Water resources and land use and cover in a humid region: the southeastern United States.
نویسندگان
چکیده
It is widely recognized that forest and water resources are intricately linked. Globally, changes in forest cover to accommodate agriculture and urban development introduce additional challenges for water management. The U.S. Southeast typifies this global trend as predictions of land-use change and population growth suggest increased pressure on water resources in coming years. Close attention has long been paid to interactions between people and water in arid regions; however, based on information from regions such as the Southeast, it is evident that much greater focus is required to sustain a high-quality water supply in humid areas as well. To that end, we review hydrological, physicochemical, biological, and human and environmental health responses to conversion of forests to agriculture and urban land uses in the Southeast. Commonly, forest removal leads to increased stream sediment and nutrients, more variable flow, altered habitat and stream and riparian communities, and increased risk of human health effects. Although indicators such as the percentage of impervious cover signify overall watershed alteration, the threshold to disturbance, or the point at which effects can been observed in stream and riparian parameters, can be quite low and often varies with physiographic conditions. In addition to current land use, historical practices can greatly influence current water quality. General inferences of this study may extend to many humid regions concerning climate, environmental thresholds, and the causes and nature of effects.
منابع مشابه
Impacts of Multiple Stresses on Water Demand and Supply across the Southeastern United States
Assessment of long-term impacts of projected changes in climate, population, and land use and land cover on regional water resource is critical to the sustainable development of the southeastern United States. The objective of this study was to fully budget annual water availability for water supply (precipitation ) evapotranspiration + groundwater supply + return flow) and demand from commerci...
متن کاملEvaluation of Water Resources Exploitation in a Karst Region Using Intrinsic Vulnerability Assessment
Groundwater vulnerability assessment is of crucial importance for land use/cover management. Some methods have been proposed specifically for the karst hydrogeological settings. Among them, COP and PaPRIKa, as two commonly applied recent methods, were adopted for the resource vulnerability assessment of a humid temperate karst region, north of Iran. Comparison of water bacterial content and dis...
متن کاملAnnual Water Yield Estimation for Different Land Uses by GIS-Based InVEST Model (Case Study: Mish-khas Catchment, Ilam Province, Iran)
Fresh water supply and its security encounter a high level of fluctuating variability under global climate changes. To address these concerns in catchment water management, a good understanding of land use/cover impacts on the hydrological cycle affecting water supply is crucial. The objective of this study is to define a model to investigate the impact of existing land use/cover on water yield...
متن کاملNDVI and SAVI Indices Analysis in Land Use Extraction and river route
Extended abstract 1- Introduction Land use reflects the interactive characteristics of humans and the environment and describes how human exploitation works for one or more targets on the ground. Land use is usually defined based on human use of the land, with an emphasis on the functional role of land in economic activities. Land use, which is associated with human activity, is changing over...
متن کاملA land covers classification system for environment assessment in semi-arid regions of Iran
Land degradation is a major danger which restricting different areas of Iran. Systematic description of the environmentfor detection of environmental changes and the human-related causes and responses is essential in land cover changestudy. Use of land cover data allow detection of where certain changes occur, what type of change, as well as how theland is changing. Existing systems for classif...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید
ثبت ناماگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید
ورودعنوان ژورنال:
- Journal of environmental quality
دوره 40 3 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2011