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Seasonal variations of water quality response to land use metrics at multi-spatial scales in the Yangtze River basin

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Abstract

Land use pattern is increasingly regarded as an important determinant of environmental quality and regional ecosystems. Understanding the correlation between land use metrics and water quality is essential to improve water pollution prediction and provide guidance for land use planning. Here, we examined the land use metrics and water quality parameters (i.e., dissolved oxygen, DO; pH; ammonia nitrogen NH4+-N; permanganate index, CODMn), as well as their relationships in the Yangtze River basin. The DO and pH exhibited the notable spatio-temporal variability, suggesting that anthropogenic land uses (farmland and urban land) greatly impacted riverine water quality. The catchment and riparian scales respectively showed a high potential in explaining water quality in the dry and wet seasons. The land use metrics were tightly linked to water quality in the dry season, indicating that intensive farming activities led to high loadings of agriculture-related chemicals and thus water quality deterioration. Our results provided useful information regarding riverine water quality response to land use metrics at multi-spatial scales.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the National Surface Water Quality Monitoring System and the Chinese Academy of Sciences for providing essential research data. Special thanks are given to the editor Prof. Xianliang Yi and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions.

Availability of data and materials

All authors declare allow the availability of data and materials.

Funding

This study was funded by the “General Project of Chongqing Natural Science Foundation, China (cstc2020jcyj-msxmX0549)”; “Science and Technology Research Project of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission, China (KJQN201900548)”; “the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41801063)”; and “Chongqing Normal University School-level Fund Project” (No.20XLB022).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Key Laboratory of GIS Application Research, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, 401331, China

    Jiahui Xu, Rui Liu, Jing Zhang, Qin Ji & Zuolin Xiao

  2. Chongqing Comprehensive Economic Research Institute, Chongqing, 401147, China

    Rui Liu

  3. College of Eco-Environmental Engineering, Guizhou Minzu University, Guiyang, 550025, China

    Maofei Ni

Authors
  1. Jiahui Xu
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  2. Rui Liu
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  3. Maofei Ni
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  4. Jing Zhang
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  5. Qin Ji
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  6. Zuolin Xiao
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Contributions

J.Z and J.H.X conceived and designed the analysis. J.Z supervised the research. J.H.X mined data and carried out data analyses. J.Z and J.H.X wrote the manuscript. M.F.N, R.L, Q.J, and Z.L.X commented on the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jing Zhang.

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Responsible Editor: Xianliang Yi

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Xu, J., Liu, R., Ni, M. et al. Seasonal variations of water quality response to land use metrics at multi-spatial scales in the Yangtze River basin. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 37172–37181 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13386-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13386-8

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