Hydrological Ecosystem Services Research Articles

ANALYSIS OF METHODS OF SATELLITE MONITORING OF CHANGES IN WATER BODIES

Surface waters are part of the ecosystem services of various countries of the world, mainly intended for domestic, industrial and agricultural use, production of food, electricity (hydropower), obtaining medicinal substances and other materials from biota, organization of places of rest and recreation. Seasonal monitoring of the level of surface water allows obtaining a qualitative characteristic and quantitative assessment of changes in the hydrological ecosystem service as a result of climate changes and anthropogenic influences. In this regard, technologies for operational monitoring of the dynamics of changes in water bodies play an important role.

Vulnerability assessment of hydrological ecosystem services under future climate and land use change dynamics

Hydrological Ecosystem Services (HESs), as an important part of ecosystem services, are those services that depend on hydrological processes. HESs vulnerability assessment at the watershed scale is used to explore highly vulnerable areas for management and protection measures. This study aimed at developing a method for HESs vulnerability assessment and achieve a quantitative integrated index under future climate and land use change scenarios. We focused on three regulating HESs, including water flow regulation, erosion regulation, and local climate regulation (LC). An integrated model of Markov chain and automatic cells was used to predict land use changes. Future climate data were estimated using the Climate Change Toolkit (CCT). The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was developed for HESs vulnerability assessment in the Taleghan Watershed in Iran. The model was calibrated by river discharge using the Sequential Uncertainty Fitting (SUFI-2) and the Parallel Processing option. The results show that sub-watersheds with higher precipitation (PCP) and lower evapotranspiration (ET) are more efficient in water flow and local climate regulation. However, sub-watersheds with lower PCP and higher ET are more vulnerable to erosion. Changes in water flow regulation services and local climate regulation were more consistent with climate changes, and conversely, changes in erosion and sediment regulation services had a very high level of compliance with land use changes. The method applied in this study can easily be adapted to other regions to identify areas with more vulnerability and less resilience in improving the water and soil structure and function in the watershed.

Estimation of Water Yield and Soil Erosion in Samanalawewa Watershed in Sri Lanka using GIS-based InVEST Model

Ecosystem services (ES) are a group of tasks performed by the earth's ecosystems that are required to support life and offer benefits to humanity. Thus, this study explores two of the water-related ecosystem services, water yield, and soil retention that were distributed in the Samanalawewa Watershed (SW) and its eight sub-watersheds in Sri Lanka, over 20 years (2000-2020) with five- year time intervals. Soil and water conservation and water yield play an important role in ecosystem management. Hydrological balance is a crucial component of the hydrological ecosystem services. Assessing water yield and soil erosion are pivotal for watershed management. Thus, this study estimated and mapped the water yield and soil erosion, using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST 3.9.2) Annual Water Yield (AWY) and Sediment Delivery Ratio (SDR) model respectively. According to the obtained results, in 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2020, the estimated mean annual water yield was 2.62x105, 2.6x105, 3.5x105, 3.58x105 and 2.75x105 m3 ha-1year-1, respectively. Furthermore, the estimated mean annual soil erosion rates for the above- mentioned years were 53.2, 52.9, 69.7, 87.7 and 70.2 t ha-1 year-1. The estimated soil loss values of the SW are 10 to 18 times greater than the soil erosion tolerance (5 t ha-1 year-1) in Sri Lanka. The results show that the years 2015 and 2005 have the highest and the lowest water yield and total soil loss values, respectively. The upper part of the watershed has relatively moderate water yield and soil loss values than the lower part. These findings would be beneficial in developing watershed management strategies and in the implementation of suitable soil and water conservation techniques within the watershed. 
 Keywords: Ecosystem services, InVEST, Samanalawewa watershed, Soil erosion, Water yield

Response of hydrological ecosystem services to land-use change and risk assessment in Jiangxi Province, China

Water bodies provide humans with important hydrological ecosystem services (HESs), directly or indirectly. Water yield, water conservation, and soil conservation are essential to HESs. Since China's reform and opening up, and with its rapid socio-economic development, land use in Jiangxi Province has undergone drastic change, resulting in threats to the ecological environment. This paper evaluates three HESs, water yield, water conservation, and soil conservation, in Jiangxi Province based on land use and rainfall data, quantifies the impacts of different land classes on each ecosystem, predicts future land use using the patch-generating land use simulation (PLUS) model, and finally, discusses the ecological risks in the study area. The following results were obtained: (1) The HESs in the basin increased and then decreased from 2000 to 2020, and the spatial distribution of water yield and water conservation was greatly influenced by rainfall. Soil conservation was mostly consistent with the elevation distribution. (2) Over time, the overall aggregation of HESs in the study area increased. There were small differences in the effects of various land uses on water yield and water conservation, and large differences in the effects on soil conservation. (3) The distribution of ecological risks was not affected by different land use strategies, with the lower ecological risk level 1 dominating. Most risk areas were present in Ganzhou, Ji'an, Shangrao, and Jiujiang. The ecological risk from urban sprawl (US) accounted for the most significant proportion, and that from the ecological protection (EP) strategy accounted for the lowest proportion. This study provides reference for sustainable land use development and ecological risk prevention in the study area.

HYDROLOGICAL MODELING USING SWAT IN THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS FOR THE CONSERVATION OF RIVER BASINS.

The conservation of watersheds is a concern in all countries because of the scarcity of water for capitation and use and the anthropogenic degradation of this natural resource. Thus the objective of this study is to make a systematic review on the themes ecosystem service, hydrological modeling using the SWAT model. Emphasizing the importance of this theme in the decision-making process in the management of water resources. The research is exploratory, having as main method the literature/scientific review. The bibliographic survey used was carried out on the Scopus platform, in chronological order in the range from 2018 to 2022. The two years of the health crisis were the years of greatest scientific production. Two publications stood out for the number of citations: A review of SWAT Applications, performance and Future needs for Simulation of Hydro-Climatic Extremes and, Comparison of the SWAT and Invest models to determine hydrological Ecosystem service Spatial Patterns, Priorities and trade-offs in a Complex Basin, both published in 2020. The most prominent countries in research publications in the area of Environmental Science were China, USA, Canada, Germany, Brazil and Norway. The relevance of studies involving this theme become evident because they are tools used in the decision-making process in water management, showing up as a vast field for research in Latin America and South America, but specifically in Brazil for its continental dimension and its diversity.

Geospatial modeling of hydrological ecosystem services in an ungauged upper Yamuna catchment using SWAT

Hydrological ecosystem services (HES) are vital for resource allocation, conservation prioritization, and climate change adaptation. However, research gaps persist due to limited understanding of complex hydrological systems and inadequate ground-station data, especially in ungauged watersheds with complex terrains. The present study addresses these gaps by estimating and mapping HES descriptors using regionalization techniques in an ungauged Aglar watershed. Additionally, it conducts a temporal analysis of hydrological fluxes using Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Aglar is a constituent sub-watershed of a gauged watershed named Bausan having two discharge observation stations located at Naugaon and Bausan sites in Uttarakhand, India. A nested parameterization approach was adopted to represent the hydrological variabilities over the Bausan watershed with one outlet at Aglar. The stream flow derived from the calibrated Bausan watershed was used as synthetic observations in SWAT model setup for Aglar and found to yield very good statistical results. Calibration yielded coefficient of determination (R2) = 0.91, Nash Sutcliff Efficiency (NSE) = 0.91, and standardized root mean square error (RSR) = 0.29, while the validation yielded R2 = 0.68, NSE = 0.50, and RSR = 0.37. Parameters related to base flow or stream flow were the most sensitive in the model's output. Water balance analysis reveals 36% of precipitation transformed into stream flow, with direct runoff accounting for 72% and base flow for 28%. Forest cover contributed approximately 50.68% of precipitation through evapotranspiration. The study identifies a maximum sediment load of approximately 26 t/ha, indicating fragility of the landscape. Non-parametric tests such as Mann Kendall and Sen's slope indicated increasing trends in surface runoff, lateral flow, water yield, and groundwater recharge. The analysis of the empirical cumulative distribution function demonstrated that all hydrological components exhibit trends similar to precipitation. Spatially and temporally, variations in HES provisioning were observed, with forests surpassing non-forest areas. These findings emphasize the value of HES descriptors in analyzing spatiotemporal changes in HES provisioning and offer valuable insights for policymakers for future policy dialogues. This study lays the groundwork for further investigations into the hydrological processes of ungauged watersheds.

Mapping high-altitude peatlands to inform a landscape conservation strategy in the Andes of northern Peru

SummaryThe wetlands of the jalca ecoregion in the Andes of northern Peru form peat and play a major role in the hydrological ecosystem services of the ecoregion. Although peat is globally valued for carbon sequestration and storage, peatlands have not yet been mapped in the jalca. In this region, the Gocta waterfall, one of the 20 highest waterfalls in the world, depends on the jalca’s wetlands ecosystem. The local population depends on tourism to the waterfall and is concerned about preserving its drainage area. To inform conservation planning, in this study we delimited the drainage area of the Gocta waterfall and identified land tenure by applying Geographic Information System (GIS), remote sensing and participatory mapping techniques. Then, by classifying optical, radar and digital elevation models data, we mapped peatland in the jalca of the Gocta drainage area with an overall accuracy of 97.1%. Our results will inform conservation strategy in this complex area of communal, private and informal land tenure systems. At a regional level, this appears to be the first attempt at mapping peatlands using remote sensing imagery in the jalca ecoregion, and it represents a milestone for future efforts to map and conserve peatlands in other tropical mountain areas of the world.

Economic valuation of the ecosystem services of the water resource of the Cachi river basin, Ayacucho, Perú

Knowing economic value of ecosystem services makes it possible to identify the importance of ecosystems and their services, with which better decisions that have an impact on social well-being are expected. The objective of the study was to estimate the economic value of water ecosystem services (ES), from the Cachi basin.The novelty of the study lies in the application of a complete study of the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), the Willingness to Pay (WTP) and the Willingness to Accept (WTA) were estimated. According to surveys carried out, 90.6% of the producers in the Cachi basin are WTP, 9.4% are not WTP for economic reasons. On the other hand, 92% of the inhabitants of the high Andean areas are WTA, only 8% do not accept an economic incentive, due to disagreements with the Regional Government of Ayacucho. The econometric results of the logit model showed that the producers are WTP, at most S/ 74.87/ha/campaign (19.50 USD), for the conservation of the hydrological ES for agricultural porpuses. While the inhabitants of the highland areas of the Cachi basin are WTA, the minimum amount of S/162.05 ha/bofedal/monthly (42.21 USD), in exchange for conserving the wetlands and pastures of the Cachi basin headwaters. It is concluded, the producers are WTP for obtaining continuity and quality of the supply of water for agricultural use, and they are WTA for the conservation and recovery of natural water sources. Putting these results into practice would contribute to the sustainability of the water supply in the high Andean areas, guaranteeing the provision of water resources to current and future generations in times of drought.

Urban Trees and Hydrological Ecosystem Service: A Novel Approach to Analyzing the Relationship Between Landscape Structure and Runoff Reduction.

Urban stormwater runoff has posed significant challenges in the face of urbanization and climate change, emphasizing the importance of trees in providing runoff reduction ecosystem services (RRES). However, the sustainability of RRES can be disturbed by urban landscape modification. Understanding the impact of landscape structure on RRES is crucial to manage urban landscapes effectively to sustain supply of RRES. So, this study developed a new approach that analyzes the relationship between the landscape structural pattern and the RRES in Tabriz, Iran. The provision of RRES was estimated using the i-Tree Eco model. Landscape structure-related metrics of land use and cover (LULC) were derived using FRAGSTATS to quantify the landscape structure. Stepwise regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between landscape structure metrics and the provision of RRES. The results indicated that throughout the city, the trees prevented 196854.15 m3 of runoff annually. Regression models (p ≤ 0.05) suggested that the provision of RRES could be predicted using the measures of the related circumscribing circle metric (0.889 ≤ r2 ≤ 0.954) and the shape index (r2 = 0.983) of LULC patches. The findings also revealed that the regularity or regularity of the given LULC patches' shape could impact the patches' functions, which, in turn, affects the provision of RRES. The landscape metrics can serve as proxies to predict the capacity of trees for potential RRES using the obtained regression models. This helps to allocate suitable LULC through optimizing landscape metrics and management guidance to sustain RRES.

A New Tool for Mapping Water Yield in Cold Alpine Regions

Watershed management requires reliable information about hydrologic ecosystem services (HESs) to support decision-making. In cold alpine regions, the hydrology regime is largely affected by frozen ground and snow cover. However, existing special models of ecosystem services usually ignore cryosphere elements (such as frozen ground and snow cover) when mapping water yield, which limits their application and promotion in cold alpine regions. By considering the effects of frozen ground and snow cover on water yield, a new version of the Seasonal Water Yield model (SWY) in the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST) was presented and applied in the Three-River Headwaters Region (TRHR) in southeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). Our study found that incorporating the effects of frozen ground and snow cover improved model performance. Frozen ground acts as a low permeable layer, reducing water infiltration, while snow cover affects water yield through processes of melting and sublimation. Both of these factors can significantly impact the distribution of spatial and temporal quickflow and baseflow. The annual average baseflow and water yield of the TRHR would be overestimated by 13 mm (47.58 × 108 m3/yr) and 14 mm (51.24 × 108 m3/yr), respectively, if the effect of snow cover on them is not considered. Furthermore, if the effect of frozen ground on water yield were not accounted for, there would be an average of 6 mm of quickflow misestimated as baseflow each year. Our study emphasizes that the effects of frozen ground and snow cover on water yield cannot be ignored, particularly over extended temporal horizons and in the context of climate change. It is crucial to consider their impacts on water resources in cold alpine regions when making water-related decisions. Our study widens the application of the SWY and contributes to water-related decision-making in cold alpine regions.

Accounting for the water related ecosystem services of forests in the Southern Aegean region of Turkey

This study aims to model hydrological ecosystem services provided by forests and explore how they can be captured in an ecosystem accounting framework. We test a dynamic GIS-based hydrological model to quantify and map key hydrological ecosystem services in the Southern Aegean Region of Turkey and integrate the services into an ecosystem account following the System of Environmental Economic Accounting – Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA). We map and account for services in physical and monetary terms, using an innovative model to quantify flood control services. Our paper connects forest management with water resource supply, eliciting the hydrological role of forests. The combined value of the three ecological services (groundwater recharge, flood control and sediment control) is about 201 million €/year. Reduction in forest coverage means that the economy will face the consequences of losses of these critical regulating services. Finally, we discuss opportunities, challenges, and limitations in the practical application of the ecosystem accounting concept.

Relative and Cumulative Effects of Climate and Land Use Change on Hydrological Ecosystem Services in Northeast China

Climate change (CC) and land use change (LUC) have been determined as two major environmental change variables that broadly affect hydrological ecosystem services (HESs). However, the relative and cumulative effects of CC and LUC on HES at large spatial scales where there is great environmental heterogeneity is still unclear enough to support the formulation and update of land use decision-making and ecological management policies. This study has quantified the spatiotemporal change of HESs (water yield, water purification, soil retention) from 1992 to 2020 in northeast China, and evaluated the relative contribution and cumulative effects of CC and LUC on HESs through environmental setting scenarios and using two indicators (the Relative Importance Index and the Combined Effects Index). This study yielded the following results: (1) From 1992 to 2020, water yield (WY) (+94.33 mm) and soil retention (SR) (5.28 × 103 t/km2) both showed an upward trend from 1992 to 2020 and an upward trend in nitrogen export (NE) indicating a decline in water purification (WP). (2) There was significant spatial heterogeneity of HESs in northeast China, which included significant increases in WY in the Sanjiang Plain; NE in the Songnen Plain (SNP), Sanjiang Plain (SJP), and Liao River Plain (LJP); and SR in the Greater Khingan Mountains (GKMR), Lesser Khingan Mountains (LKMR), and Changbai Mountains (CBMR). (3) WY was more affected by CC than LUC, especially in the SJP, the eastern LRP, and the southern CBMR; NE was more affected by LUC than CC in the western LRP, the southern GKMR, and the southwestern SNP; SR was more affected by LUC than CC in the GKMR; SR was more affected by CC than LUC and intensity gradually increased in the CBMR and LKMR. (4) The cumulative effect of CC and LUC contributed to HESs in most regions but inhibited HESs in some regions; warming and forestland expansion especially significantly inhibited WY. Our study emphasizes that current land use policies and ecosystem management practices should consider the relative and cumulative effects of CC and LUC on HESs to maintain diverse ecosystem services and ensure human well-being.

Determination of Spatially-Distributed Hydrological Ecosystem Services (HESS) in the Red River Delta Using a Calibrated SWAT Model

The principles of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), conservation of natural capital, and water accounting requires Hydrological Eco-System Services (HESS) to be determined. This paper presents a modeling approach for quantifying the HESS framework using the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). SWAT was used–after calibration against remote sensing data–to quantify and spatially identify total runoff, natural livestock feed production, fuelwood from natural forests, dry season flow, groundwater recharge, root zone storage for carrying over water from wet to dry season, sustaining rainfall, peak flow attenuation, carbon sequestration, microclimate cooling, and meeting environmental flow requirements. The environmental value of the current land use and vegetation was made explicit by carrying out parallel simulations for bare soil and vegetation conditions and reporting the incremental ecosystem services. Geographical areas with more and fewer HESS are identified. The spatial and temporal variability of annual HESS services is demonstrated for the Day Basin—which is part of the Red River delta (Vietnam)—for the period 2003 to 2013. The result shows that even though the basin is abundant with HESS, e.g., 7482 m3/ha of runoff, 3820 m3/ha of groundwater recharge, the trend for many HESS values, e.g., micro-climate cooling, meeting environmental flow requirements, and rootzone storage, are declining. It is found and proven that quantified HESS indicators highlighted the provisioning and regulating characters of ecosystem services, as well as geographical hotspots across the basin. The SWAT model shows the capability of simulating terrestrial eco-hydrological processes such as climate, soil, and current land use. The methodology illustrates how eco-hydrologists can benchmark ecosystem values and include HESS in exploring river basin management scenarios, climate change studies, and land use planning.

A New Framework of 17 Hydrological Ecosystem Services (HESS17) for Supporting River Basin Planning and Environmental Monitoring

Hydrological ecosystem services (HESS) describe the benefits of water for multiple purposes with an emphasis on environmental values. The value of HESS is often not realized because primary benefits (e.g., food production, water withdrawals) get the most attention. Secondary benefits such as water storage, purification or midday temperature cooling are often overlooked. This results in an incorrect evaluation of beneficial water usage in urban and rural resettlements and misunderstandings when land use changes are introduced. The objective of this paper is to propose a standard list of 17 HESS indicators that are in line with the policy and philosophy of the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and that are measurable with earth observation technologies in conjunction with GIS and hydrological models. The HESS17 framework considered indicators that can be directly related to water flows, water fluxes and water stocks; they have a natural characteristic with minimal anthropogenic influence and must be quantifiable by means of earth observation models in combination with GIS and hydrological models. The introduction of a HESS framework is less meaningful without proper quantification procedures in place. Because of the widely diverging management options, the role of water should be categorized as (i) consumptive use (i.e., evapotranspiration and dry matter production) and (ii) non-consumptive use (stream flow, recharge, water storage). Governments and responsible agencies for integrated water management should recognize the need to include HESS17 in water allocation policies, water foot-printing, water accounting, transboundary water management, food security purposes and spatial land-use planning processes. The proposed HESS17 framework and associated methods can be used to evaluate land, soil and water conservation programs. This paper presents a framework that is non-exhaustive but can be realistically computed and applicable across spatial scales.

Hydrological modeling and scenario analysis for water supply and water demand assessment of Addis Ababa city, Ethiopia

Study regionAddis Ababa, capital city of Ethiopia. Addis Ababa’s surface water reservoirs and groundwater infrastructures are in the Akaki watershed of the Awash Basin. Study focusThis study integrates a hydrological model, socioeconomic data, and different water management scenarios to investigate the current and future water supply and demand. Baseline water supply and water demand data are obtained from Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was used to simulate reservoir sedimentation and water quantity in the Akaki watershed. The city’s water demand projection is based on the standard public water demand requirement and projected population. The study considered five scenarios to assess the gaps between water supply and demand. New hydrological insights for the regionSimulation results showed that the area upstream of the existing reservoirs has the potential to supply 651,452 m3/day of surface water; however, currently, the reservoirs are supplying only 224,658 m3/day of water. With an optimistic scenario of planned reservoirs and groundwater boreholes becoming operational by 2029, water supply will only meet demands through 2035. Afterwards, the gap between water supply and demand will increase, due to an increase in population. Therefore, additional water supply projects, effective water use, and maintaining critical hydrological ecosystem services are required to bridge the gap between water supply and demand.

Application of multi-agent decision-making methods in hydrological ecosystem services management

In this paper, a methodology is presented for managing hydrological ecosystem services by taking into account the hierarchy of stakeholders involved in the decision-making process. With this in mind, a water allocation model is first used for allocating water resources to demands. Then, several ecosystem services (ESs)-based criteria are defined to evaluate hydrological ESs of water resources management policies. A set of water and environmental resources management strategies (alternatives) are defined for decision-makers, and several drought management strategies are determined to decrease the area of key crops and water demands of agricultural nodes. To model a multi-agent multi-criteria decision-making problem for managing hydrological ESs, three main steps are considered as follows:•Different ES-based criteria (i.e., economic profit, NPP,11Net Primary Productivity and ecological index) are defined, and their grade-based values are estimated.•Several strategies are defined for stakeholders at different levels.•A recursive evidential reasoning (ER) approach, which considers a hierarchical structure for decision-makers and a leader-follower game, is used to select the best strategy for each decision-maker.The applicability and efficiency of the methodology are illustrated by applying it to a real-world case study. The methodology is general and can be easily applied to other study areas.

Supply and demand dynamics of hydrologic ecosystem services in the rapidly urbanizing Taihu Lake Basin of China

Although it is challenging to integrate supply and demand to comprehensively understand urbanization effects on ecosystem services, this knowledge is essential, especially in rapidly urbanizing areas. A spatially explicit approach was developed here to synthesize supply and demand dynamics of the two most important hydrologic services in the rapidly urbanizing Taihu Lake Basin (TLB) of eastern China. The supply of water purification (WPS) and flood mitigation (FMS) were measured as nitrogen removal and runoff retention, respectively. Whereas the demand for water purification (WPD) was quantified as the difference between total and permitted nitrogen loading based on relevant water quality standards, the demand for flood mitigation (FMD) was estimated as the vulnerability to potential flood damage, including economic losses and causalities. We found a spatial mismatch where high WPS and FMS occurred in mountainous areas while high WPD and FMD concentrated in urban and agricultural areas across the basin. WPS and WPD decreased by 10% and 20%, respectively during 2000–2015, due mainly to loss of croplands to urban expansion. This was also the main cause of decreased FMS by 7% but increased FMD by 67%, which underscored the importance of conserving croplands in rapidly urbanizing regions of the TLB. Overall, land use composition had strong associations with WPD (r2 ≥ 0.57) and FMS (r2 ≥ 0.38) at the sub-basin scale, while the configuration of multiple land uses, such as urban sprawl, cropland fragmentation, and riparian buffers were crucial in influencing WPS. In comparison, FMD was most sensitive to urban expansion (r2 = 0.74), economic development (r2 = 0.81), and population growth (r2 = 0.93). These findings provide new insights into sustainable land management for coordinating supply of and demand for hydrologic services in the TLB and other urbanizing watersheds of the world.

Invasion in the riparian zone: What is the effect of Pteridium arachnoideum on topsoil permeability?

Pteridium arachnoideum is a cosmopolitan, allelopathic, pervasive species which is expanding its occurrence in many regions of the tropics. Yet, the ecohydrological effects of such colonization is virtually unknown especially when it occurs in riparian zones which are expected to perform many important ecosystem services. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the influence of Pteridium colonization on topsoil permeability in riparian zones. To do that, we selected two similar riparian zones: (i) dominated by Pteridium arachnoideum and (ii) under tropical forest. We performed infiltration, water repellency (dry and wet season) and penetration resistance measurements to evaluate soil permeability. The infiltration capacity was significantly lower in Pteridium compared to riparian forest. We attribute this reduction to the significant increase in both water repellency in the dry season and soil penetration resistance in the soil under Pteridium. Water repellency, though still present in the wet season in both riparian zones, had no significant difference. Our results show that, despite the loss of biodiversity with Pteridium invasion, water repellency has a clear reduction in the wet season which likely benefits infiltration. Thus, basic hydrological ecosystem services can probably still be provided by such invaded riparian zones.

Fluvisols Contribution to Water Retention Hydrological Ecosystem Services in Different Floodplain Ecosystems

Water retention is an important hydrological ecosystem service of active floodplain soils. The aim of the study was to evaluate the soil chemical, physical, and hydrological properties in Fluvisols in three different ecosystems that have an impact on water retention hydrological ecosystem services (WRHESs). We selected 16 localities along the Štiavnica River in Central Slovakia, 8 located in riparian zones (RZ), 5 in arable lands (AL), and 3 in grasslands (GL). Soil samples were collected from two layers (0–10 and 20–30 cm). In the laboratory, the soil physical (soil texture) and soil chemical properties (pH, soil organic carbon content, humic and fulvic acid ratio) were determined. Using undisturbed soil samples, the soil physical characteristics (particle density, bulk density, porosity, and actual soil moisture–SMa) were measured. With the help of pedotransfer functions, hydrological soil properties (field water capacity–FWC, wilting point–WP, available water capacity–AWC) were estimated. The recorded properties differed between the localities, ecosystems, and two layers. The SMa values showed a higher soil water retention potential of extensively used ecosystems, such as GL and RZ. However, the hydrological properties estimated by pedotransfer functions (FWC, WP, AWC) showed a higher soil water retention potential in AL localities. This indicated that for calculations, selected pedotransfer functions (particle size fractions, organic matter, and bulk density) and other soil or ecosystem properties (e.g., vegetation cover, meteorological conditions) have an impact on WRHESs. One such soil factor can be the quality of organic matter. On the basis of the results of the ANOVA, significant differences emerged between the different ecosystems for selected basic chemical, physical, and hydrological properties. The effect of the soil layer on the soil properties was revealed only in the case of SOC. The results indicated the effect of different ecosystems on soil WRHES and the importance of extensively managed ecosystems, such as RZ and GL. From this point of view, the reduction in the RZ and GL areas during a period of the last 70 years is negative. The findings should be taken into account in future sustainable floodplain management and landscape architecture.

From simple to complex – Comparing four modelling tools for quantifying hydrologic ecosystem services

The pursuit of good management of our waters poses permanent challenges to the whole society. Decision-makers often need to define appropriate and sustainable strategies on interdisciplinary topics, like water management issues. The rapidly evolving quantification and mapping of hydrologic ecosystem services (HES) is putting hydrologic and water management issues into an ecosystem services (ES) framework, which can be a step towards reconciling different aspects of land use and water management. Different tools can be used for modelling HES, with a wide range according to their basic properties, e.g., structure, methodology, computational needs, data requirements, reliability, controllability. As a result of that, the numeric values, spatial patterns, and reliability of HES assessments and the uncertainties in their results may differ significantly.In this paper, we covered almost the whole palette of HES mapping tools with regards to modelling approach: we used InVEST, SWAT and two novel rule-based matrix models for the same pilot area, the 1530 km2 hilly catchment of the Zala River (Hungary). We mapped three HES: flood control, erosion control and nutrient (total phosphorus) retention. Our aim was to examine the relevance of the differences between the HES mapping tools through analysing the spatial differences between the results obtained with the applied. We carried out spatial similarity tests and hotspot analysis at the computational unit level for the individual HES and in an aggregated way as well.As a result of the spatial pattern similarity tests, InVEST and the matrix models showed moderate to strong correlation (p < 0.001) for each HES. Due to that, the novel matrix models could be considered as robust HES mapping tools on a larger spatial scale (regional or larger). InVEST appeared to be the most efficient HES mapping tool considering computational demand, result reliability, and data- and expertise requirements. The results of our study draw attention to the importance and actual shortcomings of the land use and land cover (LULC) structure in the riparian zone. We pointed out that the studied HES in agricultural areas close to the watercourse are often disservices (negative HES were provided with the actual LULC scenario compared to a non-vegetated LULC scenario) due to the nutrient loads from fertilization. We found that parts of the best and worst HES provisioning areas (hotspots and coldspots) could be delineated without hydrologic modelling, because their unfavourable combination of environmental factors and LULC conditions themselves determine these areas to be hotspot or coldspot.