Influences of Landscape Configuration on River Water Quality

Mehdi Aalipour,Elżbieta Antczak,Bahman Jabbarian Jabbarian Amiri,Tomáš Dostál

doi:10.3390/f13020222

Abstract

The present study investigated the effects of changes in landscape configuration on river water quality, which is calculated by chemical export coefficients, using spatial data onto 31 catchments in the southwestern part of the Caspian Sea basin by applying stepwise multivariate regression models. The water quality modeling has been carried out applying the chemical export coefficients of sulfate, bicarbonate, chlorine, calcium, magnesium, and sodium, and eight landscape metrics (including interspersion juxtaposition index, percentage of like adjacencies, aggregation index, clumpiness index, normalized landscape shape index, patch cohesion index, landscape division index, and splitting index), by which landscape configuration is analyzed. The results indicated that the sulfate (0.25 ± 0.33 gr ha−1yr−1), bicarbonate (0.61 ± 0.87 gr ha−1 yr−1), chlorine (0.17 ± 0.23 gr ha−1 yr−1), calcium (0.16 ± 0.21 gr ha−1 yr−1), magnesium (0.05 ± 0.07 gr ha−1 yr−1), and sodium (0.16 ± 0.21 gr ha−1 yr−1) are annually exported from the study catchments into the rivers. The change in landscape configuration has significantly explained the chemical export coefficients of sulfate, bicarbonate, chlorine, calcium, magnesium, and sodium. The findings showed the cohesion and coherence of the permanently irrigated land patches resulting in the discontinuity of the broad-leaved forest and grassland ecosystems degraded river water quality.

Highlights

The impacts of change in land use/land cover patterns on aquatic environments are one of the most critical subjects and crises in water resource management and environmental science [1]
The results show that 43–47% of the total variability in the CECs of chlorine and calcium were significantly explained by the change in the split index of the permanently irrigated land, respectively
Our findings showed that the cohesion and coherence of the permanently irrigated land patches that resulted in the discontinuity of the grassland and broad-leaved forest ecosystems could be considered as one of the main factors in degrading the river water quality in the study catchments

Summary

Introduction

The impacts of change in land use/land cover patterns on aquatic environments are one of the most critical subjects and crises in water resource management and environmental science [1]. The quality of water rivers are controlled by different characteristics of catchments, out of which might be pointed to topography [5], land use/land cover changes [6], landscape [7], soil [8], geology [9], impervious area [10] drainage density [11], temperature [12] agricultural areas [13], and urban development [11]. Land use/land cover change due to socio-economic development is one of the significant inevitable consequences that cause the landscape to be fragmented into natural and manmade patches [17]. Change in the spatial pattern of land use/land cover disrupts

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Discussion

Conclusion