scholarly journals Modelling in support of an interdisciplinary approach to ecosystem restitution

2007 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-150
Author(s):  
Mark Rubarenzya ◽  
Jan Staes ◽  
Patrick Willems ◽  
Jean Berlamont ◽  
Patrick Meire
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Nature Conservation ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Distributed Model ◽  
Ecological Value ◽  
Land Use Model ◽  
Physically Based ◽  
Extreme Hydrological Events ◽  
Ecohydrological Model

Modelling in support of an interdisciplinary approach to ecosystem restitution This paper reports on a study being undertaken to analyze the potential effects of rewetting when undertaken for the restitution of the catchment ecosystem of the Grote Nete catchment. In bringing together the expertise of both ecological and hydrological modelers, this study aims at ensuring that the science being performed is immediately relevant from both the environmental management and the socio-political perspectives. Like many European catchments, Grote Nete has been experiencing an increase in extreme hydrological events. In addition, there has been a decline in the ecological value of the catchment ecosystem. The problem is considered to be a conflict of interests arising between urban/agricultural and nature conservation needs. Rewetting has been considered as a possible intervention to reverse these trends. However, a shortcoming with rewetting is that the hydrological consequences remain largely unknown. A numerical model has been developed to study these potential effects. A land use model, SPAN was developed and coupled to a physically-based, fully distributed model (MIKE SHE) to complete an ecohydrological model. The paper describes the development of the model.

scholarly journals The Performance of Physically Based and Conceptual Hydrologic Models: A Case Study for Makkah Watershed, Saudi Arabia

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1098
Author(s):  
Ahmed M. Al-Areeq ◽  
Muhammad A. Al-Zahrani ◽  
Hatim O. Sharif
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Hydrologic Model ◽  
Distributed Model ◽  
Distributed Models ◽  
Physically Based ◽  
Urbanizing Watershed ◽  
Flooding Events ◽  
Runoff Discharge

Population growth and land use modification in urban areas require the use of accurate tools for rainfall-runoff modeling, especially where the topography is complex. The recent improvement in the quality and resolution of remotely sensed precipitation satisfies a major need for such tools. A physically-based, fully distributed hydrologic model and a conceptual semi-distributed model, forced by satellite rainfall estimates, were used to simulate flooding events in a very arid, rapidly urbanizing watershed in Saudi Arabia. Observed peak discharge for two flood events was used to compare hydrographs simulated by the two models, one for calibration and one for validation. To further explore the effect of watershed heterogeneity, the hydrographs produced by three implementations of the conceptual were compared against each other and against the output of the physically-based model. The results showed the ability of the distributed models to capture the effect of the complex topography and variability of land use and soils of the watershed. In general, the GSSHA model required less calibration and performed better than HEC-HMS. This study confirms that the semi-distributed HEC-HMS model cannot be used without calibration, while the GSSHA model can be the best option in the case of a lack of data. Although the two models showed good agreement at the calibration point, there were significant differences in the runoff, discharge, and infiltration values at interior points of the watershed.

scholarly journals Elevated Risk of Ecological Land and Underlying Factors Associated with Rapid Urbanization and Overprotected Agriculture in Northeast China

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (22) ◽  
pp. 6203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuhan Liu ◽  
Dongyan Wang ◽  
Guoping Lei ◽  
Hong Li ◽  
Wenbo Li
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Urban Expansion ◽  
Black Soil ◽  
Residential Area ◽  
Risk Level ◽  
Ecological Value ◽  
Urbanization Process ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Important Indicator ◽  
Farming Area

Ecological land with considerable ecological value can be regarded as an important indicator in guaranteeing ecosystem function and sustainable development. Generally, the urbanization process has been considered to be the primary factor affecting ecological land use. However, the influence of agricultural development, particularly in a typical farming area, has rarely been studied. In this paper, we present a method to assess the ecological risk of ecological land (ELER) in a black soil area in northeastern China. Furthermore, the underlying factors were detected using the geographically weighted regression model, which took into account conditions of natural elements, the urbanization process, and grain production conditions. The results indicate that ecological land experienced remarkable changes with an evident loss and decline from 1996–2015. The ELER progressively increased in the concentrated farming area and the western agro-pastoral ecotone, and the ecological land in the eastern forest area was always at a high risk level. According to the regression coefficients, the relationships between influence factors and ELER could be better explained by the variables of elevation, slope, proportion of rural residential area, and ratio of cultivated land area to residential area. To summarize, agricultural occupation and urban expansion were verified as the two main causes of ecological land loss, as well as elevated risks. In light of the current situation, measures such as policy adjustment and ecological restoration should be taken to avoid risk and optimize land use.

scholarly journals A Novel Physically Based Distributed Model for Irrigation Districts’ Water Movement

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 692
Author(s):  
Boyu Mi ◽  
Haorui Chen ◽  
Shaoli Wang ◽  
Yinlong Jin ◽  
Jiangdong Jia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Water Movement ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Irrigation District ◽  
Distributed Model ◽  
Efficiency Coefficient ◽  
Good Correspondence ◽  
Groundwater Movement ◽  
Irrigation Districts ◽  
Physically Based

The water movement research in irrigation districts is important for food production. Many hydrological models have been proposed to simulate the water movement on the regional scale, yet few of them have comprehensively considered processes in the irrigation districts. A novel physically based distributed model, the Irrigation Districts Model (IDM), was constructed in this study to address this problem. The model combined the 1D canal and ditch flow, the 1D soil water movement, the 2D groundwater movement, and the water interactions among these processes. It was calibrated and verified with two-year experimental data from Shahaoqu Sub-Irrigation Area in Hetao Irrigation District. The overall water balance error is 2.9% and 1.6% for the two years, respectively. The Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (NSE) of water table depth and soil water content is 0.72 and 0.64 in the calibration year and 0.68 and 0.64 in the verification year. The results show good correspondence between the simulation and observation. It is practicable to apply the model in water movement research of irrigation districts.

A land-use model for sub-regional planning

1969 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.L. Cripps ◽  
D.H.S. Foot
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Regional Planning ◽  
Land Use Model

The dynamics of shifting cultivation captured in an extended Constrained Cellular Automata land use model

2009 ◽  
Vol 220 (18) ◽  
pp. 2302-2309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rohan Chandralal Wickramasuriya ◽  
Arnold K. Bregt ◽  
Hedwig van Delden ◽  
Alex Hagen-Zanker
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Cellular Automata ◽  
Shifting Cultivation ◽  
Land Use Model

scholarly journals Failure of science, death of nature

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry F. Recher
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Nature Conservation ◽  
Economic System ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Market Place ◽  
The World ◽  
Ethical Responsibilities

As a people, Australians have lost contact with the world of nature, risking the collapse of civilisation. One factor in the alienation of nature in Australia is the failure of the scientific community to take responsibility for the technology created by the knowledge generated from scientific research. Science has failed to protect Australia’s flora and fauna. Scientists must communicate more widely with society, but need to be educated on how to communicate and on their ethical responsibilities to others and other species. Government needs to show leadership in environmental management and nature conservation, while conservationists need to ‘invert the paradigm’, taking a new, less anthropocentric approach to conservation. None of this is possible in a market-place economy and Australians must move to an economic system that is ecocentric. This will not be easy as it requires a reduction in the consumption of resources and a smaller population.

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