Unlocking the potential of protected areas for freshwaters

Declining trends in the integrity of freshwater systems demand exploration of all possible conservation solutions. Freshwater protected areas have received little attention, despite the prominence of protected areas as conservation interventions for terrestrial and more recently marine features. We argue that a dialogue on freshwater protected areas has been neglected both because few models of good protected area design exist, and because traditional notions of protected areas translate imperfectly to the freshwater realm. Partly as a result of this conceptual disconnect, freshwaters have been largely ignored in protected area accounting schemes, even though a number of existing freshwater conservation strategies could qualify according to general protected area definitions. Rather than impose terrestrially-motivated ideas about protected areas onto freshwaters, we propose new vocabulary - freshwater focal area, critical management zone, and catchment management zone - that can be used in conjunction with IUCN protected area categories and that recognize the special ecological dynamics of freshwaters, and in particular the critical role of fluvial processes. These terms, which attempt to diffuse concerns about locking away essential ecosystem goods and services, move us toward consideration of protected areas for freshwaters. This conceptual shift, which acknowledges that freshwater conservation may occur remotely from freshwater features, opens the door for improved integration of freshwater, terrestrial, and marine concerns in protected area design and management.     

Factors affecting runoff and soil erosion: plot-level soil loss monitoring for assessing sustainability of forest management

The assessment on key ecological factors affecting runoff and soil erosion and the usefulness of plot-level monitoring of soil erosion was conducted by collecting runoff and soil loss records from 14 runoff plots. The runoff plots were set up in two catchments in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, where conventional logging and Reduced Impact Logging (RIL) took place. Runoff plots were set up in forest areas with different levels of logging disturbances, i.e. harvesting areas (four plots), skid trails (six plots), and undisturbed/control areas (four plots). The magnitude of runoff and soil loss from skid trail plots were found to be the highest, followed by control plots and harvest plots. Canopy cover, sapling density, litter depth and woody debris appeared to be important ecological factors that determine the magnitude of soil loss. Tree canopy determines the size and erosive power of the raindrops. Sapling, litter layer, and woody debris protected soil surface, thus preventing soil detachment, and provided surface roughness that minimised soil particle movement down the slope. The roles of these ecological factors were less significant compared to rainfall in determining the magnitude of runoff.

Canopy cover, sapling density, litter depth and woody debris can be measured quantitatively or qualitatively without complicated equipment and methods. Furthermore, they are sensitive to logging disturbance which make them suitable verifiers of soil erosion. Forest managers need to limit disturbance to these factors in order to minimise soil erosion in their logging operation areas. Monitoring of soil loss using runoff plots was cost-effective and provided valuable information about soil erosion risks caused by logging operations. Runoff plots clearly demonstrated site disturbances where the plots are located. Monitoring allowed more direct linkages to be made between management practices and their impacts on runoff and soil erosion, thereby enabling forest managers to identify problems and take appropriate preventive measures to improve their management practices.     

Invasive alien trees and water resources in South Africa: case studies of the costs and benefits of management

Invasive alien plants are consumptive water-users, and may have reduced river flows in South Africa by about 6.7% according to a broad-scale study. An effective programme to bring the invasions under control would cost about US$ 92 million per year for the next 20 years. This paper reports on studies of four representative catchments (the Sonderend, Keurbooms, Upper Wilge and Sabie-Sand) to assess the impacts and costs of invasions at a scale that is more relevant to managers. Several alien plant species have invaded the catchments. Non-riverine invasions are mainly Pinus and Hakea species in Sonderend and Keurbooms, eucalypts in the Upper Wilge, and pines and scramblers (e.g. Lantana camara) in the Sabie-Sand catchment. Riverine invasions are dominated by Acacia mearnsii and, to a lesser extent, A. dealbata, except in the Sabie-Sand and the lower Sonderend River where Eucalyptus species are important. About 44% of the Sonderend, 54% of the Keurbooms, 2% of the Upper Wilge and 23% of the Sabie-Sand catchments has been invaded to some degree. The corresponding reductions in the natural river flows attributed to these invasions are about 7.2, 22.1, 6.0 and 9.4%. If the invasions are not controlled they could potentially spread, and occupy 51, 77, 70%, respectively, of the first three catchments. At an annual expansion rate of 10–15% this would take about 13, 26 and 63 years, respectively. The invadable areas in the Sabie-Sand catchment are already invaded so invasions will only increase in density. It would take about 26–30 years to reach 100% canopy cover. The projected flow reductions for the four catchments would increase to 41.5, 95.5, 25.1 and 22.3%, respectively. The estimated cost of the control programmes to prevent these losses would be about US$ 13.2, 9.9, 4.1 and 6.6 million for the Sonderend, Keurbooms, Upper Wilge and Sabie-Sand catchments, respectively. Should the catchments be allowed to become fully invaded before control operations were started, then the costs would rise to US$ 86.5, 20.5, 278.0 and 11.1 million, respectively. The impacts and costs are significant and are comparable with those calculated independently for other South African catchments. Water is acknowledged to be a key constraint to economic growth in South Africa and there is considerable pressure for efficient and sustainable use of the limited water resources. The projected impacts would justify control programmes aimed at clearing alien invaders for water conservation.     

祁连山天老池小流域土壤有机碳空间异质性及其影响因素

采用野外取样和室内分析,结合地统计学方法和方差分析方法,分析了祁连山天老池小流域0~30 cm层的土壤有机碳的分布特征及其与植被类型、地形和土壤性质等因素的关系。结果表明,该流域土壤有机碳垂直分布存在显著的差异,随着土层深度的增加,土壤有机碳含量显著减少,0~10、10~20、20~30 cm土层土壤有机碳含量分别为105.08、81.46、62.62 g/kg,土壤平均有机碳含量为83.05 g/kg,变异系数为0.56。不同的植被类型0~10 cm土层土壤有机碳含量表现为青海云杉(138.20 g/kg)灌丛(118.49 g/kg)亚高山草甸(100.43 g/kg)祁连圆柏(74.17 g/kg)干草原(43.94 g/kg);随着海拔的升高土壤有机碳含量增加,阴坡有机碳含量明显高于阳坡;经相关性分析表明,土壤有机碳与土壤全氮和砂粒呈显著正相关关系,与土壤体积质量、黏粒和粉粒呈显著负相关关系。     

Framework for designing and applying peak runoff control structures for peatland forestry conditions

Drainage-induced diffuse pollution and erosion are key water quality problems in peatland forestry. A major part of the pollutant load is transported during peak runoff periods after snowmelt or intense rainfall. This study investigated possibilities to increase retention time of runoff waters in drained peatland catchments on purpose to diminish peak runoff and improve settling conditions of suspended solids (SS). To create retention, a peak runoff control (PRC) structure was developed and its functioning, dimensioning and practical applications were studied in five partly or completely ditch-drained catchments in Central Finland. The method reduced runoff peaks by 10–73% or 5.07–57.63 l⁻¹ s⁻¹ km⁻², and functioned especially well during largest runoff peaks. The effectiveness of the PRC method depended on (i) catchment topography (slope) and available detention volume, (ii) dimensioning and location of the PRC structure, and (iii) runoff rates. The PRC structure is cheap and can easily be created with forest drainage machinery during the ditching and ditch network maintenance operations. Different issues relating to the structural design, water quality benefits, and impacts on forestry are discussed.     

植被覆盖度对流域有机质和氮素径流流失的影响

以8.27km²纸坊沟流域1:400模型为对象,在人工控制的条件下,模拟天然降雨(降雨强度2mm/min,历时30min),研究不同植被覆盖度对小流域土壤氮素随径流流失的规律。结果表明,当覆盖度为60%、40%、20%和0%时,土壤铵态氮流失量为87.08、44.31、25.16和13.71kg/km²,硝态氮流失量为85.50、74.05、63.95和56.23kg/km²,有机质流失量为15.67、24.02、44.68和164.87t/km²,全氮流失量为0.81、1.18、1.98和7.5t/km²。泥沙氮素含量随着产流时间的延长呈下降趋势,而流失累积量测呈逐渐增大趋势。植被覆盖虽能有效地减少土壤侵蚀和全氮的流失,却能增加土壤矿质氮的流失。     

Effectiveness of measures aiming to stabilize urban gullies in tropical cities: Results from field surveys across D.R. Congo

Urban gullies are a rapidly growing concern in many tropical cities of the Global South. Various measures are already implemented for their stabilization. However, an overview of these measures and their overall effectiveness is currently lacking. We aim at addressing this gap by documenting existing initiatives to stabilize urban gullies in D.R. Congo and assessing their overall effectiveness. To this end we conducted extensive field campaigns in Kinshasa, Kikwit and Bukavu and combined our terrain observations with data on gully expansion rates (derived from series of satellite imagery). In total, we characterized present and past stabilization initiatives for 398 urban gullies. For 69 of these gullies, the effect of a specific measure on gully expansion rates could be estimated. Results show that for the large majority of gullies, various measures have been implemented. Yet, these are mainly ad-hoc measures installed by the affected population. More structural measures based on larger engineering works were observed for only 20–30% of gullies. The huge efforts invested in the installation of measures strongly contrast with their overall low impact. Among all strategies, only the deviation of runoff resulted in significantly lower expansion rates after installation. The numerous initiatives that rely on the sparse means available seem to have limited effects. This does not imply, however, that they are completely ineffective and should be abandoned. Based on our findings, we formulate recommendations for further research on how to effectively prevent and stabilize urban gullies, taking into account the difficult environmental and socio-economic context.     

Evaluating the accessibility of urban parks and waterfronts through online map services: A case study of Shaoxing,China

Regular access to natural environment has many physical and mental health benefits for urban residents. This study was to evaluate the accessibility of urban parks and waterfronts in a Chinese canal city at the household level. Shaoxing, a typical canal town in the Yangtze River Delta region of China, was selected as the case study because of its abundant but underused natural resources. The study had measured the shortest travel routes from individual households to parks and waterfronts using data from the online map service and intensive fieldwork. The results showed that only 22% of Shaoxing residents live within a 500 m walking distance to parks, but scenario analysis showed if the canals were well used, almost all the residents would have access to natural environment within 15 min’ walk. Thus, the route-based accessibility evaluation method developed in this research offers a fine-grained understanding of household inequality in access to natural environments. It not only provides specific recommendations for planning intervention to improve the accessibility of natural resources in Shaoxing, but also contributes to the advancement of accessibility measures for planning practice. This route-based measure makes it possible to combine other accessibility measures of the travel routes such as sidewalk qualities in future research. The simplicity of this method means that it can be used to evaluate accessibility to other public facilities at the household level to develop walkable neighborhoods in cities.     

土壤厚度演化模型理论方法研究进展

全球平均土壤厚度仅约为1 m，但土壤厚度的空间分布信息在地貌、生态及水文科学等领域的研究和实践中具有重要价值。由于其具有显著的空间异质性，基于现有土壤制图产品、地球物理勘测及经验统计模型难以获取流域尺度土壤厚度分布信息，亟待发展土壤厚度预测的过程机理模型。本文回顾了土壤厚度演化模型理论方法的研究进展，评价了不同土壤生成及输移模型的适用性。研究指出土壤化学风化成土等机理仍不清晰是制约模型发展的理论瓶颈。此外，模型的方法体系有待完善，亟待进一步发展土壤生成率和输移率的函数形式及其参数的估计方法等，指出物理与随机结合的模拟方法以及基于数学物理途径的参数确定方法等有望解决模型应用中遇到的难题。最后，在土壤厚度演化模型基础上，提出发展基于流域协同演化理论的土壤发生学模型是定量预测土壤理化全要素发生所亟需突破的难点之一。