| Session Details | |
| Section | HS - Hydrological Sciences |
| Session Title | Hydrological Responses to Land Use Change |
| Main Convener | Dr. Jun Niu (The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR) |
| Co-convener(s) | Dr. Ji Chen (The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR) Prof. Bellie Sivakumar (University of New South Wales, Australia) |
| Session Description | Land use changes (e.g. deforestation, afforestation, urbanization) can have profound impacts on the hydrologic cycle. Adequate knowledge of the impacts of land use changes on hydrologic processes is crucial for planning and management of our water resources, including for devising effective strategies to deal with extreme events (e.g. floods, droughts). In recent years, there has been an increasing attention into research on land use changes and their impacts on hydrology and water resources. However, our understanding of their dynamics is still very limited. This session is intended to broadly address the impacts of land use changes on hydrology and water resources. Some of the topics and questions of interest are: (1) experimental (either single or in pairs) studies of land use changes on small catchment hydrology; (2) numerical model studies with real land use change data and possible future scenarios; (3) other methods (e.g. regional empirical method) to assess the hydrologic effects; (4) relationship between high/low flow and land cover change; (5) role of vegetation type on evapotranspiration, interacting between soil water storage and vegetation type; (6) spatial characterization using vegetation indices, such as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and enhanced vegetation index (EVI); (7) market and policy change in relation to land use. Abstracts that address these and other relevant topics are welcome. |