Watershed Ecology and the Environment最新文献

{"title":"How far have roadside curb inlets evolved towards sustainable urban drainage?","authors":"Aamer Majid Bhat ,&nbsp;Indra Mani Tripathi ,&nbsp;Pranab Kumar Mohapatra","doi":"10.1016/j.wsee.2025.05.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wsee.2025.05.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Stormwater management has become a critical issue, particularly with the ongoing urbanization and the impacts of climate change. Roadside curb inlets are key components of grey infrastructure that convey stormwater to various drainage systems. Curb inlets for conventional drainage systems are typically long, whereas they are usually shorter for directing stormwater to sustainable green stormwater infrastructures (GSIs), such as a roadside bioretention cell. As shorter curb inlets drain stormwater to GSIs, they have noteworthy advantages over conventional inlets such as environmental sustainability, urban flood resilience, pollution control, improved public health, and mitigating urban heat stress. This perspective aims to present a global outlook on the implementation of sustainable GSI curb inlets while also exploring the transition from conventional to sustainable systems. While some countries such as the USA, Canada, and China have adopted sustainable drainage practices including curb inlets, most regions, such as South Asia, Central America, and Africa are still far from embracing these practices. For the wider implementation of sustainable curb inlets with GSIs, recommendations include framing policies at the ministry level, raising awareness through research institutes, and educating the public on the benefits of sustainable drainage. For efficient design, it’s crucial to understand curb inlet hydraulics, consider various design parameters, monitor for clogging and sediment buildup, and account for climate change impacts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101280,"journal":{"name":"Watershed Ecology and the Environment","volume":"7 ","pages":"Pages 199-207"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143934926","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integrating socio-economic zones into water resource analysis under land use change and climate variability in the Okavango basin","authors":"Blessing Kavhu ,&nbsp;Zama Eric Mashimbye ,&nbsp;Linda Luvuno ,&nbsp;Udita Sanga","doi":"10.1016/j.wsee.2025.06.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wsee.2025.06.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The impacts of land use/land cover (LULC) change and climate variability on surface water availability is critical for informing transboundary water management. However, most hydrological models overlook the socio-economic (SE) heterogeneity of basins, potentially leading to oversimplified or inaccurate conclusions. This study aims to analyze the value of integrating socio-economic zones into hydrological analysis when disentangling the effects of LULC change and climate variability on surface water yield in the Okavango Basin. Using the InVEST water yield model, we simulated surface water availability for the years 2004, 2013, and 2020, achieving strong agreement with observed discharge data (R² = 0.88, p &lt; 0.05). Results show a basin-wide decline in mean surface water depth from 459 mm in 2004 to 299 mm in 2020, a 35 % reduction, consistent with regional drying trends and increasing anthropogenic pressures. Climate variability emerged as the dominant driver of change, explaining 81.7 % and 78.5 % of water yield variation during 2004–2013 and 2013–2020, respectively. However, in highly modified zones such as SE 2, 7, and 13, LULC change accounted for over 50 % of the variation, underscoring the spatial heterogeneity of hydrological drivers. By incorporating socio-economic zoning, this study offers a more nuanced and policy-relevant understanding of surface water dynamics and supports the design of targeted, zone-specific water management strategies in transboundary contexts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101280,"journal":{"name":"Watershed Ecology and the Environment","volume":"7 ","pages":"Pages 338-352"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144687539","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Soil quality assessment and land capability evaluation for determining integrated watershed management model through SWOT analysis and AHP method in Arjasa Sub-watershed, Indonesia","authors":"Bambang Hermiyanto ,&nbsp;Cindia Mawarni ,&nbsp;Sugeng Winarso ,&nbsp;Subhan Arief Budiman","doi":"10.1016/j.wsee.2025.02.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wsee.2025.02.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Arjasa sub-watershed is the upstream area of Bedadung watershed, playing a significant role in Jember Regency. Damage to this area can be caused by inappropriate land use and management, leading to a<!--> <!-->substantial reduction in the health of Bedadung watershed. Despite the significant role, there is no information on the level of soil quality and land capability in Arjasa sub-watershed that can be used for condition monitoring. Furthermore, there is a lack of previous analysis on determining the integrated watershed management model (IWMM). Therefore, this study aims to define the level of soil quality and land capability classes (LCC) as well as construct appropriate IWMM through SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis and AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) method. The research revealed that the average SQI ranges between the low category (0.38) in cluster 3, medium (0.49 – 0.53) in clusters 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and the good category (0, 77) in cluster 4. The indicators determining SQI included in MDS are Ca, organic C, pH H2O, and base saturation, respectively. Apart from that, this research identified four LCCs, namely classes IV, VI, VII, and VIII with the main limiting factors being permeability, erosion rate, and slope. Class IV is found in cluster 1 and Cluster 7 with a total area of 626.6 ha (18.6 %). Class VI is found in cluster 5 with a total area of 107.6 ha (3.2). Class VII is found in clusters 2, 3, and 6 with a total area of 2,132.1 ha (63.4 %). Meanwhile, Class VIII is in cluster 4 with a total area of ​​497.8 ha (14.8 %). From the aspect of land capability, only clusters 1 and 7 can be used for agricultural cultivation, while the other clusters are not suitable for agricultural land. It was concluded that the main priority of IWMM models those suitable to the characteristic of the research site is law enforcement against offenders of illegal logging and inappropriate land use practices.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101280,"journal":{"name":"Watershed Ecology and the Environment","volume":"7 ","pages":"Pages 104-118"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143680541","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Satellite-based alpine water dynamics response to climate change across the Tibetan Plateau","authors":"Yuling Liang ,&nbsp;Hui Zhao ,&nbsp;Meihong Wang ,&nbsp;Xiaodan Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.wsee.2025.05.007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wsee.2025.05.007","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The spatiotemporal water dynamics across the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are important for sustainable utilization and management of water resources in Asia, particularly under the influence of climate change. However, comprehensive assessments of the long-term variations in lakes, marshlands, and terrestrial water storage (TWS) across the TP remain limited. This study utilized a long-term series of Landsat images of the TP to create annual lake maps with 30-m spatial resolution for the period 1990–2022, using a surface water frequency algorithm and Google Earth Engine (GEE). Based on the derived maps, the spatiotemporal trends of marshland area (MA) were analyzed. We also investigated changes in TWS from 2002 to 2022 using GRACE and GRACE-FO data products. Furthermore, we conducted a quantitative analysis of the drivers of changes in lake area (LA) and TWS. Results show that from 1990 to the 2020s, both LA and the number of lakes increased rapidly, with the most pronounced changes occurring in the Inner Plateau. In contrast, MA exhibited a declining trend during 1990–2020, also predominantly in the Inner Plateau. TWS exhibited an overall increasing trend, predominantly occurring in the Inner Plateau, where lakes are most densely distributed—mirroring the spatial pattern of lake expansion. The findings of this study could assist both the government and the general public in confronting the escalating challenges regarding water resources and water security in China.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101280,"journal":{"name":"Watershed Ecology and the Environment","volume":"7 ","pages":"Pages 274-286"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144212350","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spatial distribution of soil organic carbon and nutrients in the southern Sundarbans of Bangladesh","authors":"Abu Bakar Siddique ,&nbsp;Muhaiminul Islam ,&nbsp;Nishat Tasnim ,&nbsp;Abdullah Al Maruf ,&nbsp;Abu Sayed Al Helal ,&nbsp;Masum Howlader","doi":"10.1016/j.wsee.2025.03.005","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wsee.2025.03.005","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest plays a crucial role in carbon sequestration and coastal ecosystem stability. This study investigated the spatial distribution of surface soil nutrients, organic carbon (%OC), salinity, and pH, along with their interrelationships, at a regional scale in the southern part of the Sundarbans. In this study, a total of 21 soil samples were taken from 10 cm depth at 21 locations in the southern part of the Sundarbans areas. The surface soil samples were analyzed in the laboratory to determine essential soil properties, including organic carbon (%OC), nitrogen (%N), phosphorous (P), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), sulfur (S), pH, electric conductivity (EC), and salinity. The results showed spatial variations of nutrient concentrations, with higher surface soil organic carbon (%OC) and nutrient levels observed in areas with lower salinity and pH. Pearson’s correlation matrix (PCM) analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between surface OC and both salinity and pH (p &lt; 0.05). Moreover, the soils were predominantly silt-textured, with nutrient levels ranging from normal to brackish-saline, largely influenced by salinity intrusion. Cluster analysis (CA) and principal component analysis (PCA) revealed distinct patterns in surface soil physicochemical properties, suggesting that salinity, pH, and organic carbon are main factors influencing nutrient distribution in the study area. The study emphasizes the need to conserve the Sundarbans by reducing anthropogenic activities, regulating freshwater inflows to control salinity, and promoting mangrove regeneration to maintain soil health and ecological balance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101280,"journal":{"name":"Watershed Ecology and the Environment","volume":"7 ","pages":"Pages 310-326"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144517795","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hydrological challenges and agricultural opportunities in Northern Ghana: addressing climate change impacts and future pathways","authors":"Prosper Kpiebaya ,&nbsp;Abdul-Ganiyu Shaibu ,&nbsp;Eliasu Salifu ,&nbsp;Mabel Kumah ,&nbsp;Mohammed Alhassan Issah ,&nbsp;Rophina Muotieme Tingan","doi":"10.1016/j.wsee.2025.08.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wsee.2025.08.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The management of water resources in agriculture is of paramount importance, especially in regions facing hydrological challenges exacerbated by climate change variability. This study explores the hydrological challenges, opportunities, and the way forward for agriculture in the Northern part of Ghana. The region faces issues such as water scarcity, erratic rainfall patterns, land degradation, floods, and droughts, which significantly impact agricultural productivity and livelihoods. This study identifies the region’s critical water management gaps and highlights both barriers and opportunities for sustainable agricultural growth. Our analysis emphasizes that climate-smart water technologies, such as drip irrigation, rainwater harvesting, and hydrological modeling, can significantly enhance water-use efficiency and resilience. Coupled with participatory water governance, infrastructure upgrades, and sustainable land management, these approaches can mitigate water scarcity, soil erosion, and climate risks. Through a comprehensive review of literature and analysis of hydrological data, this study provides insights into the complex interactions between climate change, water resources, and agriculture in Northern Ghana. By understanding these dynamics and implementing appropriate adaptation strategies, stakeholders can work towards building a more resilient agricultural sector capable of addressing the challenges posed by climate change variability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101280,"journal":{"name":"Watershed Ecology and the Environment","volume":"7 ","pages":"Pages 383-397"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144841114","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Lake Babati ecosystem, Tanzania: biodiversity status, anthropogenic threats, and land use implications − a review","authors":"Jackson Henry Katonge,&nbsp;Leopody Gayo","doi":"10.1016/j.wsee.2025.06.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wsee.2025.06.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This is a systematic literature review exploring the effects of anthropogenic activities and land use changes on biodiversity and the ecological health of Lake Babati. A structured search using PRISMA (preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and <em>meta</em>-analyses) 2020 employed three major academic databases, namely Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science. A key factor for choosing sources was their connection to Lake, along with being peer-reviewed, verified by institutions, providing real data on ecological or socio-economic impacts, and being written in English. Information was collected and analyzed by categorizing it into key drivers: changes in land use, pollution, and overfishing. Farming near the lake, cattle grazing and drinking, unsustainable brick-making, overgrazing, illegal fishing, inadequate waste management, and urban expansion have been reported. These practices have led to pollution, the spread of water hyacinth and sedges, nutrient loading, eutrophication, decreased dissolved oxygen, deforestation, soil erosion, flooding, and biodiversity loss-all of which endanger aquatic life. Between 1992 and 2022, land-use changes in Babati Town included increases in institutional land (797.2 ha), industrial land (64.7 ha), and agricultural land (691 ha), while forested areas (−705 ha), undeveloped land (−993 ha), and the lake surface (−173 ha) declined. Fish catch weight fell by 88 %, and daily catch rates declined by 90.8 %, with the most severe decline occurring between 1992 and 2002. Ecological changes have impacted the livelihoods of local communities that depended on fishing and agriculture. We recommend sustainable land use, better water quality monitoring, community conservation, local socio-economic resilience, and strong governance to support waste management and ecosystem restoration.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101280,"journal":{"name":"Watershed Ecology and the Environment","volume":"7 ","pages":"Pages 299-309"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144329617","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Weakly supervised bird-flock counting in wetlands based on multimodal optical image perception","authors":"Shuxiang Feng ,&nbsp;Mengxue Lyu ,&nbsp;Xuetao Han ,&nbsp;Chang Liu ,&nbsp;Jun Qiu","doi":"10.1016/j.wsee.2025.05.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wsee.2025.05.006","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As crucial bio-indicators for wetland ecosystem health assessment, wetland birds play a pivotal role in ecological monitoring and conservation. This study address three challenges in avian population monitoring using optical remote sensing imagery, including high cost of manual annotation, difficulty in extracting small target features in complex background, and insufficient adaptability of multi-scale target recognition. We propose a weakly supervised bird-flock counting method based on the optical image multimodal perception model integrating optical image features and visual semantic features without location annotation. Based on optical image feature enhancement, visual semantic features related to the counting task are extracted through visual cues (counting text prompt), and a learnable feature adapter is introduced to fuse optical image features with visual semantic features. Thus, an optical image multimodal perception model with residual connection mechanism and multi-scale information interaction module is constructed. The residual connection mechanism effectively alleviates the interference caused by posture changes and complex background, and the multi-scale information interaction module solves the problem of target scale change through cross-scale semantic propagation. We construct an optical images bird-flock dataset named Wetland-Bird-Count for the Yellow River Delta coastal wetlands. The experimental results show that the MAE and MSE of the proposed method are 45.2 and 54.2, which is much more accurate than other weakly supervised and unsupervised methods and close to the fully supervised counting method, which verifies that the weakly supervised cluster counting using optical image visual cues can improve the accuracy of bird flock counting under lightweight annotation. This study provides a reliable quantitative analysis tool for optical image ecological monitoring.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101280,"journal":{"name":"Watershed Ecology and the Environment","volume":"7 ","pages":"Pages 249-257"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144147631","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integrated watershed management for transforming dryland livelihoods: A climate-smart strategy for sustainable dryland agriculture in India","authors":"Ram A. Jat ,&nbsp;Dinesh Jinger ,&nbsp;Anita Kumawat ,&nbsp;Saswat Kumar Kar ,&nbsp;Indu Rawat ,&nbsp;Suresh Kumar ,&nbsp;Venkatesh Paramesh ,&nbsp;Vijay Singh Meena ,&nbsp;Rajesh Kaushal ,&nbsp;Kuldeep Kumar ,&nbsp;Hari Singh Meena ,&nbsp;S.P. Wani ,&nbsp;Rajbir Singh ,&nbsp;M. Madhu","doi":"10.1016/j.wsee.2025.03.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wsee.2025.03.006","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In India, 51 % of the net sown area relies on rainfed agriculture, with 40 % of landholdings unirrigated and 13 % partially irrigated. Rainfed farming produces 40 % of food grains and supports two-thirds of the livestock population but faces challenges like land degradation, low productivity, and biodiversity loss due to erratic monsoons and extreme weather. Additionally, India’s water scarcity is worsening, with per capita availability expected to reduce from 802 cubic meters in 2022 to 677 cubic meters by 2050. Therefore, to meet the diverse food requirements of the burgeoning population of the country, conservation of natural resources, and improving the living standard of the resource-poor small and marginal farmers is imperative. Integrated watershed management (IWM) has emerged as a climate-smart strategy to address these challenges by enhancing soil and water conservation, agricultural productivity, and livelihoods in dryland systems. This study assesses the impact of IWM on dryland agriculture in India by analyzing various interventions such as <em>in-situ</em> and <em>ex-situ</em> water conservation, soil health management, and the use of modern technologies like remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS). The results revealed that the adoption of IWM practices has led to significant improvements in soil moisture retention (20–25 %), soil organic carbon (22–32 %) agricultural productivity (30–45 %), and water use efficiency (15–25 %). Additionally, soil conservation techniques have reduced soil loss and runoff by 25–50 % and 50–60 %, respectively. Furthermore, the cultivation of lemon grass (<em>Cymbopogon flexuosus</em>), anjan grass (<em>Cenchrus ciliaris</em>), and bamboo (<em>Bambusa spp</em>.) could be the nature-based solutions for mitigating the impact of climate change due to their soil binding capacity and carbon sequestration potential. Moreover, this review indicates the potential of fast-growing trees (<em>Melia dubia</em>) under the agroforestry system in enhancing carbon sequestration by &gt;100 % over sole cultivation. These results demonstrate that IWM is a sustainable solution to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change on dryland farming systems and improve rural livelihoods. Further, the study suggests that IWM practices helps to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) such as zero hunger, no poverty, and climate action etc., particularly in the face of climate change in water-scarce regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101280,"journal":{"name":"Watershed Ecology and the Environment","volume":"7 ","pages":"Pages 159-177"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143816974","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Geospatial analysis of wetland dynamics and watershed monitoring in Pokhara Valley, Nepal","authors":"Krishna Prasad Sigdel ,&nbsp;Narayan Prasad Ghimire ,&nbsp;Binod Dawadi","doi":"10.1016/j.wsee.2025.06.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wsee.2025.06.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Lakes are essential components of ecosystems and serve as important indicators of climate change and human impact. This study employed historical remote sensing images and geospatial analysis to examine the dynamics of three significant wetlands (Phewa, Begnas, and Rupa lakes) in the Pokhara Valley of Nepal, which are designated as Ramsar sites. Changes in land use land cover (LULC) and soil erosion within the watersheds of these lakes were also monitored using Landsat images and soil erosion dataset, respectively. Additionally, climatic trends in the Pokhara Valley were analyzed using data from ground-based monitoring stations. The results highlight a notable 11.39 % decline in the surface area of Phewa Lake since 1989, while the surface areas of Begnas and Rupa have remained relatively stable. Changes in LULC show an increase in forest cover (+47 to 64 %) and decrease in croplands (−36 to 59 %) across all watersheds. Urbanization is most pronounced in the Phewa watershed, leading to increased pollution and shoreline encroachment. The decline in cropland may improve water quality by decreasing agricultural runoff. However, soil erosion is most severe in cropland areas, resulting in Phewa lake receiving the highest sediment influx among the three lakes. The lake regions have been experiencing changes in temperature (0.3 °C per decade) and rainfall (insignificant slight increase). Changes in these lakes are primarily driven by watershed dynamics and human activities. These results underscore the necessity for integrated watershed management and further in-depth investigation into the effects of climate change on these ecosystems for regional sustainability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101280,"journal":{"name":"Watershed Ecology and the Environment","volume":"7 ","pages":"Pages 287-298"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144270051","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}