Riparian vegetation and water yield: A synthesis

Author(s)

Salemi, Luiz Felippe ^[1] ; Groppo, Juliano Daniel ^[1] ; Trevisan, Rodrigo ^[1] ; de Moraes, Jorge Marcos ^{[1, 2]} ; Lima, Walter de Paula ^[3] ; Martinelli, Luiz Antonio ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Isotope Ecol Lab, Ctr Energia Nucl Agr, Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

^[2] Escola Engn Piracicaba, Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Forest Hydrol Lab, Escola Super Agr Luiz Queiroz, Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Review article
• Source: Journal of Hydrology; v. 454, p. 195-202, AUG 6 2012.
• Web of Science Citations: 22

Abstract

Forested riparian zones perform numerous ecosystem functions, including the following: storing and fixing carbon; serving as wildlife habitats and ecological corridors; stabilizing streambanks; providing shade, organic matter, and food for streams and their biota; retaining sediments and filtering chemicals applied on cultivated/agricultural sites on upslope regions of the catchments. In this paper, we report a synthesis of a different feature of this type of vegetation, which is its effect on water yield. By synthesizing results from studies that used (i) the nested catchment and (ii) the paired catchment approaches, we show that riparian forests decrease water yield on a daily to annual basis. In terms of the treated area increases on average were 1.32 +/- 0.85 mm day(-1) and 483 +/- 309 mm yr(-1), respectively; n = 9. Similarly, riparian forest plantation or regeneration promoted reduced water yield (on average 1.25 +/- 0.34 mm day(-1) and 456 +/- 125 mm yr(-1) on daily and annual basis, respectively, when prorated to the catchment area subjected to treatment; n = 5). Although there are substantially fewer paired catchment studies assessing the effect of this vegetation type compared to classical paired catchment studies that manipulate the entire vegetation of small catchments, our results indicate the same trend. Despite the occurrence of many current restoration programs, measurements of the effect on water yield under natural forest restoration conditions are still lacking. We hope that presenting these gaps will encourage the scientific community to enhance the number of observations in these situations as well as produce more data from tropical regions. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 06/54292-9 - Study of the hydric balance and the biogeochemical balance of nitrogen in a first order microbasin with pasture cover on the north coast of the State of São Paulo
• Grantee: Luiz Felippe Salemi
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master