Impacts of forest changes on hydrology: a case study of large watersheds in the upper reaches of Minjiang River watershed in China

作者：Xia Cui, S. Liu, Xiaohua Wei · 发表于：Hydrology and earth system sciences · 年份：2012 · DOI：10.5194/hess-16-4279-2012 · 被引用次数：69 · 研究领域：Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies、Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics、Cryospheric studies and observations

Abstract. Quantifying the effects of forest changes on hydrology in large watersheds is important for designing forest or land management and adaptation strategies for watershed ecosystem sustainability. Minjiang River watershed, located in the upper reach of the Yangtze River basin, plays a strategic role in the environmental protection and economic and social well-being for both the watershed and the entire Yangtze River basin. The watershed lies in the transition zone from Sichuan Basin to Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with a size of 24 000 km2. Due to its strategic significance, severe historic deforestation and high sensitivity to climate change, the watershed has long been recognized as one of the highest priority watersheds in China for scientific research and resource management. The purpose of this review paper is to provide a state-of-the-art summary on what we have learned from several recently completed research programs (one of them known as "973 of the China National Major Fundamental Science" from 2002 to 2008). This summary paper focused on how land cover or forest change affected hydrology at both forest stand and watershed scales in this large watershed. Inclusion of two different spatial scales is useful, because the results from a small spatial scale (e.g. forest stand level) can help interpret the findings on a large spatial scale. Our review suggests that historic forest harvesting or land cover change has caused significant water yield increase due to reduction...