Using a Nested Watershed Approach to Assess Cumulative Effects of Forest Disturbance on Hydrology in a Sub-Boreal Forested Watershed

使用嵌套流域方法评估森林干扰对亚寒带森林流域水文的累积影响

• 批准号: RGPIN-2015-06032
• 负责人: Wei, Xiaohua
• 金额: $ 1.97万
• 依托单位: University of British Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=668338
• 关键词: Using; Nested; Watershed; Approach; Assess

The impact of forest disturbance on hydrology has long been an important research topic, but the majority of this research has been conducted on small watersheds (1000 km2). With the support from my NSERC Discovery Grants (2005-2012; 2013/2015), we have successfully developed a method for separating relative contributions of forest disturbance and climate variability to hydrology, and the applications of the method have been published on the high-impact journals (e.g., Water Resources Research, Journal of Hydrology). Our progress has led an important research question, which will be addressed in this proposal. As our previous studies normally treated large watersheds as "black boxes", they would not lead to understanding of underlying mechanisms and processes which govern the cumulative hydrological responses to forest disturbance in large watersheds. Thus, a critical research need is to assess how forest disturbance cumulatively influences hydrology over different spatial and temporal scales. To address this question, a nested watershed approach is required.***In this proposed study, I will use the Similkameen River watershed (containing 9 nested and gauged sub-watersheds) located in the Southern Interior of British Columbia as an example to study the cumulative effects of forest disturbance on hydrology. The objectives (2015-2020) include: (1) assessing the cumulative effects of forest disturbance and climatic variability on hydrology for each sub-watershed; (2) applying the VIC (Variable Infiltration Capacity) model to simulate the cumulative effects of future forest disturbance, climatic variability and watershed property on hydrology for each sub-watershed; and 3) exploring scaling properties which can be used to understand possible governing mechanisms and infer hydrological sensitivity to watershed disturbance at various spatial scales. My longer-term goal is to apply geochemistry and landscape approaches to examine more mechanisms (e.g. surface water and groundwater interactions) in this large watershed to further advance watershed science. The proposed research will provide important and timely information for British Columbia to manage forest disturbance to protect aquatic functions. It will allow development of forest disturbance thresholds as well as identification of possible emerging scaling and watershed properties for inferring the cumulative hydrological responses to forest disturbance among different watersheds. Finally, this project will train 2 HQPs and 4-5 undergraduate students.**

长期以来，森林干扰对水文的影响一直是一个重要的研究主题，但是这项研究的大部分是在小流域（1000 km2）上进行的。在我的NSERC Discovery Grant（2005-2012; 2013/2015）的支持下，我们成功地开发了一种方法，用于分离森林干扰和气候变异性对水文学的相对贡献，该方法的应用已在高影响力期刊上发布（例如，水资源研究，水文学杂志）。我们的进步引发了一个重要的研究问题，这将在本提案中解决。正如我们先前的研究通常将大型流域视为“黑匣子”的那样，它们不会导致对支持大型分水岭森林干扰的累积水文反应的潜在机制和过程的理解。 因此，一项关键的研究需要是评估森林干扰如何累积地影响不同的空间和时间尺度上的水文学。为了解决这个问题，需要采用嵌套的分水岭方法。目标（2015-2020）包括：（1）评估森林干扰和气候变异性对每个亚波的累积影响； （2）应用VIC（可变渗透能力）模型来模拟每个子捕捞的未来森林干扰，气候变异性和分水岭对水文学的累积影响； 3）探索缩放特性，可用于理解可能的管理机制并推断出对各种空间尺度下流域干扰的水文敏感性。我的长期目标是采用地球化学和景观方法来检查这个大流域中更多的机制（例如地表水和地下水相互作用），以进一步推进分水岭科学。拟议的研究将为不列颠哥伦比亚省管理森林干扰以保护水生功能的重要信息。它将允许发展森林干扰阈值，并鉴定出可能的新兴缩放率和分水岭特性，以推断出对不同流域之间森林干扰的累积水文反应。最后，该项目将培训2个HQP和4-5名本科生。**