Insights into the water mean transit time in a high-elevation tropical
ecosystem

Mosquera, Giovanny M.; Segura, Catalina; Vaché, Kellie B.; Windhorst, David; Breuer, Lutz; Crespo, Patricio

doi:10.5194/hess-20-2987-2016

Cited by 52 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Regarding links between ecology and hydrology, the application of dual water isotope tracers could improve our understanding of plant water uptake, soil water dynamics, and streamflow generation (Farrick & Branfireun, 2015;Mosquera, Segura, et al, 2016;Sprenger, Leistert, Gimbel, & Weiler, 2016). Findings from recent studies (Bowling, Schulze, & Hall, 2016;Evaristo, Jasechko, & McDonnell, 2015;Evaristo, McDonnell, Scholl, Bruijnzeel, & Chun, 2016;Goldsmith et al, 2012;Hervé-Fernández et al, 2016) suggest an ecohydrological separation between an immobile pool of water that is tightly bound to the soil matrix and is used by trees and a mobile pool of water that infiltrates through soils and feeds streams and groundwater (the socalled "Two Water Worlds hypothesis"- Brooks, Barnard, Coulombe, & McDonnell, 2010;McDonnell, 2014).…”

Section: Stable Isotopes Of Watermentioning

confidence: 99%

Advancing ecohydrology in the changing tropics: Perspectives from early career scientists

et al. 2017

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Tropical ecosystems offer a unique setting for understanding ecohydrological processes, but to date, such investigations have been limited. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of studying these processes—specifically, how they are being affected by the transformative changes taking place in the tropics—and to offer an agenda for future research. At present, the ongoing loss of native ecosystems is largely due to agricultural expansion, but parallel processes of afforestation are also taking place, leading to shifts in ecohydrological fluxes. Similarly, shifts in water availability due to climate change will affect both water and carbon fluxes in tropical ecosystems. A number of methods exist that can help us better understand how changes in land use and climate affect ecohydrological processes; these include stable isotopes, remote sensing, and process‐based models. Still, our knowledge of the underlying physical mechanisms, especially those that determine the effects of scale on ecosystem processes, remains incomplete. We assert that development of a knowledge base concerning the effects of transformative change on ecological, hydrological, and biogeochemical processes at different spatio‐temporal scales is an urgent need for tropical regions and should serve as a compass for emerging ecohydrologists. To reach this goal, we advocate a research agenda that expands the number and diversity of ecosystems targeted for ecohydrological investigations and connects researchers across the tropics. We believe that the use of big data and open source software—already an important integrative tool/skill for the young ecohydrologist—will be key in expanding research capabilities.

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Section: Stable Isotopes Of Watermentioning

confidence: 99%

Advancing ecohydrology in the changing tropics: Perspectives from early career scientists

et al. 2017

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“…This is due to the fast response of runoff to precipitation, attributed to the high antecedent soil moisture of Andosols with tussock grasses cover [runoff = 1,277 mm year -1 ; runoff-precipitation ratio = 0.68 reported in Mosquera et al (2016)]. In the studied hillslope, SWC was practically constant during the hydrological year.…”

Section: Soil Water Content Under Natural Cover: Pre-intervention Pmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…There was also no replacement of native vegetation (e.g., tussock grasses) to any other type of vegetation. Zhurucay has been the place of many hydrometeorological studies (e.g., Córdova, Carrillo-Rojas, Crespo, Wilcox, & Célleri, 2015;Mosquera et al, 2016;Ochoa-Sánchez, Crespo, & Célleri, 2018;Padrón et al, 2015;Quichimbo et al, 2012). The geology consists of Tertiary continental volcanic rocks with very low permeability deposited upon Cretaceous marine to fluvial sedimentary rocks, which were deposited on basement Paleozoic and Mesozoic metamorphic rocks (Cox et al, 2016).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In fact, tussock grasses net primary production is 168 g m −2 year −1 at 3,750 m a.s.l., (e.g., other grasses = 1,170 g m −2 year −1 ) in central Ecuador (Ramsay & Oxley, 2001 SWC was not extensively monitored or they did not take into account the hillslope characteristics at different soil profiles and depths (e.g., Mosquera et al, 2016). In fact, tussock grasses net primary production is 168 g m −2 year −1 at 3,750 m a.s.l., (e.g., other grasses = 1,170 g m −2 year −1 ) in central Ecuador (Ramsay & Oxley, 2001 SWC was not extensively monitored or they did not take into account the hillslope characteristics at different soil profiles and depths (e.g., Mosquera et al, 2016).…”

Section: Soil Water Content After the Tussock Grasses Cutout: Post-mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of tussock grasses removal on soil water content dynamics of a tropical mountain hillslope

2019

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Land use impacts on soil water content (SWC) are scarcely studied in mountain humid ecosystems, such as the Andean páramos, despite its influence on ecohydrological processes. Our objective was to analyze the impacts of extensive grazing on SWC of an Andean páramo hillslope with native tussock grasses. Along two parallel transects in a hillslope, we monitored SWC through pairs of SWC sensors placed at different soil depths (Ah horizon= 10 -35 cm; C horizon= 65 -75 cm). The tussock grasses were cutout from one transect (Experimental) as an emulation of extensive grazing (without soil destruction), whereas the second transect (Control) remained intact.Both transects were hourly monitored for 10 months (post-intervention period).Post-intervention period was compared with a pre-intervention period of similar precipitation characteristics to minimize the influence of precipitation in the interpretation of the results. We analyzed both periods through differences in SWC between the pairs of sensors (Experimental minus Control) and differences in SWC dynamic of the pairs of sensors through linear regressions (slope and intercept values). Results suggest that the emulation did not change the mean SWC, but caused a reduction of SWC dynamic. Causes of SWC attenuation were a lower interception and transpiration, a higher amount of effective rainfall infiltrated, and similar evaporation from the soil than under unchanged conditions. These observations were done at all the soil depths. Probably, extensive grazing does not negatively affect the hydrological functioning of páramo ecosystems, particularly its water yield, as long as the soil remains undisturbed.

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“…Transit time also has implications for water quality, since the contact time between water and the soil will affect the chemical composition of the water that finally enters 25 the stream through biogeochemical processes (McGuire and McDonnell, 2006). MTT can be influenced by catchment soil cover (Capell et al, 2012;Rodgers et al, 2005;Soulsby et al, 2006), soil depth, hydraulic conductivity and topographic parameters, such as slope (Heidbüchel et al, 2013;Mosquera et al, 2016b;Muñoz-Villers et al, 2016) or a combination of these factors (Hrachowitz et al, 2009). Changes in vegetation cover and especially soil hydraulic properties as consequence of changes in land management can also modify MTT.…”

Section: Stable Water Isotopes ( 2 Hmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land use alters dominant water sources and flow paths in tropical montane catchments in East Africa

Jacobs¹,

Timbe²,

Weeser³

et al. 2018

Preprint

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Abstract. Conversion of natural forest to other land uses could lead to significant changes in catchment hydrology, but the nature of these changes has been insufficiently investigated in tropical montane catchments, especially in Africa. To address 20 this knowledge gap, we identified stream water sources and flow paths in three tropical montane sub-catchments (27-36 km²) with different land use (natural forest, smallholder agriculture and commercial tea plantations) within a 1 021 km² catchment in the Mau Forest Complex, Kenya. Weekly samples were collected from stream water, precipitation and soil water for 75 weeks and analysed for stable water isotopes (δ 2 H and δ 18 O) for mean transit time estimation, whereas trace element samples from stream water and potential end members were collected over a period of 55 weeks for end member mixing analysis. 25Stream water mean transit time was similar (~4 years) in the three sub-catchments, and ranged from 3.2-3.3 weeks in forest soils and 4.5-7.9 weeks in pasture soils at 15 cm depth to 10.4-10.8 weeks in pasture soils at 50 cm depth. The contribution of springs and wetlands to stream discharge increased from 18, 1 and 48 % during low flow to 22, 51 and 65 % during high flow in the natural forest, smallholder agriculture and tea plantation sub-catchments, respectively. The dominant stream water source in the tea plantation sub-catchment was spring water (56 %), while precipitation was dominant in the smallholder 30 agriculture (59 %) and natural forest (45 %) sub-catchments. These results confirm that catchment hydrology is strongly influenced by land use, which could have serious consequences for water-related ecosystem services, such as provision of clean water.Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi

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Insights into the water mean transit time in a high-elevation tropical ecosystem

Cited by 52 publications

References 68 publications

Advancing ecohydrology in the changing tropics: Perspectives from early career scientists

Advancing ecohydrology in the changing tropics: Perspectives from early career scientists

Impact of tussock grasses removal on soil water content dynamics of a tropical mountain hillslope

Land use alters dominant water sources and flow paths in tropical montane catchments in East Africa

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