The consequences for stream water quality of long-term changes in landscape patterns: Implications for land use management and policies

Fernandes, António Carlos Pinheiro; Martins, Lisa; Pacheco, Fernando António Leal; Fernandes, Luís Filipe Sanches

doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105679

Cited by 28 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 124 publications

(179 reference statements)

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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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“…Various studies have established a nexus between human activity and increases in edge density (and hence in Shannon's diversity index (SHDI)) with decreases in water quality [19]. Other studies have correlated the patch index and patch density with surface water quality [5,9,20], showing the loss of filtering capacity of fragmented forests relative to non-fragmented forests [21]. Therefore, LULC and landscape pattern analysis can provide important indicators of water quality fluctuations, indirectly reflecting human activity and pollutant transmission [5,22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Land Use/Land Cover and Landscape Pattern on Water Quality in Dianchi Lake Basin, Southwest of China

Zhang

et al. 2023

Sustainability

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The water quality of a basin is pronouncedly affected by the surrounding types of land use. Analyzing the impact of LULC and landscape patterns on water quality is critical for identifying potential drivers. To further study how LUCC affects the water quality in a typical plateau lake basin, this study investigated the impacts of land-use types on water quality in the Dianchi Lake Basin in Southwest China. We analyzed changes in land-use types and the landscape pattern of the Dianchi basin, calculated the CWQI (Canadian Water Quality Index) value based on the water quality indexes (PH, total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved oxygen (DO), permanganate index (CODMn), five-day biochemical ox-ygen demand (BOD5), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), turbitidy, and chlorophyll-a (Chla)), used the RDA (Redundancy Analysis) and SMLR (Stepwise multiple linear regression) methods, the coupling degree, coupling coordination degree, and the geographical detector model to explore the relationship between water quality and changes in the land-use type. The results show that (1) changes in the land-use types were obvious: the majority of the land, which was originally forest land, became built land in 2020 and farmland in 1990 (except for the Dianchi water). Landscape pattern indexes indicated that almost all land-use types were first scattered, then gathered from 1990 to 2020. (2) Changes in the water quality of Dianchi Lake lagged behind the changes in land-use types, and the variation trends were similar to the landscape pattern variation trends. The CWQI value decreased in a nearly linear fashion from 1990 to 1998, exhibited a slight change from 1999 to 2013, and quickly increased from 2013. (3) Land-use types demonstrated a tight correlation with the Dianchi water quality, and LPI was the most dominant factor in both Caohai Lake and Waihai Lake. (4) There were different indexes affecting the coupling coordination degrees of Caohai Lake and Waihai Lake.

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“…Mountainous rivers provide water for people and support lowland industries and agriculture [3][4][5]. However, in the alpine areas of Northwest China, such as the Tianshan mountains, limited climate data is available (because of the scarcity of meteorological stations), which makes it difficult to calculate the contribution of climate change to runoff [6,7]. New methods need to be developed in order to address this knowledge gap [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temperature Contributes More than Precipitation to Runoff in the High Mountains of Northwest China

Fan

Chen

et al. 2022

Remote Sensing

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In alpine areas in Northwest China, such as the Tianshan Mountains, the lack of climate data (because of scarce meteorological stations) makes it difficult to assess the impact of climate change on runoff. The main contribution of this study was to develop an integrated method to assess the impact of climate change on runoff in data-scarce high mountains. Based on reanalysis products, this study firstly downscaled climate data using machine learning algorithms, then developed a Batch Gradient Descent Linear Regression to calculate the contributions of temperature and precipitation to runoff. Applying this method to six mountainous basins originating from the Tianshan Mountains, we found that climate changes in high mountains are more significant than in lowlands. In high mountains, the runoff changes are mainly affected by temperature, whereas in lowlands, precipitation contributes more than temperature to runoff. The contributions of precipitation and temperature to runoff changes were 20% and 80%, respectively, in the Kumarik River. The insights gained in this study can guide other studies on climate and hydrology in high mountain basins.

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The consequences for stream water quality of long-term changes in landscape patterns: Implications for land use management and policies

Cited by 28 publications

References 124 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

Impact of Land Use/Land Cover and Landscape Pattern on Water Quality in Dianchi Lake Basin, Southwest of China

Temperature Contributes More than Precipitation to Runoff in the High Mountains of Northwest China

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