Ecohydrology

Durante los últimos años la información hidrológica sobre el ecosistema de páramo ha cobrado gran importancia por los beneficios ecosistémicos que provee en el ámbito social, económico y ambiental. Las investigaciones realizadas en este ecosistema continúan siendo necesarios para esclarecer y entender el funcionamiento y la dinámica hidrológica de estos ecosistemas.
Se analizó la información isotópica (Oxígeno 18) de la precipitación y caudal de la cuenca del río Zhurucay en los meses de febrero a abril 2014, para estimar la fracción de agua de evento y pre-evento que aportan las fuentes de escorrentía al caudal durante eventos de precipitación, mediante modelos de mezcla. Cuyos resultados fueron sometidos a un análisis de incertidumbre.
Los resultados muestran que los aportes de agua de pre-evento son predominantes, alcanzando hasta un 98% en función de la humedad antecedente y la intensidad de la lluvia. Se observa una alta correlación del porcentaje de pre-evento con los suelos Andosoles e Histosoles (0.7), mostrando la importancia que las características y propiedades físico-químicas de estos suelos cumplen en la generación de la escorrentía. Asimismo se observa una dependencia de la fracción de pre-evento con la humedad antecedente y la intensidad de la lluvia. 
Los valores de la incertidumbre, revelan que la mayoría de los resultados tiene una incertidumbre entre 4 a 31%, pudiendo considerarse como exactos. Aunque también se dieron casos en los que se presentaban incertidumbres altas e incluso mayores a 100%, siendo el principal contribuyente de incertidumbre el componente agua de evento; por lo que los resultados correspondientes a éstos deben interpretarse con cuidado, ya que aunque no indican error muestran una banda amplia de incertidumbre o inexactitud.

Pembangunan kawasan urban/perkotaan yang ada di Indonesia cenderung dituntut untuk mendukung berbagai kegiatan pada sektor ekonomi, tidak terkecuali di Jakarta. Namun selain daya dukungnya pada bidang ekonomi tersebut, semakin ke depan pembangunan kawasan perkotaan juga dituntut untuk mempertahankan daya dukungnya terhadap lingkungan. Pembangunan kawasan urban yang cenderung berorientasi pada sektor ekonomi ini tak ayal menimbulkan berbagai permasalahan lingkungan yang sulit dikendalikan dan menimbulkan penurunan kualitas ruang kota, salah satunya adalah banjir. Banjir memang sudah menjadi salah satu permasalahan lingkungan yang sulit dikendalikan, baik oleh warga maupun Pemprov DKI Jakarta, bahkan sejak zaman Pemerintahan kolonial Belanda berkuasa. Oleh karena itu, salah satu upaya yang dapat dilakukan untuk mengendalikan permasalahan banjir di Jakarta ini adalah dengan melakukan pembangunan kawasan urban yang memiliki daya dukung terhadap lingkungan dan salah satunya dengan menerapkan konsep Blue-Green Network. Konsep pembangunan kawasan urban ini menggunakan komponen hijau (vegetasi) dan biru (perairan) sebagai dasar untuk perencanaan tata ruang kota yang berkelanjutan dari aspek lingkungan, sosial, dan ekonomi, serta upaya adaptasi menghadapi perubahan iklim global (Wagner et al. 2013).

Protection of water catchment areas is becoming more critical given the rise in human populations and the high demand for water resources. The Mau Forest Complex, one of the major water towers in Kenya, is of both national and regional importance being the source of many rivers draining into Lakes Victoria, Baringo, Nakuru and Natron. In addition, the forest is a source of many ecosystem goods and services to communities living within and in the adjoining areas. However, high human population growth and the subsequent encroachment on the forest have  led to degradation of water resources . Plans to reverse the situation and restore disturbed areas are being put in place. However, lack of baseline data that can be used to assess the extent of disturbance and resistance by people occupying prohibited areas to move out are major hindrances. As a result forceful eviction of people from encroached areas has been conducted by government agencies undertaking the restoration. This command-and-control approach has not been received well by residents who have lived with the forest for a long time and whose traditional forest use practices have been carried out on a sustainable basis. This study investigates the effects of deforestation on water resources in the Sondu-Miriu River Basin by utilizing aquatic macroinvertebrate communities as indicators of water quality. At the same time data on community perspectives are presented by documenting how the community has been living with the forest, viz a vis its conservation and use. Responses in macroinvertebrate communities bear signals of perturbation arising from land use change from forestry to agriculture. The community members feel that these changes are not sustainable and should be halted. It is, thus, appropriate that participatory management approaches should be adopted in lieu  of the command-and-control approach whose outcomes have not proved  successful elsewhere.

Increases in woody plant densities in savanna grazing lands worldwide have resulted in a decline in the grazing capacity of these rangelands. At present, the actual cause of the problem is unknown although a vast body of literature deals with various aspects relevant to the issue.It is generally assumed, however, that the changes in the tree:grass ratio are a response to changes in soil-water development brought about by rangeland utilization. These utilization patterns differ from those under which the savanna system evolved. While changes in physiognomy are very prominent, these are generally preceded by changes in grass species assemblage.The development of species composition has been used as an indicator of rangeland condition for many years; the increase or decrease of individual species is considered in this context. Thus far, however, the shift from perennial to annual grasses has not been evaluated for its effect on soil moisture development, and subsequent implications for woody plant establishment and growth.The review presented here consolidates the existing information in order to provide a basis for understanding the woody weed encroachment problem. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Initially introduced to western United States to provide ecosystem services such as erosion control, Tamarix by the mid-1900s had became vilified as a profligate waster of water. This large shrub continues, today, to be indicted for various presumed environmental and economic costs, and millions of dollars are expended on its eradication. In this review, we examine the role of scientists in driving changes in perceptions of Tamarix from valuable import to vilified invader and (in some instances) back to a productive member of riparian plant communities. Scientists over the years have sustained a negative perception of Tamarix by, among other things, (1) citing outmoded sources; (2) inferring causation from correlative studies; (3) applying conclusions beyond the scope (domain) of the studies; and (4) emphasizing findings that present the species as an extreme or unnatural agent of change. Recent research is challenging the prevailing dogma regarding Tamarix’s role in ecosystem function and habitat degradation and many scientists now recommend management shifts from “pest plant” eradication to systemic, process-based restoration. However, prejudice against this and other non-native species persists. To further close the gap between science and management, it is important for scientists to strive to (1) cite sources appropriately; (2) avoid reflexive antiexotic bias; (3) avoid war-based and pestilence-based terminology; (4) heed the levels of certainty and the environmental domain of studies; (5) maintain up-to-date information on educational Web sites; and (6) prior to undertaking restoration or management actions, conduct a thorough and critical review of the literature.

L’objectif de notre étude est un apport quantitatif de données sédimentaires sur des échelles spatio-temporelles variables pour une meilleure compréhension de la dynamique des plages microtidales Méditerranéennes en climat semi-aride à tempéré. Nous adoptons une approche morphodynamique associée à une étude pluridisciplinaire pour mesurer l’état de vulnérabilité de la plage selon son indicateur d’évolution : la ligne de côte.

The Niger Delta region of Nigeria is faced with a number of environmental problems. These problems are gas flaring, oil spillage and ecosystems pollution and result from major oil and gas activities as well as the activities of groups or individual members of the Niger Delta communities. The Niger Delta contributes massively to economic and financial development of Nigeria through oil and gas production and ecosystems services, but receives little or no tangible benefit from the oil production. In an attempt to tackle these multi-faceted environmental pollutions and problems, the Nigerian federal government established environmental regulations and institutions. In 1991, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) established guideline and standards for the petroleum industry- EGASPIN to regulate the activities of the oil and gas companies in the Niger Delta. Also in 1992, the Nigerian government established an environmental regulatory framework in the form environmental impact assessment (EIA) to regulate developmental projects and to ensure sustainable development. The Nigerian Federal Ministry of Environment (FMENV) has been charged with the responsibility of enforcing, monitoring and implementing the environmental regulatory framework. Despite all these efforts, environmental pollution and non-compliance to the environmental laws in the Niger Delta persist.
This study has been undertaken to assess the state of environmental monitoring in the Niger Delta, by assessing the data deficiencies and needs that are required to be fed into environmental monitoring systems and to advice on improving the monitoring system.
This study adopts INDICAMP and Stakeholder Analysis as the methodologies to analyse the generated data. The data are generated through the methods of interviews conduction, questionnaires administration, literature review of existing work and stakeholder mapping.
The analysis of the results of this study reveals that there are host of factors militating against the effectiveness of environmental monitoring in the Niger Delta. These factors include administrative conflicts amongst the government agencies, poor funding of the agencies, poor quality of available information and poor communication of information on the state of the Niger Delta environment. And this study recommends appropriate funding of the agencies, enhancing information system for effective communication of information amongst agencies, further expanding and developing the staffs of the agencies and, last but not the least adopting a holistic framework for environmental monitoring as designed by USEPA 1992 in all the agencies, as the ways to improve environmental monitoring in the Niger Delta.
In conclusion, this study establishes that environmental monitoring in the Niger Delta currently does not have an effective communication system to disseminate information on the state of the environment to the necessary stakeholders. The environmental monitoring system does not have a specific and comprehensive mode of operation and adopts uncoordinated standards for regulating the operations of the oil and gas companies, and there is data deficiency for environmental monitoring.

ABSTRACT The Mt Elgon ecosystem straddles the frontier between Kenya and Uganda and a major catchment for Lake Victoria, the Nile River system and Lake Turkana. It supplies a range of ecosystem goods and services to over 2 million people in Kenya and Uganda. Most of the people are poor, and place tremendous pressure on the integrity of the ecosystem. This has seen conflicts arising from competition for dwindling natural resources in fast degrading landscape.

Vegetation in the Delhi stretch of the floodplain of the river Yamuna was examined in relation to hydrological characteristics. The floodplain was delineated into four zones based on hydrological interventions. Seventy-four plant species including forty-two aquatic/semi-aquatic were ...

The productivity of some African lands has declined by 50% due to soil erosion and
desertifi cation over the period 2000-2010. Yield reductions may range from 2% to 40%
(8% in average). This leads to increasing starvation of people, where only in Sub-Saharan
Africa (SSA) the number of hungry people reached 212 million. In Ethiopia about 90%
of arable lands is in mountainous areas, where live 90% of the human population and
60% of all livestock. The highlands exposed to improper agricultural practices has been
heavily degraded in the last century. The country faces environmental challenges such
as land degradation, limited quantity and quality of water resulting from progressive
deforestation, improper agricultural practices and urbanization. Similar problems are
touching other African countries, especially in the East Africa. To overcome these
problems, efforts have been made to launch afforestation and conservation programs;
however, success to date has been limited. Harmonization of ecohydrological principles
with the existing efforts has been planned. The Gumera River basin has been chosen
to be one of the ecohydrological demonstration sites. The Kenyan-Tanzanian border
area is also an area of interest due to the large seasonal migrations of large mammals
depending on water availability. Lake Naivasha in Kenya is used to demonstrate possible
measures for restoration of land-water ecotone functions of Cyperus papyrus by
restoration of hydrological regime in the tributaries deltas. This paper uses three cases
to discuss the importance of ecohydrology for problem solving in Africa. Establishment
of the regional centre for ecohydrology is being proposed.

Dispersal of biota by humans is a hallmark of civilization, but the results are often unforeseen and sometimes costly. Like kudzu vine in the American South, some examples become the stuff of regional folklore. In recent decades, “invasion biology,” conservation-motivated scientists and their allies have focused largely on the most negative outcomes and often promoted the perception that introduced species are monsters. However, cases of monstering by scientists preceded the rise of popular environmentalism. The story of tamarisk (Tamarix spp.), flowering trees and shrubs imported to New England sometime before 1818, provides an example of scientific “monstering” and shows how slaying the monster, rather than allaying its impacts, became a goal in itself. Tamarisks’ drought and salt tolerance suggested usefulness for both coastal and inland erosion control, and politicians as well as academic and agency scientists promoted planting them in the southern Great Plains and Southwest. But when erosion control efforts in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas became entangled with water shortages, economic development during the Depression and copper mining for national defense during World War Two, federal hydrologists moved quickly to recast tamarisks as water-wasting foreign monsters. Demonstrating significant water salvage was difficult and became subsidiary to focusing on ways to eradicate the plants, and a federal interagency effort devoted specifically to the latter purpose was organized and continued until it, in turn, conflicted with regional environmental concerns in the late 1960s.

1. India, a mega-diverse country in terms of both biodiversity and people, is battling environmental problems on many fronts: chronic dependence on natural resources, dwindling ecosystem services, declining environmental quality, effects of climate change, and a
biodiversity crisis.
2. We review the current focal areas and infrastructure for ecological research and education in India, along with the surrounding legal and policy aspects of related socio-economic issues.
3. Currently, ecological and applied research is predominantly focused on charismatic species within protected areas. This scope could be broadened beyond organismal biology towards functional landscapes and ecosystems; the education system also needs to promote ecology as a career-choice for scientists. Expectedly, many environmental challenges are generic in nature and occur in other regions of the world, are primarily biophysical in origin but extend into human dimensions; some challenges are socio-political and have implications for biodiversity conservation.
4. Synthesis and applications. India’s environmental concerns include, but are not restricted to the biodiversity crisis. The biodiversity crisis, in turn, includes, but is not restricted to, the most charismatic species. Greater integration and alignment among the mandates of government agencies, scientists, policy makers, and educators is needed to meet contemporary environmental issues."""

The Panama Canal requires an enormous volume of fresh water to function. A staggering 52 million gallons are released into the Atlantic and Pacific oceans with each of the 35–45 ships that transit the canal daily. The water that facilitates interoceanic transportation and global connection falls as rain across the watershed surrounding the canal and is managed by an extensive system of locks, dams, and hydrographic stations. These technologies – which correspond with the popular understanding of infrastructure as hardware – were largely constructed during the early 20th century. Since the late 1970s, however, administrators and other concerned actors have responded to actual and potential water scarcity within the canal system by developing a managerial approach that integrates engineered technologies and new techniques of land-use planning and environmental regulation across the watershed. Through this process, techno-politics and environmental politics have become increasingly inextricable in the transit zone. Whereas canal administrators previously emphasized the control of water in its liquid state, watershed management emerged as an attempt to manipulate water flows through the legal protection of forests and restriction of agriculture. As forested landscapes have been assigned new infrastructural functions (water storage and regulation), campesino farmers have been charged with a new responsibility (forest conservation) often at odds with their established agricultural practices. Consequently, I bring together scholarship on infrastructure in science and technology studies and political ecology in anthropology and geography to examine why, how, and to what effect landscapes around the canal have been transformed from agricultural frontier to managed watershed. I suggest that the concept of infrastructure is a useful theoretical tool and empirical topic for analyzing the politics of environmental service provision. By paying attention to the contingent history of engineering decisions and the politics embedded in the changing socio-technical system that delivers water to the canal, we can better understand the distributional politics of environmental service provision in Panama today.

Lo que aquí presentamos no es su obra completa, cosa, como se puede imaginar, imposible de realizar, -tampoco era esa nuestra intención-, sino una selección destacada de la misma, para lo cual hemos contado con su colaboración, bien entendido que la humildad y discreción que la caracterizan han impedido que fuera suya la idea de esta publicación. Hemos sido nosotros, el Instituto Universitario de Urbanística, quienes propusimos a la Profesora Calzolari una empresa semejante. Sólo le pedimos que nos ayudase a proceder a la selección aquí presentada. En su afán por proporcionarle coherencia a la publicación, también cierta idea de continuidad a la obra realizada, nos sugirió un orden a seguir agrupando los artículos seleccionados por “categorías conceptuales” que se han ido elaborando en tiempos concretos. De esta forma, el libro aparece estructurado en cuatro grandes capítulos, cada uno de los cuales aglutina unos artículos concretos, con una intención casi cronológico-conceptual, lo que no quiere decir que hayamos seguido, estrictamente, el orden temporal que hace referencia a la publicación de cada uno de ellos.

Mexico’s national payments for ecosystem services (PES) programs pay rural landholders for hydrological services, carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, and improvement of agroforestry systems. The intention of the programs’ initial funders and designers was to create a PES program that would introduce
market efficiency into environmental policy and ‘‘green’’ the market by creating and recognizing the economic value of healthy ecosystems. This article traces the complex processes through which this ideal type conceptualization of market-efficient environmental policy was subverted and the practice altered
to more closely fit national interests, rural realities and alternative conceptions of the ‘value’ of socionature. This article examines how the market-based notions of the programs’ designers were hybridized at four distinct sites of articulation: (1) the federal politics of poverty alleviation in Mexico; (2) rural social movements with distinct conceptualizations of ‘conservation’ and ‘development’; (3) the institutional and cultural context of the ecosystem services being commodified; and (4) the socio-natural
knowledges and grounded practices of rural Mexico. This analysis is based on a multi-sited ethnography conducted with program participants, intermediary organizations, and designers. The article draws on a growing critical literature on market-based mechanisms and minutely examines the process through which the Mexican national PES program was altered at multiple scales and in multiple forms, from the rhetoric of political speeches to the specific elements of the policy’s design and from the theoretical tinkering of neoclassical economists to the quotidian practices of rural environmental managers.

There have been challenges in groundwater prospecting especially in the Midlands Province of Zimbabwe. Prospecting has not been accurate with frequent occurrences of dry holes for both geophysical and traditional groundwater prospecting techniques. The study involved an assessment of the suitability of using plant indicators for ground water prospecting in the Midlands Province of Zimbabwe. To achieve this, indicator species were first identified and their abundances and biometric characteristics were used to predict borehole yields and depths. The study area is dominated by bush and tree savanna and hence it was necessary to establish and eliminate baseline species from the study. After elimination of baseline species, five species were identified as indicators. The relationships between indicator species' biometric characteristics / species abundances and borehole depths / yields were determined through regression analysis. Identified species were Acacia burkei benth, Acacia negrecens, Lonchocarpus capassa, Piliostigma thonningii and Sclerocarya birrea caffra. Acacia burkei benth, Acacia negrecens and Lonchocarpus capassa were the most powerful indicators in that order in terms of yield prediction respectively. Piliostigma thonningii and Sclerocarya birrea caffra showed the ability to form combinations with both Acacia negrecens and Lonchocarpus capassa but however they were not confined to any yield ranges. The biometric characteristics of the indicator species had weak correlations with borehole depth and yields (0 < R < 0.38). The study also showed that there exists a strong positive linear relationship between the abundance of Acacia negrecens (R = 0.68) and the yield of boreholes. Finally, Sclerocarya birrea caffra was discovered to also have a strong linear relationship (R = 0.78) with borehole depth. The identified indicator species can be used for identification of ground water sites but it is not possible to predict the yield and depth of boreholes using species' biometric characteristics in the study area.

Ecohydrology provides a framework for aquatic ecosystem management based on the interplay between different biota and hydrology. Bangladesh being situated in the world's largest delta is suffering from rapid degradation of its aquatic ecosystems. The ever increasing population pressure and intensive agriculture together with diversion of upstream water flows by India and climate induced changes make this ecosystem even more vulnerable. Using information from diverse sources, this paper explores the current state of the art on aquatic ecosystems of Bangladesh, their management, key problems, and introduces a new ecohydrology-based management approach for sustainable management of aquatic ecosystems in the country. Integration of both physical measures and policy actions are indispensable for greater ecosystem service provision from country's aquatic ecosystems. A cross-disciplinary action plan and appropriate strategies to bring policies into action is also essential for the sustainable management of aquatic ecosystems in the country.

Non-urbanized areas (NUAs) are outdoor places with significant amounts of vegetation. They are mainly semi-natural patches that represent the last remnants of nature in metropolitan areas. As part of the agricultural and green infrastructure that provide ecosystem services, such as purification of air and water, mitigation of floods and droughts, re-generation of soil fertility, moderation of temperature extremes and enhancing of landscape quality. Like all natural ecosystems, NUAs today are endangered by urban sprawl, which is the main cause of their fragmentation and loss of evapotranspiring features. For these reasons, the protection of these areas is a fundamental issue for land use planning, and it requires appropriate strategies for their management.
We propose a Land Use Suitability Matrix, based on five different analytical phases, to orient the use of NUAs. Land Use and Land Cover Analysis quantifies the percentage of evapotranspiring surface for each land use. Fragmentation Analysis assesses the dimensions and density of NUAs. Proximity Analysis takes into account the degree to which NUAs are close to residential areas. The results from these analyses are integrated in a suitability matrix, which returns new Prospective Land Uses for NUAs. The last phase verifies the correspondence of these new land uses with the current ones to confirm or modify the proposed land uses. The resulting scenario allows the user to enhance the production of ecosystem services and define new appropriate land uses for NUAs within the agricultural and green infrastructure.
The case of three municipalities within the Catania metropolitan area (Italy), characterized by a considerable urban sprawl, is presented.