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Managing water services in tropical regions: From land cover proxies to hydrologic fluxes

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Abstract

Watershed investment programs frequently use land cover as a proxy for water-based ecosystem services, an approach based on assumed relationships between land cover and hydrologic outcomes. Water flows are rarely quantified, and unanticipated results are common, suggesting land cover alone is not a reliable proxy for water services. We argue that managing key hydrologic fluxes at the site of intervention is more effective than promoting particular land-cover types. Moving beyond land cover proxies to a focus on hydrologic fluxes requires that programs (1) identify the specific water service of interest and associated hydrologic flux; (2) account for structural and ecological characteristics of the relevant land cover; and, (3) determine key mediators of the target hydrologic flux. Using examples from the tropics, we illustrate how this conceptual framework can clarify interventions with a higher probability of delivering desired water services than with land cover as a proxy.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Leah L. Bremer for insightful comments and suggestions on this manuscript. This research was supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation (to A.G. Ponette-González and K.C. Weathers, OISE #1132444; and to K.R. Young, CNH#1010381 and DEB #1146446), and NASA (L.M. Curran and A.G. Ponette-González, NASA NNX11AF08G, NASA GRFP NX08AY29H). Funding to K.A. Brauman was provided by the UMN Institute on the Environment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle #305279, Denton, TX, 76203, USA

    Alexandra G. Ponette-González

  2. Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota, 325 Learning and Environmental Sciences, 1954 Buford Ave, St Paul, MN, 55108, USA

    Kate A. Brauman

  3. Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 550 North Park Street, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Erika Marín-Spiotta

  4. Department of Geography, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 92182-4493, USA

    Kathleen A. Farley

  5. Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, 2801 Sharon Turnpike, PO Box AB, Millbrook, NY, 12545-0129, USA

    Kathleen C. Weathers

  6. Department of Geography and the Environment, University of Texas at Austin, GRG 334, Mailcode A3100, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Kenneth R. Young

  7. Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, 473 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Lisa M. Curran

  8. Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, Main Quad, Building 50, 450 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Lisa M. Curran

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  1. Alexandra G. Ponette-González
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  2. Kate A. Brauman
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  3. Erika Marín-Spiotta
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  4. Kathleen A. Farley
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  5. Kathleen C. Weathers
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  6. Kenneth R. Young
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  7. Lisa M. Curran
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Correspondence to Alexandra G. Ponette-González.

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Alexandra G. Ponette-González and Kate A. Brauman have contributed equally to this work.

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Ponette-González, A.G., Brauman, K.A., Marín-Spiotta, E. et al. Managing water services in tropical regions: From land cover proxies to hydrologic fluxes. Ambio 44, 367–375 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-014-0578-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-014-0578-8

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