Abstract
The Earth has entered the Anthropocene epoch that is dominated by humans who demand unprecedented quantities of goods and services from forests. The science of forest hydrology and watershed management generated during the past century provides a basic understanding of relationships among forests and water and offers management principles that maximize the benefits of forests for people while sustaining watershed ecosystems. However, the rapid pace of changes in climate, disturbance regimes, invasive species, human population growth, and land use expected in the 21st century is likely to create substantial challenges for watershed management that may require new approaches, models, and best management practices. These challenges are likely to be complex and large scale, involving a combination of direct and indirect biophysical watershed responses, as well as socioeconomic impacts and feedbacks. We discuss the complex relationships between forests and water in a rapidly changing environment, examine the trade-offs and conflicts between water and other resources, and propose new management approaches for sustaining water resources in the Anthropocene.
Highlights
According to the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), we are officially in the Holocene (“entirely recent”) epoch, which began 11,700 years ago after the last major ice age
[10,11], and rapid urbanization and demographic are changes are increasing the demands of forest ecosystem services such as timber supply,changes clean water increasing the demands of forest ecosystem services such as timber supply, clean water
While substantial progress has been made in research approaches and our understanding of watershed sensitivity to rapidly changing environmental conditions [28], it is largely unknown whether this new knowledge will be sufficient or effective in changing management practices because linking this new knowledge to existing modeling tools, Best Management Practices (BMPs), and guidelines is not straightforward and often requires challenging existing dogma and revising long-standing approaches [29]
Summary
According to the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), we are officially in the Holocene (“entirely recent”) epoch, which began 11,700 years ago after the last major ice age. Forest managers face global environmental threats from warming climate [10,11], and rapid urbanization andenvironmental demographic threats from a warming climate [10,11], and rapid urbanization and demographic are changes are increasing the demands of forest ecosystem services such as timber supply,changes clean water increasing the demands of forest ecosystem services such as timber supply, clean water [12], and [12], and recreation opportunities To meet these unprecedented challenges, we propose that land recreation will opportunities. Our modeling tools and our modeling tools and management approaches developed in the past may not fit the future management approaches developed in the past may not fit the future environment In this communication, communication, we examine how how new new emerging emerging global global environmental environmental threats threats interact interact with forest water resources and ecosystem functions in the Anthropocene.
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