Change in Land Cover and Land Use (LCLU) influences the runoff characteristics of a drainage basin to a large extent, which in turn, affects the surface and groundwater availability of the area, and hence leads to further change in LCLU. This forms a vicious circle. Hence it becomes essential to assess the effect of change in LCLU on the runoff characteristics of a region in general and of small watershed levels (sub-basin levels) in particular. Such an analysis can effectively be carried out by using watershed simulation models with integrated GIS frame work. SWAT (Soil and Water Analysis Tool) model, being one of the versatile watershed simulation models, is found to be suitable for this purpose as many GIS integration modules are available for this model (e.g. ArcSWAT, MWSWAT). Watershed simulation using SWAT requires the land use and land cover data, soil data and many other features. With the availability of repository of satellite imageries, both from Indian and foreign sources, it becomes possible to use the concurrent local land use and land cover data, thereby enabling more accurate modelling of small watersheds. Such availability will also enable us to assess the effect of LCLU on runoff characteristics and their reverse impact. The current study assesses the effect of land use and land cover on the runoff characteristics of two watersheds in Kerala, India. It also assesses how the change in land use and land cover in the last few decades affected the runoff characteristics of these watersheds. It is seen that the reduction in the forest area amounts to 60% and 32% in the analysed watersheds. However, the changes in the surface runoff for these watersheds are not comparable with the changes in the forest area but are within 20%. Similarly the maximum (peak) value of runoff has increased by an amount of 15% only. The lesser (aforementioned) effect than expected might be due to the fact that forest has been converted to agricultural purpose with major portion as plantations which have comparatively similar characteristics of the forest except for evapo-transpiration. The double sided action (increase in evapo-transpiration owing to species like rubber and increase percolation due to its plantation method by using terracing) might be the reason for relatively smaller effect of the land use change, not commensurate with the changes in the forest area amounting to 60% and 32% for Manali and Kurumali watersheds respectively. Water harvesting methods like rain harvesting ditches can be made mandatory where species with high evapo-transpiration are grown. This action shall enhance the groundwater percolation and shall counter act the effect due to high evapo-transpiration.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2014.12.041 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Cold climate-driven convergent evolution among angiosperms.
Plant Commun
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, College of Forestry and Biotechnology, Zhejiang A&F University; Hangzhou 311300, China; Zhejiang International Science and Technology Cooperation Base for Plant Germplasm Resources Conservation and Utilization, Zhejiang A&F University; Hangzhou 311300, China; Provincial Key Laboratory for Non-wood Forest and Quality Control and Utilization of Its Products, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China. Electronic address:
Convergent and parallel evolution occur more frequently than previously thought. Here, we focus on the evolutionary adaptations of angiosperms to sub-zero temperatures. We begin by introducing the research history of convergent and parallel evolution, defining all independent similarities as convergent evolution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDeep soil contributions to global nitrogen budgets.
Nat Commun
January 2025
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY, USA.
Previous estimates of deep soil inorganic nitrogen (N) reservoirs have been mainly limited to desert soils, however, recent evidence suggests that deep soil pools are far more ubiquitous across biomes and therefore may be important for global N budgets. Here, we used observations from 280 deep soil profiles (2-205 m) across a wide array of ecosystem and land cover types to seek insight into the full geospatial variation of deep soil nitrate. Using a random forest machine learning approach we estimate a total deep soil nitrate pool of 15.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVariable impacts of land-based climate mitigation on habitat area for vertebrate diversity.
Science
January 2025
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
Pathways to achieving net zero carbon emissions commonly involve deploying reforestation, afforestation, and bioenergy crops across millions of hectares of land. It is often assumed that by helping to mitigate climate change, these strategies indirectly benefit biodiversity. Here, we modeled the climate and habitat requirements of 14,234 vertebrate species and show that the impact of these strategies on species' habitat area tends not to arise through climate mitigation, but rather through habitat conversion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe prevalence and burden of musculoskeletal disorders amongst Indigenous people in Pimicikamak, northern Manitoba, Canada: A community health survey.
Prev Med Rep
January 2025
Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management, University of Manitoba (Fort Garry campus), 420 University Crescent, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2, Canada.
Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of spine symptoms and spine disability, self-care and care seeking behaviors in a random sample of Indigenous adults residing in Cross Lake, northern Manitoba, Canada.
Study Design And Setting: Orally administered survey in Cree or English to a representative sample of Pimicikamak citizens from the treaty ( = 150/1931 houses) and non-treaty ( = 20/92 houses) land, between May and July 2023. Questions ( = 154) were derived from the 2018 First Nations Regional Health Survey, 2020 Canadian Community Health Survey, and 2021 The Global Burden of Disease study, covering demographics, spine symptoms, chronic conditions, activity limitations, general health, self-care, medication, and satisfaction with care.
Hydrologic outputs generated over the Great Lakes with a calibrated version of the GEM-Hydro model.
Sci Data
January 2025
Meteorological Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Dorval, QC, Canada.
This dataset contains outputs from a calibrated version of the GEM-Hydro model developed at Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and is available on the Federated Research Data Repository. The dataset covers the basins of the Laurentian Great Lakes and the Ottawa River and extends over the period 2001-2018. The data consist of all variables (hourly fluxes and state variables) related to the water balance of GEM-Hydro's land-surface scheme (including precipitation, surface and sub-surface runoff, drainage, evaporation, snow water equivalent, soil moisture…) and mean daily streamflow at 212 gauge locations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!