Hydrological Sustainability

源头是河流的起点，由于其作为淡水产生源区的重要作用，在任何集水区内都是至关重要的区域。位于这些源头的湿地有助于增加接收生态系统和更大溪流和河流的水的可用性。阿萨巴斯卡河是北美最长、最大的自由流动河流之一，它排干了加拿大北部平原的大片地区。湿地占据了这一景观的一半以上，资源勘探和开发扰动丰富。控制任何水源集水区的水释放(径流)的过程是生态系统对人类和气候引起的环境变化的功能、敏感性和脆弱性的关键因素。了解和评估生态系统健康、饮用水质量和与水相关的风险，如洪水、野火和工业发展，需要全面了解水环境。水文可持续发展教席的研究项目建立在凯奇森博士在淡水产生方面的专业知识基础上，目标是通过了解水文过程，从自然景观到重建景观的各种干扰范围来提高生态系统的可持续性。拟议的研究计划将：1)解决湿地和水源集水区对于阿萨巴斯卡河下游流域产水的重要性；2)调查干扰对北方平原水文可持续性和淡水可获得性的作用；以及3)发展和优化艾伯塔省油砂的高效、行业相关的管理和围垦实践。所使用的实地方法涉及解释生态系统之间的水交换，涉及径流和集水区对干扰的响应。主席创新的源头集水观测站将结合新的研究地点进行研究，以评估源头集水及其生态系统对自然、人类和气候干扰的影响、风险和易感性。在区域范围内，结果将通过地表水和水生健康监测方案为水道管理决策提供信息。主席所产生的知识在阿萨巴斯卡河流域以外也具有更广泛的影响和适用性。确定控制径流的过程是管理整个北美和海外集水区和生态系统可用水的关键。

Headwaters, which represent the inception point of streams, are vital regions within any catchment owing to their important role as source-areas of freshwater generation. Wetlands located within these headwaters contribute to increased water availability for receiving ecosystems and larger streams and rivers. The Athabasca River, one of North America's longest and largest free-flowing rivers, drains vast areas of the Canadian Boreal Plain. Wetlands occupy over half of this landscape, where resource exploration and development disturbances are abundant. Processes that control water release (runoff) from any headwater catchment are vital factors in the function, sensitivity, and vulnerability of ecosystems to human and climate-induced environmental change. Understanding and assessing ecosystem health, drinking water quality, and water-related risks such as flooding, wildfire, and industrial development requires a comprehensive understanding of the water environment.The research program of the Chair in Hydrological Sustainability builds on Dr. Ketcheson's expertise in freshwater generation, with the goal to advance ecosystem sustainability through understanding hydrological processes, working across a disturbance spectrum from natural to reconstructed landscapes. The proposed research program will: 1) resolve the importance of wetlands and headwater catchment reaches for water generation in the lower Athabasca River Basin; 2) investigate the role of disturbance on hydrological sustainability and freshwater availability in the Boreal Plain; and 3) develop and optimize efficient, industry relevant management and reclamation practices in the Alberta oil sands.The field-based approach utilized involves interpretation of water exchanges among ecosystems in relation to streamflow and catchment response to disturbance. The Chair's innovative headwater catchment observatory combined with new research sites will be studied to evaluate the impacts, risk, and susceptibility of headwater catchments and their ecosystems to natural, human, and climate-mediated disturbances. At the regional scale, results will inform watercourse management decisions through surface water and aquatic health monitoring programs. Knowledge generated by the Chair also has broader implications and applicability beyond the Athabasca River Basin. Determining processes that control runoff is key to managing water availability in catchments and ecosystems throughout North America and abroad.