Linking vegetation patterns, wetlands conservation, and ecosystem services provision: From publication to application

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (9) ◽  
pp. 1734-1740 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rossano Bolpagni
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Vegetation Patterns ◽  
Wetlands Conservation

Irrigation canal systems of the Cambodian Mekong delta: Assessing changes in ecosystem services for rural communities after wide-ranging rehabilitation plans.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Anna Orieschnig ◽  
Gilles Belaud ◽  
Sylvain Massuel ◽  
Jean-Philippe Venot
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Mekong Delta ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Hydrological Processes ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Vegetation Patterns ◽  
Irrigation Canal ◽  
Structured Interviews

<p><span>Anthropogenically modified hydrological processes shape the Prek agroecosystem in the Cambodian part of the Mekong delta. Preks are trapezoidal channels that were initially constructed during the French protectorate for land raising purposes and extending agriculture in the low-lying Cambodian floodplain, which they connect to the river courses. These channels have become an integral part of the landscape. They are an essential vector for both flooding and drainage, and local communities are deeply organized in relation to these structures. However, with the lack of wide-ranging maintenance work, sedimentation and erosion have modified the functionalities of many of these Preks, </span><em><span>a priori </span></em><span>reducing the environmental amenities provided to the rural communities. In response to this, various development agencies have sought to rehabilitate several of these Preks in recent years, mostly with the objective to further intensify an already intensive agroecosystem.</span></p><p><span> The purpose of the present study is thus to assess the actual effects of these rehabilitations on ecohydrological services. To this end, a comparison has been carried out of inundation and vegetation patterns, as well as ecosystem services, between areas where Preks have been the subject of rehabilitation projects and areas where they have not. For this purpose, remote sensing analyses, hydrological modelling and sociological methods have been employed. To begin with, an analysis of flood dynamics and vegetation structures in the study area has been carried out in the cloud computing platform Google Earth Engine using Sentinel-1 and 2 data. Furthermore, semi-structured interviews with stakeholders (farmers, village chiefs, staff from sectoral ministries) were conducted in the field to scope ecosystem services and find indicators to integrate these services into a numerical model. </span><span> </span></p><p><span>The analysis describes hydrological, ecological and agricultural dynamics that are currently at play in the area, and will further study how Preks rehabilitation could influence these dynamics by comparing areas with and without rehabilitation. Among the processes considered are shifting water availability for irrigation, agricultural intensification, modifications in small-scale habitats, changes in the use of pesticides and herbicides with resulting impacts on soil structure, and alterations in vegetation patterns. Furthermore, several aspects that have caused problems in the rehabilitation process will be considered - such as operational difficulties of sluice gates, bank collapses blocking the water flow in channels, an underestimation of multiple uses of water and a lack of understanding of the complex river flows in the area. </span><span>The analysis leads to identifying the eco-hydrological processes and indicators to implement in a process-based hydrological model aiming at exploring alternative scenarios of rehabilitation. </span></p>

The Methow Beaver Project: the Challenges of an Ecosystem Services Experiment

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Philip Brick ◽  
Kent Woodruff
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Castor Canadensis ◽  
Water Storage ◽  
Climate Projections ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Natural Resource Policy ◽  
Watershed Scale ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Climate Conditions

This case explores the Methow Beaver Project (MBP), an ambitious experiment to restore beaver (Castor canadensis) to a high mountain watershed in Washington State, USA. The Pacific Northwest is already experiencing weather regimes consistent with longer term climate projections, which predict longer and drier summers and stronger and wetter winter storms. Ironically, this combination makes imperative more water storage in one of the most heavily dammed regions in the nation. Although the positive role that beaver can play in watershed enhancement has been well known for decades, no project has previously attempted to re-introduce beaver on a watershed scale with a rigorous monitoring protocol designed to document improved water storage and temperature conditions needed for human uses and aquatic species. While the MBP has demonstrated that beaver can be re-introduced on a watershed scale, it has been much more difficult to scientifically demonstrate positive changes in water retention and stream temperature, given hydrologic complexity, unprecedented fire and floods, and the fact that beaver are highly mobile. This case study can help environmental studies students and natural resource policy professionals think about the broader challenges of diffuse, ecosystem services approaches to climate adaptation. Beaver-produced watershed improvements will remain difficult to quantify and verify, and thus will likely remain less attractive to water planners than conventional storage dams. But as climate conditions put additional pressure on such infrastructure, it is worth considering how beaver might be employed to augment watershed storage capacity, even if this capacity is likely to remain at least in part inscrutable.

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