Managing Forests for Both Downstream and Downwind Water

Creed, Irena F.; Jones, Julia A.; Archer, Emma; Claassen, Marius; Ellison, David; McNulty, Steven G.; Noordwijk, Meine van; Vira, Bhaskar; Wei, Xiaohua; Bishop, Kevin; Blanco, Juan A.; Gush, Mark B; Gyawali, Dipak; Jobbágy, Estéban G.; Lara, Antonio; Little, Christian; Martín-Ortega, Julia; Mukherji, Aditi; Murdiyarso, Daniel; Ovando, Paola; Sullivan, Caroline A; Xu, Jianchu

doi:10.3389/ffgc.2019.00064

Cited by 40 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 38 publications

(40 reference statements)

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“…Forested watersheds show a wide range of hydrologic and biogeochemical responses to environmental change, such as forest harvesting and climate variability (Brown, Zhang, McMahon, Western, & Vertessy, 2005; Buttle, 2011; Jones et al, 2012; Zhang et al, 2017). We need to understand the underlying controls of this response variability to help inform effective management of forests and the water resources they supply (Creed et al, 2019). Water storage within a catchment has been proposed as a key characteristic influencing catchment sensitivity to change (McDonnell et al, 2018; Spence, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Travel times for snowmelt‐dominated headwater catchments: Influences of wetlands and forest harvesting, and linkages to stream water quality

Leach

Buttle

Webster

et al. 2020

Hydrological Processes

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The time it takes water to travel through a catchment, from when it enters as rain and snow to when it leaves as streamflow, may influence stream water quality and catchment sensitivity to environmental change. Most studies that estimate travel times do so for only a few, often rain-dominated, catchments in a region and use relatively short data records (<10 years). A better understanding of how catchment travel times vary across a landscape may help diagnose inter-catchment differences in water quality and response to environmental change. We used comprehensive and long-term observations from the Turkey Lakes Watershed Study in central Ontario to estimate water travel times for 12 snowmelt-dominated headwater catchments, three of which were impacted by forest harvesting. Chloride, a commonly used water tracer, was measured in streams, rain, snowfall and as dry atmospheric deposition over a 31 year period.These data were used with a lumped convolution integral approach to estimate mean water travel times. We explored relationships between travel times and catchment characteristics such as catchment area, slope angle, flowpath length, runoff ratio and wetland coverage, as well as the impact of harvesting. Travel time estimates were then used to compare differences in stream water quality between catchments. Our results show that mean travel times can be variable for small geographic areas and are related to catchment characteristics, in particular flowpath length and wetland cover. In addition, forest harvesting appeared to decrease mean travel times. Estimated mean travel times had complex relationships with water quality patterns. Results suggest that biogeochemical processes, particularly those present in wetlands, may have a greater influence on water quality than catchment travel times. K E Y W O R D S catchment, chloride, forest harvesting, headwaters, transit time, wetlands Reproduced with the permission of the Minister of Natural Resources.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Travel times for snowmelt‐dominated headwater catchments: Influences of wetlands and forest harvesting, and linkages to stream water quality

Leach

Buttle

Webster

et al. 2020

Hydrological Processes

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“…Forested headwater catchments play a critical role in provisioning freshwater to humanity [1][2][3], but anthropogenic climate change can alter the amount of precipitation (P) partitioned into streamflow (Q), evapotranspiration (E), and storage [4]. Changes in Q from headwater catchments is of particular concern given the importance of mountain regions in generating fresh water [5,6], which is used by society for drinking and water-intensive production [7][8][9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Twenty-First Century Streamflow and Climate Change in Forest Catchments of the Central Appalachian Mountains Region, US

Gaertner

Fernández

Zégre

2020

Water

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Forested catchments are critical sources of freshwater used by society, but anthropogenic climate change can alter the amount of precipitation partitioned into streamflow and evapotranspiration, threatening their role as reliable fresh water sources. One such region in the eastern US is the heavily forested central Appalachian Mountains region that provides fresh water to local and downstream metropolitan areas. Despite the hydrological importance of this region, the sensitivity of forested catchments to climate change and the implications for long-term water balance partitioning are largely unknown. We used long-term historic and future (2005-2099) ensemble climate and water balance data and a simple energy-water balance model to quantify streamflow sensitivity and project future streamflow changes for 29 forested catchments under two future Relative Concentration Pathways. We found that streamflow is expected to increase under the low-emission pathway and decrease under the high-emission pathway. Furthermore, despite the greater sensitivity of streamflow to precipitation, larger increases in atmospheric demand offset increases in precipitation-induced streamflow, resulting in moderate changes in long-term water availability in the future. Catchment-scale results are summarized across basins and the region to provide water managers and decision makers with information about climate change at scales relevant to decision making.

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“…To our knowledge, no existing water management agreements address atmospheric water flows across watershed boundaries (Keune & Miralles , 2019;Keys et al, 2017) even though land use change or human water use can alter precipitation remotely (Keune et al, 2018;Wang-Erlandsson et al, 2018;Zipper, Keune, et al, 2019). These transboundary atmospheric water flows indicate a need to expand the scope of water management beyond watershed and national scale and beyond blue water to include green and frozen water (see section 4.1; Creed et al, 2019).…”

Section: 1029/2019ef001377mentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating the Water Planetary Boundary With Water Management From Local to Global Scales

et al. 2020

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The planetary boundaries framework defines the “safe operating space for humanity” represented by nine global processes that can destabilize the Earth System if perturbed. The water planetary boundary attempts to provide a global limit to anthropogenic water cycle modifications, but it has been challenging to translate and apply it to the regional and local scales at which water problems and management typically occur. We develop a cross‐scale approach by which the water planetary boundary could guide sustainable water management and governance at subglobal contexts defined by physical features (e.g., watershed or aquifer), political borders (e.g., city, nation, or group of nations), or commercial entities (e.g., corporation, trade group, or financial institution). The application of the water planetary boundary at these subglobal contexts occurs via two approaches: (i) calculating fair shares, in which local water cycle modifications are compared to that context's allocation of the global safe operating space, taking into account biophysical, socioeconomic, and ethical considerations; and (ii) defining a local safe operating space, in which interactions between water stores and Earth System components are used to define local boundaries required for sustaining the local water system in stable conditions, which we demonstrate with a case study of the Cienaga Grande de Santa Marta wetlands in Colombia. By harmonizing these two approaches, the water planetary boundary can ensure that water cycle modifications remain within both local and global boundaries and complement existing water management and governance approaches.

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Managing Forests for Both Downstream and Downwind Water

Cited by 40 publications

References 38 publications

Travel times for snowmelt‐dominated headwater catchments: Influences of wetlands and forest harvesting, and linkages to stream water quality

Travel times for snowmelt‐dominated headwater catchments: Influences of wetlands and forest harvesting, and linkages to stream water quality

Twenty-First Century Streamflow and Climate Change in Forest Catchments of the Central Appalachian Mountains Region, US

Integrating the Water Planetary Boundary With Water Management From Local to Global Scales

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