Urban–rural interface dominates the effects of urbanization on watershed energy and water balances in southern China
| Authors: | Kailun Jin, Mengsheng Qin, Run Tang, Xiaolin Huang, Lu Hao, Ge Sun |
| Year: | 2023 |
| Type: | Scientific Journal |
| Station: | Southern Research Station |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-023-01648-4 |
| Source: | Landscape Ecology |
Abstract
ContextQuantifying the interactions between land disturbances and energy and water balances, particularly evapotranspiration (ET), is helpful for understanding the land-atmospheric interactions and assessing the efects of urbanization on local climate and hydrological processes at a landscape scale.
Objectives
To investigate the mechanisms of ecohydrological response to urbanization from the perspectives of ET or energy balances in a distributed fashion at the watershed scale. To identify spatial ‘hot spots’, in which ET, and thus watershed hydrology, are most pronounced in response to land use change so that limited watershed landscape management resources can be applied efciently.
Methods
This process-based research quantifed spatial patterns of ET and other energy fuxes in a rapidly urbanizing rice paddy-dominated watershed, Qinhuai River Basin (QRB), using a spatially explicit land surface energy balance model (SEBAL). Results The QRB experienced a rapid land use change in urban–rural interface (URI) area, resulting in a signifcant reduction in actual ET (− 9.4 mm yr−1) but a signifcant increase in sensible heat (3.71 W m−2 yr−1) and soil heat fuxes (0.85 W m−2 yr−1) during the growing season from 2001 to 2019. The change in energy partitioning at the watershed scale was dominated by URI area identifed as the ‘hot spots’ of ecohydrological change within a heterogeneous basin.
Conclusions
Knowledge gained from this study improves parameterizing distributed watershed ecohydrological models (e.g., ET processes) to guide urban planning. Efective watershed landscape management and planning that aims at mitigating the negative impacts of urbanization should focus on URI by preserving vegetation and local wetlands (e.g., rice paddies)