To What Extent Is Hydrologic Connectivity Taken into Account in Catchment Studies in the Lake Tana Basin, Ethiopia? A Review

Anik Juli Dwi Astuti (), Sofie Annys, Mekete Dessie, Jan Nyssen and Stefaan Dondeyne
Additional contact information
Anik Juli Dwi Astuti: Department of Geography, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Sofie Annys: Department of Geography, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Mekete Dessie: School of Civil and Water Resources Engineering, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar P.O. Box 430, Ethiopia
Jan Nyssen: Department of Geography, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Stefaan Dondeyne: Department of Geography, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-18

Abstract: Knowledge of hydrologic connectivity is important to grasp the hydrological response at a basin scale, particularly as changes in connectivity can have a negative effect on the environment. In the context of a changing climate, being able to predict how changes in connectivity will affect runoff and sediment transport is particularly relevant for land-use planning. Many studies on hydrology, geomorphology and climatology have been conducted in the Lake Tana Basin in Ethiopia, which is undergoing rapid development and significant environmental changes. This systematic literature review aims at assessing to what extent the hydrologic connectivity has been taken into account in such research, and to identify research gaps relevant to land and water management. On the Web of Science and Scopus databases, 135 scientific articles covering those topics were identified. Aspects of hydrologic connectivity were mostly implicitly taken into account based on process-based, statistical and descriptive models. Amongst the drivers of changing connectivity, the climate was covered by a large majority of publications (64%). Components of structural hydrologic connectivity were accounted for by considering geomorphology (54%) and soils (47%), and to a lesser extent, hydrography (16%) and geology (12%). Components of functional connectivity were covered by looking at surface water fluxes (61%), sediment fluxes (18%) and subsurface water fluxes (13%). While numerous studies of the Lake Tana Basin accounted for the hydrologic connectivity implicitly, these related predominantly to functional components. The structural components are given less attention, while in the context of a changing climate, better insights into their influence on the hydrologic seem most relevant. Better knowledge of the static aspect of connectivity is particularly important for targeting appropriate soil and water conservation strategies. Being able to explicitly assess the ‘structural connectivity’ is therefore of direct relevance for land management and land-use policy.

Keywords: hydrology; geomorphology; geology; structural connectivity; functional connectivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/12/2165/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/12/2165/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:12:p:2165-:d:989245

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().