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Mapa de erosión hídrica para la cuenca del río Conchos, para los años (A) 1980; (B) 2000; y (C) 2018. Hydric erosion map for the Conchos river basin, for (A) 1980, (B) 2000, and (C) 2018.
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Introducción:
El cambio de la cobertura original de suelo y la erosión consecuente, son problemas comunes en la cuenca del río Conchos, con un impacto directo para más de 1.3 millones de habitantes. El problema se acentúa con la tala desmedida, los incendios, la sobreexplotación y la contaminación del agua superficial y subterránea. Así mismo, acor...
Citations
... Nevertheless, all these entries contribute to forming a picture of the changes in the forest ecosystem that have occurred during the last 4-5 decades. A study conducted in 2006 in a region within the Rio Conchos basin known as Unidad de Manejo Forestal San Juanito stands out [38]. This study reports an average annual reduction in forest cover of −1% between 1997 and 2005, with a reduction in the surface covered by pine and an increase in oak and mix (pine-oak) cover, agreeing with the reportedly higher resilience of oak compared to pine [28]. ...
... This rate of deforestation is considered high, and thus deserving of emergency measures to revert it, generally accomplished after performing various actions towards reforestation [39]. In addition, Martínez-Sifuentes et al. [38] report an increase in pine trees (+0.21%) between 1980 and 2000 within the Rio Conchos basin, whereas, in the period 2000 to 2018, a decrease in the cover of pine and an increase in the cover of oak. A concurrent increase in the agricultural surface cover in both periods suggests that the changes in forest type are likely anthropogenic and related to agricultural production. ...
... Changes in pine and oak coverage with respect to time for forests of the Rio Conchos basin were plotted for better visualization (Figure 3). Figure 3 shows that positive values (increase coverage) correspond to mostly oak while and negative values are common for pine. Forest cover rates for the Rio Conchos basin [25,26,38,40] plot within the range of values obtained for Mexico's temperate forests [30]. The main causes of deforestation in the upper part of the basin have been identified as forest fires, illegal tree cutting, and drought [39], and pines (Pinus spp.) as the trees most severely affected. ...
Under the current climate crisis, the ecological integrity of forest ecosystems is key to increasing resilience and the sustainability of water and soil resources. Most forests around the world have experienced deforestation and degradation in the past few decades; however, the rate at which these occur varies depending on many factors, including the type of trees, management, and climate. We conducted a review of the deforestation, degradation, and soil erosion of the pine-oak forest within the Rio Conchos basin in northern Mexico. Preference was given to recent studies (last 10 years) conducted within this basin. Out of 27 recent publications on oak forests in Mexico, 19 focused on this forest and half of them were in Spanish. The results show that pine trees are more affected than oak trees, also that the deforestation rate has increased with time and is greater at higher elevations, making this area vulnerable to loss of topsoil during extreme hydrological events. Studies report an annual change in cover rate between 1985 and 2016 of −1.2% for pine, oak and mix vegetation. More recently, between 2000 and 2018, the change in pine cover was calculated as −2.8% concurrent with a +3.4% increase in cover of oak and other secondary vegetation. Proposed conservation strategies vary from runoff control to increased collaboration between landowners, government agencies, and stakeholders.
... It is extremely important to know the historical and current trends of the spatiotemporal variability of surface cover and changes [60]. Changes can modify the hydrological ecosystem balance. ...
... Therefore, in degraded areas, there would be a significant advance of rainfed agriculture (64.2%), preferably forest. The model indicates that surface runoff would increase under these conditions [60,63] in the three micro-watersheds: Chapingo River (332.1%, 187.8%, and 140.6%), Texcoco River (355.6%, 184.2%, and 142.4) and San Bernardino River (326.1%, 190.8% and 140.1%) according to the CNRM, HadGEM3, and MPI, respectively. ...
Temperate forests are key to the balance and provision of hydrological and environmental services. Currently, these forests are subject to human alterations as well as to the effects of global change, including warming, variability, deforestation, and forest fires. As a consequence, the hydrological balance has been modified. The present study simulates the effects of climate change and land use change on the hydrological balance of micro-watersheds in Mexico using the hydrological model Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP). The land use change between 1995 and 2021 was estimated to establish a baseline. Climate scenario SSP585 was projected using three global models, MPI-ESM1-2-LR, HadGEM3-GC31-LL, and CNRM-CM6-1 by the 2081–2100 horizon, along with two scenarios of land use change: one with forest permanence and another with loss of forest cover and increased forest fires. Results indicate that future climatic conditions will modify the hydrological balance at the microbasin level. Even with positive conditions of forest permanence, increases in surface runoff of 124% (CNRM), 35% (HadGEM3), and 13% (MPI) are expected. The projections of coverage loss and fires showed surface runoff increases of 338% (CNRM), 188% (HadGEM3), and 143% (MPI). In the high areas of the microbasins where temperate forest predominates, climatic variations could be contained. If the forest is conserved, surface runoff decreases by −70% (CNRM), −87% (HadGEM3), and −89% (MPI). Likewise, the moisture in the soil increases. In areas with temperate forests, there will be modifications of the hydrological balance mainly due to the increase in evapotranspiration (due to the increase in temperature and precipitation). This will cause a significant decrease in flow and interflow. The alteration of these flows will decrease water availability in soil for infiltration. It is expected that the availability of hydrological and environmental services will be compromised in the entire study area due to climate change.
... Por ello es necesario el uso de información espacial de los patrones climáticos, para permitir la detección espacial de las áreas de riesgo en los procesos de pérdida de suelo y escorrentía superficial (Martínez Sifuentes et al. 2020). Usando tecnologías avanzadas como los sensores, la inteligencia artificial y la robótica que se promueven cada vez más como un medio para mejorar la productividad en la producción de alimentos al tiempo que se minimiza el uso de recursos (Rotz et al. 2019) puede combinar los insumos RED (reducidos) y la diversidad DAG (granos anuales diversificados) para reducir el impacto del cambio climático evitando pérdidas de NO3-N y P del suelo, proporcionando así una solución adaptativa y sostenible para la agricultura con respecto a las próximas variaciones estacionales de temperatura y precipitación (Lychuk et al. 2019) para reducir los impactos ambientales de la agricultura (Sylvester et al. 2016). ...
Biodiversity is being affected by the overexploitation of natural resources, the increase of invasive species, climate change, intensive agriculture, and livestock farming. Among these, intensive soybean cultivation has displaced other products such as rice and wheat; intensive cultivation leads to increased use of agrochemicals, which generates severe socio-environmental effects, particularly on biodiversity. The objective of the study was to compile scientific literature produced on the loss of biodiversity caused by intensive agriculture and climate change, and within them the possible effects on the interrelationship between human beings and the environment. The methodological procedure was the systematic review developed in March 2021, using Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT with terms “biodiversity”, “climate change” and “agriculture” in the Scopus, Web of Science and Scielo databases. The results identified that there were at least 99 topics in Web of Science (99 topics), Scopus (155 topics) and Scielo (36 topics) that show the loss of biodiversity due to climate change and the expansion of intensive agriculture with consequences, not only in the regions surrounding the crops in question, but also indirectly in the mountain regions through the consumption of soybean in animals and derivatives in humans. It is concluded that biodiversity as a provider of food and disease prevention for humanity contributes to sustainability and, therefore, its preservation requires the adoption of aggressive public policies within the framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
... We must know the historical and current trends that can be observed in the spatiotemporal fluctuation of the changes in the surface of the dominant cover classes [54] to determine the effects that these changes will have on the behavior of the hydrological environmental service balance. The results of the supervised classifications for 1995, 2008, and 2021 are shown in Figure 3. ...
... Therefore, in degraded areas, there would be a considerable advance in rainfed agricultural areas (64.2%), which would take the place of what would preferably be forested areas. Under these conditions, the model indicates that surface runoff would increase [54,57] in the three microbasins: Chapingo River (68.2%), Texcoco River (85.4%), and San Bernardino River (49.9%). The elimination of vegetation cover and soil organic matter will lead to changes in the hydrological processes by reducing the interception of precipitation and modifying the structure of the surface soil [14,15,82]. ...
Temperate forests play a fundamental role in the provision, regulation, and support of hydrological environmental services, but they are subject to constant changes in land use (clearing, overgrazing, deforestation, and forest fires) that upset the hydrological balance. Through scenarios simulated with the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) hydrological model, the present study analyzes the effects of forest fires and land use changes on the hydrological balance in the microwatersheds of central Mexico. The land use changes that took place between 1995 and 2021 were estimated, and projections based on the current scenario were made. Two trend scenarios were proposed for 2047: one with a positive trend (forest permanence) and the other with a negative trend (loss of cover from forest fires). The results show that with permanence or an increase in forest area, the surface runoff would decrease by 48.2%, increasing the base flow by 37% and the soil moisture by 2.3%. If forest is lost, surface runoff would increase up to 454%, and soil moisture would decrease by 27%. If the current forest decline trends continue, then there will be negative alterations in hydrological processes: a reduction in the interception of precipitation by the canopy and an increase in the velocity and flow of surface runoff, among others. The final result will be a lower amount of water being infiltrated into the soil and stored in the subsoil. The provision of hydrological environmental services depends on the maintenance of forest cover.
Research on soil erosion by water (SEW) includes studies on different spatialand temporal scales. Nevertheless, in Mexico (as in many countries of the LatinAmerican and the Caribbean Region), a lack of studies on SEW is constantlyreported in high-impact journals. We argue that this lack is mainly due to thelanguage in which the majority of the scientific research about SEW in Mexico ispublished, which is Spanish. Therefore, the objective is to identify the maintrends in SEW research in Mexico, through a review of peer-reviewed studiespublished in Spanish. The review is centred on two sources of studies publishedin Spanish that are relevant to Mexican soil sciences communities: Scielo(Scientific Electronic Library Online) and Redalyc (Diamond Open Access scien-tific journal network non-commercial global infrastructure owned by academia).As a result, we identified 37 relevant peer-reviewed articles about SEW, and theprincipal article aim of these works is modelling and measuring SEW (45.9 and29.7% of the total articles compiled, respectively). We observed that research onSEW in Mexico follows the same trends as global reports. For example, the mostfrequently implemented models are those in the Universal Soil LossEquation and its variants. We observed no data-sharing culture in most of therevised articles. Our results suggest that large-scale studies on SEW are neededin Mexico to better understand its role in large-scale earth system models. There-fore, we conclude that despite the scarce international visibility of Spanish-written SEW research, multiple valuable studies have indeed been carried outand they provide relevant information for the development of baseline referencestowards enabling nationwide soil erosion monitoring programmes in Mexico.
