that semi-natural broadleaf woodlands reduce specific peak discharge by 23%-60% and peak runoff coefficients by 30%-60% compared with pasture. Response to storm events took 14-50% longer in woodland compared to pasture. These differences in flood response are partly explained by more permeable woodland soils, 11-20 times greater than pasture soil. The more muted response of wooded catchments to storm events is consistent across the storms investigated, including Storm Ciara, a 1 in 10-year event. Our analysis strengthens the argument that semi-natural woodlands can reduce rainfall-generated flooding contributing to the evidence base for natural flood management.catchment-based flood management, natural flood management, pasture, soil permeability, woodland | INTRODUCTIONOver the past three decades the frequency of flood events has increased across the UK (Rogger et al., 2017) and worldwide (Hall et al., 2014;Kundzewicz et al., 2014;Wingfield et al., 2019). In England, floods cause damages of £1.1 billion annually with one in six properties at risk from flooding (Priestley, 2017). This risk is expected to further increase under future climate change (Iacob et al., 2017).Because of recent floods, there is a growing interest in the use of 'soft-engineered' flood mitigation schemes (Dadson et al., 2017;Stevens et al., 2016). Natural Flood Management (NFM), also referred to as working with natural processes or nature-based solutions (Seddon et al., 2020), is an approach to flood management that seeks to work with natural processes to enhance the flood regulatory capacity of a catchment. Often these approaches also provide ecosystem services such as pollution assimilation, habitat creation and carbon storage (Hankin et al., 2017). NFM approaches may include the

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“…The process of deforestation can initiate complex, non-linear relationships between the biosphere and atmosphere by changing the hydrological conditions of a site (i.e., water storage capacity, interception, or infiltration; Ellison et al, 2012;Lima et al, 2014). This, in turn, can have a cascade of negative effects on ecosystem services, such as protection against floods and landslides (e.g., Du et al, 2016;Lopez-Ramirez et al, 2020).…”

Section: Implications For Protective Forest Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mountain protective forests under threat? an in-depth review of global change impacts on their protective effect against natural hazards

Moos,

Stritih,

Teich

et al. 2023

Front. For. Glob. Change

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Forests in mountain areas provide an indispensable ecosystem service by protecting people and infrastructure against natural hazards. As forests are increasingly affected by global change, including climate change, more frequent and severe natural disturbances, and shifts in land use, open questions remain regarding the long-term and sustainable provision of this crucial protective service. To improve our understanding of the various effects of global change on protective forests, we summarized the current knowledge based on a systematic review. Focusing on changes in mountain forests’ protective effect against snow avalanches, landslides, rockfall, torrential floods and debris flow, we assessed 72 peer-reviewed, English publications. Overall, climate-induced changes are expected to increase forests’ protective effect at higher elevations but reduce it at lower elevations mainly due to increased drought. Natural disturbances usually decrease the protective effect of forests, and their impact is often further exacerbated by salvage logging. Different forest management strategies are often studied using forest simulation models, and their impacts on protective forests strongly depend on the local context and interactions with climate change. While clearcuts consistently reduce the protective effect, other forest management interventions such as thinning can have either positive or negative effects. Most of the reviewed studies were case studies based on forest simulation or process-based hazard models (but rarely combining the two), while empirical evidence was scarce. Forests’ protective effect is often assessed using (diverse) indicators of forest structure, but evaluations of resulting risks are less common. More consistent modeling approaches linking forest structure to hazard and risk, as well as consistent indicators across different case studies, are needed for a better understanding of changes in protective forests and the service they provide under global change.

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Land use change effects on catchment streamflow response in a humid tropical montane cloud forest region, central Veracruz, Mexico

Cited by 19 publications

References 64 publications

Perennial and Non‐Perennial Streamflow Regime Shifts Across California, USA

Perennial and Non‐Perennial Streamflow Regime Shifts Across California, USA

The impact of semi‐natural broadleaf woodland and pasture on soil properties and flood discharge

Mountain protective forests under threat? an in-depth review of global change impacts on their protective effect against natural hazards

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