Abstract
Understanding the relationship between integrated landscape patterns (coupled land use, soil properties, and topography) and stream water quality in different seasons promotes appropriate landscape planning. However, this relationship is unclear. Here, water quality nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) levels and the integrated landscape patterns were investigated in ten Chinese subtropical catchments during 2010–2017, using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regressions method and redundancy analysis (RDA). The results suggested that stream water N and P levels were significantly higher in the fallow season than in the rice-growing season (p < 0.05). The N and P levels in the rice-growing season were elevated with the increasing area proportions of tea fields in Ultisols on the medium slope (16.06–28.02°), and larger isolation, diversity, and geometric complexity of landscape patches, but decreased with the increasing area proportions of forests in Ultisols on the steep slope (28.02–80.30°) and interspersion of landscape patches. Stream water N and P levels were more likely influenced by landscape configuration in the rainy rice-growing season, mainly due to the rapid velocities and high quantities of surface flow strengthening landscape configuration effects on the N and P migration and exchange. In the fallow season, the N and P levels were heightened with the increasing area proportions of tea fields, residential areas, and paddy fields in Ultisols on the relative flat (0–16.06°) and medium slopes, and larger isolation of landscape, and could be greatly reduced if the area proportions of forests in Ultisols on the steep slope is increased. The N and P levels were more likely determined by landscape composition in the dry fallow season, associated with the slow and poor subsurface and underground hydrological flows. Therefore, the results promoted reasonable landscape management in different seasons and suitable soil and topography conditions for improving stream water quality.
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