Abstract
Freshwater ecosystems provide a large number of benefits to society. However, extensive human activities threat the viability of these ecosystems, their habitats, and their dynamics and interactions. One of the main risks facing these systems is the overexploitation of groundwater resources that hinders the survival of several freshwater habitats. In this paper, we study optimal groundwater paths when considering freshwater ecosystems. We contribute to existing groundwater literature by including the possibility of regime shifts in freshwater ecosystems into a groundwater management problem. The health of the freshwater habitat, which depends on the groundwater level, presents a switch in its status that occurs when a critical water level (‘tipping point’) is reached. Our results highlight important differences in optimal extraction paths and optimal groundwater levels compared with traditional models. The outcomes suggest that optimal groundwater withdrawals are non-linear and depend on the critical threshold and the ecosystem’s health function. Our results show that the inclusion of regime shifts in water management calls for a reformulation of water policies to incorporate the structure of ecosystems and their interactions with the habitat.
Highlights
A recent report from the United Nations (IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) has warned of the unprecedented rapid deterioration of the health of ecosystems worldwide (Díaz et al 2019)
‘Nature across most of the globe has been significantly altered by multiple human drivers, with the great majority of indicators of ecosystems and biodiversity showing rapid decline’ (Díaz et al 2019, p. 4)
The pressures placed on these hydrological systems with which ecosystems interact, together with the important alterations in ecosystem habitats and the growing exploitation of some ecosystem commodities, is threatening the ecological status of many ecosystems
Summary
A recent report from the United Nations (IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) has warned of the unprecedented rapid deterioration of the health of ecosystems worldwide (Díaz et al 2019) This statement provides evidence that environmental regulations for protecting natural resources and the defense of ecosystem’s health and functioning are still far from being accomplished. Processes, better represent the behavior of ecosystems (Scheffer et al 2001; Scheffer and Carpenter 2003) In this manuscript we assume that groundwater depletion presents two alternative stable states after a certain tipping point is reached (e.g., decrease in the groundwater table level). In contrast with previous contributions, our results suggest that optimal water extractions present discontinuous patterns These outcomes contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between groundwater and ecosystems, and can be helpful for the implementation of effective groundwater policies to maintain economic activities while protecting aquatic ecosystems.
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