International Soil and Water Conservation Research最新文献

{"title":"Exploring best soil conservation practices using the tolerable soil loss limit in central highland of Ethiopia: A case study of Andit Tid watershed","authors":"Tilahun Getachew Abebe ,&nbsp;Tesfaye Mebrate Lemma ,&nbsp;Tesfa Worku Meshesha","doi":"10.1016/j.iswcr.2025.01.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.iswcr.2025.01.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil erosion is a major issue in Ethiopia, prompting ongoing watershed development campaigns. This study contributes to exploring Best Soil Conservation practices (BSCPs) to reduce erosion rates to/or below Tolerable Soil Loss Limits (TSLLs). To achieve these the study used the SWAT model, coupled with the SWAT Calibration and Uncertainty Procedures (SWAT-CUP), for simulation, sensitivity analysis, calibration, and validation using streamflow and sediment yield data. The calibrated SWAT model was used to assess soil erosion hotspot areas and evaluate the effectiveness of the selected BSCPs: Soil and/or Stone Bund (SSB), Grass strip (GT), reforestation (RF), Soil and/or Stone Bund and grass strip (SSB and GT) and Soil and/or Stone Bund and Reforestation (SSB and RF). The results revealed that 22.9% of the area showed soil loss rates below the TSLL. Furthermore, varying degrees of erosion above the TSLL was observed, with sub-watershed SW-12 experiencing the highest erosion rate (47 t ha⁻¹yr⁻¹) and sub-watershed SW-2 experiencing the lowest (7.8 t ha⁻¹yr⁻¹). Among the evaluated BSCPs, SSB + RF demonstrated the greatest erosion reduction effectiveness at 76.6%, followed by SSB + GT, SSB, RF, and GT, with erosion reduction effectiveness values of 61.7%, 60.0%, 43.3%, and 13.9%, respectively. Based on these findings, SSB + RF is recommended for erosion reduction to or below the TSLL, with implementation priority given to sub-watersheds SW-12, SW-10, SW-3, SW-2, and SW-5, ranked in descending order of erosion rate severity. During implementation, emphasis should be placed on reforestation of plant species of high ecological importance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48622,"journal":{"name":"International Soil and Water Conservation Research","volume":"13 2","pages":"Pages 348-361"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2025-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143715781","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prediction and mapping of soil organic carbon in the Bosten Lake oasis based on Sentinel-2 data and environmental variables","authors":"Shaotian Li ,&nbsp;Xinguo Li ,&nbsp;Xiangyu Ge","doi":"10.1016/j.iswcr.2024.12.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.iswcr.2024.12.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil is the largest carbon pool on the Earth's surface. With the application of remote sensing technology, Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) estimation has become a hot topic in digital soil mapping. However, the heterogeneity of geomorphology can affect the performance of remote sensing in determining soil organic carbon. In the Bosten Lake Watershed in northwestern China, we collected 116 soil samples from farm land, uncultivated land, and woodland. To establish an SOC prediction model, we produced 16 optical remote sensing variables and 9 environmental covariates. Three types of land use were studied: farm land, uncultivated land, and woodland. Five machine learning models were used for these land use types: gradient Tree (ET), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest (RF), Adaptive gradient Boosting (AdaBoost), and extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost). The main driving variables for changes in organic carbon content across the entire sample area were Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index 2 (EVI2), Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI); for farm land, it was Clay Index (CI2); for farm land and woodland, it was Color Index (CI). The results showed that in terms of prediction accuracy, RF and XGBoost outperformed SVM. In terms of simulation precision, the ET model's woodland model (R² = 0.86, RMSE = 7.72), the ET model's farm land model (R² = 0.82, RMSE = 6.66), and the uncultivated land model of the RF model (R² = 0.81, RMSE = 1.09) performed best. Compared to global modeling, establishing SOC estimation models based on different land use types yielded more ideal results in this study. These findings provide new insights into high-precision estimation of organic carbon content.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48622,"journal":{"name":"International Soil and Water Conservation Research","volume":"13 2","pages":"Pages 436-446"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143715680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Soil erosion elasticity initiative for prioritizing sub-watersheds","authors":"Mostafa Zabihi Silabi,&nbsp;Seyed Hamidreza Sadeghi,&nbsp;Mehdi Vafakhah","doi":"10.1016/j.iswcr.2024.12.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.iswcr.2024.12.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Quantitative evaluation of soil erosion is necessary to analyze the destructive effects of soil erosion and to identify priority sub-watersheds in different climatic and environmental conditions. The variability of soil erosion thresholds introduced as Erosion elasticity (Ee) can be used to develop reliable management strategies in various temporal and spatial scales. Ee is a potential degree of soil erosion in an area representing the magnitude between maximum and minimum erosion rates. However, the comprehensive prioritization of sub-watersheds according to environmental changes and the concept of Ee is yet to be done. Therefore, the present study introduced the Ee-based approach based on the watershed's maximum and minimum soil erosion capability. The prioritization of the sub-watersheds of the Shazand Watershed of Iran has been exemplified, and the associated results were compared to those of conventional annual soil erosion zoning. Towards that, the mean annual soil erosion and corresponding changes of the study watershed were estimated according to the dynamic changes of vegetation cover and rainfall erosivity. Prioritizing 24-study sub-watersheds was then comparatively conducted using mean annual soil erosion and erosion elasticity approaches. The results of the RUSLE application showed that the soil erosion of the Shazand Watershed varied between 0 and 72 t ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ with a mean annual erosion of 14.35 t ha⁻¹ year⁻¹. The results further revealed that the worst and the best combination of soil erosion factors cause +151% and −62% changes in mean annual soil erosion of the Shazand Watershed. Based on the amount of soil erosion method, sub-watersheds 11, 14, and 23 were placed in the highest priorities, and sub-watersheds 5, 6, 16, and 17 are the lowest priority for management measures. In addition, the results of the Ee approach showed that 28% of the study sub-watersheds were placed in high and relatively high priorities, respectively, and sub-watersheds 9, 13, 18, 19, and 23 stand in the lowest priority. The Ee approach effectively identified the critical sub-watersheds to reduce their tendency to destructive conditions and take appropriate measures to reduce their soil erosion and move them towards ideal conditions. The results can help planners and managers implement the best management measures in priority sub-watersheds, saving time and cost.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48622,"journal":{"name":"International Soil and Water Conservation Research","volume":"13 2","pages":"Pages 277-289"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143715846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The effects of armed conflict on natural resources and conservation measures in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia","authors":"Hailemariam Meaza ,&nbsp;Tesfaalem Ghebreyohannes ,&nbsp;Zbelo Tesfamariam ,&nbsp;Girmay Gebresamuel ,&nbsp;Biadgilgn Demissie ,&nbsp;Dawit Gebregziabher ,&nbsp;Jan Nyssen","doi":"10.1016/j.iswcr.2024.11.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.iswcr.2024.11.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A heavy armed conflict erupted in Tigray region of Ethiopia in 2020, and the crisis continued up to 2022. This study investigates the impacts of this crisis on the status of natural resources, and Soil and Water Conservation (SWC) efforts. We collected primary data through field observations, measurements, interviews and group discussions during the wartime. We also reviewed published articles and official archives to complement the primary data, which were often challenging to obtain due to the war. We found that vegetated landscapes were damaged by artillery fire and bombings. The average depth of the surveyed bomb craters along the asphalts was 1.15 <span><math><mrow><mo>±</mo></mrow></math></span> 0.47 m (n = 16), whereas the average surface diameter of the craters and their rim was 2.66<span><math><mrow><mo>±</mo></mrow></math></span> 0.67 m. In addition, the construction of numerous military trenches along croplands and hillsides exposed the soil particles into erosion and water pollution. The conflict also halted SWC efforts on various land uses, which were carried out annually during peacetime. For instance, 20,591 km/year of stone bunds were not constructed per year due to the crisis. Moreover, terraces and stone bunds were demolished to construct temporary ground fortifications. Indirectly, the critical energy crisis further increased pressure on forests. In this context, the poor farmers shift their livelihood strategies from the long-term sustainability to immediate economic recovery during the critical time. To conclude, the pathways of the warfare undermined the status of natural resources, and the ongoing decades of re-greening programs. Therefore, our ground-based findings can be used to prioritize and rehabilitate the war-damaged landscape services.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48622,"journal":{"name":"International Soil and Water Conservation Research","volume":"13 2","pages":"Pages 463-474"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2024-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143715682","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impacts of topography on the morphological indices of ephemeral gullies in the Chinese mollisol region","authors":"Luyou Zhao ,&nbsp;Fenli Zheng ,&nbsp;Ting Zhao ,&nbsp;Ximeng Xu ,&nbsp;Xuesong Wang ,&nbsp;Hongqiang Shi ,&nbsp;Lun Wang ,&nbsp;Binglong Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.iswcr.2024.11.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.iswcr.2024.11.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Ephemeral Gully (EG) erosion is a main erosion type on sloping croplands in the Chinese Mollisol region, causing severe land degradation and crop yield reduction, but how topographic factors, such as slope gradient, slope aspect, and upslope and lateral drainage areas, affect the morphological indices of EGs is still unclear. Thus, this study applied a high-resolution 5-cm Digital Elevation Model (DEM) obtained from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) aerial surveys to quantify the impacts of topography on the morphological indices of EGs in a typical Mollisol region located in Keshan County, Heilongjiang Province. The results showed that the length of EGs decreased with an increase in slope gradient or increased with an increase in upslope and lateral drainage areas. The distribution density, dissected degree, and vertical gradient of EGs increased with an increase in slope gradient or a decrease in the upslope and lateral drainage areas. Moreover, 10 ha and 5 ha areas were critical values regarding the impacts of the upslope drainage area and lateral drainage area on the width, depth, and volume of EGs, respectively, and 0.11 m m⁻¹ and 0.03 m m⁻¹ were critical values regarding the impacts of slope gradients of the upslope drainage area and lateral drainage area on the width, depth, and volume of EGs, respectively. In addition, the number of EGs on sunny and semi-sunny slopes was 1.8 times higher than that on shady and semi-shady slopes. In particular, the topographic thresholds of EG occurrence, synthesizing upslope and lateral gradients, and upslope and lateral drainage areas, were determined, overcoming the current research deficiency of considering only the upslope drainage area and ignoring the lateral drainage area. The results provide an important basis for understanding EG erosion development and implementing precise soil conservation measures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48622,"journal":{"name":"International Soil and Water Conservation Research","volume":"13 2","pages":"Pages 263-276"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2024-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143715775","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The potential of runoff retention structures as a strategy to control urban gullying in tropical cities","authors":"Eric Lutete Landu ,&nbsp;Guy Ilombe Mawe ,&nbsp;Fils Makanzu Imwangana ,&nbsp;Charles Bielders ,&nbsp;Olivier Dewitte ,&nbsp;Jean Poesen ,&nbsp;Aurélia Hubert ,&nbsp;Matthias Vanmaercke","doi":"10.1016/j.iswcr.2024.11.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.iswcr.2024.11.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Rapid and chaotic urbanization leads to the formation of urban gullies in many tropical cities of the Global South. To prevent and limit the destructive impacts of these gullies, runoff retention structures are often constructed. Yet, earlier research indicates that these measures are largely ineffective in reducing urban gully expansion. This study aims to understand why. We conducted detailed field surveys in two representative catchments affected by urban gullies in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo) and characterized all existing runoff retention structures. We then used the Soil Water Management Model (SWMM) to evaluate the likely influence of these structures on runoff volumes and peak discharges. Although most parcels (77%–88%) in the catchments have at least one runoff retention structure, their overall effect catchment runoff is limited (e.g., only 25–30% reduction of the total runoff volume for an event with a return period of 2 years). One key reason is that many structures are too small and poorly maintained, reducing their already limited storage capacities. Additionally, they are typically unequally distributed within the catchments (with fewer measures upstream) and not proportional to the parcel size, leading to some oversized and many undersized structures. Overall, we demonstrate that, while current efforts are largely ineffective, coordinated implementations of runoff retention structures proportional to parcel size offer promising perspectives for better controlling urban gully erosion.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48622,"journal":{"name":"International Soil and Water Conservation Research","volume":"13 2","pages":"Pages 217-234"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2024-11-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143715764","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Environmental assessment based on soil loss, deforestation in permanent preservation areas, and water quality applied in the Itacaiúnas Watershed, Eastern Amazon","authors":"Paulo Rógenes Monteiro Pontes,&nbsp;Rosane Barbosa Lopes Cavalcante,&nbsp;Gabriel Negreiros Salomão,&nbsp;José Tasso Felix Guimarães,&nbsp;Roberto Dall’Agnol","doi":"10.1016/j.iswcr.2024.11.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.iswcr.2024.11.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To understand how various environmental pressures may threaten the Amazon territory, specifically its hydrographic basins, it is crucial to guide key management actions such as soil conservation, environmental preservation, and forest restoration. This paper, based on a detailed study conducted in the Itacaiúnas River Watershed (IRW) located in the Carajás mining province—one of the most significant metallogenetic provinces globally and within the Arc of Deforestation in the Amazon—proposes a new index to assess environmental threats or vulnerabilities. The index evaluates soil loss, deforestation in permanent preservation areas, and water quality—key environmental issues in watershed management. Using geoprocessing and remote sensing techniques, we applied the index across the entire catchment area and at the beginning of the drainage network (a proxy for river springs). Our findings reveal that: i) 68% of unit catchments (32% of headwaters) exhibit “High” or “Very High” soil loss vulnerability; ii) 69% of unit catchments (32% of headwaters) have more than 20% of their permanent preservation areas deforested, representing the primary threat among the three criteria to the basin; iii) Only 4.7% of unit catchments (2% of headwaters) present any chemical risk related to water consumption. The combined criteria (simple arithmetic mean of normalized values) indicate that the east-central and southern parts of the watershed have higher index values, necessitating greater attention to soil conservation. In contrast, the center-western area of the basin, characterized by conservation units and indigenous land, showed low index values but remains at risk primarily due to soil loss if environmental preservation actions are not maintained.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48622,"journal":{"name":"International Soil and Water Conservation Research","volume":"13 2","pages":"Pages 248-262"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2024-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143715774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exploring soil erosion and reservoir sedimentation through the RUSLE model and bathymetric survey","authors":"Constantin Nistor ,&nbsp;Ionuț Săvulescu ,&nbsp;Gabriela Ioana-Toroimac ,&nbsp;Sorin Carablaisă","doi":"10.1016/j.iswcr.2024.10.005","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.iswcr.2024.10.005","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The aim of the paper was to compare the soil erosion in a river catchment with the sediment volume accumulated at the river mouth. Firstly, the sediment yield was estimated in GIS based on the soil loss according to the RUSLE model, and then further integrated into the sediment production equation. Following this, we estimated the sediment volume accumulated at the river mouth based on the diachronic overlap of topographic and bathymetric data. This methodology was validated for the Eselnita catchment exiting into the Iron Gates I Reservoir. The LS factor has an average value of 4, with lower values for the forest cover. The C factor has an average value of 0.057 being statistically correlated with the RUSLE result. The average soil loss was estimated at approximately 1.89 t ha⁻¹ yr ⁻¹, a value that is validated by previous studies as a low risk of erosion at national scale. The sediment transfer model indicates a distribution of cells sediment production strongly correlated with the time travel to the discharge channels. Overall, the sediment volume obtained by using the RUSLE model corresponds to about 70% of the sediment volume accumulated at the river mouth during 53 years (1970–2022). The difference in sedimentation may be due to human activities along the river mouth's banks to extend the built-up area and to enjoy the waterscape. This paper is relevant for the topic of reservoir sedimentation and recommends the use of the RUSLE model to predict the sediment contribution, especially for small ungauged catchments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48622,"journal":{"name":"International Soil and Water Conservation Research","volume":"13 2","pages":"Pages 235-247"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143715765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Establishing and verifying soil quality index model based on GIS and remote sensing for cultivated lands under semi-humid terrestrial ecosystem","authors":"Ismail Fatih Ormanci ,&nbsp;Orhan Dengiz","doi":"10.1016/j.iswcr.2024.10.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.iswcr.2024.10.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Sustainable and efficient use of agricultural land depends on the potential characteristics of the soil. This potential directly affects the phenological growth and development of the crop to be grown. For these reasons, soil quality studies are of great importance in determining the products to be grown and the sustainability of the agriculture to be carried out. In this study, carried out in the Engiz Basin, a semi-humid terrestrial ecosystem of the Black Sea region, 250 soil samples were sampled from agricultural areas throughout the basin and a total of 26 soil physical, chemical and biological criteria were measured. Using Geographic Information Systems, Remote Sensing, Fuzzy-Analytical Hierarchy Process and Standard Scoring Function, soil quality models were constructed according to the obtained soil criteria. In addition, principal component analysis was used to select a minimum data set of the most sensitive indicators. The main physical criterion has the highest weight value with 0.611. The weight values for the highest sub-criteria of each main criterion - physical, chemical, biological, and fertility - were determined as slope (0.226), organic matter (0.425), microbial biomass carbon (0.512), and nitrogen (0.245), respectively. Geostatistical models were also used to produce maps of the spatial distribution of soil quality index values for the study area. Moreover, satellite image analysis and field studies (such as; data was collected from a face-to-face survey conducted with 51 farmers) were carried out to verify the obtained SQI distribution maps. The highest r² values of 0.9004 were found between the SQI_TDS-L model and NDVI biomass reflectance values. Furthermore, when analyzing the statistical relationship between soil quality classes and yield and economic values obtained from the field, the high r² value (0.8209) was determined.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48622,"journal":{"name":"International Soil and Water Conservation Research","volume":"13 2","pages":"Pages 379-394"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143715676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Non-consistent changes and drivers of water-sediment fluxes in the yarlung tsangpo river basin of the Tibetan plateau","authors":"Dongmei Zhao ,&nbsp;Donghong Xiong ,&nbsp;Kunlong He ,&nbsp;Baojun Zhang ,&nbsp;Fan Zhang ,&nbsp;Han Wu ,&nbsp;Haiyan Fang ,&nbsp;Wenduo Zhang ,&nbsp;Changyan Zhou ,&nbsp;Xiaodan Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.iswcr.2024.10.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.iswcr.2024.10.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Variations in water-sediment fluxes and their driving mechanisms are critical to riverine ecosystems and management. Yet, current estimates of the response of water and sediment flux remain insufficiently quantified, limited by the scarcity of long-term hydrological records in the alpine regions. Here, we leverage decadal observations in the Yarlung Tsangpo River basin, to investigate the dynamic shifts in water-sediment fluxes from 1955 to 2020 and elucidate their linkage to a warming and wetting climate, snowmelt, and environmental greening (including natural- and human-induced greening) in the different spatial and temporal scale. Major drivers of shifts in water-sediment flux are identified by using wavelet coherence and variance partitioning of redundancy analysis. The results highlight that observational data from four gauging stations (i.e., Lhaze, Nugesha, Yangcun, and Nuxia) uncover a substantial decrease in Suspended Sediment Load (SSL) (Nuxia: 12.302 × 10⁴ t/yr, P &lt; 0.05) in the downstream with consistently increasing runoff and precipitation. Especially during the flood season (July to September), the dam/reservoir construction caused a median decrease in SSL. Dropping sediment offsets the slightly rising SSLs in the midstream and upstream (upper Yangcun: 14.8 × 10⁴ t/yr, P &gt; 0.05). Up to 80% of sediment was sourced from the middle stretch between Lhaze and Nugesha despite it supplied with lower regional runoff generation. Nevertheless, the downstream zone experienced the transition from a sediment source to a deposition area around 1998. We further found the negative and positive effects between water-sediment fluxes and revegetation, and demonstrated that employing NDVI to evaluate human-induced vegetation greening might overestimate the impact of ecological restoration programs on water-sediment fluxes. Attribution analysis indicates that precipitation was not the primary contributor to runoff and SSL changes in all stretches of the basin. In the upstream, temperature and associated snowmelt can be more important than precipitation. Compared to before 1998, precipitation is still the primary driver of change in downstream runoff change after 1998, whilst vegetation restoration, rather than precipitation, dominates the reduction in downstream SSL. These findings have far-reaching significance for watershed managers and decision-makers in terms of developing effective strategies for water resources and soil erosion control.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48622,"journal":{"name":"International Soil and Water Conservation Research","volume":"13 2","pages":"Pages 362-378"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143715734","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}