Understanding the soil and hydrologic processes in agricultural watersheds are vital for reliable assessments of water quantity and quality to support integrated river basin management. However, ...deriving hydrology-relevant information is complicated in flat data-scarce agricultural watersheds due to constraints in watershed delineation, flat topography, poor natural drainage, and irregular irrigation schedules by human intervention. The study aimed to improve the applicability of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model to simulate daily flow and NO3 concentrations in a flat data-scarce agricultural watershed in the Lower Seyhan Plain (LSP) in Turkey. Refined digitized stream networks, discharge data derived from fully equipped gauging stations, and satellite data (Landsat 7 ETM+, Aster GDEM, etc.) had to be integrated into the modeling process to improve the simulation quality. The model was calibrated using a 2-year (2011–2012) dataset of streamflow and NO3 using the Sequential Uncertainty Fitting (SUFI-2) approach and validated from 2013 to 2018. Daily water yields were predicted with a reasonable simulation accuracy (E values ranging from 0.53 to 0.82 and percent bias (PBIAS) from 0 to +4.1). The results proved that integrating redefined stream networks to SWAT within a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment increases the simulation capability of flow and nitrate dynamics efficiently. Automated delineation of these networks and sub-basins at low topographic transitions limits the SWAT accuracy.
Adaptive water management is a promising management paradigm for rivers that addresses the uncertainty of decision consequences. However, its implementation into current practice is still a ...challenge. An optimization assessment can be framed within the adaptive management cycle allowing the definition of environmental flows (e-flows) in a suitable format for decision making. In this study, we demonstrate its suitability to mediate the incorporation of e-flows into diversion management planning, fostering the realization of an adaptive management approach. We used the case study of the Pas River, Northern Spain, as the setting for the optimization of surface water diversion. We considered e-flow requirements for three key river biological groups to reflect conditions that promote ecological conservation. By drawing from hydrological scenarios (i.e., dry, normal, and wet), our assessment showed that the overall target water demand can be met, whereas the daily volume of water available for diversion was not constant throughout the year. These results suggest that current the decision making needs to consider the seasonal time frame as the reference temporal scale for objectives adjustment and monitoring. The approach can be transferred to other study areas and can inform decision makers that aim to engage with all the stages of the adaptive water management cycle.
Developing a general, predictive understanding of ecological systems requires knowing how much structural and functional relationships can cross scales and contexts. Here, we introduce the CROSSLINK ...project that investigates the role of forested riparian buffers in modified European landscapes by measuring a wide range of ecosystem attributes in stream-riparian networks. CROSSLINK involves replicated field measurements in four case-study basins with varying levels of human development: Norway (Oslo Fjord), Sweden (Lake Mälaren), Belgium (Zwalm River), and Romania (Argeş River). Nested within these case-study basins include multiple, independent stream-site pairs with a forested riparian buffer and unbuffered section located upstream, as well as headwater and downstream sites to show cumulative land-use impacts. CROSSLINK applies existing and bespoke methods to describe habitat conditions, biodiversity, and ecosystem functioning in aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Here, we summarize the approaches used, detail protocols in supplementary materials, and explain how data is applied in an optimization framework to better manage tradeoffs in multifunctional landscapes. We then present results demonstrating the range of riparian conditions present in our case-study basins and how these environmental states influence stream ecological integrity with the commonly used macroinvertebrate Average Score Per Taxon (ASPT) index. We demonstrate that a qualitative index of riparian integrity can be positively associated with stream ecological status. This introduction to the CROSSLINK project shows the potential for our replicated study with its panoply of ecosystem attributes to help guide management decisions regarding the use of forested riparian buffers in human-impacted landscapes. This knowledge is highly relevant in a time of rapid environmental change where freshwater biodiversity is increasingly under pressure from a range of human impacts that include habitat loss, pollution, and climate change.
•The SWAT plant growth module was adapted for improved simulations in Central Brazil.•Simulated soil moisture is used to provoke new growing cycles.•Logistic decline rate for LAI is used to consider ...specific minimum LAI values.•Simulated LAI and ET were successfully proven based on MODIS reference data.•Implemented new model parameters allow application in other tropical regions.
The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) has been used for assessing the impact of land cover and land management changes on water resources for a wide range of scales and environmental conditions across the globe. However, originally designed for temperate regions, SWAT must be critically examined for its appropriate use in tropical watersheds. One major concern is the simulation of perennial tropical vegetation due to the absence of dormancy. While for temperate regions SWAT uses dormancy to terminate growing seasons of trees and perennials, seasonality in the tropics (wet and dry season) can only be represented by defining date or heat unit specific “plant” and “kill” operations which are fixed for every year of simulation. In this paper, we discuss these shortcomings and present an alternative approach to automatically initiate annual growing cycles based on changes in soil moisture. Furthermore, we propose a logistic leaf area index (LAI) decline function which approaches a user-defined minimum LAI instead of using the default function, which is not considering the minimum LAI. The modified SWAT model was tested based on MODIS LAI and evapotranspiration data for the Santa Maria/Torto watershed in Central Brazil, covered mostly by Cerrado (savanna) vegetation. Our model results show that the modified model can reasonably represent seasonal dynamics of the Cerrado biome. However, since the proposed changes are process-based but also allow flexible model settings (e.g. the beginning of growing cycles based on a soil moisture threshold adjustable for plant/land cover types), the modified plant growth module should be useful for large parts of the model community.
This paper presents how we enhanced the accessibility and utility of historical linguistic data in the project Bullinger Digital. The project involved the transformation of 3,100 letters, primarily ...available as scanned PDFs, into a dynamic, fully digital format. The expanded digital collection now includes 12,000 letters, 3,100 edited, 5,400 transcribed, and 3,500 represented through detailed metadata and results from handwritten text recognition. Central to our discussion is the innovative workflow developed for this multilingual corpus. This includes strategies for text normalisation, machine translation, and handwritten text recognition, particularly focusing on the challenges of code-switching within historical documents. The resulting digital platform features an advanced search system, offering users various filtering options such as correspondent names, time periods, languages, and locations. It also incorporates fuzzy and exact search capabilities, with the ability to focus searches within specific text parts, like summaries or footnotes. Beyond detailing the technical process, this paper underscores the project’s contribution to historical research and digital humanities. While the Bullinger Digital platform serves as a model for similar projects, the corpus behind it demonstrates the vast potential for data reuse in historical linguistics. The project exemplifies how digital humanities methodologies can revitalise historical text collections, offering researchers access to and interaction with historical data. This paper aims to provide readers with a comprehensive understanding of our project’s scope and broader implications for the field of digital humanities, highlighting the transformative potential of such digital endeavours in historical linguistic research.
This paper presents a methodological framework for scale-specific assessment of soil erosion by water. The framework enables the definition of hierarchical, functional and modular nested reference ...units which result from the integrated consideration of policy, process and model hierarchies. The framework is applied on three planning levels: at first, large scale zones are designated that show a defined risk potential for soil erosion (first level: catchments and drainage areas in the German Federal State of Saxony-Anhalt, ca. 20,000
km
2). By both increasing model complexity and spatio-temporal resolution of input data, the results are locally specified within these risk zones (second level: designated farms and fields in a study area of 141
km
2). This is the basis for the prediction of soil erosion areas and sediment transport to hydrologic drainage networks as well as for small scale management and measure planning (third level: designated field blocks in the study area). On this level, the mitigation of soil erosion and sediment entry to the river system is demonstrated by simulating the introduction of conservation management practices, vegetation and riparian buffer strips.
We used a modified version of the empirical Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) ABAGflux, which includes functions to better describe sedimentation and sediment transport to hydrologic drainage networks. Aggregation and statistical methods like SICOM and
k means cluster analysis were applied for objective ranking and classification of the simulation results. The study aims at contributing to an improved applicability of data and methods for the assessment of soil erosion by water and soil protection on relevant planning scales. In addition, the results are considered to be important for an improved transfer of methods developed in science to their application in soil erosion risk management.
We report on the fabrication and characterization of ridge waveguides in z-cut KTiOPO4 fabricated by Rb-ion exchange and subsequent precise diamond-blade dicing. Low attenuation values of 1.3 dB/cm ...(1.6 dB/cm) were determined at a wavelength of 1550 nm for TE (TM) polarization. Surface quality obtained by dicing is excellent for side walls of diced ridges and prepared end faces used for light coupling. The dispersion characteristics of the waveguides are determined and the results are compared to simulations. Finally, the nonlinear performance of the ridges is demonstrated by second harmonic generation of ∼1060 nm pump light.
Patches of riparian woody vegetation potentially help mitigate environmental impacts of agriculture and safeguard biodiversity. We investigated the effects of riparian forest on invertebrate ...diversity in coupled stream-riparian networks using a case study in the Zwalm river basin (Flanders, Belgium). Agriculture is one of the main pressures in the basin and riparian forest is limited to a number of isolated patches. Our 32 study sites comprised nine unshaded “unbuffered” sites which were paired with nine shaded “buffered” sites on the same stream reach, along with five ‘least-disturbed’ sites and nine downstream sites. We sampled water chemistry, habitat characteristics and stream and riparian invertebrates (carabid beetles and spiders) at each site. Three methods were used to quantify riparian attributes at different spatial scales: a visually-assessed qualitative index, quantitative estimates of habitat categories in six rectangular plots (10 × 5 m) and geographic information system (GIS)-derived land cover data. We investigated relationships between invertebrates and riparian attributes at different scales with linear regression and redundancy analyses. Spiders and carabids were most associated with local riparian attributes. In contrast, aquatic macroinvertebrates were strongly influenced by the extent of riparian vegetation in a riparian band upstream (100–300 m). These findings demonstrate the value of quantifying GIS-based metrics of riparian cover over larger spatial scales into assessments of the efficacy of riparian management as a complement to more detailed local scale riparian assessments in situ. Our findings highlight the value of even small patches of riparian vegetation in an otherwise extensively disturbed landscape in supporting biodiversity of both terrestrial and freshwater invertebrates and emphasize the need to consider multiple spatial scales in riparian management strategies which aim to mitigate human impacts on biodiversity in stream-riparian networks.
The dynamics of protein conformational changes, from protein folding to smaller changes, such as those involved in ligand binding, are governed by the properties of the conformational energy ...landscape. Different techniques have been used to follow the motion of a protein over this landscape and thus quantify its properties. However, these techniques often are limited to short timescales and low-energy conformations. Here, we describe a general approach that overcomes these limitations. Starting from a nonnative conformation held by an aromatic disulfide bond, we use time-resolved spectroscopy to observe nonequilibrium backbone dynamics over nine orders of magnitude in time, from picoseconds to milliseconds, after photolysis of the disulfide bond. We find that the reencounter probability of residues that initially are in close contact decreases with time following an unusual power law that persists over the full time range and is independent of the primary sequence. Model simulations show that this power law arises from subdiffusional motion, indicating a wide distribution of trapping times in local minima of the energy landscape, and enable us to quantify the roughness of the energy landscape (4-5 kBT). Surprisingly, even under denaturing conditions, the energy landscape remains highly rugged with deep traps (> 20 kBT) that result from multiple nonnative interactions and are sufficient for trapping on the millisecond timescale. Finally, we suggest that the subdiffusional motion of the protein backbone found here may promote rapid folding of proteins with low contact order by enhancing contact formation between nearby residues.
We report on the fabrication of ridge waveguides in KTiOPO
nonlinear optical crystals through carbon ion irradiation followed by precise diamond blade dicing. The diced side-walls have low roughness, ...which allows for low propagation loss of ~1dB/cm in fabricated of ridges. The waveguide property investigation has been performed at 1064 nm as well as 532 nm, showing good guidance at both TE and TM polarizations. Based on type II phase matching configuration, efficient second harmonic generation of green light at room temperature has been realized. High conversion efficiencies of ~1.12%W
and ~12.4% have been obtained for frequency doubling under the pump of continuous-wave (CW) and pulsed fundamental waves at 1064 nm, respectively.
PDF
