HydroServ - Vulnerability of Hydrological Ecosystem Services

Integrative Analysis under Changes of Climate and Socio-economy with an Emphasis on adaptation

Dates: 2010-2013
PhD Student: Christoforos Pappas
Funding: Swiss National Science Foundation external page NRP 61
Principal Investigator:Prof. Paolo Burlando, Dr. Simone Fatichi

Project description

Human beings rely on the integrity of ecosystems to provide ecosystem services (ES) because they are essential to human existence. Many key economic sectors such as agriculture, hydropower, re-insurance, recreation, and the drinking water sector depend especially on hydrological ecosystem services (HES). It is therefore important to gain deeper understanding of the interrelation between man-made culture and the ecosystem.

Land use and climate change are often considered to significantly impact hydrological attributes. While several authors have focused on understanding the processes of land cover and runoff generation or sediment, the impact of land use change on main HES such as flood and erosion protection has only recently received substantial attention.

The project took into account the entire water resource supply chain, from the supply in the catchment area all the way to the use in the valley. An integrative simulation model was be developed that combines the hydrological, ecological and economic aspects of water resource development and portrays these in various scenarios and different time steps to close the feedback loop between land use, hydrology and ecosystem services.

The Chair was responsible for the ecohydrological modelling project task, and more specifically, for the development of a mechanistic tool appropriate for mimicking the hydrological response of catchments to land-use changes and climate variability.