Assessing Hydrological Connectivity Mitigated by Reservoirs, Vegetation Cover, and Climate in Yan River Watershed on the Loess Plateau, China: The Network Approach

Hydrologic connectivity is related to the water-mediated transport of matter, energy, and organisms within or between elements of the hydrologic cycle. It reflects the hydrological consequences caused by topographic, land cover, and climatic factors, and is an important tool to characterize and predict the hydrological responses to climate and landscape change. In the Loess Plateau region, a large number of reservoirs have been constructed to trap sediment and storage water for drinking, irrigation, and industries. The land cover has been significantly reshaped in the past decades. These changes may alter the watershed hydrological connectivity. In this study, we mapped the spatial pattern of hydrological connectivity with consideration of reservoir impedances, mitigation of climate, and land cover in the Yan River watershed on the Loess Plateau by using the network index (<i>NI</i>) approach that is based on topographical wetness index. Three wetness indices were used, i.e., topographical wetness index (<i>TWI</i>), SAGA (System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses) wetness index (<i>WI_S</i>), and wetness index adopted aridity index (<i>AI</i>) determined by precipitation and evapotranspiration (<i>WI_PE</i>). In addition, the effective catchment area (<i>ECA</i>) was also employed to reveal the connectivity of reservoirs and river networks to water source areas. Results show that <i>ECA</i> of reservoirs and rivers account for 35% and 65%, respectively; the hydrological connectivity to the reservoir was lower than that to the river networks. The normalized hydrological connectivity revealed that the connectivity to river channels maintained the same distribution pattern but with a decreased range after construction of reservoirs. As revealed by comparing the spatial patterns of hydrological connectivity quantified by <i>NI</i> based on <i>WI_S</i> and <i>WI_PE</i> respectively, vegetation cover patterns had significantly alternated watershed hydrological connectivity. These results imply a decreased volume of flow in river channels after reservoir construction, but with same temporal period of flow dynamic. It is illustrated that the network index (<i>NI</i>) is suitable to quantify the hydrological connectivity and it is dynamic in the context of human intervention and climate change.