Rewilding and the water cycle

Gemma L. Harvey; Alexander J. Henshaw

doi:10.1002/wat2.1686

journal article Open Access Aug 08, 2023

Rewilding and the water cycle

Gemma L. Harvey Alexander J. Henshaw

WIREs Water Vol. 10 No. 6 · Wiley

View at Publisher Save 10.1002/wat2.1686

Abstract

AbstractRewilding is a radical approach to landscape conservation that has the potential to help mitigate flood risk and low flow stresses, but this remains largely unexplored. Here, we illustrate the nature of hydrological changes that rewilding can be expected to deliver through reducing or ceasing land management, natural vegetation regeneration, species (re)introductions, and changes to river networks. This includes major changes to above‐ and below‐ground vegetation structure (and hence interception, evapotranspiration, infiltration, and hydraulic roughness), soil hydrological properties, and the biophysical structure of river channels. The novel, complex, uncertain, and longer‐term nature of rewilding‐driven change generates some key challenges, and rewilding is currently relatively constrained in geographical extent. Significant changes to the water cycle that benefit people and nature are possible but there is an urgent need for improved understanding and prediction of rewilding trajectories and their hydrological effects, generation of the knowledge and tools to facilitate stakeholder engagement, and an extension of the geography of rewilding opportunities.This article is categorized under:
Science of Water > Hydrological Processes
Science of Water > Water Extremes
Water and Life > Conservation, Management, and Awareness

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Metrics

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Citations

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References

Details

Published: Aug 08, 2023
Vol/Issue: 10(6)
License: View

Authors

G

Gemma L. Harvey

School of Geography Queen Mary University of London London UK

A

Alexander J. Henshaw

School of Geography Queen Mary University of London London UK

Funding

Leverhulme Trust Award: RF‐2022‐284\4

Cite This Article

Gemma L. Harvey, Alexander J. Henshaw (2023). Rewilding and the water cycle. WIREs Water, 10(6). https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1686

Rewilding and the water cycle

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