Biodiversity and the water cycle: can rewilding mitigate the impacts of hydrological extremes?

生物多样性和水循环：野化能否减轻极端水文的影响？

• 批准号: NE/W007460/1
• 负责人: Gemma Louise Harvey
• 金额: $ 5.1万
• 依托单位: Queen Mary University of London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FW007460%2F1
• 关键词: Biodiversity; water; cycle; rewilding; mitigate

Managing and responding to floods and droughts in the UK demands vast amounts of public spending, and the frequency and severity of extreme high and low flows will increase under future climate change. Many parts of our river catchments have been heavily modified over long timescales, but there is now increasing evidence that working with natural ecosystem processes can deliver multiple environmental, social and economic benefits. The rewilding of degraded landscapes is increasing in popularity globally, and represents a vital tool in reversing biodiversity decline. The changes in biodiversity arising from rewilding also have the potential to drive wider benefits, but many of these remain largely unexplored.Rewilding is the practice of returning modified landscapes to a wilder state and may include the reintroduction of missing animal species. Approaches to rewilding are wide-ranging, but the types of biodiversity change include natural regeneration of grassland, woodland and scrubland, increased biodiversity of soil-dwelling organisms, and reintroduction of large herbivores (e.g. cattle, deer, pigs) and keystone species that have disproportionately large effects on ecosystems relative to their population size (e.g. beavers, wolves). Many of the animals and plants that recolonise rewilding projects are effective 'ecosystem engineers': organisms that are capable of modifying habitats and flows of resources in ecosystems. The presence of ecosystem engineers has been linked with increased success of environmental restoration projects.Importantly, the fundamental principles that underpin rewilding offer potential for much wider-ranging benefits to support freshwater and terrestrial natural capital assets and ecosystem services but understanding of these wider effects is limited. A key knowledge gap is understanding the capacity for rewilded landscapes to modify the water cycle and mitigate hydrological extremes. This would contribute to the evidence base for the economics of biodiversity by delivering more effective water resource and water hazard management. Rewilding, by nature and scale, will alter key elements of the water cycle. Changes to soils, vegetation and river-floodplain systems arising from rewilding will alter the movement and storage of water within landscapes. If rewilding outcomes mean that water takes slower routes through the landscape, it has the potential to make important contributions to flood and drought mitigation. Our project will explore the role that biodiversity gains from landscape rewilding play in modifying the water cycle and mitigating the impacts of hydrological extremes. We will use a review of the existing evidence from rewilding projects, other forms of landscape restoration and sustainable land management, and semi-natural ecosystems, to assess the state of the evidence for key types of rewilding-driven biodiversity change, and identify knowledge gaps and future priorities. In particular, we will answer the questions: 1. How does rewilding alter hydrological processes? 2. How do these effects differ across rewilding scenarios and environmental settings? 3. To what extent have these changes delivered measurable effects on floods and low flows? 4. Where are the gaps in knowledge across questions 1 to 3?Answering these questions will determine the ways in which rewilding influences hydrology and hydrological extremes, support decision-making in rewilding practice across public and private sectors and inform future research priorities and improved monitoring of rewilding programmes.

在英国管理和应对洪水和干旱需要大量的公共支出，在未来的气候变化下，极高和低流量的频率和严重性将增加。在长时间的尺度上，我们河流集水区的许多部分都经过了大量修改，但是现在有越来越多的证据表明，使用自然生态系统过程可以带来多种环境，社会和经济利益。在全球范围内，降级景观的重新野生景观正在增加，这代表了逆转生物多样性下降的重要工具。野野产生的生物多样性变化也有可能带来更广泛的好处，但其中许多基本上没有探索。剥造是将修改后的景观归还到一个荒野状态的做法，并且可能包括重新引入失踪的动物物种。重新野生的方法是广泛的，但是生物多样性变化的类型包括草原，林地和刮屑的自然再生，增加土壤居住生物的生物多样性，以及对大型草食动物（例如牛，鹿，猪，猪）和keystone物种的大量影响，对生态系统的大小（E. vervesters）的大小（E. geg.gnvers），牛的大小。重新殖民重新染色项目的许多动物和植物都是有效的“生态系统工程师”：能够修改生态系统中栖息地和资源流量的生物。生态系统工程师的存在与环境恢复项目的成功联系在一起。这是重要的，基于重新野生的基本原则为支持淡水和陆地自然资本和生态系统服务提供了许多更广泛的收益，但是对这些更广泛影响的理解受到限制。一个关键的知识差距是了解重新野生景观修改水周期和减轻水文极端的能力。这将通过提供更有效的水资源和水危险管理来促进生物多样性经济学的证据基础。从本质上讲，重新野生将改变水周期的关键要素。重新野生产生的土壤，植被和河流淹没系统的变化将改变景观中水的流动和储存。如果恢复结果意味着水通过景观的路线较慢，则有可能为洪水和减轻干旱做出重要贡献。我们的项目将探讨生物多样性从景观恢复作用中发挥作用在修改水周期和减轻水文极端影响的作用中的作用。我们将审查重新野生项目，其他形式的景观恢复和可持续土地管理以及半天然生态系统的审查，以评估重新野生型生物多样性变化的关键类型的证据状态，并确定知识差距和未来优先事项。特别是，我们将回答问题：1。复发如何改变水文过程？ 2.这些效果在恢复场景和环境环境中有何不同？ 3。这些变化在多大程度上对洪水和低流量产生了可衡量的影响？ 4。问题1至3的知识差距在哪里？回答这些问题将决定复活影响水文和水文极端的方式，支持跨公共和私营部门的重新野生实践的决策，并为未来的研究优先级提供信息，并改善了对重新野生计划的监测。

项目成果

The role of rewilding in mitigating hydrological extremes: State of the evidence

• DOI: 10.1002/wat2.1710
• 期刊: Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water
• 作者: Gemma L. Harvey;Adam T. Hartley;A. Henshaw;Zareena Khan;Stewart J. Clarke;Christopher J. Sandom;Judy England;Sara King;Orlando Venn

Rewilding and the water cycle

野化和水循环

• DOI: 10.1002/wat2.1686
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: WIREs Water
• 影响因子: 8.2
• 作者: Harvey G