scholarly journals Hydrological threats to riparian wetlands of international importance – a global quantitative and qualitative analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 2799-2815 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christof Schneider ◽  
Martina Flörke ◽  
Lucia De Stefano ◽  
Jacob D. Petersen-Perlman
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South America ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Flow Regimes ◽  
Population Pressure ◽  
Dam Construction ◽  
Riparian Wetlands ◽  
Flood Pulses ◽  
Overbank Flows

Abstract. Riparian wetlands have been disappearing at an accelerating rate. Their ecological integrity as well as their vital ecosystem services for humankind depend on regular patterns of inundation and drying provided by natural flow regimes. However, river hydrology has been altered worldwide. Dams cause less variable flow regimes and water abstractions decrease the amount of flow so that ecologically important flood pulses are often reduced. Given growing population pressure and projected climate change, immediate action is required. However, the implementation of counteractive measures is often a complex task. This study develops a screening tool for assessing hydrological threats to riparian wetlands on global scales. The approach is exemplified on 93 Ramsar sites, many of which are located in transboundary basins. First, the WaterGAP3 hydrological modeling framework is used to quantitatively compare current and future modified flow regimes to reference flow conditions. In our simulations current water resource management seriously impairs riparian wetland inundation at 29 % of the analyzed sites. A further 8 % experience significantly reduced flood pulses. In the future, eastern Europe, western Asia, as well as central South America could be hotspots of further flow modifications due to climate change. Second, a qualitative analysis of the 93 sites determined potential impact on overbank flows resulting from planned or proposed dam construction projects. They take place in one-third of the upstream areas and are likely to impair especially wetlands located in South America, Asia, and the Balkan Peninsula. Third, based on the existing legal/institutional framework and water resource availability upstream, further qualitative analysis evaluated the capacity to preserve overbank flows given future streamflow changes due to dam construction and climate change. Results indicate hotspots of vulnerability exist, especially in northern Africa and the Persian Gulf.

scholarly journals Hydrological threats for riparian wetlands of international importance – a global quantitative and qualitative analysis

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christof Schneider ◽  
Martina Flörke ◽  
Lucia De Stefano ◽  
Jacob D. Petersen-Perlman
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South America ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Flow Regimes ◽  
Population Pressure ◽  
Riparian Wetlands ◽  
Riparian Wetland ◽  
Natural Flow ◽  
The Future ◽  
Flood Pulses

Abstract. Riparian wetlands have been reportedly disappearing at an accelerating rate. Their ecological integrity as well as their vital ecosystem services for mankind depend on regular inundation patterns of natural flow regimes. However, river hydrology has been altered worldwide. Dams cause less variable flow regimes and water abstractions decrease the amount of flow so that ecologically important flood pulses are often reduced. Given growing population pressure and projected climate change, immediate action is required. Adaptive dam management, sophisticated environmental flow provisions, water use efficiency enhancement, and improved flood management plans are necessary for a sustainable path into the future. Their implementation, however, is often a complex task. This paper aims at identifying hydrological threats for 93 Ramsar sites, many of which are located in transboundary basins. First, the WaterGAP3 modeling framework is used to quantitatively compare current and future modified flow regimes to natural flow conditions. Results show that current water resource management seriously impairs riparian wetland inundation at 29 % of the analyzed sites. Further 8 % experience significantly reduced flood pulses. In the future, Eastern Europe, Western Asia as well as central South America could be hotspots of further flow modifications due to climate change. Second, impacts on riparian wetland flooding are qualitatively assessed. New dam initiatives in the upstream areas were compiled to estimate the potential for future flow modifications. They currently take place in one third of the upstream areas and are likely to impair especially wetlands located in South America, Africa, Asia and the Balkan Peninsula. Further qualitative results address the capacity to act for each site by evaluating whether upstream water resource availability and the existing legal and institutional framework could support the implementation of conservation measures.

scholarly journals Climate-change threats to native fish in degraded rivers and floodplains of the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia

2011 ◽  
Vol 62 (9) ◽  
pp. 1099 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen R. Balcombe ◽  
Fran Sheldon ◽  
Samantha J. Capon ◽  
Nick R. Bond ◽  
Wade L. Hadwen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Fish Species ◽  
Flow Regimes ◽  
Resource Development ◽  
Native Fish ◽  
Water Resource Development ◽  
Tolerant Species ◽  
Murray Darling Basin ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Many aquatic ecosystems have been severely degraded by water-resource development affecting flow regimes and biological connectivity. Freshwater fish have been particularly affected by these changes and climate change will place further stress on them. The Murray–Darling Basin (MDB), Australia, represents a highly affected aquatic system with dramatically modified flow regimes. This has impaired the health of its rivers, and potentially limited the adaptive capacity of its biota to respond to a changing climate. Here, we present our predictions of the potential impacts of climate change on 18 native fish species across their distributional ranges against the back-drop of past and continuing water-resource development (WRD). Because most of these species are found across a wide range of geographical and hydrological settings, we classified the MDB into 10 regions to account for likely variation in climate-change effects, on the basis of latitude, elevation and WRD. Cold water-tolerant species will be under greater stress than are warm water-tolerant species. In some regions, the negative impacts on exotic fish such as trout are likely to improve current conditions for native species. Because the impacts of climate change on any given species are likely to vary from region to region, regional fish assemblages will also be differentially affected. The most affected region is likely to occur in the highly disturbed Lower Murray River region, whereas the dryland rivers that are less affected in the northern MDB are likely to remain largely unchanged. Although climate change is a current and future threat to the MDB fish fauna, the continued over-regulation of water resources will place as much, if not more, stress on the remnant fish species.

scholarly journals Anthropogenic climate change has changed frequency of past flood during 2010-2013

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yukiko Hirabayashi ◽  
Haireti Alifu ◽  
Dai Yamazaki ◽  
Yukiko Imada ◽  
Hideo Shiogama ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South America ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Flood Frequency ◽  
Anthropogenic Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Signal ◽  
Northern Eurasia ◽  
Large Ensemble ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe ongoing increases in anthropogenic radiative forcing have changed the global water cycle and are expected to lead to more intense precipitation extremes and associated floods. However, given the limitations of observations and model simulations, evidence of the impact of anthropogenic climate change on past extreme river discharge is scarce. Here, a large ensemble numerical simulation revealed that 64% (14 of 22 events) of floods analyzed during 2010-2013 were affected by anthropogenic climate change. Four flood events in Asia, Europe, and South America were enhanced within the 90% likelihood range. Of eight snow-induced floods analyzed, three were enhanced and four events were suppressed, indicating that the effects of climate change are more likely to be seen in the snow-induced floods. A global-scale analysis of flood frequency revealed that anthropogenic climate change enhanced the occurrence of floods during 2010-2013 in wide area of northern Eurasia, part of northwestern India, and central Africa, while suppressing the occurrence of floods in part of northeastern Eurasia, southern Africa, central to eastern North America and South America. Since the changes in the occurrence of flooding are the results of several hydrological processes, such as snow melt and changes in seasonal and extreme precipitation, and because a climate change signal is often not detectable from limited observation records, large ensemble discharge simulation provides insights into anthropogenic effects on past fluvial floods.

Impact of climate change in the flow regimes of the Upper and Middle Amazon River

2021 ◽  
Vol 166 (3-4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Eduardo Aguiar de Souza Costa ◽  
Claudio José Cavalcante Blanco ◽  
José Francisco de Oliveira-Júnior
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Flow Regimes ◽  
Amazon River ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change

scholarly journals Future climate change will impact the size and location of breeding and wintering areas of migratory thrushes in South America

The Condor ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natália Stefanini Da Silveira ◽  
Maurício Humberto Vancine ◽  
Alex E Jahn ◽  
Marco Aurélio Pizo ◽  
Thadeu Sobral-Souza
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South America ◽  
Migratory Birds ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Ecological Niche Models ◽  
Global Climate Changes ◽  
The Andes ◽  
Wintering Areas

Abstract Bird migration patterns are changing worldwide due to current global climate changes. Addressing the effects of such changes on the migration of birds in South America is particularly challenging because the details about how birds migrate within the Neotropics are generally not well understood. Here, we aim to infer the potential effects of future climate change on breeding and wintering areas of birds that migrate within South America by estimating the size and elevations of their future breeding and wintering areas. We used occurrence data from species distribution databases (VertNet and GBIF), published studies, and eBird for 3 thrush species (Turdidae; Turdus nigriceps, T. subalaris, and T. flavipes) that breed and winter in different regions of South America and built ecological niche models using ensemble forecasting approaches to infer current and future potential distributions throughout the breeding and wintering periods of each species. Our findings point to future shifts in wintering and breeding areas, mainly through elevational and longitudinal changes. Future breeding areas for T. nigriceps, which migrates along the Andes Mountains, will be displaced to the west, while breeding displacements to the east are expected for the other 2 species. An overall loss in the size of future wintering areas was also supported for 2 of the species, especially for T. subalaris, but an increase is anticipated for T. flavipes. Our results suggest that future climate change in South America will require that species shift their breeding and wintering areas to higher elevations in addition to changes in their latitudes and longitude. Our findings are the first to show how future climate change may affect migratory birds in South America throughout the year and suggest that even closely related migratory birds in South America will be affected in different ways, depending on the regions where they breed and overwinter.

scholarly journals Mapping the Distribution of Water Resource Security in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region at the County Level under a Changing Context

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (22) ◽  
pp. 6463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li ◽  
Yin ◽  
Zhang ◽  
Croke ◽  
Guo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Water Diversion ◽  
County Level ◽  
Populated Region ◽  
Water Resource Security ◽  
Resource Security

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (Jingjinji) region is the most densely populated region in China and suffers from severe water resource shortage, with considerable water-related issues emerging under a changing context such as construction of water diversion projects (WDP), regional synergistic development, and climate change. To this end, this paper develops a framework to examine the water resource security for 200 counties in the Jingjinji region under these changes. Thus, county-level water resource security is assessed in terms of the long-term annual mean and selected typical years (i.e., dry, normal, and wet years), with and without the WDP, and under the current and projected future (i.e., regional synergistic development and climate change). The outcomes of such scenarios are assessed based on two water-crowding indicators, two use-to-availability indicators, and one composite indicator. Results indicate first that the water resources are distributed unevenly, relatively more abundant in the northeastern counties and extremely limited in the other counties. The water resources are very limited at the regional level, with the water availability per capita and per unit gross domestic product (GDP) being only 279/290 m3 and 46/18 m3 in the current and projected future scenarios, respectively, even when considering the WDP. Second, the population carrying capacity is currently the dominant influence, while economic development will be the controlling factor in the future for most middle and southern counties. This suggests that significant improvement in water-saving technologies, vigorous replacement of industries from high to low water consumption, as well as water from other supplies for large-scale applications are greatly needed. Third, the research identifies those counties most at risk to water scarcity and shows that most of them can be greatly relieved after supplementation by the planned WDP. Finally, more attention should be paid to the southern counties because their water resources are not only limited but also much more sensitive and vulnerable to climate change. This work should benefit water resource management and allocation decisions in the Jingjinji region, and the proposed assessment framework can be applied to other similar problems.

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