A review of paired catchment studies for determining changes in water yield resulting from alterations in vegetation

Paired catchment studies have been widely used as a means of determining the magnitude of water yield changes resulting from changes in vegetation. This review focuses on the use of paired catchment studies for determining the changes in water yield at various time scales resulting from permanent changes in vegetation. The review considers long term annual changes, adjustment time scales, the seasonal pattern of flows and changes in both annual and seasonal flow duration curves. The paired catchment studies reported in the literature have been divided into four broad categories: afforestation experiments, deforestation experiments, regrowth experiments and forest conversion experiments. Comparisons between paired catchment results and a mean annual water balance model are presented and show good agreement between the two methodologies. The results highlight the potential underestimation of water yield changes if regrowth experiments are used to predict the likely impact of permanent alterations to a catchment's vegetation. An analysis of annual water yield changes from afforestation, deforestation and regrowth experiments demonstrates that the time taken to reach a new equilibrium under permanent land use change varies considerably. Deforestation experiments reach a new equilibrium more quickly than afforestation experiments. The review of papers reporting seasonal changes in water yield highlights the proportionally larger impact on low flows. Flow duration curve comparison provides a potential means of gaining a greater understanding of the impact of vegetation on the distribution of daily flows.

[1]  R. Mein.  C A T C H W O R D Newsletter of the Cooperative Research Centre for Catchment Hydrology , 1999 .

[2]  M. Bonell,et al.  Catchment response and watershed management in the tropical rainforests in north-eastern Australia , 1985 .

[3]  R. Vertessy,et al.  Factors determining relations between stand age and catchment water balance in mountain ash forests , 2001 .

[4]  W. Megahan,et al.  Reply [to “Comment on ‘Peak flow responses to clear‐cutting and roads in small and large basins, Western Cascades, Oregon: A Second Opinion’ by R. B. Thomas and W. F. Megahan”] , 2001 .

[5]  Peter Wallbrink,et al.  Hydrologic characteristics and modelling of a small forested catchment in southeastern new South Wales. Pre-logging condition , 1986 .

[6]  A. R. Hibbert.  Water Yield Changes after Converting a Forested Catchment to Grass , 1969 .

[7]  M. Bari,et al.  Changes in streamflow components following logging and regeneration in the southern forest of Western Australia , 1996 .

[8]  K. Edwards.  5.2.1 The Water, Balance of the Mbeya Experimental Catchments , 1979 .

[9]  A. Gafur,et al.  Runoff and losses of soil and nutrients from small watersheds under shifting cultivation (Jhum) in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh , 2003 .

[10]  A. Pearce,et al.  Hydrology and related changes after harvesting native forest catchments and establishing pinus radiata plantations. Part 2. The native forest water balance and changes in streamflow after harvesting , 1994 .

[11]  P. M. Cornish,et al.  The effects of logging and forest regeneration on water yields in a moist eucalypt forest in New South Wales, Australia , 1993 .

[12]  N. Schofield,et al.  Effects of partial deforestation on hydrology and salinity in high salt storage landscapes. II. Strip, soils and parkland clearing , 1991 .

[13]  G. Likens,et al.  The Northern hardwood forest ecosystem: ten years of recovery from clearcutting , 1987 .

[14]  D. C. Lewis,et al.  Hydrology in a California oak woodland watershed: a 17-year study , 2000 .

[15]  A. J. Pearce,et al.  Hydrology and related changes after harvesting native forest catchments and establishing pinus radiata plantations. Part 1. Introduction to study , 1994 .

[16]  L. Bruijnzeel,et al.  Hydrology of moist tropical forests and effects of conversion : a state of knowledge review , 1990 .

[17]  Malchus B. Baker,et al.  Effects of Ponderosa Pine Treatments on Water Yield in Arizona , 1986 .

[18]  N. Schofield,et al.  Early hydrological response to intense forest thinning in southwestern Australia , 1991 .

[19]  C. Troendle.  The Potential for Water Yield Augmentation from Forest Management in the Rocky Mountain Region , 1983 .

[20]  R. Ziemer,et al.  Logging effects on streamflow: Water yield and summer low flows at Caspar Creek in northwestern California , 1990 .

[21]  A. Gafur,et al.  Erratum to “Runoff and losses of soil and nutrients from small watersheds under shifting cultivation (Jhum) in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh” [Journal of Hydrology 274 (2003) 30–46] , 2003 .

[22]  Lookout Creek,et al.  Peak flow responses to clear-cutting and roads in small and large basins , western Cascades , Oregon , 2004 .

[23]  N. Schofield,et al.  Analysis of streamflow generation following deforestation in southwest Western Australia , 1989 .

[24]  Lu Zhang,et al.  Response of mean annual evapotranspiration to vegetation changes at catchment scale , 2001 .

[25]  N. Schofield,et al.  Effects of partial deforestation on hydrology and salinity in high salt storage landscapes. I. Extensive block clearing , 1991 .

[26]  G. Likens,et al.  Moderating the impact of contemporary forest cutting on hydrologic and nutrient cycles , 1975 .

[27]  V. N. Sharda,et al.  Hydrological behaviour of first generation coppiced bluegum plantations in the Nilgiri sub-watersheds , 1998 .

[28]  V. Smakhtin.  Low flow hydrology: a review , 2001 .

[29]  M. B. Baker.  Changes in streamflow in an herbicide-treated Pinyon-Juniper Watershed in Arizona , 1984 .

[30]  J. Holmes,et al.  Water Yield from Some Afforested Catchments in Victoria , 1986 .

[31]  M. J. Hall,et al.  The effects of afforestation and deforestation on water yields , 1996 .

[32]  T. McMahon,et al.  Identification and explanation of continental differences in the variability of annual runoff , 2001 .

[33]  G. Grant,et al.  Comment on “Peak flow responses to clear‐cutting and roads in small and large basins, Western Cascades, Oregon: A second opinion” by R. B. Thomas and W. F. Megahan , 2001 .

[34]  Richard W. Bell,et al.  Streamflow and stream salinity in a small water supply catchment in southwest Western Australia after reforestation , 1988 .

[35]  W. Megahan,et al.  Peak flow responses to clear‐cutting and roads in small and large basins, Western Cascades, Oregon: A second opinion , 1998 .

[36]  P. Lane,et al.  Streamflow response of mixed-species eucalypt forests to patch cutting and thinning treatments , 2001 .

[37]  R. Grayson,et al.  Transpiration from Eucalyptus sieberi (L. Johnson) forests of different age , 2001 .

[38]  W. J. Schneider,et al.  Effect of reforestation on streamflow in central New York , 1961 .

[39]  P. Whitehead,et al.  Experimental basin studies—an international and historical perspective of forest impacts , 1993 .

[40]  Ian Cordery,et al.  Some hydrological effects of changing forest cover from eucalypts to Pinus radiata. , 2000 .

[41]  T. McMahon,et al.  Improved methods to assess water yield changes from paired-catchment studies: application to the Maroondah catchments , 2001 .

[42]  D. Scott,et al.  Streamflow responses to afforestation with Eucalyptus grandis and Pinus patula and to felling in the Mokobulaan experimental catchments, South Africa , 1997 .

[43]  J. Hewlett,et al.  A REVIEW OF CATCHMENT EXPERIMENTS TO DETERMINE THE EFFECT OF VEGETATION CHANGES ON WATER YIELD AND EVAPOTRANSPIRATION , 1982 .

[44]  M. Adams,et al.  Long-term impacts of forest treatments on water yield: a summary for northeastern USA , 1993 .

[45]  Wayne T. Swank,et al.  Forest Hydrology and Ecology at Coweeta , 1988, Ecological Studies.

[46]  G. L. Stoneman,et al.  Hydrological response to thinning a small jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) forest catchment , 1993 .

[47]  K. Langford,et al.  Change in yield of water following a bushfire in a forest of eucalyptus regnans , 1976 .

[48]  I. Moore,et al.  Comparative hydrological behaviour of forested and cleared catchments in southeastern Australia , 1987 .

[49]  J. Rothacher.  Increases in Water Yield Following Clear‐Cut Logging in the Pacific Northwest , 1970 .

[50]  R. King,et al.  THE EFFECT OF PARTIAL AND CLEARCUTTING ON STREAMFLOW AT DEADHORSE CREEK, COLORADO , 1987 .

[51]  V. N. Sharda,et al.  Hydrological behaviour of the Nilgiri sub-watersheds as affected by bluegum plantations, part II. Monthly water balances at different rainfall and runoff probabilities , 1988 .

[52]  D. Caissie,et al.  Comparison of streamflow between pre and post timber harvesting in Catamaran Brook (Canada) , 2002 .

[53]  R. Vertessy,et al.  Forest age-induced changes in evapotranspiration and water yield in a eucalypt forest , 2001 .

[54]  L. Bren,et al.  Early Water Yield Effects of Conversion of Slopes of a Eucalypt Forest Catchment to Radiata Pine Plantation , 1991 .

[55]  Malcolm Newson,et al.  Plynlimon research: The first two decades , 1991 .

[56]  T. Burt,et al.  Flow frequency responses to hardwood-to-grass conversion and subsequent succession , 1992 .

[57]  D. Maitre,et al.  Forestry and streamflow reductions in South Africa : A reference system for assessing extent and distribution , 1998 .

[58]  James M. Vose,et al.  Long-term hydrologic and water quality responses following commercial clearcutting of mixed hardwoods on a southern Appalachian catchment , 2001 .

[59]  R. M. Rice,et al.  Logging effects on streamflow: Storm runoff at Caspar Creek in northwestern California , 1990 .

[60]  G. Grant,et al.  Comment on “Peak flow responses to clear‐cutting and roads in small and large basins, Western Cascades, Oregon” by J. A. Jones and G. E. Grant , 2001 .

[61]  K. M. Turner.  ANNUAL EVAPOTRANSPIRATION OF NATWE VEGETATION IN A MEDITERRANEAN-TYPE CLIMATE1 , 1991 .

[62]  George Kuczera,et al.  Prediction of water yield reductions following a bushfire in ash-mixed species eucalypt forest , 1987 .

[63]  Wayne T. Swank,et al.  Streamflow Changes Associated with Forest Cutting, Species Conversions, and Natural Disturbances , 1988 .

[64]  N. Nandakumar,et al.  Uncertainty in rainfall—runoff model simulations and the implications for predicting the hydrologic effects of land-use change , 1997 .

[65]  G. Gottfried,et al.  Water yields resulting from treatments on the Workman Creek Experimental Watersheds in central Arizona , 1976 .

[66]  W. Shepperd,et al.  The Fraser Experimental Forest, Colorado: Research program and published research 1937-1985 , 1985 .

[67]  F. Kruger,et al.  The effect of afforestation with Eucalyptus grandis Hill ex Maiden and Pinus patula Schlecht. et Cham. on streamflow from experimental catchments at Mokobulaan, Transvaal , 1980 .

[68]  Barry Fahey,et al.  Hydrological impacts of converting native forests and grasslands to pine plantations, South Island, New Zealand , 1997 .

[69]  C. Troendle,et al.  The Coon Creek Water Yield Augmentation Project: implementation of timber harvesting technology to increase streamflow , 2001 .

[70]  Pilar Llorens,et al.  Hydrological processes and their seasonal controls in a small Mediterranean mountain catchment in the Pyrenees , 2002 .

[71]  Lu Zhang,et al.  Predicting the effect of vegetation changes on catchment average water balance , 1999 .

[72]  R. E. Smith,et al.  Preliminary empirical models to predict reductions in total and low flows resulting from afforestation , 1997 .

[73]  C. Federer,et al.  Streamflow Changes after Forest Clearing in New England , 1970 .

[74]  R. S. Beasley,et al.  Forest Harvest and Site Preparation Effects on Stormflow and Peakflow of Ephemeral Streams in the Ouachita Mountains , 1988 .

[75]  John D. Stednick,et al.  MONITORING THE EFFECTS OF TIMBER HARVEST ON ANNUAL WATER YIELD , 1996 .