scholarly journals Hydrological, ecological, land use, economic, and sociocultural evidence for resilience of traditional irrigation communities in New Mexico, USA

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 1821-1869 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Fernald ◽  
S. Guldan ◽  
K. Boykin ◽  
A. Cibils ◽  
M. Gonzales ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
New Mexico ◽  
Hydrologic Processes ◽  
Ongoing Work ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Traditional Local Knowledge ◽  
Traditional Irrigation ◽  
Irrigation Infrastructure ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Abstract. Southwestern US irrigated landscapes are facing upheaval due to climate change-induced water scarcity and economic change-induced land use conversion. Clues to community longevity are found in the traditionally irrigated valleys of northern New Mexico. Human systems have interacted with hydrologic processes over the last 400 yr in river fed irrigated valleys to create linked systems. In this study, we asked if concurrent data from multiple disciplines show that human adapted hydrologic and socioeconomic systems have created conditions for resilience. We identify and describe several areas of resilience: hydrological, ecological, land use, economic, and sociocultural. We found that there are multiple hydrologic benefits of the water seepage from the traditional irrigation systems; it recharges groundwater that recharges rivers, supports threatened biodiversity by maintaining riparian vegetation, and ameliorates impacts of climate change by prolonging streamflow hydrographs. In terms of land use and economics, place-based adaptability manifests itself in transformations of irrigation infrastructure and specific animal and crop systems; as grazing has diminished over time on public land watersheds, it has increased on irrigated valley pastures while outside income allows irrigators to retain their land. Sociocultural evidence shows that traditional local knowledge about the hydrosocial cycle of acequia operations is a key factor in acequia resilience. When irrigators are confronted with unexpected disturbances or changing climate that affect water supply, they adapt specific practices while maintaining community cohesion. Our ongoing work will quantify the multiple disciplinary components of these systems, translate them into a common language of causal loop diagrams, and model future scenarios to identify thresholds and tipping points of sustainability. Early indications are that these systems are not immune to upheaval, but have astonishing resilience.

scholarly journals Linked hydrologic and social systems that support resilience of traditional irrigation communities

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 293-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Fernald ◽  
S. Guldan ◽  
K. Boykin ◽  
A. Cibils ◽  
M. Gonzales ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Irrigation System ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Irrigation Management ◽  
Hydrologic Processes ◽  
Traditional Local Knowledge ◽  
The Face ◽  
Traditional Irrigation

Abstract. Southwestern US irrigated landscapes are facing upheaval due to water scarcity and land use conversion associated with climate change, population growth, and changing economics. In the traditionally irrigated valleys of northern New Mexico, these stresses, as well as instances of community longevity in the face of these stresses, are apparent. Human systems have interacted with hydrologic processes over the last 400 years in river-fed irrigated valleys to create linked systems. In this study, we ask if concurrent data from multiple disciplines could show that human-adapted hydrologic and socioeconomic systems have created conditions for resilience. Various types of resiliencies are evident in the communities. Traditional local knowledge about the hydrosocial cycle of community water management and ability to adopt new water management practices is a key response to disturbances such as low water supply from drought. Livestock producers have retained their irrigated land by adapting: changing from sheep to cattle and securing income from outside their livestock operations. Labor-intensive crops decreased as off-farm employment opportunities became available. Hydrologic resilience of the system can be affected by both human and natural elements. We find, for example, that there are multiple hydrologic benefits of traditional irrigation system water seepage: it recharges the groundwater that recharges rivers, supports threatened biodiversity by maintaining riparian vegetation, and ameliorates impacts of climate change by prolonging streamflow hydrographs. Human decisions to transfer water out of agriculture or change irrigation management, as well as natural changes such as long-term drought or climate change, can result in reduced seepage and the benefits it provides. We have worked with the communities to translate the multidisciplinary dimensions of these systems into a common language of causal loop diagrams, which form the basis for modeling future scenarios to identify thresholds and tipping points of sustainability. Early indications are that these systems, though not immune to upheaval, have astonishing resilience.

scholarly journals Numerical simulations of the impact of climate variability and change on semiarid watershed response in central New Mexico

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 319-371
Author(s):  
E. R. Vivoni ◽  
C. A. Aragón ◽  
L. Malczynski ◽  
V. C. Tidwell
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New Mexico ◽  
Summer Precipitation ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
Hydrologic Response ◽  
Watershed Model ◽  
Precipitation Regime ◽  
Hydrologic Processes ◽  
Precipitation Characteristics ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Hydrologic processes in the semiarid regions of the southwest United States are considered to be highly susceptible to variations in temperature and precipitation characteristics due to the effects of climate change. Relatively little is known on the potential impacts of climate change on the basin hydrologic response, namely streamflow, evapotranspiration and recharge, in the region. In this study, we present the development and application of a continuous, semi-distributed watershed model for climate change studies in semiarid basins of the southwest US. Our objective is to capture hydrologic processes in large watersheds, while accounting for the spatial and temporal variations of climate forcing and basin properties in a simple fashion. We apply the model to the Río Salado basin in central New Mexico since it exhibits both a winter and summer precipitation regime and has a historical streamflow record for model testing purposes. Subsequently, we utilize a sequence of climate change scenarios that capture observed trends for winter and summer precipitation, as well as their interaction with higher temperatures, to perform long-term ensemble simulations of the basin hydrologic response. Results of the modeling exercise indicate that precipitation uncertainty is amplified in the hydrologic response, in particular for processes that depend on a soil saturation threshold. We obtained substantially different hydrologic sensitivities for winter and summer precipitation ensembles, indicating a greater sensitivity to more intense summer storms as compared to more frequent winter events. In addition, the impact of changes in precipitation characteristics overwhelmed the effects of increased temperature in the study basin. Nevertheless, combined trends in precipitation and temperature yield a more sensitive hydrologic response throughout the year.

scholarly journals Assessing the Impacts of Climate Change and Land Use/Cover Change on Runoff Based on Improved Budyko Framework Models Considering Arbitrary Partition of the Impacts

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1612
Author(s):  
Manling Xiong ◽  
Ching-Sheng Huang ◽  
Tao Yang
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Change Point ◽  
Extreme Values ◽  
Weighting Factor ◽  
Heihe River ◽  
Runoff Variation ◽  
Pettitt Test ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Various models based on Budyko framework, widely applied to quantify the impacts of climate change and land use/cover change (LUCC) on runoff, assumed a fixed partition used to distinguish the impacts. Several articles have applied a weighting factor describing arbitrary partitions for developing a total differential Budyko (TDB) model and a complementary Budyko (CB) model. This study introduces the weighting factor into a decomposition Budyko (DB) model and applies these three models to analyze runoff variation due to the impacts in the upper-midstream Heihe River basin. The Pettitt test is first applied to determine a change point of a time series expanded by the runoff coefficient. The cause for the change point is analyzed. Transition matrix is adopted to investigate factors of LUCC. Results suggest the consistency of the CB, TDB, and present DB models in estimating runoff variation due to the impacts. The existing DB model excluding the weighting factor overestimates the impact of climate change on runoff and underestimates the LUCC impact as compared with the present DB model. With two extreme values of the weighting factor, runoff decrease induced by LUCC falls in the range of 65.20%–66.42% predicted by the CB model, 65.01%–66.57% by the TDB model, and 64.83%–66.85% by the present DB model. The transition matrixes indicate the major factors of LUCC are climate warming in the upstream of the study area and cropping in the midstream. Our work provides researchers with a better understanding of runoff variation due to climate change and LUCC.

scholarly journals Weighing the relative potential impacts of climate change and land‐use change on an endangered bird

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (13) ◽  
pp. 4468-4477 ◽  
Author(s):  
Betsy A. Bancroft ◽  
Joshua J. Lawler ◽  
Nathan H. Schumaker
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Relative Potential ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

scholarly journals Assessment of soil erosion in the Dongting Lake Basin, China: Patterns, drivers, and implications

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. e0261842
Author(s):  
Jianyong Xiao ◽  
Binggeng Xie ◽  
Kaichun Zhou ◽  
Shana Shi ◽  
Junhan Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Dongting Lake ◽  
Vegetation Coverage ◽  
Lake Basin ◽  
Driving Mechanism ◽  
Land Use Types ◽  
Key Factor

Soil loss caused by erosion is a global problem. Therefore, the assessment of soil erosion and the its driving mechanism are of great significance to soil conservation. However, soil erosion is affected by both climate change and human activities, which have not been quantified, and few researchers studied the differences in the driving mechanisms of soil erosion depending on the land use type. Therefore, the spatiotemporal characteristics and changing trends of soil erosion in the Dongting Lake Basin were analyzed in this study. Geographic detectors were used to identify the dominant factors affecting soil erosion in different land use types. In this study, a sensitivity experiment was conducted to clarify the relative contributions of climate change and human activities to soil erosion changes. In addition, we studied the effects of different land use types and vegetation cover restoration on soil erosion. The results show that soil erosion in the Dongting Lake Basin decreased from 2000 to 2018. Human activities represented by land use types and vegetation coverage significantly contributed to the alleviation of soil erosion in the Dongting Lake Basin, whereas climate change represented by rainfall slightly aggravated soil erosion in the study area. The restoration of grassland vegetation and transfer of cultivated land to woodlands in the study area improved the soil erosion. The slope steepness is the key factor affecting the intensity of soil erosion in dry land, paddy fields, and unused land, whereas the vegetation coverage is the key factor affecting the intensity of soil erosion in woodland, garden land, and grassland. Detailed spatiotemporally mapping of soil erosion was used to determine the connections between soil erosion and potential drivers, which have important implications for vegetation restoration and the optimization of land use planning.

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