Abstract
Floodplains cover only 6% of the Earth’s surface. Connectivity occurs in multidirectional patterns in riverbeds, throughout both the drainage paths of the tributaries and the areas contiguous to the riverbed. This study discusses the variations in the levels of the water table as a component of a spatiotemporal representation for evaluating the importance of floodplains as hydric regulatory elements, and the application of this knowledge for developing techniques for the renaturalization of water functions to produce ecosystem services. We measured the variation in the water table level in a floodplain of the Paraiba do Sul River (southeastern Brazil), whose 77 floodplains occupy only 3.87% of the basin and present a high potential for the renaturalization of their water functions. The litho-structural control point (LSCP) is situated in the river channel and mark the end of the floodplain. Areas near the LSCP remain continually saturated, storing water and contributing to dry-season hydrographs. Areas up to 4400 m away from the LSCP perform hydric regulation, storing water from floods of the riverbed and reducing its flow downstream. Areas up to 7500 m away from the LSCP have an increased absorption potential. These three areas operate differently and integrally in absorbing floodwaters and recharging the water table, influencing the increase in minimum flows in the riverbed. The understanding of the functions of these sectors enables the design of objective measures that safeguard and increase the likelihood of the renaturalization of the hydrological functions of floodplains.
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledgment the Municipal Government of Porto Real and the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro. This study was financed in part by the Brazilian Program for the Coordination of Improvement for University-Level Personnel (CAPES), of the Ministry of Education—Finance Code 001.
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This study was financed in part by the Brazilian Program for the Coordination of Improvement for University-Level Personnel (CAPES), of the Ministry of Education—Finance Code 001.
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All authors made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; or the creation of new software used in the work; drafted the work or revised it critically for important intellectual content; approved the version to be published; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. M.N.B.: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, formal analysis, writing-original draft preparation, reviewing and editing, project administration. R.V.: conceptualization, data collection, methodology, writing-original draft preparation, resources, project administration. M.C.M.: conceptualization, methodology, writing-original draft preparation, resources, formal analysis.
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Baptista, M.N., Valcarcel, R. & Martelotte, M.C. Floodplains and Connectivity Zones: Enhancing the Provision of Ecosystem Services. Water Resour Manage 36, 341–352 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-021-03030-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-021-03030-y