What is it about?
The tropical Andes are hotspots for ecosystem service generation, hydrometeorological complexity, environmental change, and data scarcity, which make hydrological predictions very challenging. In this study we used a network of paired catchments in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia to analyse the impacts of cultivation, grazing, and afforestation. We found an extraordinarily wide spectrum oh hydrological responses, but consistent trends of the different land-use impacts analysed in the investigated biomes.
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Why is it important?
Knowledge of hydrological change at catchment scale is limited but key, especially in data-scarce regions such as the tropical Andes. This research is an illustration of how information generated from participatory monitoring schemes, such as iMHEA, proves to be extremely relevant to overcome data-scarcity and to provide regional conclusions of environmental changes.
Perspectives
I am convinced of this manuscript’s appropriateness for a wide readership including those interested in hydrology, environmental sciences, ecology, water engineering, and water resources management. This research would significantly help decision makers inform policies related to development and conservation. These results may be used to improve water resources management and the effectiveness of water conservation measures, and to support further research in the Andean region.
Mr Boris F Ochoa-Tocachi
Imperial College London
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Impacts of land use on the hydrological response of tropical Andean catchments, Hydrological Processes, August 2016, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1002/hyp.10980.
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