The LTER-Greece Environmental Observatory Network: Design and Initial Achievements

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

 

Main overview and comment:

This paper presents a new improved algorithm and it is proposed to solve the ecological operation problem of the ambition of LTER-Greece design and necessary knowledge to address current environmental challenges. This system provides some rules from a scientific approach to society with the secure natural resources measurement to help mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change, protect biodiversity and landscape; and tackle natural disasters. The manuscript is interesting and deserves to get published. It shows a good case study for an overview of the river basin management plans developed in Greece under the context of the water framework directive with a number of available data. However, I have several concerns below that have to be properly addressed before being considered for publication.

 

Detailed remarks:

(1) In the Abstract, the authors say they established network outlines as a reassessing the projections of the Greece water development. However, they didn't introduce the drawback of the current or traditional similar models and the improvement in this study throughout the manuscript. Instead, the author introduced the improved algorithm LTER-Greece focuses on the holistic study used to solve a multi-objective ecological operation model. Thus, please clearly state the innovation of this study, the model, the algorithm, or both?

 

(2) The "water-environment-ecosystem-food-energy-society nexus" in the Abstract section should be distinguished. What do you mean by this term? Please correct them throughout the manuscript. The authors must ensure the accuracy of fundamental writing and expression format. Some grammar mistakes need to be corrected. Please re-organize it.

 

(3) In the section of Introduction, many sentences should be written in the past tense, rather than the present tense, when the existing results or conclusion was described.

 

(4) Is the "ecological status in control ecosystem fire section" in Figure 2. Classification of flammable material in the broader area obtained based on naturally observed values or simulated ones considering reservoir operation rules? Please add some details for calibrating the post-fire initial condition. Please add a location to Figure 3. Flood vulnerability map.

 

(5) Why do the curves of cumulative capillary rise curve for corn cultivation look unsmooth and have fixed changing slope, contrasted to the smooth curves of BA, in Figure 6. In Figure 7, the objective function of the equation produces results. Is there a theoretical basis for this treatment? In addition, the value in the square root may be less than zero. Does it need an absolute value symbol? How to understand that evapotranspiration (ET) propagation and corresponding soil moisture profile responsive to ET and irrigation/precipitation events have both certainty and the stochastic property?

 

(6) In Figure 10 is it reasonable to transform other constraints into water level constraints? When the reservoir is big enough, is there a relatively large conversion error? A large search range at the beginning of the iteration can improve the local search ability of the algorithm". Please verify its correctness.

 

(7) In figure Figure 11. Scientific hypotheses to be tested and interrelationships among the scientific areas at the LTER-Greece observatory network are compared with sustainable management of agriculture, forestry, biodiversity and ecosystems, land, water resources, coastal zones, and structured environment, and others. Could you explain the iteration times and operation conditions of various algorithms in detail? Is it possible other methods have better results?

 

(8) The relationship between some generations and ecological status seems important. Pasture improvement in extensive farming systems may be complex. Please clarify how and under what circumstances there is a conflict between land use. Can we use your system to improve a conceptual framework for the analysis of engineered biodiverse pastures for tree regeneration, restoration priorities, and forest structure?

(9) Add appropriate analysis of the overall ecological satisfaction rate of a comprehensive model of the socio-ecological system of Samothraki.

 

(10) Samothraki is a very small, but high (1611 m asl) island. Why do you think is “high”? Comparing to which island??

 

(11) Please improve the degree sign in this fragment “Climate change forecasting scenarios in Greece predict an increase of mean annual temperature between 3.5 and 4oC”. There are also some minor issues, I just give some examples. A language check will help to improve the readability. The English style needs to be improved.

 

Constructive feedback:

The title intrigued me and I was expecting an interesting paper to read. However, after reading the introduction I was quite disappointed. The introduction reads, for a large part, as an updated version from an environmental handbook from the last century. Comparing the LTER-Greece environmental observatory network is interesting, however, the authors do not manage to go further than making general statements and assumptions on the impact on the water retention capacity of the different areas. To investigate the possible effect on water quality is interesting, but to my opinion, the set-up of the research does not allow to make specific conclusions on cause and effects. The possible benefit of the measures to mitigate the impact of climate change is not demonstrated. The main differences between the catchments are caused by different degrees of urbanization. There are a number of sloppy mistakes, which did not help to review the paper. For example, why did you not chose Korfu-Kerkira island, which is one of the green in the Greek Mediteran region or Cyprus? I suggest rewriting the introduction, referring to a good hydrology handbook, and make the introduction much more specific by addressing the water quality issues and climate change.

This text is well prepared “Furthermore, the island encompasses interesting man-made systems, such as agroecosystems (olive groves, cultivated & abandoned fields, and a worth-mentioning chestnut forest), terraced landscapes, graze lands, salt-works, not to forget its numerous wetlands. Please expound on this section more.

Figure 10 is not really used in the results section. Examples of biodiversity inventory result from ongoing work at Samothraki: A. Wetlands, B. Freshwater benthic macroinvertebrates, C. Riparian vegetation, and condition assessment, D. Freshwater fish. Why is this? It is also not clear how the indices are calculated. There is a mix-up of figures. Very hard to understand what figure is discussed. I suggest adding a map with an overview of the different catchments. It is not clear what the outcome of the work is. What parameters were analyzed? I suggest putting a large part of this section in a table instead of figures. It is difficult to see how the results support or contradict the findings of other researchers in the discussion. It reads more like a summary of possibilities instead of clear evidence. do not think that the statements of the authors are wrong, but I do not think that the results of the authors provide the evidence for their conclusions. For example, construction of reservoirs for small retention should be preceded by analyses of water quality, as actions improving water parameters should be initiated in catchments with water of poor or unsuitable quality. I miss a paragraph explaining the accuracy of the measurements.

Paragraph 3.2. Critical Zone Science Research – Irrigation water management. The meaning is difficult to grasp here. Do you mean something like: the role of water retention for Nature-Based Solution is an important issue? The reader might also need more information to see the relationship with climate change. And if you state urban and rural, it means almost everything except forested areas, right? Was that your point? Is this something general? I mean, is this statement supported by a global analysis of agroecosystems and drivers in rural/urban water bodies? From a single study? A modeling effort? More is needed to understand your point here. These are obvious, as models have been used for decades to simulate these processes, and the soil water retention depends on land- use. I mean, the model itself is designed to have different soil water retention magnitudes as a function of land use. I do not understand your point here.

 

Summary comment:

With the submitted manuscript the authors propose a multi-parametric index to support the policy on unraveling aquatic quality controls of a nearly undisturbed Mediterranean island two study cases are described. A multi-disciplinary approach o understand hydrologic and geochemical processes might be used to determine if the community is safe to remain in place (permanence), requires actions to prepare the community to stay put (mitigation), or that the population must move to a new and safer area (migration). The language is rather poor and requires proofing by a native speaker or a professional. The manuscript needs a thorough revision before being reconsidered for publication. This means that it should be understandable on its own, and to a broad audience.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The topic of the manuscript is of interest to the readers of Water. It is well structured and presented. Additional comments are presented in the annotated .pdf file.

Regards,

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Figure 10. It is not a very simple attempt to present sample data from the biota study, because the audience of this material may be a specialist related to water resources.

Not everything has been improved. The authors could have slightly improved Figures 8 or 10, nevertheless, I accept this version of the text.

Author Response

Thank you for your overall efforts to improve the manuscript.

Figure 8 is a published figure (Ref. 61), while Figure 10 is, in our opinion, easy to be interpreted by scientists involved in aquatic ecology and the Water Framework Directive implementation (i.e. a wide audience).

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript is improved in relation to its initial version. Most of my comments are adequately addressed by the authors, and only comment 3 is not fully addressed. Since authors disagree with sentence deletion (L.102-103) and their statement include that “the situation is undoubtful” there should be hundreds of relevant references in the international literature. In other words, authors should provide some relevant references to support their statement. Moreover, Figure 10 needs further improvement. Please see the annotated .pdf file.

Additional comments can be found in the annotated .pdf file.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear reviewer, thank you for your efforts to improve this manuscript.

We erased the coordinates from Figure 10. The resolution of the figure is 300 dpi, thus being suitable for publication.

Following the suggestion of the reviewer we changed the sentence in Lines 105-106 as follows: "At the same time, the country is facing unprecedented socio-economic [e.g. 14,15,90,91] and environmental challenges (e.g. 11,45,47,48,81,92,96]. 

The particular references have been selected for the following reasons: 

Socio-economic challenges in Greece are described in Reference 14 (“The country faces difficult challenges in improving well-being, income and employment and reducing poverty”), Ref. 15 (“Complex administrative structures and procedures impede environmental legislation implementation”), Ref. 90 (related to loss of wetlands and forests due to the expansion of agriculture and wild fires) and Ref. 91 (presenting the socio-economic background behind unsustainable environmental management). Regarding environmental challenges, the paragraph following the aforementioned sentence provides a number of literature sources (Lines 105-115). Additional references regarding environmental challenges are provided throughout the text. For example, Refs. 81 and 92 underline the fact that economic growth has been often achieved at the expense of environmental conservation. Refs. 81 and 96 highlight unsustainable land use management issues with the installation of alternative energy projects on remote mountain areas protected under NATURA 2000. Ref. 11 underlines the delay of Greece to finalize the NATURA 2000 sites (through the implementation of Special Environmental Studies), whereas Ref. 45, 47 and 48 highlight shortcomings related to the implementation of River Basin Management Plans in the framework of the WFD. All these environmental challenges Greece is facing are strongly related to the socio-economic background of the country.