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ANALYZING HYDROLOGICAL SERVICES PROVIDED BY FORESTS TO SUPPORT SPATIAL PLANNING AND LAND MANAGEMENT

14 Mar 2014 - Cláudia Carvalho-Santos |March 14, 2014 | 15h40 | CIBIO’s Auditorium, Campus de Vairão
ANALYZING HYDROLOGICAL SERVICES PROVIDED BY FORESTS TO SUPPORT SPATIAL PLANNING AND LAND MANAGEMENT

STUDENT SEMINAR IN BIODIVERSITY AND EVOLUTION

 

 

Water plays an essential role in the functioning of ecosystems. In addition, humans rely on ecosystems for the provision of hydrological services and their resulting benefits. These include water supply and water damage mitigation services, in the dimensions of quantity, timing and quality. Both land cover and future climate conditions may influence the provision of hydrological services. Forests are known for improving infiltration, reducing surface runoff and moderating water-related hazards, such as floods. However, forests may reduce the annual water yield through increased loss by evapotranspiration, and consequently limit the amount of water available in the watershed. Equally, projections for future climate change foresee an intensification of the hydrological cycle in some regions, altering freshwater resource availability, quality and destructive potential. Therefore, it is important to understand how those drivers will affect the provision of hydrological services, in order to support planning and management of water resources. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the separated and combined effects of land cover and future climate conditions on the hydrology of the Vez watershed, Northern Portugal, where precipitation rates are high, although seasonal. The main tool used was SWAT hydrological model.

 

 

Cláudia Carvalho-Santos was firstly educated as Geographer (FLUP-UP), but following a call for nature conservation she joined the master in Ecology, Environment and Territory (FCUP-UP). She is now finishing her PhD in the Doctoral Program in Biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution (BIODIV), integrated in the PRECOL – Predictive Ecology group, under supervision of João Honrado. During the first two years of PhD, Claudia was guest student at the Environmental Systems Analysis group, Wageningen University, The Netherlands, under co-supervision of Lars Hein. The PhD work has also been developed with collaboration of João Pedro Nunes, CESAM, University of Aveiro.

 

 

Image credits: Cláudia Carvalho-Santos

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