Examining the Influence of Landscape Patch Shapes on River Water Quality

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Thank you for your high quality research and contribution. I found the manuscript and discussion of including patch shape as a key landscape indicator of water quality very interesting. Please provide greater insight and  describe the results and significance of the Monte Carlo simulations

I have two suggestions for improving the manuscript: 

1)  A table is needed which defines the water quality variables used in the study (for example TDS = ?)

2) Please discuss the origin of the water quality variables as related to landuse/land cover. For example, where did the HCO3 concentrations come from..grasslands or urban areas.

 

Author Response

Response Letter To Reviewer # 1

Dear Reviewer #1

Thank you very much for your time and kind attention to our manuscript.

We found your comments very helpful in improving the quality of the manuscript, therefore all of your comments and views have been considered in the revised version of the manuscript.

Please find the responses and the details about the changes, which were made according to your comments as follows.

 

Kind regards

Bahman Jabbarian Amir

Corresponding author

 

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Thank you for your high-quality research and contribution. I found the manuscript and discussion of including patch shape as a key landscape indicator of water quality is very interesting. Please provide greater insight and describe the results and significance of the Monte Carlo simulations

I have two suggestions for improving the manuscript: 

1. A table is needed which defines the water quality variables used in the study (for example, TDS = ?)

 

Ans.: It has been added, which can be found in line 140.

 

2. Please discuss the origin of the water quality variables as related to land use/land cover. For example, where did the HCO3 concentrations come from? Grasslands or urban areas.

 

Ans.: The current research was on modelling the effects of the shape of landscape patches on river water quality using landscape metrics. While the effects of land use on water quality sources are evitable,  many studies have been conducted in this field. That is why focusing on exploring the influence of the shape of landscape patches on river water quality can be considered one of the innovative features of the present study.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Revision of the manuscript ID: land-2312596 “Examining the Influence of Landscape Patch Shape on River 1 Water Quality”.

 

The article deals with the influence of the landscape and the land uses on the chemical parameters of the water, determined in field monitoring stations, in 39 river sub-basins of the Caspian Sea basin.

The study seems to be of interests though the exposition of the characteristics of the study area, the methodology and the data input used, are not well explained in order to understand the application of the indices regarding the shape of the polygons.

The introduction is very general and repetitive and does not allow to introduce the problem. What is the pollution problem in the areas studied?  Urban areas do not seem important looking at figure 1, however nothing is explained about the most important uses in the basin and the problems and activities that involve water pollution in the river.

 

Figure 1 is a blank map. Main names need to be indicated and the rivers that are the protagonists of the study are not shown either. Also, the location of the water monitoring stations must be added. Legend is not appropriate for many classes, all forested areas, shrubland, etc. result in similar green. The reader can not identify the uses, perhaps it is usefull to simplify or to study the main covers. I do not understand why “outcrop” is a land use. It must be explained. Authors must simplify the map with the uses that cause the problems in the water and explain why and where.

 

Methodology section needs to be reworked. The reader does not understand why these parameters, such as bicarbonates, are indicators of water quality in the rivers of the area. It seems to be one of the common dissolved ions in natural waters. What is the problem of agricultural use, being the main uses grasslands and dry farming? What is the hypothesis of the work?

I do not understand the input data. The authors indicate they use a National map of land use dated in 2020 and then they transform the legend into other categories from Corine. What is the change in the legend and why is it done? These previous steps need to be explained before the analysis using indices.

The reader does not understand what “the ten-years mean values” means and what are comparing the authors in terms of change.

All these doubts need to be resolved and the presentation of the area must be clarified before starting with the indices regarding the shape of the patches. Moreover, patches must be defined and characterized.

Author Response

Response Letter To Reviewer # 2

Dear Reviewer #2

Thank you very much for your time and kind attention to our manuscript.

We found your comments very helpful in improving the quality of the manuscript, therefore all of your comments and views have been considered in the revised version of the manuscript.

Please find the responses and the details about the changes, which were made according to your comments as follows.

 

Kind regards

Bahman Jabbarian Amir

Corresponding author

 

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

1. The introduction is very general and repetitive and does not allow to introduce the problem. What is the pollution problem in the areas studied? Urban areas do not seem important looking at figure 1, however nothing is explained about the most important uses in the basin and the problems and activities that involve water pollution in the river.

Ans.: we rewrote the introduction to consider the view of the reviewer, which was pointed out.

 

2. Figure 1 is a blank map. Main names need to be indicated and the rivers that are the protagonists of the study are not shown either. Also, the location of the water monitoring stations must be added. Legend is not appropriate for many classes, all forested areas, shrubland, etc. result in similar green. The reader can not identify the uses, perhaps it is usefull to simplify or to study the main covers. I do not understand why “outcrop” is a land use. It must be explained. Authors must simplify the map with the uses that cause the problems in the water and explain why and where.

Ans.: Figure 1 has been revised.

3. Methodology section needs to be reworked. The reader does not understand why these parameters, such as bicarbonates, are indicators of water quality in the rivers of the area. It seems to be one of the common dissolved ions in natural waters. What is the problem of agricultural use, being the main uses of grasslands and dry farming? What is the hypothesis of the work?

Ans.: The initial water quality data, which were provided by the regional water management administration, were presented. We are very eager to address other parameters in the rivers in our country. However, the related data are not publicized by the relevant administration. Hence, we had got no access to data here. Land use/land cover seems to be a common and well-known topic among those who are engaged in research and study in land-use science. Hence, it seems that the explanation of the commonly used terms to those who work with the knowledge of land use science can deviate the present work from the main goal, which is to examine and describe the relationship between landscape patch shape metrics and river water quality. However, it should be noted that irrigated agricultural land are areas where located in the plains, and there is access to surface water for their irrigation. On the contrary, rainfed lands are those where located on sloping lands and have no access to surface water resources, and their water needs are met only through rainfall.

 

4. I do not understand the input data. The authors indicate they use a National map of land use dated in 2020 and then they transform the legend into other categories from Corine. What is the change in the legend and why is it done? These previous steps need to be explained before the analysis using indices.

Ans.:  Several definitions for types of land use and land cover are used by national administrations, which, if those definitions are applied in scientific articles, cause problems and compromise in the interpretation of the type of uses. Considering the fact that Corine land use and land cover classification have been chosen and all the national definitions of land use and cover have been re-named according to it aiming at a better understanding of the readers.

 

 

5. The reader does not understand what “the ten-years mean values” means and what are comparing the authors in terms of change.

 

Ans.:  all the water quality data were provided to us by the administration for 10 years. Then we have calculated the annual mean of the water quality parameters in order to achieve the measures that are not under seasonal and annual fluctuations.

 

6. All these doubts need to be resolved and the presentation of the area must be clarified before starting with the indices regarding the shape of the patches. Moreover, patches must be defined and characterized.

 

Ans.:  Table 1 describes the required information about landscape metrics, by which we have measured, analyzed and interpreted the changes in the landscape of the study catchments. In order to keep the manuscript short, we have refused the metrics one by one in the manuscript because more information about these metrics can be found in the references to which we have already referred.

 

 

 

 

Reviewer 3 Report

COMMENTS TO THE AUTHOR(S)

This study assessed the “Examining the Influence of Landscape Patch Shape on River Water Quality”. Given that water quality is a global concern; this paper is timely and could offer new insights on water environment. The manuscript is generally well written and easy to understand. I suggest that the authors should revise the manuscript incorporating the following comments and suggestions into an updated version.

·         The authors should improve study area map by incorporating river, sampling points, the delineated watersheds and properly label each watershed.

·         Did the authors normalize the data before statistical assessment?

·         On what basis the authors selected the water quality parameters. Are these the most common water quality parameters influenced by land use?

·         The authors considered mean water quality value for correlation with land use. On what basis the authors have selected the mean value.

Author Response

Response Letter To Reviewer # 3

Dear Reviewer #3

Thank you very much for your time and kind attention to our manuscript.

We found your comments very helpful in improving the quality of the manuscript, therefore all of your comments and views have been considered in the revised version of the manuscript.

Please find the responses and the details about the changes, which were made according to your comments as follows.

Kind regards

Bahman Jabbarian Amir

Corresponding author

 

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

1. The authors should improve study area map by incorporating river, sampling points, the delineated watersheds and properly label each watershed.

 

Ans.: Figure 1 has been revised.

 

2. Did the authors normalize the data before statistical assessment?

Ans.: We have applied the data as it was because the normality test indicated that the data follows a normal distribution.

 

3. On what basis the authors selected the water quality parameters. Are these the most common water quality parameters influenced by land use?

Ans.: The initial water quality data, which were provided by the regional water management administration, were used. We were very keen to address other water quality parameters in the rivers in our country. However, the related data are not publicized by the relevant administration. Hence, we had got no access to such data.

4. The authors considered mean water quality value for correlation with land use. On what basis the authors have selected the mean value?

Ans.: Using the mean value of the water quality parameters are insensitive to seasonal and annual fluctuations, which are significant features of hydrological data. Hance, applying the mean value of the water quality parameters for modelling the relationship between river water quality and the landscape of catchments can result in much more reliable models by which we could predict the quality of river water.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx