Quantifying the Relative Contributions of Forest Change and Climatic Variability to Hydrology in Large Watersheds: A Critical Review of Research Methods

Water

Xiaohua Wei¹  Wenfei Liu² 

[1] Earth and Environmental Science Department University of British Columbia (Okanagan), 3333 University Way, Kelowna BC V1V 1V7, Canada;College of Landscape and Art, Jiangxi Agricultural University, No.1101, Zhi Min Road, Nanchang 330045, China; E-Mails:

关键词: forest change;    climate variability;    large watershed hydrology;    relative contribution;    research methods;   

DOI  :  10.3390/w5020728

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Forest change and climatic variability are two major drivers for influencing change in watershed hydrology in forest–dominated watersheds. Quantifying their relative contributions is important to fully understand their individual effects. This review paper summarizes the progress on quantifying the relative contributions of forest or land cover change and climatic variability to hydrology in large watersheds using available case studies. It compared pros and cons of various research methods, identified research challenges and proposed future research priorities. Our synthesis shows that the relative hydrological effects of forest changes and climatic variability are largely dependent on their own change magnitudes and watershed characteristics. In some severely disturbed watersheds, impacts of forest changes or land use changes can be as important as those from climatic variability. This paper provides a brief review on eight selected research methods for this type of research. Because each method or technique has its own strengths and weaknesses, combining two or more methods is a more robust approach than using any single method alone. Future research priorities include conducting more case studies, refining research methods, and considering mechanism-based research using landscape ecology and geochemistry approaches.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.