Influence of land use on water quality in a tropical landscape: a multi-scale analysis.

ABSTRACT: There is a pressing need to understand the consequences of human activities, such as land transformations, on watershed ecosystem services. This is a challenging task because different indicators of water quality and yield are expected to vary in their responsiveness to large versus local-scale heterogeneity in land use and land cover (LUC). Here we rely on water quality data collected between 1977 and 2000 from dozens of gauge stations in Puerto Rico together with precipitation data and land cover maps to (1) quantify impacts of spatial heterogeneity in LUC on several water quality indicators; (2) determine the spatial scale at which this heterogeneity influences water quality; and (3) examine how antecedent precipitation modulates these impacts. Our models explained 30-58% of observed va

SUBMITTER: Uriarte M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4486490 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature