Forestry Activities and Surface Water Quality in a Rainfall Watershed

Year 2018, Volume: 4 Issue: 2, 70 - 82, 28.12.2018

Necla Koralay , Ömer Kara

https://doi.org/10.33904/ejfe.438621

Cited By: 8

Abstract

The
characteristics of water and water quality of the mainstream in a watershed can
be directly affected by the ecological characteristics of the terrestrial
ecosystem and indirectly affected by the species composition and structural
change of the forests that interact. The most important causes of the
structural changes are both silvicultural treatments and harvesting activities
which can be considered as the main forestry activities. While water quality in
a watershed is indirectly affected by forestry activities, especially
harvesting activities, aquatic habitat can be also significantly affected. Due
to the multifaceted interactions between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems,
this issue has not yet been clearly elucidated. Long-term studies on this
subject at global scale have become widespread in recent years, which may guide
the environmental and natural scientists to understand how the quality and
characteristics of the prosperous water resources change with environmental
influences. When the forestry activities are evaluated on the watershed basis,
the flow regime of the mainstream changes while both the water temperature and
the algal population increases, especially after the harvesting and thinning
activities in riparian zones. In addition, there is an increase in the amount
of sediment and organic matter transported to the main stream due to the
decrease in forest vegetation in the watershed. That situation decreases water
quality and negatively affects invertebrates, fish and other aquatic organisms.
In this study, the impact of forestry activities on the quality of water resources
and the indirect impact on the aquatic ecosystem was evaluated based on the
relevant studies.

Keywords

Aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, Forestry activities, Watershed management

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