@article{AichLierschVetteretal.2015, author = {Aich, Valentin and Liersch, Stefan and Vetter, Tobias and Andersson, Jafet C. M. and M{\"u}ller, Eva Nora and Hattermann, Fred Fokko}, title = {Climate or Land Use?}, series = {Water}, volume = {7}, journal = {Water}, number = {6}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2073-4441}, doi = {10.3390/w7062796}, pages = {2796 -- 2820}, year = {2015}, abstract = {This study intends to contribute to the ongoing discussion on whether land use and land cover changes (LULC) or climate trends have the major influence on the observed increase of flood magnitudes in the Sahel. A simulation-based approach is used for attributing the observed trends to the postulated drivers. For this purpose, the ecohydrological model SWIM (Soil and Water Integrated Model) with a new, dynamic LULC module was set up for the Sahelian part of the Niger River until Niamey, including the main tributaries Sirba and Goroul. The model was driven with observed, reanalyzed climate and LULC data for the years 1950-2009. In order to quantify the shares of influence, one simulation was carried out with constant land cover as of 1950, and one including LULC. As quantitative measure, the gradients of the simulated trends were compared to the observed trend. The modeling studies showed that for the Sirba River only the simulation which included LULC was able to reproduce the observed trend. The simulation without LULC showed a positive trend for flood magnitudes, but underestimated the trend significantly. For the Goroul River and the local flood of the Niger River at Niamey, the simulations were only partly able to reproduce the observed trend. In conclusion, the new LULC module enabled some first quantitative insights into the relative influence of LULC and climatic changes. For the Sirba catchment, the results imply that LULC and climatic changes contribute in roughly equal shares to the observed increase in flooding. For the other parts of the subcatchment, the results are less clear but show, that climatic changes and LULC are drivers for the flood increase; however their shares cannot be quantified. Based on these modeling results, we argue for a two-pillar adaptation strategy to reduce current and future flood risk: Flood mitigation for reducing LULC-induced flood increase, and flood adaptation for a general reduction of flood vulnerability.}, language = {en} } @article{HunkeMuellerSchroederEsselbachetal.2015, author = {Hunke, Philip and M{\"u}ller, Eva Nora and Schr{\"o}der-Esselbach, Boris and Zeilhofer, Peter}, title = {The Brazilian Cerrado: assessment of water and soil degradation in catchments under intensive agricultural use}, series = {Ecohydrology : ecosystems, land and water process interactions, ecohydrogeomorphology}, volume = {8}, journal = {Ecohydrology : ecosystems, land and water process interactions, ecohydrogeomorphology}, number = {6}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {1936-0584}, doi = {10.1002/eco.1573}, pages = {1154 -- 1180}, year = {2015}, abstract = {The Brazilian Cerrado is recognized as one of the most threatened biomes in the world, as the region has experienced a striking change from natural Cerrado vegetation to intense cash crop production. This paper reviews the history of land conversion in the Cerrado and the development of soil properties and water resources under past and ongoing land use. We compared soil and water quality parameters from different land uses considering 80 soil and 18 water studies conducted in different regions across the Cerrado to provide quantitative evidence of soil and water alterations from land use change. Following the conversion of native Cerrado, significant effects on soil pH, bulk density and available P and K for croplands and less-pronounced effects on pastures were evident. Soil total N did not differ between land uses because most of the sites classified as croplands were nitrogen-fixing soybeans, which are not artificially fertilized with N. In contrast, water quality studies showed nitrogen enrichment in agricultural catchments, indicating fertilizer impacts and potential susceptibility to eutrophication. Regardless of the land use, P is widely absent because of the high-fixing capacities of deeply weathered soils and the filtering capacity of riparian vegetation. Pesticides, however, were consistently detected throughout the entire aquatic system. In several case studies, extremely high-peak concentrations exceeded Brazilian and European Union (EU) water quality limits, which were potentially accompanied by serious health implications. Land use intensification is likely to continue, particularly in regions where less annual rainfall and severe droughts are projected in the northeastern and western Cerrado. Thus, the leaching risk and displacement of agrochemicals are expected to increase, particularly because the current legislation has caused a reduction in riparian vegetation. We conclude that land use intensification is likely to seriously limit the Cerrado's future regarding both agricultural productivity and ecosystem stability. Because only limited data are available, we recommend further field studies to understand the interaction between terrestrial and aquatic systems. This study may serve as a valuable database for integrated modelling to investigate the impact of land use and climate change on soil and water resources and to test and develop mitigation measures for the Cerrado. Copyright (C) 2014 John Wiley \& Sons, Ltd.}, language = {en} } @article{KruegerMaynardCarretal.2016, author = {Krueger, Tobias and Maynard, Carly and Carr, Gemma and Bruns, Antje and M{\"u}ller, Eva Nora and Lane, Stuart}, title = {A transdisciplinary account of water research}, series = {Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews : Water}, volume = {3}, journal = {Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews : Water}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {2049-1948}, doi = {10.1002/wat2.1132}, pages = {369 -- 389}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Water research is introduced from the combined perspectives of natural and social science and cases of citizen and stakeholder coproduction of knowledge. Using the overarching notion of transdisciplinarity, we examine how interdisciplinary and participatory water research has taken place and could be developed further. It becomes apparent that water knowledge is produced widely within society, across certified disciplinary experts and noncertified expert stakeholders and citizens. However, understanding and management interventions may remain partial, or even conflicting, as much research across and between traditional disciplines has failed to integrate disciplinary paradigms due to philosophical, methodological, and communication barriers. We argue for more agonistic relationships that challenge both certified and noncertified knowledge productively. These should include examination of how water research itself embeds and is embedded in social context and performs political work. While case studies of the cultural and political economy of water knowledge exist, we need more empirical evidence on how exactly culture, politics, and economics have shaped this knowledge and how and at what junctures this could have turned out differently. We may thus channel the coproductionist critique productively to bring perspectives, alternative knowledges, and implications into water politics where they were not previously considered; in an attempt to counter potential lock-in to particular water policies and technologies that may be inequitable, unsustainable, or unacceptable. While engaging explicitly with politics, transdisciplinary water research should remain attentive to closing down moments in the research process, such as framings, path-dependencies, vested interests, researchers' positionalities, power, and scale.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Mueller2015, author = {M{\"u}ller, Eva Nora}, title = {The ecohydrological transfers, interactions and degradation arising from high-intensity storm events}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {224}, year = {2015}, language = {en} } @misc{AichLierschVetteretal.2017, author = {Aich, Valentin and Liersch, Stefan and Vetter, Tobias and Andersson, Jafet C. M. and M{\"u}ller, Eva Nora and Hattermann, Fred Fokko}, title = {Climate or land use?}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-400115}, pages = {25}, year = {2017}, abstract = {This study intends to contribute to the ongoing discussion on whether land use and land cover changes (LULC) or climate trends have the major influence on the observed increase of flood magnitudes in the Sahel. A simulation-based approach is used for attributing the observed trends to the postulated drivers. For this purpose, the ecohydrological model SWIM (Soil and Water Integrated Model) with a new, dynamic LULC module was set up for the Sahelian part of the Niger River until Niamey, including the main tributaries Sirba and Goroul. The model was driven with observed, reanalyzed climate and LULC data for the years 1950-2009. In order to quantify the shares of influence, one simulation was carried out with constant land cover as of 1950, and one including LULC. As quantitative measure, the gradients of the simulated trends were compared to the observed trend. The modeling studies showed that for the Sirba River only the simulation which included LULC was able to reproduce the observed trend. The simulation without LULC showed a positive trend for flood magnitudes, but underestimated the trend significantly. For the Goroul River and the local flood of the Niger River at Niamey, the simulations were only partly able to reproduce the observed trend. In conclusion, the new LULC module enabled some first quantitative insights into the relative influence of LULC and climatic changes. For the Sirba catchment, the results imply that LULC and climatic changes contribute in roughly equal shares to the observed increase in flooding. For the other parts of the subcatchment, the results are less clear but show, that climatic changes and LULC are drivers for the flood increase; however their shares cannot be quantified. Based on these modeling results, we argue for a two-pillar adaptation strategy to reduce current and future flood risk: Flood mitigation for reducing LULC-induced flood increase, and flood adaptation for a general reduction of flood vulnerability.}, language = {en} } @article{MuellerFranckeBatallaVillanuevaetal.2009, author = {M{\"u}ller, Eva Nora and Francke, Till and Batalla Villanueva, Ramon J. and Bronstert, Axel}, title = {Modelling the effects of land-use change on runoff and sediment yield for a meso-scale catchment in the Southern Pyrenees}, issn = {0341-8162}, doi = {10.1016/j.catena.2009.06.007}, year = {2009}, abstract = {The Southern Pre-Pyrenees experienced a substantial land-use change over the second half of the 20th century owing to the reduction of agricultural activities towards the formation of a more natural forest landscape. The land-use change over the last 50 years with subsequent effects on water and sediment export was modelled with the process-based, spatially semi-distributed WASA-SED model for the meso-scale Canalda catchment in Catalonia, Spain. It was forwarded that the model yielded plausible results for runoff and sediment yield dynamics without the need of calibration, although the model failed to reproduce the shape of the hydrograph and the total discharge of several individual rainstorm events, hence the simulation capabilities are not yet considered sufficient for decision-making purposes for land management. As there are only a very limited amount of measured data available on sediment budgets with altered land-use and climate change settings, the WASA-SED model was used to obtain qualitative estimates on the effects of past and future change scenarios to derive a baseline for hypothesis building and future discussion on the evolution of sediment budgets in such a dryland setting. Simulating the effects of the past land-use change, the model scenarios resulted in a decrease of up to 75\% of the annual sediment yield. whereas modelled runoff remained almost constant over the last 50 years. The relative importance of environmental change was evaluated by comparing the impact on sediment export of land-use change, that are driven by socio-economic factors, with climate change projections for changes in the rainfall regime. The modelling results suggest that a 20\% decrease in annual rainfall results in a decrease in runoff and sediment yield, thus an ecosystem stabilisation in regard to sediment export which can only be achieved by a substantial land-use change equivalent to a complete afforestation. At the same time, a 20\% increase in rainfall causes a large export of water and sediment resources out of the catchment, equivalent to an intensive agricultural use of 100\% of the catchment area. For wet years, the effects of agricultural intensification are more pronounced, so that in this case the intensive land-use change has a significantly larger impact on sediment generation than climate change. The WASA-SED model proved capable in quantifying the impacts of actual and potential environmental change, but the reliability of the simulation results is still circumscribed by considerable parameterisation and model uncertainties.}, language = {en} } @article{MuellervanSchaikBlumeetal.2014, author = {M{\"u}ller, Eva Nora and van Schaik, Loes and Blume, Theresa and Bronstert, Axel and Carus, Jana and Fleckenstein, Jan H. and Fohrer, Nicola and Geissler, Katja and Gerke, Horst H. and Gr{\"a}ff, Thomas and Hesse, Cornelia and Hildebrandt, Anke and H{\"o}lker, Franz and Hunke, Philip and K{\"o}rner, Katrin and Lewandowski, J{\"o}rg and Lohmann, Dirk and Meinikmann, Karin and Schibalski, Anett and Schmalz, Britta and Schr{\"o}der-Esselbach, Boris and Tietjen, Britta}, title = {Scales, key aspects, feedbacks and challenges of ecohydrological research in Germany}, series = {Hydrologie und Wasserbewirtschaftung}, volume = {58}, journal = {Hydrologie und Wasserbewirtschaftung}, number = {4}, publisher = {Bundesanst. f{\"u}r Gew{\"a}sserkunde}, address = {Koblenz}, issn = {1439-1783}, doi = {10.5675/HyWa_2014,4_2}, pages = {221 -- 240}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Ecohydrology analyses the interactions of biotic and abiotic aspects of our ecosystems and landscapes. It is a highly diverse discipline in terms of its thematic and methodical research foci. This article gives an overview of current German ecohydrological research approaches within plant-animal-soil-systems, meso-scale catchments and their river networks, lake systems, coastal areas and tidal rivers. It discusses their relevant spatial and temporal process scales and different types of interactions and feedback dynamics between hydrological and biotic processes and patterns. The following topics are considered key challenges: innovative analysis of the interdisciplinary scale continuum, development of dynamically coupled model systems, integrated monitoring of coupled processes at the interface and transition from basic to applied ecohydrological science to develop sustainable water and land resource management strategies under regional and global change.}, language = {de} }