Search

As part of the Water Co-Governance for Sustainable Ecosystems (WaterCoG) project, this research evaluated two river catchment pilots in the United Kingdom (UK) via a series of semi-structured interviews in order to better understand how collaborative governance (co-governance) approaches contribute to water governance. The findings demonstrate that the participatory process used by catchment partnerships (comprising stakeholders working together within a catchment area) to co-produce knowledge has enabled them to jointly identify improvements that are more meaningful than previous actions to those involved or affected by the situation in their catchment. However, there are concerns about the balance of social, economic and environmental interests in decision making, as well as perceived misunderstandings about the situation in the catchment as a whole. All interviewees (comprising stakeholders from across different scales and levels of water governance) recognized benefits from working together. They also observed that progress to deliver measures is impeded by polices and institutions that are not conducive to partnership working. The interviewees recognized and valued the significant capacity and capability of catchment partnership host organization(s) to facilitate and enable the development of the catchment partnership. However, they also raised important questions about the host’s ability to represent the needs and interests of all catchment partnership members. The recommendations emerging from this research suggest ways to improve water co-governance, including considering the feasibility and desirability of the catchment partnership host, reconceptualizing catchment management plans as a process rather than an outcome, conducting and regularly reviewing a stakeholder analysis of catchment partnership members, working more closely together with other types of partnerships and committees, engaging in and providing opportunities for developing skills in systems thinking, social learning and collaborative actions, working with the UK Government to develop place-based policies and plans, and engaging in dialogue with the UK Government and other bodies to review access to funding and other types of resources.

Catchment degradation has continued to occur globally albeit the presence of Community Forest Associations (CFA) and Water Resource Users Associations (WRUA). Similarly, Kilungu catchment area in Kenya is under the management of the Kenze (CFA) and upper Kaiti (WRUA). This paper examined Kenze CFA and Upper Kaiti WRUA activities by exploring their effectiveness in discharging their statutory functions. This was achieved by carrying out, an exploratory descriptive survey. Data was collected through questionnaires, focus group discussions, 10 key informants’ interviews and direct observations. Descriptive analysis was used. Information was presented in fig.s, tables and percentages. Results showed that upper Kaiti WRUA as more effective in catchment management at moderately (31%) and highly at (37%) as compared to CFA moderately (29%) and highly (5%). In terms of discharging of their statutory functions, Upper Kaiti WRUA was better at a rating of 27% (good) and 23% (very good) as compared to Kenze CFA which was rated at 3% (good) and 6% (very good). This study results implied that Upper Kaiti WRUA was more effective in all aspects of ensuring catchment management as opposed to CFA. In conclusion, a strategy of seizing the opportunities presented by the CFA of being empowered to perform all its activities as required by law with emphasis on the timely preparation and implementation of management plans and WRUA’s continuous improvement should be prioritized. The study recommends new initiatives that improve on the CFA and WRUA activities in order to effectively discharge on their statutory functions. Journal Name: Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences (JBES) Publisher: International Network For Natural Sciences (INNSPUB), Patricia Mumbi Wambua, Nzioka John Muthama, Thuita Thenya. Effectiveness of community forest association and water resource users' associations in discharging their statutory functions: A case of Kilungu catchment, Kenya. J. Bio. Env. Sci. 18(5), 43-56, May 2021. https://innspub.net/jbes/effectiveness-of-community-forest-association-and-water-resource-users-associations-in-discharging-their-statutory-functions-a-case-of-kilungu-catchment-kenya/, {"references":["Amanor KS. 2003. Natural and Cultural Assets and Participatory Forest Management in West Africa. Paper presented at the International Conference on Natural Assets. Philippines.","Bai and Sarkis 2010. Integrating sustainability into supplier selection with grey system and rough set methodologies Int. J. Prod. Econ 124(1), 252-264.","Berrone P, Cruz C, Gómez-Mejia LR, Larraza M. 2010. Socioemotional wealth and organizational response to institutional pressures: do family controlled firms pollute less? Administrative Science Quarterly 55, 82-113.","Carter J, Steenh B, Haldimann E, Akenshaev N. 2003. Collaborative forest management in Kyrgyzstan: moving from top down to bottom up decision making. Gatekeeper Series 108. IIED","Cheptoo, Mitchell. 2005. Water resource users association policy and adaptive capacity.","Coulibaly-Lingani P, Savadogo P, Tigabu M, Oden PC. 2011. Factors influencing people's participation in the forest management program in Burkina Faso, West Africa. Forest Policy and Economics 13, 292-302","County Government of Makueni (CGM). 2013. County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) Government Printers.","County Government of Makueni (CGM). 2018. County Integrated Development Plan 2018-2022 (CIDP). Government Printers.","Davis, Lois M, Robert Bozick, Jennifer L Steele, Jessica Saunders, Jeremy NV. 2014. Miles, Evaluating the Effectiveness of Correctional Education: A Meta-Analysis of Programs That Provide Education to Incarcerated Adults, Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation, RR-266-BJA, 2013. As of February 3, http://www.rand.org /pubs/research_reports/RR266.html","De Brito, Brito MPde, Carbone V, Blanquart CM. 2008. Towards a sustainable fashion retail supply chain in Europe: organization and performance Int. J. Prod. Econ 114 (2), 534-553.","De Ron, Ron AJde. 1998. Sustainable production: the ultimate result of a continuous improvement Int. J. Prod. Econ 56-57 (1), 99-110","DiMaggio PJ. 1988. Interest and agency in institutional theory. In: Zucker, L. (Ed.).","DiMaggio PJ. 1988. Interest and agency in institutional theory. In: Zucker, L. (Ed.), Institutional Patterns and Organizations: Culture and Environment. Ballinger Publishing Company, Cambridge, MA pp. 3-22.","DiMaggio PJ, Powell WW (Eds.). 1991. The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.","DiMaggio PJ, Powell WW. 1983. The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review 48(2), 147-160.","Dolisca F, Carter DR, McDaniel JM, Shannon DA, Jolly CM. 2006. Factors influencing farmer's participation in forestry management programs. A case study from Haiti. Forest Ecology and Management 236, 324-331.","Forest Policy and Economics, Sodhi NS, Posa MRC, Lee TM, Bickford D, Koh LP, Brook BW. 2010. The state and conservation of Southeast Asian biodiversity. Biodivers Conservation 9(5), 421-43.","Wong CWY, Shang Leung CSLuTKP. 2012. Green operations and the moderating role of environmental management capability of suppliers on manufacturing firm performance Int. J. Prod. Econ 140, 283-294.","Thenya T, Wandago B, Nahama ET. 2007. \"Participatory forest management experience in Kenya (1996-2006),\" in Proceedings of the 1st National Participatory Forest.","Scott WR. 2008. Approaching adulthood: The maturing of institutional theory. Theory and Society 37, 427-442.","Ribot JC. 2004. Democratic decentralization of natural resources: Institutional choice and discretionary power transfers in sub-saharan Africa. Public Administr. Dev 23, 53-65. Rucker Mike. 2017. How to determine the sample size for your study Category. Sauer J, Abdallah JM. 2007. Forest diversity, tobacco production and resource management in Tanzani a."]}

1. Atlantic salmon populations have declined in recent decades. Many of the threats to the species during its freshwater and coastal residency periods are known, and management approaches are available to mitigate them. The global scale of climate change and altered ocean ecosystems make these threats more difficult to address. 2. Managers need to be aware that promoting strong, healthy, and resilient wild populations migrating from rivers is the optimal approach currently to reduce the impacts of changing ecosystems and low marine survival. We argue that a fundamental strategy should be to ensure that the highest number of wild smolts in the best condition leave from rivers and coastal areas to the ocean. There is great scope for water quality, river regulation, migration barriers, and physical river habitat improvements. 3. Maintenance of genetic integrity and diversity of wild populations by eliminating interbreeding with escaped farmed salmon, eliminating poorly planned stocking, and reducing impacts that reduce population sizes to dangerously low levels will support the ability of Atlantic salmon to adapt to changing environments. Reducing the impacts from aquaculture and other human activities in coastal areas can greatly increase marine survival in affected areas. 4. As most of the threats to wild salmon are the result of human activities, a focus on human dimensions and improved communication, from scientific and management perspectives, needs to be increasingly emphasized. When political and social will are coupled with adequate resources, managers often have the tools to mitigate many of the threats to wild salmon. aquaculture, catchment management, climate change, conservation evaluation, fish, habitat management, hydropower, ocean, river

[eng] Soil erosion is a natural process that encompasses weathering, transport and deposition of soil particles. These processes are essential in terrestrial geochemical cycles. However, the on- and off-site erosion effects are considered to be one of the most important causes of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems degradation. The characteristics of the Mediterranean region are marked by complex relationships between natural, human, biotic and abiotic variables. In addition, an irregular rainfall distribution, strong seasonality and the physiographic landscape characteristics promote divergent responses in erosion rates and sediment yields. In this context, the Mediterranean basin has the highest sediment yields in all of Europe. In addition, it is emerging as a hot spot point in Global Change dynamics, especially with reference to climate and land use change, which could generate an increase in erosive and sediment transport processes. At the catchment scale, sediment transfer occurs in hill slopes, between hill slopes and channels or within channels. Information on the nature and relative contribution of sediment sources is a key aspect with regard to designing and implementing erosion control strategies in catchments. The main objective of this thesis is to identify erosion and sediment transport processes in two Mediterranean catchments affected by different global change processes at different spatio-temporal scales, improving current techniques for sediment origin determination (i.e., reducing uncertainties, time and cost) so it can better implemented in catchment management plans. For this purpose, the hydro-sedimentary dynamics and the origin of the sediments has been investigated on the island of Mallorca (Spain), in two small catchments; the Sa Font de la Vila catchment -4.8 km2, affected by wildfires - and the Es Fangar catchment (3.4 km2), affected by land use changes. The combination of sediment fingerprinting and hydro-sedimentary monitoring made it possible to assess its hydro-sedimentary dynamics during the study period. In Sa Font de la Vila, results showed a gradual decrease in contribution from burned sources over time, while in Es Fangar the contributions from crops dominated throughout the study period, without substantial changes. Sediment yields were 6.3 t km2 yr-1 and 4.5 t km2 yr-1 for Sa Font de la Vila and Es Fangar respectively, low results in comparison with other Mediterranean catchments. This was mainly attributed to the calcareous lithology, land uses (in Es Fangar catchment), vegetation recovery (in Sa Font de la Vila catchment) and agricultural terraces. The use of soil colour parameters as tracers was successfully evaluated in the two catchments, confirming its suitability as a fast and inexpensive tracer, even in fire-affected catchments. Furthermore, the strong correlations between the measurements made with a spectro-radiometer and a scanner make colour even more accessible for its implementation in catchment management plans. The experiment on tracer conservatism confirmed that in-channel changes suffered by all the analysed tracers (coefficient of variation x̄ 8.1 ± 8.8%) were generally lower than their spatial variability within the catchment (coefficient of variation x̄ 16.3 ± 18.5%). Furthermore, the colour parameters were the least variable tracers (i.e. the most conservative). with a coefficient of variation of 2.6 ± 2.2%. Finally, it was not possible to identify the activation patterns of different sediment sources combining hydro-sedimentary monitoring and sediment fingerprinting. This was probably caused by Es Fangar's catchment stability in terms of the origin of the suspended sediment. Es Fangar catchment sediment source stability is attributed to lithological characteristics, land uses and the presence of agricultural terraces in the study area. However, events of higher magnitude could exceed the sedimentary (dis)connectivity thresholds of the rest of the sources, promoting a sediment cascade effect. The results presented in this thesis are relevant and represent an advance in the optimization of the sediment fingerprinting technique. Despite some limitations that need to be further investigated, hydro-sedimentary monitoring and sediment fingerprinting used in combination was shown to be very useful for integrated catchment management plans in Mediterranean environments. [spa] La erosión es un proceso natural que comprende la meteorización, transporte y depósito de partículas del suelo. Estos procesos son esenciales dentro de los ciclos geoquímicos terrestres. Sin embargo, los efectos in situ y ex situ de la erosión se consideran una de las causas más importantes de la degradación de la calidad en ecosistemas terrestres y acuáticos. Las características de la región mediterránea están marcadas por relaciones complejas entre variables naturales, humanas, bióticas y abióticas. Además, una distribución irregular de las lluvias, una marcada estacionalidad y las características fisiográficas del paisaje promueven respuestas divergentes en las tasas de erosión y producción de sedimentos. En este contexto, la cuenca Mediterránea presenta los rendimientos de sedimento más altos de toda Europa. Además, se perfila como un punto crítico de la dinámica del Cambio Global, especialmente en lo que respecta al Cambio Climático y de uso del suelo, lo que podría generar un aumento de los procesos erosivos y de transporte de sedimento. A escala de cuenca de drenaje, la transferencia de sedimentos ocurre en laderas, entre laderas y canales o dentro de canales. La información sobre la naturaleza y contribución relativa de las fuentes de sedimento es un aspecto clave para diseñar e implementar estrategias de control de la erosión en cuencas de drenaje. El objetivo principal de esta tesis es identificar procesos de erosión y transporte de sedimentos en dos cuencas mediterráneas afectadas por diferentes procesos de cambio global a diferentes escalas espacio-temporales, mejorando las técnicas actuales para la determinación del origen de los sedimentos (es decir, reducir incertidumbres, tiempo y costo) para su mejor implementación en planes de gestión de cuencas de drenaje. Para ello, se investigó la dinámica hidro-sedimentaria y el origen de los sedimentos en dos pequeñas cuencas de drenaje de la isla de Mallorca (España); Sa Font de la Vila -4,8 km2, afectada por incendios forestales - y Es Fangar (3,4 km2), afectada por cambios de usos del suelo. La combinación de la técnica sediment fingerprinting y monitoreo hidro-sedimentario continuo permitió evaluar su dinámica hidro-sedimentaria durante el período de estudio. En Sa Font de la Vila, los resultados mostraron una disminución paulatina de las aportaciones de fuentes quemadas a lo largo del tiempo, mientras que en Es Fangar las aportaciones de las zonas de cultivos dominaron durante todo el período de estudio sin cambios sustanciales. Los rendimientos de sedimentos fueron 6,3 t km2 a-1 y 4,5 t km2 a-1 para Sa Font de la Vila y Es Fangar respectivamente, bajos en comparación con otras cuencas mediterráneas. Esto se atribuyó principalmente a la litología calcárea de las cuencas, los usos del suelo (en Es Fangar), la recuperación de la vegetación (en Sa Font de la Vila) y la presencia de terrazas agrícolas. El uso de parámetros de color como trazadores se evaluó con éxito en las dos cuencas, lo que confirma su idoneidad para su uso como un trazador rápido y económico, incluso en cuencas afectadas por incendios. Además, las fuertes correlaciones entre las medidas tomadas con un espectro-radiómetro y un escáner, hacen del color un trazador muy accesible para su implementación en planes gestión. El experimento sobre conservación de las propiedades de los trazadores mostró variaciones bajas en la mayoría de los trazadores analizados (coeficiente de variación x̄ 8,1 ± 8,8%). Estas fueron generalmente menores que su propia variabilidad espacial dentro de la cuenca (coeficiente de variación x̄ 16,3 ± 18,5%). Además, los parámetros de color fueron los trazadores menos variables (i.e. más conservadores) con un coeficiente de variación de 2,6 ± 2,2%. Finalmente, no fue posible identificar los patrones de activación de diferentes fuentes de sedimentos combinando el monitoreo hidro-sedimentario y sediment fingerprinting. Esto fue causado principalmente por la estabilidad de la cuenca de Es Fangar en términos de origen de sedimentos en suspensión. La estabilidad de las fuentes de sedimentos se atribuyó a las características litológicas, usos del suelo y la presencia de terrazas agrícolas en el área de estudio. Sin embargo, eventos de mayor magnitud podrían superar los umbrales de (des)conectividad sedimentaria del resto de fuentes consideradas y activarlas. Los resultados que presenta esta tesis son relevantes y suponen un avance en la optimización de la técnica sediment fingerprinting. Pese a algunas limitaciones que se han de seguir investigando, se demostró que la combinación de monitoreo hidro-sedimentario y sediment fingerprinting es de gran utilidad para los planes de gestión integrada de cuencas de drenaje Mediterráneas. [cat] L'erosió és un procés natural que comprèn la meteorització, transport i dipòsit de partícules sòl. Aquests processos són essencials dins dels cicles geoquímics terrestres. No obstant això, els efectes in situ i ex situ de l'erosió es consideren una de les causes més importants de la degradació de la qualitat en ecosistemes terrestres i aquàtics. Les característiques de la regió mediterrània estan marcades per relacions complexes entre variables naturals, humanes, biòtiques i abiòtiques. A més, una distribució irregular de les pluges, una marcada estacionalitat i les característiques fisiogràfiques del paisatge promouen respostes divergents en les taxes d'erosió i la producció de sediments. En aquest context, la conca Mediterrània presenta els rendiments de sediment més alts de tot Europa. A més, es perfila com un punt crític de la dinàmica del Canvi Global, especialment pel que fa a el Canvi Climàtic i usos del sòl, la qual cosa podria generar un augment dels processos erosius i de transport de sediment. A escala de conca de drenatge, la transferència de sediments es dona en vessants, entre vessants i canals o dins els canals. La informació sobre la naturalesa i contribució relativa de les fonts de sediment és un aspecte clau per dissenyar i implementar estratègies de control de l'erosió en conques de drenatge. L'objectiu principal d'aquesta tesi és identificar processos d'erosió i transport de sediments en dues conques mediterrànies afectades per diferents processos de Canvi Global a diferents escales espai-temporals, millorant les tècniques actuals per a la determinació de l'origen dels sediments (és a dir, reduir incerteses, temps i cost) per a la seva millor implementació en plans de gestió de conques de drenatge. Per a això, es va investigar la dinàmica hidro-sedimentària i l'origen dels sediments en dos petites conques de drenatge de l’illa de Mallorca (Espanya); Sa Font de la Vila -4,8 km2, afectada per incendis forestals - i Es Fangar (3,4 km2), afectada per canvis d'usos del sòl. La combinació de la tècnica sediment fingerprinting i monitoratge hidro-sedimentari va permetre avaluar la seva dinàmica hidro-sedimentària durant el període d'estudi. A Sa Font de la Vila, els resultats van mostrar una disminució gradual de les aportacions de fonts cremades al llarg del temps, mentre que a Es Fangar les aportacions de fonts de cultius van dominar durant tot el període d'estudi sense canvis substancials. Els rendiments de sediments van ser 6,3 t km2 a-1 i 4,5 t km2 a-1 per a Sa Font de la Vila i Es Fangar respectivament, baixos en comparació amb altres conques mediterrànies. Això es va atribuir principalment a la litologia calcària de les conques hidrogràfiques, els usos de terra (a Es Fangar), la recuperació de la vegetació (a Sa Font de la Vila) i la presència de terrasses agrícoles. L'ús de paràmetres de color com a traçadors es va avaluar amb èxit en les dues conques, la qual cosa confirma la seva idoneïtat per al seu ús com un traçador ràpid i econòmic, fins i tot en conques afectades per incendis. A més, les fortes correlacions entre les mesures preses amb un espectre-radiòmetre i un escàner, fan del color un traçador molt accessible per a la seva implementació en plans gestió. L'experiment sobre conservació de les propietats dels traçadors, va mostrar variacions baixes en la majoria dels traçadors analitzats (coeficient de variació x̄ 8,1 ± 8,8%). Aquestes van ser generalment menors que la seva pròpia variabilitat espacial dins de la conca (coeficient de variació x̄ 16,3 ± 18,5%). A més, els paràmetres de color van ser els traçadors menys variables (i.e. més conservadors) amb un coeficient de variació de 2,6 ± 2,2%. Finalment, no va ser possible identificar els patrons d'activació de diferents fonts de sediments combinant el monitoratge hidro-sedimentari i sediment fingerprinting. Això va ser causa principalment a l'estabilitat de la conca d'Es Fangar en termes d'origen de sediments en suspensió. L'estabilitat de les fonts de sediments s'atribueix a les característiques litològiques, usos de sòl i la presència de terrasses agrícoles en l'àrea d'estudi. No obstant això, esdeveniments de major magnitud podrien superar els llindars de (des)connectivitat sedimentària de la resta de fonts considerades i activar-les. Els resultats que presenta aquesta tesi són rellevants i suposen un avanç en l'optimització de la tècnica sediment fingerprinting. Malgrat algunes limitacions que s'han de seguir investigant, es va demostrar que la combinació de monitorització hidro-sedimentari i sediment fingerprinting és de gran utilitat per als plans de gestió integrada de conques de drenatge Mediterrànies.

This study undertook a comprehensive application of 15 data mining (DM) models, most of which have, thus far, not been commonly used in environmental sciences, to predict land susceptibility to water erosion hazard in the Kahorestan catchment, southern Iran. The DM models were BGLM, BGAM, Cforest, CITree, GAMS, LRSS, NCPQR, PLS, PLSGLM, QR, RLM, SGB, SVM, BCART and BTR. We identified 18 factors usually considered as key controls for water erosion, comprising 10 factors extracted from a digital elevation model (DEM), three indices extracted from Landsat 8 images, a sediment connectivity index (SCI) and three other intrinsic factors. Three indicators consisting of MAE, MBE, RMSE, and a Taylor diagram were applied to assess model performance and accuracy. Game theory was applied to assess the interpretability of the DM models for predicting water erosion hazard. Among the 15 predictive models, BGAM and PLS respectively returned the best and worst performance in predicting water erosion hazard in the study area. The most accurate model, BGAM predicted that 22%, 8.2%, 9.4% and 60.4% of the total area should be classified as low, moderate, high and very high susceptibility to soil erosion by water, respectively. Based on BGAM and game theory, the factors extracted from the DEM (e.g., DEM, TWI, Slope, TST, TRI, and SPI) were considered the most important ones controlling the predicted severity of soil erosion by water. We conclude that overall, game theory is a valuable technique for assessing the interpretability of predictive models because this theory through SHAP (Shapley additive explanations) and PFIM (permutation feature importance measure) addresses the important concerns regarding the interpretability of more complex DM models.

Soil erosion and sediment losses are likely to increase with projected climate change and increasing storm intensity, causing detrimental impacts to agriculture and the degradation of aquatic ecosystems. Agri-environment initiatives aim to mitigate these losses through farmer engagement and incentivisation for best practice. There is, however, limited evidence regarding the impacts of their delivery and their capacity to deliver resilience to extreme wet weather. As such, the aim of this study was to determine how fine-grained sediment provenance changes with flow condition in eight high priority English catchments targeted through a strategic agri-environment initiative and to compare the estimated sediment source proportions to the targeted advice being delivered to farmers. The provenance of fine-grained sediment was determined using sediment source fingerprinting over low flow conditions and the winter of 2019–2020 which was characterised by severe flooding. Details on the advice delivered to farmers through the Catchment Sensitive Farming initiative were obtained from a delivery agency database and interviews with catchment officers. Dominant sediment sources varied considerably between catchments and were not easily predicted based upon their characteristics meaning that targeting on-farm advice effectively is challenging. Critically, however, changes in sediment sources rarely occurred with the extreme wet winter of 2019–2020. It is recommended that the greater availability of empirical catchment-specific evidence could significantly improve the delivery of such agri-environment initiatives. In the current absence of this evidence an assumption that riparian woodland is effective at preventing sediment losses and the targeting of advice to sediment sources proportionally based upon the area of the catchment they cover may improve the benefits of such initiatives.

Water quality is a key consideration for urban stormwater harvesting via aquifers. This study assessed catchment spill management options based on a calibrated dynamic wave routing model of stormwater flow in an urban catchment. The study used measured travel times, pluviometer and gauging station observations from 21 storms to calibrate a stormwater model to simulate transport of pollutants from spill locations to the point of harvest. The simulations considered the impact of spill locations, spill durations, storm intensities and storm durations on the pollutant concentration at the point of harvest and travel time of a pollutant spill to the harvesting point. During dry weather, spill events travelled slower than spills occurring during wet weather. For wet weather spills, the shortest travel times tended to occur in higher intensity storms with shorter duration, particularly when a spill occurred in the middle of the storm. Increasing the intensity of rainfall reduced the peak concentration of pollutant at the harvest point via dilution, but it also reduced the time of travel. On a practical level, due to the short response times in urban catchments, management of spills should be supported by automated detection/diversion systems to protect stormwater harvesting schemes. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Beavers can profoundly alter riparian environments, most conspicuously by creating dams and wetlands. Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) populations are increasing and it has been suggested they could play a role in the provision of multiple ecosystem services, including natural flood management. Research at different scales, in contrasting ecosystems is required to establish to what extent beavers can impact on flood regimes. Therefore, this study determines whether flow regimes and flow responses to storm events were altered following the building of beaver dams and whether a flow attenuation effect could be significantly attributed to beaver activity. Four sites were monitored where beavers have been reintroduced in England. Continuous monitoring of hydrology, before and after beaver impacts, was undertaken on streams where beavers built sequences of dams. Stream orders ranged from 2nd to 4th, in both agricultural and forest‐dominated catchments. Analysis of >1000 storm events, across four sites showed an overall trend of reduced total stormflow, increased peak rainfall to peak flow lag times and reduced peak flows, all suggesting flow attenuation, following beaver impacts. Additionally, reduced high flow to low flow ratios indicated that flow regimes were overall becoming less “flashy” following beaver reintroduction. Statistical analysis, showed the effect of beaver to be statistically significant in reducing peak flows with estimated overall reductions in peak flows from −0.359 to −0.065 m3 s−1 across sites. Analysis showed spatial and temporal variability in the hydrological response to beaver between sites, depending on the level of impact and seasonality. Critically, the effect of beavers in reducing peak flows persists for the largest storms monitored, showing that even in wet conditions, beaver dams can attenuate average flood flows by up to ca. 60%. This research indicates that beavers could play a role in delivering natural flood management., Four sites were monitored where beavers have been reintroduced in Great Britain to understand the impacts of beaver dams upon flow attenuation.Analysis of >1000 storm events showed an overall trend of reduced total stormflow, increased peak rainfall to peak flow lag times and reduced peak flows.Analysis showed flow attenuation impacts due to beaver damming to persist during largest flood events, whilst additionally flow regimes became overall less flashy following beaver impact.

Identifying the key sources of fine-grained sediment is essential for protecting and improving soil and water quality. Accordingly, this contribution tested a combination of low-cost analytical procedures for assembling information on key sediment sources in an agricultural catchment in Brazil and in so doing, tested 24 components derived from a conventional printer scanner using various colourimetric models, 18 organic compounds derived from near-infrared (NIR) spectra and 13 soil constituents derived from mid-infrared (MIR) spectra. In combining the application of these low-cost tracers, the study also aimed to investigate potential scale-dependency in sediment sources. Four main sediment sources were sampled: (i) sugarcane; (ii) unpaved roads; (iii) cropland, and; (iv) channel banks and samples were collected from these at two different scales; sub-catchment (~1453 km2) and catchment-wide (~2857 km2). At both scales, channel banks were the most important sediment source followed by sugarcane. At catchment-wide scale, channel banks accounted for 75.9 ± 6.7%, 56.4 ± 16.3%, 39.1 ± 20.7% and 68.3 ± 4.9% of sampled suspended sediment using composite signatures comprising NIR, MIR or colour tracers only, or a combination of all three types of low-cost tracers, respectively. For bed sediment samples, the corresponding respective source contributions were estimated to be 43.4 ± 4.7%, 32.8 ± 7.8%, 49.2 ± 18.6% and 32.0 ± 4.6%. Our results, regardless of optical property, target sediment type, or scale, suggest that channel banks represent the primary source of the sediment problem in the study area. Targeted remedial actions therefore especially need to deliver protection for eroding channel banks.

Future climate change will likely impact the multiple freshwater ecosystem services (fES) provided by catchments through their landscapes and river systems. However, there is high spatio-temporal uncertainty on those impacts linked to climate change uncertainty and the natural and anthropogenic interdependencies of water management systems. This study identifies current and future spatial patterns of fES production in a highly managed water resource system in northern India to inform the design and assessment of plausible adaptation measures to enhance fES production in the catchment under uncertain climate change. A water resource systems modelling approach is used to evaluate fES across the full range of plausible future scenarios, to identify the (worst-case) climate change scenarios triggering the greatest impacts and assess the capacity of adaptation to enhance fES. Results indicate that the current and future states of the fES depend on the spatial patterns of climate change and the impacts of infrastructure management on river flows. Natural zones deliver more regulating and cultural services than anthropized areas, although they are more climate-sensitive. The implementation of a plausible adaptation strategy only manages to slightly enhance fES in the system with respect to no adaptation. These results demonstrate that water resource systems models are powerful tools to capture complex system dependencies and inform the design of robust catchment management measures. They also highlight that mitigation and more ambitious adaptation strategies are needed to offset climate change impacts in highly climate-sensitive catchments.

ispartof: EARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS vol:45 issue:13 pages:3250-3279 status: published

Source protection is part of a multi-solution approach for the provision of safe drinking water. In the Republic of Ireland, community-led Group Water Schemes (GWS) provide treated drinking water to approximately 69,000 rural households. Between 2009 and 2019, preliminary source protection assessments were undertaken for 70 GWS abstracting from surface water sources to provide physical catchment characterisation and untreated and treated water quality analysis. Catchment areas upstream of abstraction points varied in size, with 51.5% being less than 5 km2 and only 10.7% being larger than 100 km2. The majority (91%) of assessed GWS serve a population of less than 3000 people, and 94% supply less than 1500 m3 per day. Exceedances of the EU Drinking Water Regulations were recorded for 27 parameters, with the greatest number of exceedances due to total trihalomethanes followed by microbial contamination. The most frequent recommendation for improving GWS drinking water quality was associated with managing livestock access to local water bodies. Improving stakeholder engagement represented 38% of all recommendations made. Drinking water source protection measures and catchment-scale actions can be an additional model to assist in the delivery of Integrated Catchment Management and river basin management planning in the Republic of Ireland. For the GWS sector, challenges lie in securing resources to improve both source water and drinking water quality to deliver integrated catchment management plans for source protection.

Beavers have the ability to modify ecosystems profoundly to meet their ecological needs, with significant associated hydrological, geomorphological, ecological, and societal impacts. To bring together understanding of the role that beavers may play in the management of water resources, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems, this article reviews the state‐of‐the‐art scientific understanding of the beaver as the quintessential ecosystem engineer. This review has a European focus but examines key research considering both Castor fiber—the Eurasian beaver and Castor canadensis—its North American counterpart. In recent decades species reintroductions across Europe, concurrent with natural expansion of refugia populations has led to the return of C. fiber to much of its European range with recent reviews estimating that the C. fiber population in Europe numbers over 1.5 million individuals. As such, there is an increasing need for understanding of the impacts of beaver in intensively populated and managed, contemporary European landscapes. This review summarizes how beaver impact: (a) ecosystem structure and geomorphology, (b) hydrology and water resources, (c) water quality, (d) freshwater ecology, and (e) humans and society. It concludes by examining future considerations that may need to be resolved as beavers further expand in the northern hemisphere with an emphasis upon the ecosystem services that they can provide and the associated management that will be necessary to maximize the benefits and minimize conflicts. This article is categorized under:Water and Life > Nature of Freshwater Ecosystems, This article reviews the state‐of‐the‐art scientific understanding of the beaver as an ecosystem engineer. It summarizes how beaver impact: (a) ecosystem structure and geomorphology, (b) hydrology and water resources, (c) water quality, (d) freshwater ecology, and (e) humans and society.

Bhojtal, a large man-made lake bordering the city of Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh state, central India), is important for the city's water supply, connoted the lifeline of the city. Despite the dry though not arid and markedly seasonal climate, soil impermeability hampers infiltration into the complex geology underlying the Bhojtal catchment. Rural communities in the catchment are nonetheless high dependent on underlying aquifers. This paper develops baseline understanding of trends in the ecology, water quality and uses of Bhojtal, discussing their implications for the long-term wellbeing of the Bhopal city region. It highlights increasing dependency on water diverted from out-of-catchment sources, and also abstraction across the Bhojtal catchment in excess of replenishment that is depressing groundwater and contributing to reported declining lake level and water quality. Despite some nature-based management initiatives, evidence suggests little progress in haltering on-going groundwater depression and declines in lake water level and quality. Significant declines in ecosystem services produced by Bhojtal are likely without intervention, a major concern given the high dependency of people in the Bhopal region on Bhojtal for their water supply and socio-economic and cultural wellbeing. Over-reliance on appropriation of water from increasingly remote sources is currently compensating for lack of attention to measures protecting or regenerating local resources that may provide greater resilience and regional self-sufficiency. Improved knowledge of catchment hydrogeology on a highly localised scale could improve the targeting and efficiency of water harvesting and other management interventions in the Bhojtal catchment, and their appropriate hybridisation with engineered solutions, protecting the catchment from unintended impacts of water extraction or increasing its carrying capacity, and also providing resilience to rising population and climate change. Ecosystem service assessment provides useful insights into the breadth of benefits of improved management of Bhojtal and its catchment.

Accessible sediment provenance information is highly desirable for guiding targeted interventions for reducing excess diffuse agricultural sediment losses to water. Conventional sediment source fingerprinting methods can provide this information, but at high cost, thereby limiting their widespread application for catchment management. The use of sediment colour measured using an office document scanner represents an easy, fast, and inexpensive alternative method to trace sediment sources. However, the potential for poor source discrimination and its non-conservatism due to enrichment in sediment organic matter content during sediment transport represent possible limitations to its use. As such, the treatment of samples using hydrogen peroxide to remove organic matter can potentially improve source discrimination based upon geology or soil type, and the mapping of differences in colour between source and sediment samples removing the need for a priori source groups, were trialled in a new colour-based tracing framework. The River Avon in southwest England and Holbeck/Wath Beck in northeast England were studied as they have been identified as being of high priority for the targeting of on-farm advice delivered through a long-running agri-environment initiative. In both catchments, colour was effective at identifying that a small proportion of each which would be considered as being low erosion risk was the dominant source of the sampled sediment. This was due to poor connectivity between fields deemed to be at high risk of erosion and stream channels. The hydrogen peroxide sample treatment confirmed that sediment colour was not significantly altered by enrichment in organic matter content. This treatment and the mapped comparison between source and suspended sediment colour improved source discrimination allowing for the more spatially-refined identification of critical sediment source areas. It is argued that this new inexpensive procedure can potentially deliver more precise and reliable information to catchment managers than costly quantitative sediment source fingerprinting methods. This method can greatly increase the availability of catchment-specific sediment source data and therefore the robust targeting of management efforts on a national scale.

Riparian forest buffers have multiple benefits for biodiversity and ecosystem services in both freshwater and terrestrial habitats but are rarely implemented in water ecosystem management, partly reflecting the lack of information on the effectiveness of this measure. In this context, social learning is valuable to inform stakeholders of the efficacy of riparian vegetation in mitigating stream degradation. We aim to develop a Bayesian belief network (BBN) model for application as a learning tool to simulate and assess the reach- and segment-scale effects of riparian vegetation properties and land use on instream invertebrates. We surveyed reach-scale riparian conditions, extracted segment-scale riparian and subcatchment land use information from geographic information system data, and collected macroinvertebrate samples from four catchments in Europe (Belgium, Norway, Romania, and Sweden). We modelled the ecological condition based on the Average Score Per Taxon (ASPT) index, a macroinvertebrate-based index widely used in European bioassessment, as a function of different riparian variables using the BBN modelling approach. The results of the model simulations provided insights into the usefulness of riparian vegetation attributes in enhancing the ecological condition, with reach-scale riparian vegetation quality associated with the strongest improvements in ecological status. Specifically, reach-scale buffer vegetation of score 3 (i.e. moderate quality) generally results in the highest probability of a good ASPT score (99–100%). In contrast, a site with a narrow width of riparian trees and a small area of trees with reach-scale buffer vegetation of score 1 (i.e. low quality) predicts a high probability of a bad ASPT score (74%). The strengths of the BBN model are the ease of interpretation, fast simulation, ability to explicitly indicate uncertainty in model outcomes, and interactivity. These merits point to the potential use of the BBN model in workshop activities to stimulate key learning processes that help inform the management of riparian zones. Riparian forest buffers have multiple benefits for biodiversity and ecosystem services in both freshwater and terrestrial habitats but are rarely implemented in water ecosystem management, partly reflecting the lack of information on the effectiveness of this measure. In this context, social learning is valuable to inform stakeholders of the efficacy of riparian vegetation in mitigating stream degradation. We aim to develop a Bayesian belief network (BBN) model for application as a learning tool to simulate and assess the reach-and segment-scale effects of riparian vegetation properties and land use on instream invertebrates. We surveyed reach-scale riparian conditions, extracted segment-scale riparian and subcatchment land use information from geographic information system data, and collected macroinvertebrate samples from four catchments in Europe (Belgium, Norway, Romania, and Sweden). We modelled the ecological condition based on the Average Score Per Taxon (ASPT) index, a macroinvertebrate-based index widely used in European bioassessment, as a function of different riparian variables using the BBN modelling approach. The results of the model simulations provided insights into the usefulness of riparian vegetation attributes in enhancing the ecological condition, with reach-scale riparian vegetation quality associated with the strongest improvements in ecological status. Specifically, reach-scale buffer vegetation of score 3 (i.e. moderate quality) generally results in the highest probability of a good ASPT score (99-100%). In contrast, a site with a narrow width of riparian trees and a small area of trees with reach-scale buffer vegetation of score 1 (i.e. low quality) predicts a high probability of a bad ASPT score (74%). The strengths of the BBN model are the ease of interpretation, fast simulation, ability to explicitly indicate uncertainty in model outcomes, and interactivity. These merits point to the potential use of the BBN model in workshop activities to stimulate key learning processes that help inform the management of riparian zones.