Hydrological Services along the topographic gradient in a transition region of Brazilian Savanna-Atlantic Forest

• Grant number: 22/05798-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Effective date (Start): September 10, 2022
• Effective date (End): November 06, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Forestry Resources and Forestry Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Silvio Frosini de Barros Ferraz
• Grantee: Bruna Santos Lopes
• Supervisor: Daniele Penna
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Research place: Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy
• Associated to the scholarship: 21/09086-1 - Hydrological services along topographic gradient in Cerrado-Atlantic Forest transition regions, BP.MS

Abstract

In just over 30 years, Brazil lost around 87 million hectares of forests and other natural vegetation. The loss of native vegetation damage the provision of ecosystem services, such as the provision of hydrological environmental services, which is directly related to the conservation of soils and vegetation. The offer of a hydrological service is related to the biophysical characteristics of the region, so different landscapes provide different services.The different positions in the relief and the biophysical factors associated with it, such as access to water, soil erosion propensity, climate, etc result in different processes and consequently, different hydrological services. This also occurs with the variation in vegetation composition, where those that have a more closed canopy and greater litter biomass, as is the case of Atlantic Forest vegetation, for example, intercept a greater volume of precipitated water compared to sparser vegetation such as those from Brazilian Savanna.Therefore, vegetation composition and canopy cover will influence the amount of water that reaches the soil, which consequently influence the processes of infiltration, percolation, deep drainage and soil recharge. As vegetation and topography are factors that influence the water dynamics and the soil net recharge and consequently, some of the hydrological services offered, the main objective of this master's project is to evaluate the offer of hydrological services in areas with different access to the water table and with different forest structures. To achieve this purpose, this BEPE project will be developed with the objective of obtaining part of the analysed results and compared with the results from Prof. Penna's similar studies, and also increasing the isotopic analysis in the study in Brazil.