Afroalpine Wetlands of the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia: Distribution, Dynamics, and Conceptual Flow Model

Stephen M. Chignell, Melinda J. Laituri, Nicholas E. Young and Paul H. Evangelista

Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 2019, vol. 109, issue 3, 791-811

Abstract: The Bale Mountains of Ethiopia contain the largest contiguous area of alpine habitat in Africa. The region provides critical water resources and other essential environmental services to highland communities, endemic wildlife, and millions of downstream people in East Africa. Increasing land use change has created concern over degradation to headwater wetlands and potential impacts on hydrologic regimes. Baseline understanding of wetland dynamics is lacking, however, and little is known about their function in the regional hydrologic system. We used remote sensing, machine learning, and field surveys to map the distribution of Afroalpine wetlands in the Bale Mountains. We developed a wetland typology based on hydrogeomorphic characteristics and a conceptual model of surface-groundwater flow. Our results show that wetland extent more than doubles between wet and dry seasons and that only 4 percent of the Afroalpine zone is saturated year-round. We also found evidence of a hydrologic continuum based on volcanic and glacial legacies, with wetlands at elevations above approximately 3,800 m asl likely to be ephemeral and wetlands at lower elevations tending to be perennial. Further interpretation suggests that local geology is a principal control on wetland distribution and hydrologic attenuation in the Bale Mountains. This lays the foundation for further research into surface–groundwater connectivity, climate change impacts, and conservation planning. Key Words: Afroalpine, Ethiopian highlands, HGM classification, mountain water tower, tropical alpine.

Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/24694452.2018.1500439 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:taf:raagxx:v:109:y:2019:i:3:p:791-811

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/raag21

DOI: 10.1080/24694452.2018.1500439

Access Statistics for this article

Annals of the American Association of Geographers is currently edited by Jennifer Cassidento

More articles in Annals of the American Association of Geographers from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().