Anthropogenic activity,hydrological regime,and light level jointly influence temporal patterns in biosonar activity of the Yangtze finless porpoise at the junction of the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake,China

Under increasing anthropogenic pressure,species with a previously contiguous distribution across their ranges have been reduced to small fragmented populations.The critically endangered Yangtze finless porpoise(Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis),once commonly observed in the Yangtze River-Poyang Lake junction,is now rarely seen in the river-lake corridor.In this study,static passive acoustic monitoring techniques were used to detect the biosonar activities of the Yangtze finless porpoise in this unique corridor.Generalized linear models were used to examine the correlation between these activities and anthropogenic impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and boat navigation,as well as environmental variables,including hydrological conditions and light levels.Over approximately three consecutive years of monitoring(2020–2022),porpoise biosonar was detected during 93%of logged days,indicating the key role of the corridor for finless porpoise conservation.In addition,porpoise clicks were recorded in 3.80%of minutes,while feeding correlated buzzes were detected in 1.23%of minutes,suggesting the potential existence of localized,small-scale migration.Furthermore,both anthropogenic and environmental variables were significantly correlated with the diel,lunar,monthly,seasonal,and annual variations in porpoise biosonar activities.During the pandemic lockdown period,porpoise sonar detection showed a significant increase.Furthermore,a significant negative correlation was identified between the detection of porpoise click trains and buzzes and boat traffic intensity.In addition to water level and flux,daylight and moonlight exhibited significant correlations with porpoise biosonar activities,with markedly higher detections at night and quarter moon periods.Ensuring the spatiotemporal reduction of anthropogenic activities,implementing vessel speed restrictions(e.g.,during porpoise migration and feeding),and maintaining local natural hydrological regimes are critical factors for sustaining porpoise population viability.

Analysis on Hydrological Regimes of the Medium and Small Rivers in Hami of Xinjiang——Take Toudaogou Basin as an Example

[ Objective] The research aimed to analyze hydrological regimes of the medium and small rivers in Hami of Xinjiang. [ Method] According to actual observation data at Toudaogou hydrological station during 1956 -2010, climate, runoff, flood, sediment and water quality in the basin were analyzed. [ Result] Runoff in Toudaogou River was mainly from bedrock fissure water and rainfall, and depended on temperature and precipi- tation in the catchment zone. Runoff in Toudaogou River had very big change during the year. Runoff in whole year mainly concentrated during April -June, which occupied 57.9% of annual runoff. Flood in Toudaogou basin was divided into spring and summer flood from time, and snowmelt and rainstorm flood from type. Sediment load was related to terrain, gradient, runoff, precipitation, flood and process. Suspended sediment load at Toudaogou hydrological station had close relationship with the annual maximum flow capacity of flood peak, and related coefficient was 0.917. [ Conclusion] Hydrological regime in Toudaogou basin basically represented corresponding hydrological information of rivers without glacier water supply in Hami even whole western arid zone of China. The research could provide theoretical basis for scientifically using water resources of the medium and small rivers in the zone.

GLOBAL WARMING EFFECTS ON THE HANJIANG RIVER HYDROLOGICAL REGIMES

The paper, based on a semi-conceptual hydrological model, analysed global warming effects on the Hanjiang River hydrological regimes and water resources, including soil moisture, evaporation, runoff and the transferable water quantity from the Danjiangkou Reservoir according to Middle Route of China's South-to-North Water Transfer Project.

Changes in hydrological regime in High Arctic non-glaciated catchment in 1979-2020 using a multimodel approach

Assessing hydrological consequences of climate change at the catchment scale is recently among key problems in hydrology.This study focuses on the estimation of changes in the hydrological regime in the Fuglebekken catchment in SW Spitsbergen(Svalbard).For this purpose,50 rainfll-runoff models were calibrated using available hydrometeorological observations.The models were validated based on archival flow and SWE observations,and proxy data from time-lapse cameras.Six models(FLEX-IS,GSM-SOCONT,PRMS,HBV,Nordic HBV,and GR4J)with the best performance were applied to reconstruct the past hydrological conditions and analyse the trends in flow regime in the period 1979-2020.Statistically significant changes at 0.05 level in the flow regime indicators were detected,including the number of days with the active flow during the calendar year(10.8 d per decade),during the mid-May-November period(9.8 d per decade),the date of the first day with the flow(-4.7 d per decade),and the last day with the flow during mid-May-November(8.4 d per decade).A statistically significant increase in runoff was estimated for two periods from mid-May to the end of June and the second part of August till mid-November.The changes in the first period result from increases in air temperature and earlier snowmelt-driven floods.An estimated runoff increase in the second period corresponds to large increases in rainfall.The increase in air temperature,earlier disappearance of snow,and decrease in precipitation in July and the first part of August result in runoff reduction.The presented results show that the Fuglebekken‘catchment's hydrological regime has already changed.The magnitude of the changes is larger compared to catchments located in lower latitudes.

Runoff change in the Yellow River Basin of China from 1960 to 2020 and its driving factors

Analysing runoff changes and how these are affected by climate change and human activities is deemed crucial to elucidate the ecological and hydrological response mechanisms of rivers.The Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration and the Range of Variability Approach(IHA-RVA)method,as well as the ecological indicator method,were employed to quantitatively assess the degree of hydrologic change and ecological response processes in the Yellow River Basin from 1960 to 2020.Using Budyko's water heat coupling balance theory,the relative contributions of various driving factors(such as precipitation,potential evapotranspiration,and underlying surface)to runoff changes in the Yellow River Basin were quantitatively evaluated.The results show that the annual average runoff and precipitation in the Yellow River Basin had a downwards trend,whereas the potential evapotranspiration exhibited an upwards trend from 1960 to 2020.In approximately 1985,it was reported that the hydrological regime of the main stream underwent an abrupt change.The degree of hydrological change was observed to gradually increase from upstream to downstream,with a range of 34.00%-54.00%,all of which are moderate changes.However,significant differences have been noted among different ecological indicators,with a fluctuation index of 90.00%at the outlet of downstream hydrological stations,reaching a high level of change.After the mutation,the biodiversity index of flow in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River was generally lower than that in the base period.The research results also indicate that the driving factor for runoff changes in the upper reach of the Yellow River Basin is mainly precipitation,with a contribution rate of 39.31%-54.70%.Moreover,the driving factor for runoff changes in the middle and lower reaches is mainly human activities,having a contribution rate of 63.70%-84.37%.These results can serve as a basis to strengthen the protection and restoration efforts in the Yellow River Basin and further promote the rational development and use of water resources in the Yellow River.

The impact of earlier flood recession on metacommunity diversity of wintering waterbirds at shallow lakes in the middle and lower Yangtze River floodplain

The hydrological regime in wetlands plays an important role in the process of wintering waterbird metacommunity assemblage.However,increasing frequency of extreme climate and the intensification of human activities,such as the construction of sluices and dams,have resulted in frequently abnormal hydrological regime in the middle and lower Yangtze River floodplain.In recent years,earlier flood recession has become one of the main hydrological problems faced in the shallow lakes,having a great impact on wetland biodiversity.It is necessary to understand the impact of earlier flood recession on waterbirds,an indicator of wetland biodiversity,and the metacommunity concept is helpful to elucidate the underlying mechanism involved in the processes of assemblage by waterbird communities.In this study,we surveyed the wintering waterbirds at three sub-lakes of Caizi Lakes during 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 and compared the richness,abundance,alpha and beta diversity of waterbirds in and among local metacommunities under earlier flood recession and normal hydrological regime.The results showed that the earlier flood recession reduced the species richness in the early stage and abundance in the late stage,it also reduced the Shannon-Wiener index in the early stage and increased the dissimilarity between and within waterbird metacommunities in the late stage.The partition of beta diversity showed that the turnover component played a major role in the process of waterbird metacommunity assemblage.It was found that the earlier flood recession reduced the richness,abundance in different stages of flood recession,which also increased the turnover of waterbirds.Metacommunities with high habitat heterogeneity had better resistance to abnormal hydrological regime,which resulted in high dissimilarity between and within metacommunities.The results of this study provide important information for waterbird conservation and water level management at shallow lakes in the middle and lower Yangtze River floodplain.

Compounding effects of human activities and climatic changes on coexistence of oasis-desert ecosystems:Prioritizing resilient decision-making for a riskier world

Water-salt balance is critical for the stable coexistence of salt-affected and groundwater-fed oasis-desert ecosystems. Yet, a comprehensive investigation of how soil salinization and groundwater degradation threaten the coexistence of oasis-desert ecosystems is still scarce, especially under the compounding effects of human activities and climatic changes. Here, we assessed the impacts of irrigated agriculture on hydrological regimes in oasisdesert systems, investigated the spatio-temporal variations of soil salinization in irrigated cropland, and evaluated the implications of the interplays of soil salinization and groundwater degradation on the coexistence of oasis-desert ecosystems in northwestern China, based on meaningful modelling approaches and comprehensive measurements over 1995–2020. The results showed that the irrigation return flow coefficient decreased sharply from 0.21 ± 0.09 in the traditional irrigation period to 0.09 ± 0.01 in the water-saving irrigation period. The continuous drop in groundwater tables and significant degradation of groundwater quality are occurring throughout this watershed. The eco-environmental flows are reaching to their limit with watershed closures(i.e.,the drainage from the oasis region into the desert region is being weakened or even eliminated), although these progressions were largely hidden by regional precipitation and streamflow variability. The process of salt migration and accumulation across different landscapes in oasis-desert system is being reshaped, and soil salinization in water-saving agricultural irrigated lands is accelerating with a regional average annual growth rate of18%. The vegetation in this watershed is degrading, and anthropogenic disturbance accelerates this trend. Our results highlight that environmental stress adaptation strategies must account for resilience maintenance to avoid accelerating catastrophic transitions in oasis-desert ecosystems. Determining the optimal oasis scales and formulating the best irrigation management plans are effective and resilient decision-making ways to maintain the coexistence relationship of oasis-desert ecosystem in drylands.

Projected hydrologic regime changes in the Poyang Lake Basin due to climate change

Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake in China, and its surrounding sub-basins have suffered frequent floods and droughts in recent decades. To better understand and quantitatively assess hydrological impacts of climate change in the region, this study adopted the Statistical Downscaling Model （SDSM） to downseale the outputs of a Global Climate Model （GCM） under three scenarios （RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5） as recommended by the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project （CMIP5） during future periods （2010-2099） in the Poyang Lake Basin. A semi-distributed two-parameter monthly water balance model was also used to simulate and predict projected changes of runoff in the Ganjiang sub-basin. Results indicate that： 1） SDSM can simulate monthly mean precipitation reasonably well, while a bias correction procedure should be applied to downscaled extreme precipitation indices （EPI） before being employed to simulate future precipitation; 2） for annual mean precipitation, a mixed pattern of positive or negative changes are detected in the entire basin, with a slightly higher or lower trend in the 2020s and 2050s, with a consistent increase in the 2080s; 3） all six EPI show a general increase under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios, while a mixed pattern of positive and negative changes is detected for most indices under the RCP2.6 scenario; and 4） the future runoff in the Ganjiang sub-basin shows an overall decreasing trend for all periods but the 2080s under the RCP8.5 scenario when runoff is more sensitive to changes in precipitation than evaporation.

Influence of river-lake isolation on the water level variations of Caizi Lake, lower reach of the Yangtze River

In order to explore the water level variations of Caizi Lake under river-lake isolation,the monthly water level of the Chefuling station in Caizi Lake from 1989 to 2018 and the daily water level,rainfall and flow of local hydrological stations in 2018 were analyzed by using the Mann-Kendall trend test and wavelet analysis.Results showed that the difference of the average water level of Caizi Lake between the flood and dry seasons was 3.34 m,with a multi-year average water level of 10.42 m above sea level.The first and second main periods of the water level of Caizi Lake were 128 and 18 months,respectively,with 4 and 29"up-down"cycles,respectively.From 2018,the next 3-4 years were likely to be the low water level period.The water level of Caizi Lake was significantly correlated with that of the Anqing hydrological station of the Yangtze River(r=0.824,P<0.01).In addition,the current hydrological staging of Caizi Lake was about 30 days behind than before the sluice was built.Under the dual influences of the river-lake isolation and the Yangtze-to-Huaihe Water Diversion Project(YHWD),the hydrological regime change of Caizi Lake and its eco-environmental effect needed long-term monitoring and research.

Multi-scale drivers of soil resistance predict vulnerability of seasonally wet meadows to trampling by pack stock animals in the Sierra Nevada,USA

Background:Meadow ecosystems have important ecological functions and support socioeconomic services,yet are subject to multiple stressors that can lead to rapid degradation.In the Sierra Nevada of the western USA,recreational pack stock(horses and mules)use in seasonally wet mountain meadows may lead to soil trampling and meadow degradation,especially when soil water content is high and vegetation is developing.Methods:In order to improve the ability to predict meadow vulnerability to soil disturbance from pack stock use,we measured soil resistance(SR),which is an index of vulnerability to trampling disturbance,at two spatial scales using a stratified-random sampling design.We then compared SR to several soil and vegetation explanatory variables that were also measured at the two spatial scales:plant community type(local scale)and topographic gradient class(meadow scale).Results:We found that local-scale differences in drivers of SR were contingent on the meadow scale,which is important because multiple spatial scale evaluation of ecological metrics provides a broader understanding of the potential controls on ecological processes than assessments conducted at a single spatial scale.We also found two contrasting explanatory models for drivers of SR at the local scale:(1)soil gravimetric water content effects on soil disaggregation and(2)soil bulk density and root mass influence on soil cohesion.Soil resistance was insufficient to sustain pack stock use without incurring soil deformation in wet plant communities,even when plant cover was maximal during a major drought.Conclusions:Our study provides new information on seasonally wet meadow vulnerability to trampling by pack stock animals using multi-scale drivers of SR,including the contrasting roles of soil disaggregation,friction,and cohesion.Our work aims to inform meadow management efforts in the Sierra Nevada and herbaceous ecosystems in similar regions that are subject to seasonal soil saturation and livestock use.