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Baseline assessment of the hydrological network and land use in riparian buffers of Pampean streams of Uruguay

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Abstract

The integrated assessment of stream networks and terrestrial land use contributes a critical foundation for understanding and mitigating potential impacts on stream ecology. Riparian zone delineation and management is a key component for regulating water quality, particularly in agricultural watersheds. We present a national assessment of riparian zone land uses according to stream order for the entire hydrological network in the Uruguayan landscape in Southeastern South America. We classified over 82,500 km of streams and rivers in Uruguay into seven Strahler order classes and delineated riparian buffers of 100 and 500 m, depending on stream order, covering a total of 13% of the terrestrial land area in Uruguay. Natural vegetation cover in riparian zones averaged 77% among basins, whereby natural grassland dominated first and second order stream buffers at 58% and 49%, respectively. This highlighted the importance of grasslands in headwater regions of the country. Riparian forests formed corridors along larger streams, representing a mere 9% of buffers in first order streams but reaching 46% of buffers of 6th order streams. Among the six major basins of Uruguay, we found differences in the relative importance of riparian forests and crop cover in headwater stream riparian zones, as well as differences in relative crop cover within riparian zones. Results show that streams in subtropical grassland landscapes originate in open grassland environments, which has major implications for thermal regimes, carbon inputs, and stream biodiversity. Riparian buffer management should consider geographic differences among different basins and ecoregions within Uruguay.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Arq. Rogelio Texeira and Dra. Mariel Bazzalo of CARU for their collaboration.

Funding

This research was funded in part by an Agreement between CENUR Litoral Norte—Universidad de la República and the Administrative Commission of the Uruguay River (Comisión Administradora del Río Uruguay—CARU). Author IGB and CL were further supported by the program for development of basic sciences in Uruguay (PEDECIBA) and the National System of Researchers of the National Agency for Innovation and Research (ANII). NG received financial support from ANII scholarship program and IS received financial support from the Postgraduate Academic Commission (CAP, Universidad de la República) scholarship program.

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  1. Laboratorio de Ecología Fluvial, Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, CENUR Litoral Norte - Universidad de La República, Km 363, Ruta 3, 6000, Paysandú, Paysandú, Uruguay

    Ana Lucía Mary-Lauyé, Iván González-Bergonzoni, Noelia Gobel, Andrea Somma, Ivana Silva & Christine M. Lucas

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  1. Ana Lucía Mary-Lauyé
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  2. Iván González-Bergonzoni
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  3. Noelia Gobel
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  4. Andrea Somma
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  5. Ivana Silva
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  6. Christine M. Lucas
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Contributions

Mary conducted all GIS processing and developed all maps and tables. Gonzalez contributed to manuscript. Gobel, Somma and Silva contributed to the text. Lucas coordinated the study and the writing. All authors contributed substantially to the text and interpretation of results.

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Correspondence to Christine M. Lucas.

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Mary-Lauyé, A.L., González-Bergonzoni, I., Gobel, N. et al. Baseline assessment of the hydrological network and land use in riparian buffers of Pampean streams of Uruguay. Environ Monit Assess 195, 80 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10684-7

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