Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Zhou, Guoyi
• Wei, Xiaohua
• Chen, Xiuzhi
• Zhou, Ping
• Liu, Xiaodong
• Xiao, Yin
• Sun, Ge
• Scott, David F.
• Zhou, Shuyidan
• Han, Liusheng
• Su, Yongxian

Titel

Global pattern for the effect of climate and land cover on water yield

Ist Teil von

• Nature communications, 2015-01, Vol.6 (1), p.5918-5918, Article 5918

Ort / Verlag

London: Nature Publishing Group UK

Erscheinungsjahr

2015

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Research results on the effects of land cover change on water resources vary greatly and the topic remains controversial. Here we use published data worldwide to examine the validity of Fuh’s equation, which relates annual water yield ( R ) to a wetness index (precipitation/potential evapotranspiration; P / PET ) and watershed characteristics ( m ). We identify two critical values at P / PET =1 and m =2. m plays a more important role than P / PET when m <2, and a lesser role when m >2. When P / PET <1, the relative water yield ( R / P ) is more responsive to changes in m than it is when P / PET >1, suggesting that any land cover changes in non-humid regions ( P / PET <1) or in watersheds of low water retention capacity ( m <2) can lead to greater hydrological responses. m significantly correlates with forest coverage, watershed slope and watershed area. This global pattern has far-reaching significance in studying and managing hydrological responses to land cover and climate changes. The effects of forests on water yield are uncertain, with some studies indicating that increased evapotranspiration reduces water yield and other showing that forests increase it. Here, the authors analyse published data to settle this debate, finding that afforestation has a positive effect on water yield.