What is it about?
Land use is an influential factor in river sediment pollution. However, land use type alone is found to be inadequate to explain pollutant contributions to the aquatic environment since configurations within the same land use type such as land cover and development layout could also exert an important influence. Consequently, this paper discusses a research study, which consisted of an in-depth investigation into the relationship between land use type and river sediment pollution by introducing robust parameters that represent configurations within the primary land use types.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
The study outcomes are expected to contribute essential knowledge for creating robust management strategies to minimise waterway pollution and thereby protect the health of aquatic ecosystems. Although numerous studies have focused on the relationship between land use type and pollutants in river sediments, only a limited number of studies have investigated how configurations within the same land use type influence river sediment pollution. Therefore, this knowledge gap constrains effective land use planning for protecting the ecological health of waterways.
Perspectives
It was found that anthropogenic activities significantly contribute pollutants to the river sediments. Howland is developed plays a significant role in the contribution of pollutants to receiving waters and thereby to the sediments. This is not only related to primary land use types, but also the configurations within the same land use type including patch density, diversity and largest-patch proportion. Therefore, controlling land use development and planning practices can minimise sediment pollution and enhance water environment health. The study results provide essential knowledge to safeguard the aquatic environment from anthropogenic pollution.
Professor Ashantha Goonetilleke
Queensland University of Technology
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Influence of land use configurations on river sediment pollution, Environmental Pollution, October 2017, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2017.06.076.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
