PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY ›› 2019, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (8): 1111-1122.doi: 10.18306/dlkxjz.2019.08.001

• Special Column: Watershed Geography •     Next Articles

Integrated watershed modeling and scenario analysis: A new paradigm for integrated study of physical geography?

ZHU A-Xing1,2,3,4,5,6,ZHU Liangjun3,6,*(),SHI Yaxing3,6,QIN Chengzhi3,4,6,LIU Junzhi1,2,4   

  1. 1. School of Geography, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China
    2. Key Laboratory of Virtual Geographic Environment (Nanjing Normal University), Ministry of Education, Nanjing 210023, China
    3. State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
    4. Jiangsu Center for Collaborative Innovation in Geographical Information Resource Development and Application, Nanjing 210023, China
    5. Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
    6. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2018-08-21 Revised:2018-12-27 Online:2019-08-25 Published:2019-08-25
  • Contact: ZHU Liangjun E-mail:zlj@lreis.ac.cn
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(41431177);National Natural Science Foundation of China(41871362);National Basic Research Program of China(2015CB954102);Outstanding Innovation Team in Colleges and Universities in Jiangsu Province;the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions(PAD);National “One-Thousand Talent Plan”;Innovation Project of State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System (LREIS)(O88RA20CYA)

Abstract:

In the context of the changing global environment and rapidly developing economies, the conflict between economic development and resource/environmental conservation is becoming severe. To resolve or relieve the conflict, decision makers need a new knowledge system and scientific decision-making tools. The integrated study of physical geography, which takes the spatial variation and interaction processes of natural geographic elements as main research contents, has the responsibility of providing the new knowledge system and scientific decision-making tools for decision makers. As a relatively closed and independent spatial unit, the watershed provides a natural spatial unit for decision making. The spatial distribution of geographic elements and the mechanism of their interaction processes inside a watershed become the new knowledge system to resolve or relieve this increasingly intensified conflict. Integrated watershed modeling has become an effective way to build this new knowledge system. The effectiveness of different decisions considering the economic and environmental benefits should be evaluated for decision makers before a final decision, which can be provided by a scenario analysis based on integrated watershed modeling. Therefore, from the perspective of resolving or relieving the conflict between economic development and resource/environmental conservation, integrated watershed modeling and scenario analysis is developing into a new paradigm for the integrated study of physical geography in the new era. In this article, the scientific challenges of the integrated study of physical geography based on integrated watershed modeling and scenario analysis were discussed through two case studies of scenario analysis for watershed management, which basically represent two types of questions that decision makers are concerned with. The first type of questions is which kinds of best management practices (BMPs) should be selected, where these BMPs should be allocated, and what economic and environmental benefits are after the implementation of these BMPs. The second type of questions is that under the given objectives of economic and environmental benefits, where the selected BMPs should be allocated and how large spatial extents they should occupy. In conclusion, the integrated study of physical geography based on integrated watershed modeling and scenario analysis should have the characteristics of systematization, spatialization, quantification, ease of use, and decision-making friendly.

Key words: integrated study of physical geography, watershed simulation, integrated watershed modeling, scenario analysis, systematization, ease of use, decision-making friendly