Andy Turner's River Basins Processes and Management Research Cluster Meeting 2006-06-01 Page

Introduction

• This page contains information about the River Basins Processes and Management Research Cluster meetings on 2006-06-11.
• Andy Turner's River Basins Processes and Management Research Cluster Page
• The next meeting is to be on the Twin Basins project lead by Riz in two weeks time...

Human impact on the hydrology of the páramo ecosystem

• Wouter Buytaert
• Great presentation! Thanks Wouter!
• The Páramo (Andean peaty/high organic carbon soils)
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramo
  • http://www.condesan.org/PPA/
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afroalpine
  • http://www.paramo.org/
  • http://www.paramo.be/
  • Important for water supply
  • Local depressions effect hydrological response
    • Could try using geomorphometrics and pit filling Grids routines to look at this
  • Little seasonal variablity
  • Large daily variablity (summer in the day, winter in the night)
  • Usual concerns of intensive farming and climate change
    • Large areas being drained for growing crops
    • Large areas turned into pine forest
  • Land use conflict between water companies and foresters
  • Climate change likely to increase seasonality
  • Major lack of data for research
    • Seriously constrains what modelling can be done
    • Data collection clearly important in developing research and understanding of these areas
  • Initial estimates are a reduction by 60% of paramo areas under a 2.5 degree centigrade temperature rise
    • This is based on a reduction in the amount of land available in the altitude range where Paramos is currently
    • Clearly this is a crude estimate and doesn't take into account precipitation changes and land use changes
  • Below the Paramo is tropical mountain cloud forest
  • Research proposal being developed
    • Idea is to collect all the data that does exist and model what is reasonable with it
    • More challenging would be to look at the sensitivities involved, but hit will be difficult
    • Kieth Bevan involved
  • Hydrological work
    • Currently based on top model although the assumption of an exponential reduction in soil moisture conductivity with depth is violated in these soils

Follow up Brainstorming Meeting with Wouter, Alona and Joe

• Big project funded
  • Bart de Bierra to coordinate
• Discussion of pollution
  • Two mountain belts
  • Petrochemicals and heavy metals
• DESIRE
  • Project coordinator?
• Andy Nelson
  • Wouter going to CIAT
• I am interested in a global model
• NERC funding
  • NERC data grid
  • senor web enblement
  • Riz interested in this
• Major problems to do with rainfall variability
• How can we even show the effect of a wholescale land use change (change to pine)
• Alona project looking at water quality and grip/grip blocking
• Usual effect of drainage: Increase in peak flow, decrease in base flow
• Does anyone know about bedrock/geological effects?
• There are many different types of peat soil
• Many different reasons for draining and pocketting runnoff
  • In some places like in Ireland water is captured to grow tree
  • In the Paramos the idea is to drain the water away faster to grow trees
• Human Impact on the hydrology of Paramo ecosystem a review W Buytaert, R.Celleri, B de Bievre, F.Cisneros, G. Wyseure, J.Deckers, R. Hofstede
• Actions
  • Email Wouter and say hello... done!