Abstract
The riparian buffer width on watersheds has been modified over the last decades. The human settlements heavily used and have significantly altered those areas, for farming, urbanization, recreation and other functions. In order to protect freshwater ecosystems, riparian areas have recently assumed world recognition and considered valuable areas for the conservation of nature and biodiversity, protected by forest laws and policies as permanent preservation areas. The objective of this work was to compare parameters from riparian areas related to a natural watercourse less than 10 m wide, for specific purposes in Law No. 4761/65, now revoked and replaced by Law No. 12651/12, known as the New Forest Code. The effects of 15, 30 and 50 m wide riparian forest in water and soil of three headwater catchments used for sugar cane production were analyzed. The catchments are located in the Environmental Protection Area of Uberaba River Basin (state of Minas Gerais, Brazil), legally protected for conservation of water resources and native vegetation. A field survey was carried out in the catchments for verification of land uses, while periodical campaigns were conducted for monthly water sampling and seasonal soil sampling within the studied riparian buffers. The physico-chemical parameters of water were handled by ANOVA (Tukey’s mean test) for recognition of differences among catchments, while thematic maps were elaborated in a geographic information system for illustration purposes. The results suggested that the 10, 30 or even 50 m wide riparian buffers are not able to fulfill the environmental function of preserving water resources, and therefore are incapable to ensure the well-being of human populations. Therefore, the limits imposed by the actual Brazilian Forest Code should be enlarged substantially.
Highlights
Riparian forests are woodlands in association with streams, rivers and lakes
The role of riparian vegetation and forest cover in the control of stream water quality in anthropogenic catchments was investigated in this study
The analysis involved three headwater catchments characterized by increasing buffer strip widths, namely 15, 30 and 50 m widths, as well as increasing native forest to sugar cane ratios (NF/SC)
Summary
Riparian forests are woodlands in association with streams, rivers and lakes. The location of riparian forests adjacent to water courses ensures that they can exert a strong influence on the quality of freshwater and help to protect the whole ecosystem from anthropogenic activities taking place upwards in the watershed [1,2,3,4]. The biotic community components express the different spatial and temporal scales of anthropogenic pressures, and support the environmental assessment of watersheds [3,17,18]. For this reason, efforts should be made to understand the theory and metrics of soil attributes and water quality in riparian buffer ecosystems and their link to specific or aggregated types of anthropogenic disturbance [19].
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