Ecohydrological functions of restored forest at Atlantic Forest biome (HIDROFLORES)

• Grant number: 23/03478-0
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• Start date: June 01, 2024
• End date: May 31, 2029
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Forestry Resources and Forestry Engineering - Nature Conservation
• Principal Investigator: Silvio Frosini de Barros Ferraz
• Grantee: Silvio Frosini de Barros Ferraz
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Pesquisadores principais: Ricardo Hideo Taniwaki
• Associated researchers: Antonio Fernando Monteiro Camargo ; Carla Cristina Cassiano ; Claudia Cocozza ; Daniele Penna ; Joannes Guillemot ; Luiz Felippe Salemi ; Miguel Cooper ; Paulo Guilherme Molin ; Pedro Henrique Santin Brancalion ; Solange Filoso ; Ulrik Ilstedt
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/17455-5 - Riparian forest restoration effects on carbon processing in tropical streams, BP.PD; 24/17451-0 - Effects of landscape structure in watersheds under forest restoration on the health of stream ecosystems, BP.IC; 24/15032-0 - Collection and processing of data on hydrological processes of vegetation in experimental plots at the Itatinga Experimental Station - initial phase, BP.TT; 24/13485-7 - Support in the management activities of the thematic project, BP.TT

Abstract

Forests are essential components for regulating the hydrological cycle and recent efforts have been made to restore ecosystems altered by human activities, such as the Atlantic Forest, in an attempt to recover their ecohydrological processes and functions. In the riparian zone, the forest role is especially important for the structure and functioning of headwater streams. In this project, we intend to apply a transversal and multi-scale approach to understand the relationship between the structure, process and functions of restored forests in regulating hydrological flows and stream ecology. The study will be carried out at the Itatinga Experimental Station where long-term experiments are previously installed from research investments in the last 10 years. Other reaches with restored riparian forests will also be assessed in Corumbataí river basin and Upper Paraíba Valley regions, this last area covered by the "Conexão Mata Atlântica" project. Data collection will be carried out in experimental plots installed in riparian areas and along topographic gradients, hydrological monitoring of experimental catchments and extensive instrumentation for monitoring flows in vegetation, soils and streams. Statistical analyzes will seek to differentiate processes and functions in variable conditions of forest vegetation structure. The project also intends to contribute developing methodologies to assess the ecohydrological functioning of forests, testing vegetation indicators, rapid field assessment protocols and derivatives of images obtained by UAVs. (AU)