The role of biogeochemical hotspots, landscape heterogeneity, and hydrological connectivity for minimizing forestry effects on water quality

• DOI: 10.1007/s13280-015-0751-8
• Publication Date: 2016-01-07T11:03:11Z
• Authors: Hjalmar Laudon; Lenka Kuglerová; Ryan A. Sponseller; Martyn Futter; Annika Nordin; Kevin Bishop; Tomas Lundmark; Gustaf Egnell; Anneli M. Ågren
• Keywords: Riparian buffer

Protecting water quality in forested regions is increasingly important as pressures from land-use, long-range transport of air pollutants, and climate change intensify. Maintaining forest industry without jeopardizing sustainability surface therefore requires new tools approaches. Here, we show how management can be optimized by incorporating landscape sensitivity hydrological connectivity into a framework that promotes the protection quality. We discuss this approach operationalized hydromapping tool to support forestry operations minimize impacts. specifically focus on used three fundamental aspects land planning including (i) locate areas where different practices conducted with minimal impact; (ii) guide off-road driving machines soil damage; (iii) optimize design riparian buffer zones. While work has boreal perspective, these concepts approaches have broad-scale applicability.