Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
5.5
3.4
Journals
Water
Special Issues
The Role of Vegetation in Freshwater Ecology
share announcement

The Role of Vegetation in Freshwater Ecology

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water Quality and Contamination".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2024 | Viewed by 1057

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Josef Křeček

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Hydraulics and Hydrology, Czech Technical University in Prague, Thákurova 7, CZ-166 28 Prague, Czech Republic
Interests: applied hydrology; small catchment studies; water resources control; forest and water relationships; acid rain consequences
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Moshe Gophen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
MIGAL-Scientific Research Institute, Tel-Hai Academic College, P.O. Box 831, Kiryat Shmone 11016, Israel
Interests: Kinneret; Hula Valley; limnology; wetlands ecology; freshwater plankton and fish ecology; lake and watershed management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Hans Schreier

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Land & Food Systems, Land-Water Systems Program (MLWS), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6L1Y2, Canada
Interests: watershed analysis; land/water interactions; non-point sources of pollution and cumulative effects; water and soil quality; land degradation processes and watershed rehabilitation; adaptation processes; climate variability and water conservation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Both terrestrial and aquatic vegetation play important roles in the ecology of surface waters. In modern societies, the decline of traditional beliefs has increased the role of legislature in controlling natural capital. However, incorrect land use and the related deterioration of freshwater systems has led to a wide range of recent ecological and human crises. This Special Issue puts forward a multidisciplinary approach to address the relationships between changes in the soil–vegetation complex and water phenomena at the catchment scale, in catchments and lakes, and in environmental services. Research and review papers dealing with these problems, especially those related to ecology, hydrology, and biogeochemistry, are of interest. In particular, the results of long-term catchment field studies, the assessment of the ecological status of stream and lake water bodies, and examples of effective environmental services in catchments, with special concern paid to downstream impacts, are welcome. The prognosis of climate change impacts and adaptation strategies are also of interest. This Special Issue will serve also to promote innovative observation techniques (automatic systems, remote sensing, etc.) and methodologies (environmental indicators, climate change mitigation, etc.), and their applications in stakeholder conversations, the decision making process, and catchment planning.

Dr. Josef Křeček
Prof. Dr. Moshe Gophen
Prof. Dr. Hans Schreier
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • vegetation
  • freshwater
  • ecology
  • catchment
  • climate change

Published Papers (3 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

22 pages, 1124 KiB  
Article
Low-Flow Similarities between the Transboundary Lauter River and Rhine River at Maxau from 1956 to 2022 (France/Germany)
by Xiaowei Liu and Carmen de Jong
Water 2024, 16(11), 1584; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16111584 - 31 May 2024
Abstract
Climate change is increasing air temperatures and altering the precipitation and hydrological regime on a global scale. Challenges arise when assessing the impacts of climate change on the local scale for water resource management purposes, especially for low-mountain headwater catchments that not only [...] Read more.
Climate change is increasing air temperatures and altering the precipitation and hydrological regime on a global scale. Challenges arise when assessing the impacts of climate change on the local scale for water resource management purposes, especially for low-mountain headwater catchments that not only serve as important water towers for local communities but also have distinct hydrological characteristics. Until now, no low-flow or hydrological drought studies had been carried out on the Lauter River. This study is unique in that it compares the Lauter River, a transboundary Rhine tributary, with a nearby station on the Rhine River just below its confluence at the French–German border. The Lauter catchment is a mostly natural, forested catchment; however, its water course has been influenced by past and present cultural activities. Climate change disturbances cascade through the hydrologic regime down to the local scale. As we are expecting more low-flow events, the decrease in water availability could cause conflicts between different water user groups in the Lauter catchment. However, the choice among different methods for identifying low-flow periods may cause confusion for local water resource managers. Using flow-rate time series of the Lauter River between 1956 and 2022, we compare for the first time three low-flow identification methods: the variable-threshold method (VT), the fixed-threshold method (FT), and the Standardized Streamflow Index (SSI). Similar analyses are applied and compared to the adjacent Maxau station on the Rhine River for the same time period. This study aims at (1) interpreting the differences amongst the various low-flow identification methods and (2) revealing the differences in low-flow characteristics of the Lauter catchment compared to that of the Rhine River. It appears that FT reacts faster to direct climate or anthropogenic impacts, whereas VT is more sensitive to indirect factors such as decreasing subsurface flow, which is typical for small headwater catchments such as the Lauter where flow dynamics react faster to flow disturbances. Abnormally low flow during the early spring in tributaries such as the Lauter can help predict low-flow conditions in the Rhine River during the following half-year and especially the summer. The results could facilitate early warning of hydrological droughts and drought management for water users in the Lauter catchment and further downstream along some of the Rhine. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Vegetation in Freshwater Ecology)
13 pages, 4013 KiB  
Article
Water Composition, Biomass, and Species Distribution of Vascular Plants in Lake Agmon-Hula (LAH) (1993–2023) and Nearby Surroundings: A Review
by Moshe Gophen
Water 2024, 16(10), 1450; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16101450 - 19 May 2024
Viewed by 511
Abstract
A significant change to the land cover in the Hula Valley was carried out during the 1950s: A swampy area densely covered by aquatic vegetation and the old shallow lake Hula were drained. The natural shallow lake and swamps land cover were converted [...] Read more.
A significant change to the land cover in the Hula Valley was carried out during the 1950s: A swampy area densely covered by aquatic vegetation and the old shallow lake Hula were drained. The natural shallow lake and swamps land cover were converted into agricultural development land use in two stages: (1) Drainage that was accomplished in 1957; (2) Implementation of the renovated hydrological system structure, including the newly created shallow Lake Agmon-Hula (LAH), was completed in 2007. The long-term data record of the restored diversity of the submerged and emerged aquatic plant community, and its relation to water quality in the newly created shallow Lake Agmon-Hula LAH, was statistically evaluated. Internal interactions within the LAH ecosystem between aquatic plants and water quality, including nitrification, de-nitrification, sedimentation, photosynthetic intensity, and plant biomass and nutrient composition, were statistically evaluated. The plant community in LAH maintains a seasonal growth cycle of onset during late spring–summer and dieback accompanied by decomposed degradation during fall–early winter. The summer peak of aquatic plant biomass and consequent enhancement of photosynthetic intensity induces a pH increase during daytime and carbonate precipitation. Nevertheless, the ecosystem is aerobic and sulfate reduction and H2S concentration are negligible. The Hula reclamation project (HP) is aimed at the improvement of eco-tourism’s integration into management design. The vegetation research confirms habitat enrichment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Vegetation in Freshwater Ecology)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 8052 KiB  
Article
Research on Multi-Factor Effects of Nitrogen Loss in Slope Runoff
by Lei Wang, Na Wang, Qing Zhang, Jiajun Wu, Shilei Wang, Min Pang, Jifeng Wang, Chao Zhou, Yehui Han, Zhixin Yang and Liang Jin
Water 2024, 16(10), 1431; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16101431 - 17 May 2024
Viewed by 383
Abstract
To study the characteristics of nitrogen (N) loss on slopes, different vegetation (bare soil, alfalfa), slopes (5°, 10°, 15°), and rainfall intensities (40, 60, 80 mm/h) were set as variable factors in simulated rainfall experiments. Surface runoff accounts for 60.38–96.16% of total runoff [...] Read more.
To study the characteristics of nitrogen (N) loss on slopes, different vegetation (bare soil, alfalfa), slopes (5°, 10°, 15°), and rainfall intensities (40, 60, 80 mm/h) were set as variable factors in simulated rainfall experiments. Surface runoff accounts for 60.38–96.16% of total runoff and most N loss (57.69–88.67% of NO3−-N). Alfalfa can reduce average concentrations of N loss in runoff and reduce N loss in surface runoff by more than 48.29%, as well as subsurface runoff by 3.8%. Average N loss in subsurface runoff exceeds that of surface runoff. Rainfall intensity most affects N loss from surface runoff in bare soil conditions, and slope most affects N loss in subsurface runoff. Rainfall intensity in alfalfa treatments most influences runoff volume and N loss. The comprehensive effects of rainfall intensity, slope, and vegetation cover on the total loss of various forms of nitrogen in surface runoff can be described using a linear correlation equation, with a correlation coefficient between 0.84 and 0.91. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Vegetation in Freshwater Ecology)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-3
Back to TopTop