The impact of climate change on water fluxes in a Macaronesian cloud forest

Fog phenomena and their associated meteorological variables were continuously monitored during 4 years in an evergreen laurisilva cloud forest of the Anaga Massif Biosphere Reserve (Tenerife, Canary Islands), in order to establish its current dynamics. Fog was more frequent during night through early morning and in the afternoon, and particularly from May until September, coincidental with a frequent immersion of the 1025 m a.s.l. experimental site in the cloud layer of wind‐driven stratocumulus. The concomitant meteorological conditions during different fog regimes, characterized according to visibility (Ω) ranges, were compared with those when fog was absent. The presence of fog was associated with a significant reduction in global solar radiation, R_g, increased wind speed, and lower and more stable ambient temperatures. The foggy versus fog‐free hourly medians of R_g were found to be linearly related, whereas the proportion of median R_g reduction due to fog varied logarithmically with Ω. However, foggy versus fog‐free extreme values of the hourly R_g distributions departed from such a linear trend. By contrast, hourly temperatures during foggy versus fog‐free periods behaved linearly for most of the Ω range, except for very dense fog, Ω ≤ 100 m. Transpiration of the canopy, intermittently wetted due to interception of both rain and fog water droplets, was determined by quantifying the water balance at leaf scale with a mathematical model for the two representative hypostomatous species present at the site: the arboreal shrub Erica platycodon, with needle‐like leaves, and the laurophyll tree Myrica faya. Both tree transpiration and evaporation of the intercepted fog water were predictively higher during summer. By contrast, transpiration was reduced during February, in agreement with a 1 year period of sap velocity measurements, and was not appreciably affected by soil moisture content. The consequences of an anticipated downward shift of the stratocumulus cloud layer and of various projected Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) scenarios in the Macaronesian area were simulated, yielding in all cases a significant rise in transpiration for both species. Particularly, the simulated RCPs scenarios implied 29%–73% increments in transpiration from the actual values. Because fog is concomitant with lower temperatures and vapour pressure deficit, the modification of its current distribution as a consequence of climate change may have a direct effect on such associated meteorological variables, and therefore a meaningful impact in the water relations of the laurel cloud forests.     

Acidification recovery in a changing climate: Observations from thirty-five years of stream chemistry monitoring in forested headwater catchments at the Turkey Lakes watershed,Ontario

Long-term ecosystem studies are valuable for understanding integrated ecosystem response to global changes in atmospheric deposition and climate. We examined trends for a 35-year period (1982/83–2017/18) in concentrations of a range of solutes in precipitation and stream water from nine headwater catchments spanning elevation and surficial geology gradients at the Turkey Lakes watershed (TLW) in northeastern Ontario, Canada. Average annual water year (WY, October to September) concentrations in precipitation significantly declined over the period for sulphate (SO₄²⁻), nitrate (NO₃⁻) and chloride (Cl⁻), while calcium (Ca²⁺) and potassium (K⁺) concentrations increased, resulting in a significant pH increase from 4.2 to 5.7. Trends in stream chemistry through time are generally consistent with expectations associated with acidification recovery. Concentration of many stream water solutes (SO₄²⁻, Cl⁻, calcium [Ca²⁺], magnesium [Mg²⁺] and NH₄⁺ generally decreased, while others (silica [SiO₂] and dissolved organic carbon [DOC]) generally increased. Increases were also observed for alkalinity (six of nine catchments), acid neutralizing capacity ([ANC]; six of nine catchments) and pH (eight of nine catchments), while conductivity declined (six of nine catchments). Variability in trends among catchments are associated with differences in surficial geology and wetland cover. While absolute solute concentrations were generally lower at bedrock dominated high-elevation catchments compared to till dominated lower elevation catchments, the rate of change of concentration was often greater for high elevation catchments. This study confirms continued, but non-linear stream chemistry recovery from acidification, particularly at the less buffered high and moderate elevation sites. The heterogeneity of responses among catchments highlights our incomplete understanding of the relative importance of different mechanisms influencing stream chemistry and the consequences for downstream ecosystems.     

青藏高原东南缘高山湖泊藻类响应气候变化和大气沉降的长期特征

高山湖泊远离人类活动直接影响,通常具有面积小、寡营养、食物网单一等特点,对气候变化和营养输入具有较高的敏感性。我国青藏高原东南缘地区氮沉降通量较高、增温幅度显著,已有研究显示该地区可能受湖泊类型、流域特征等影响存在差异性的湖泊响应模式。本研究选择该区域位于树线以下、具有不同水深的3个小型湖泊(盖公错纳、沃迪错、碧沽天池)开展沉积物调查和对比研究,通过钻孔样品测年、理化特征和藻类(硅藻群落、藻类色素)等多指标分析,结合区域气候定量重建和氮沉降等数据收集,评价了过去300年来藻类演替模式的异同特征及湖泊水深的调节作用。结果显示,3个湖泊中硅藻的优势物种与群落组成差异明显。深水型湖泊盖公错纳(最大水深39.4 m)的硅藻群落以浮游种为主(占比达82%),优势种为眼斑小环藻(Pantocsekiolla ocellata)、科曼小环藻(Pantocsekiella comensis);深水型湖泊沃迪错(最大水深20.7 m)的硅藻群落中浮游种和底栖种约各占50%,优势种为眼斑小环藻(Pantocsekiella ocellata)、连结脆杆藻(Saurosira construens);浅水湖...     

Thermal regimes in a large upland salmon river: a simple model to identify the influence of landscape controls and climate change on maximum temperatures

Temperature observations at 25 sites in the 2000 km² Dee catchment in NE Scotland were used, in conjunction with geographic information system (GIS) analysis, to identify dominant landscape controls on mean monthly maximum stream temperatures. Maximum winter stream temperatures are mainly controlled by elevation, catchment area and hill shading, whereas the maximum temperatures in summer are driven by more complex interactions, which include the influence of riparian forest cover and distance to coast. Multiple linear regression was used to estimate the catchment‐wide distribution of mean weekly maximum stream temperatures for the hottest week of the 2‐year observation period. The results suggested the streams most sensitive to high temperatures are small upland streams at exposed locations without any forest cover and relatively far inland, while lowland streams with riparian forest cover at locations closer to the coast exhibit a moderated thermal regime. Under current conditions, all streams provide a suitable thermal habitat for both, Atlantic salmon and brown trout. Using two climate change scenarios assuming 2·5 and 4 °C air temperature increases, respectively, temperature‐sensitive zones of the stream network were identified, which could potentially have an adverse effect on the thermal habitat of Atlantic salmon and brown trout. Analysis showed that the extension of riparian forests into headwater streams has the potential to moderate changes in temperature under climate change. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mediating stream baseflow response to climate change: The role of basin storage

Inter‐basin differences in streamflow response to changes in regional hydroclimatology may reflect variations in storage characteristics that control the retention and release of water inputs. These aspects of storage could mediate a basin's sensitivity to climate change. The hypothesis that temporal trends in stream baseflow exhibit a more muted reaction to changes in precipitation and evapotranspiration for basins with greater storage was tested on the Oak Ridges Moraine (ORM) in Southern Ontario, Canada. Long‐term (>25 years) baseflow trends for 16 basins were compared to corresponding trends in precipitation amount and type and in potential evapotranspiration as well as shorter trends in groundwater levels for monitoring wells on the ORM. Inter‐basin differences in storage properties were characterized using physiographic, hydrogeologic, land use/land cover, and streamflow metrics. The latter included the slope of the basin's flow duration curve and basin dynamic storage. Most basins showed temporal increases in baseflow, consistent with limited evidence of increases and decreases in regional precipitation and snowfall: precipitation ratio, respectively, and recent increases in groundwater recharge along the crest of the ORM. Baseflow trend magnitude was uncorrelated to basin physiographic, hydrogeologic, land use/land cover, or flow duration curve characteristics. However, it was positively related to a basin's dynamic storage, particularly for basins with limited coverage of open water and wetlands. The dynamic storage approach assumes that a basin behaves as a first‐order dynamical system, and extensive open water and wetland areas in a basin may invalidate this assumption. Previous work suggested that smaller dynamic storage was linked to greater damping of temporal variations in water inputs and reduced interannual variability in streamflow regime. Storage and release of water inputs to a basin may assist in mediating baseflow response to temporal changes in regional hydroclimatology and may partly account for inter‐basin differences in that response. Such storage characteristics should be considered when forecasting the impacts of climate change on regional streamflow.     

The impact of climate change on groundwater recharge and runoff in a humid,equatorial catchment: sensitivity of projections to rainfall intensity

Abstract

Projected warming in equatorial Africa, accompanied by greater evaporation and more frequent heavy precipitation events, may have substantial but uncertain impacts on terrestrial hydrology. Quantitative analyses of climate change impacts on catchment hydrology require high-resolution (<50 km) climate data provided by regional climate models (RCMs). We apply validated precipitation and temperature data from the RCM PRECIS (Providing Regional Climates for Impact Studies) to a semi-distributed soil moisture balance model (SMBM) in order to quantify the impacts of climate change on groundwater recharge and runoff in a medium-sized catchment (2098 km²) in the humid tropics of southwestern Uganda. The SMBM explicitly accounts for changes in soil moisture, and partitions effective precipitation into groundwater recharge and runoff. Under the A2 emissions scenario (2070–2100), climate projections from PRECIS feature not only rises in catchment precipitation and modelled potential evapotranspiration by 14% and 53%, respectively, but also increases in rainfall intensity. We show that the common application of the historical rainfall distribution using delta factors to the SMBM grossly underestimates groundwater recharge (i.e. 55% decrease relative to the baseline period of 1961–1990). By transforming the rainfall distribution to account for changes in rainfall intensity, we project increases in recharge and runoff of 53% and 137%, respectively, relative to the baseline period.