Water Quality and Landscape Processes of Four Watersheds in Eastern Puerto Rico.

摘要

Puerto Rico is in a state of rapid, ongoing change. Locally, agricultural lands are undergoing reforestation, while coastal areas are becoming heavily urbanized. The area is also changing because of the introduction of nonnative species, water supply projects, and the construction of roads and other infrastructure. Superimposed on these local phenomena are slower, larger scale changes, such as the deposition of airborne pollutants and natural and human-induced climate change. Owing to the islands steep topography, low water-storage capacity, and dependence on trade-wind precipitation, Puerto Ricos people, ecosystems, and water supply are vulnerable to extreme weather such as hurricanes, floods, and droughts. Eastern Puerto Rico offers a natural laboratory for separating geologic and land-cover influences from regional- and global-scale influences because of its various bedrock types and the changing land cover surrounding intact, mature forest of the Luquillo Experimental Forest (which is contiguous with El Yunque National Forest). Accordingly, a multiyear assessment of hydrological and biogeochemical processes was designed to develop an understanding of the effects of these differences on local climate, streamflow, water quality, and ecosystems, and to form the basis for a long-term and eventbased program of climate and hydrologic monitoring.