Development of functional hydrological indicators for the evaluation of the impact of global change in Andean ecosystems

Despite the importance of the most important Andean ecosystems in the south of Ecuador for society, such as the Páramo, Neblina and Dry Forest Forest, there is no research on their functioning. This limits the creation of policies that allow adequate management and conservation of them. Similarly, the lack of knowledge and information means that it is not known what are and would be the effects of global change on the southern area of the country. It is for this reason that it is essential to analyze what are the effects that human practices on the hydrology of the basins containing these ecosystems. Additionally, a current deficiency is the lack of functional indicators that allow an evaluation of natural ecosystems and in the same way a control of the impacts of the productive activities that are developed in the country, such as agriculture, livestock, afforestation, mining among others. In this sense, the project has as its main objective the development of functional indicators related to the hydrogeochemistry of the study ecosystems, which will allow creating policies for the management and control of natural resources and especially of water resources. This objective will allow answering questions such as: What are the hydrological processes that dominate the generation of runoff in different scenarios of global change?, Is it possible to quantify these hydrological processes using appropriate techniques? What are the main functional indicators that allow to manage water resources? What is the impact of land use change on the main hydrological processes? In this sense, research will have as a result the development of functional indicators that allow the proper management of natural resources. The indicators must evaluate the state of conservation and the impacts of the change in land use on the distribution of the amount of water over time, the hydrological processes related to the contributions of the different landscape water sources (Flow Paths) and the time that the water remains in the system. Additionally, there will be a calibrated and validated hydrological model, with which later scenarios of land use change will be run and thus evaluate different productive practices.

OUT OF CALL – EXTERNAL FUNDS