Local to landscape-level controls of water fluxes through Hawaiian forests: Effects of invasive animals and plants on soil infiltration capacity across substrate and moisture gradients

Given the potential effect of invasive plants and animals to water fluxes through forests, the invasive-driven degradation of native ecosystems is a topic of great concern for many downstream land and water managers. The infiltration rate determines the partitioning between runoff and infiltration into soil in Hawaiian forests and beyond. Thus, to explore the ecohydrological effects of plant and animal invasion in mesic and wet forests in Hawaii, we measured soil infiltration capacity in multiple fenced (i.e., ungulate-free)/unfenced and native/invaded forest sites along moisture and substrate age gradients across the islands of Hawai‘i and Kaua‘i. We also characterized forest composition and structure and soil...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation

Approved DataSets

Approved Products

Hawaiian Islands datasets quantifying the effects of invasive animals and plants on native forests across the archipelago 2019 (ver. 2.0 April 2020)

Dataset includes publicly available geologic and rainfall data, and environmental and ecological data derived or collected for this project. Specifically, water infiltration measurements, interepreted field-saturated hydraulic conductivity values, ungulate activity, vegetation cover, general soil and weather conditions data are included. Soil samples were collected, lab analyzed, and are included in the dataset. Field-collected data are associated with plots that encompassed approximately a 3 x 3 m area; site data represent approximately 20 x 20 m. First posted: 4 March 2020 (available from author) Revised: April 13, 2020 (version 2.0) The revision is provided due to minor refinement of the dataset and updated...

Categories: Data, Data Release - Revised; Tags: Hawaii, Hedychium gardnerianum, Kauai, Metrosideros polymorpha, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), All tags... biota, canopy cover, ecohydrology, field-saturated hydraulic conductivity, infiltration, invasive plant, mesic forest, ungulate, watershed, wet forest, Fewer tags

Other (Approved for Public)

Examining current bias and future projection consistency of globally downscaled climate projections commonly used in climate impact studies

The associated uncertainties of future climate projections are one of the biggest obstacles to overcome in studies exploring the potential regional impacts of future climate shifts. In remote and climatically complex regions, the limited number of available downscaled projections may not provide an accurate representation of the underlying uncertainty in future climate or the possible range of potential scenarios. Consequently, global downscaled projections are now some of the most widely used climate datasets in the world. However, they are rarely examined for representativeness of local climate or the plausibility of their projected changes. Here we explore the utility of two such global datasets (CHELSA and WorldClim2)...

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Landscape level effects of invasive plants and animals on water infiltration through Hawaiian tropical forests

Watershed degradation due to invasion threatens downstream water flows and associated ecosystem services. While this topic has been studied across landscapes that have undergone invasive-driven state changes (e.g., native forest to invaded grassland), it is less well understood in ecosystems experiencing within-system invasion (e.g. native forest to invaded forest). To address this subject, we conducted an integrated ecological and ecohydrological study in tropical forests impacted by invasive plants and animals. We measured soil infiltration capacity in multiple fenced (i.e., ungulate-free)/unfenced and native/invaded forest site pairs along moisture and substrate age gradients across Hawaii to explore the effects...

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Estimating the Impact of Climate and Vegetation Changes on Runoff Risk across the Hawaiian Landscape

In Hawai’i, ecosystem conservation practitioners are increasingly considering the potential ecohydrological benefits from applied conservation action to mitigate the degrading impacts of runoff on native and restored ecosystems. One determinant of runoff is excess rainfall events where rainfall rates exceed the infiltration capacity of soils. To help understand runoff risks, we calculated the probability of excess rainfall events across the Hawaiian landscape by comparing the probability distributions of projected rainfall frequency and land-cover-specific infiltration capacity. We characterized soil infiltration capacity based on different land cover types (bare soil, grasses, and woody vegetation) and compared...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation