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Ecohydrological Research Toward Sustainable and Resilient Watershed Management

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Water Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 132

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Watershed Management Lab., Forestry Department, University of Brasilia, Brasilia, Brazil
Interests: watershed management; ecohydrology; erosion & sedimentation modeling; payment for hydrological services

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Guest Editor
Hidrobase Engineering & Environmental Consultants, Brasília, Brazil
Interests: hydrologic modeling; soil & water management and conservation; landscape restoration

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Sustainability Special Issue entitled ‘Ecohydrological Research Toward Sustainable and Resilient Watershed Management’ will receive relevant contributions to the theme, specifically looking at the following:

(1) Identifying novel technologies in ecohydrological science and nature-based solutions for the sustainability and resilience of freshwater systems, focusing on theoretical and practical approaches, indicators, methodologies, and case studies.

(2) Presentation and discussion of new insights in ecohydrology and IWRM, updating the existintg liteterature with new approaches and practical applications. 

The Special Issue will contribute to improve the security and resilience of freshwater systems, mitigating the impacts of water-related hazards such as floods, droughts, abstraction, pollution, and sedimentation, safeguarding access to water functions and services, managing water resources in an integrated and equitable manner. You can find more information on the aims and scope of our journal at the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/about.

Dr. Henrique Marinho Leite Chaves
Dr. Maria Rita S. Fonseca
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • ecohydrology
  • environmental flows
  • freshwater integrity & restoration
  • nature-based solutions
  • watershed resilience

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 7262 KB  
Article
Pasture Restoration Reduces Runoff and Soil Loss in Karst Landscapes of the Brazilian Cerrado
by Isabela Fernanda L. G. Camargo, Henrique Marinho Leite Chaves and Maria Rita Souza Fonseca
Sustainability 2025, 17(24), 11079; https://doi.org/10.3390/su172411079 - 10 Dec 2025
Abstract
Water erosion is a major driver of soil degradation in the Brazilian Cerrado, intensified by the conversion of natural vegetation into agricultural land. The excessive runoff and sediment generated in poorly covered karst slopes impact the hydrologic cycle of the biome’s sinkholes and [...] Read more.
Water erosion is a major driver of soil degradation in the Brazilian Cerrado, intensified by the conversion of natural vegetation into agricultural land. The excessive runoff and sediment generated in poorly covered karst slopes impact the hydrologic cycle of the biome’s sinkholes and underground rivers. This study evaluated the effectiveness of pasture restoration in reducing runoff and soil loss in three experimental farms situated in a vulnerable karst area of Central Brazil. Runoff and soil loss were monitored during three hydrologic years in plots of degraded pasture (DP), restored pasture (RP), and natural savannah (NS), using unbound Gerlach settings. The experiment was carried out on three farms in the Vermelho river basin, which were treated as blocks. The results indicate that pasture restoration reduced runoff by 50% and soil loss by 55–95% when compared to degraded pasture conditions, below on-site erosion tolerance thresholds. Runoff and soil loss in restored pasture (RP) plots fell between DP and NS, though in some cases, soil loss in RP reached levels that are comparable to the natural savannah. Normalized soil loss was highly correlated with runoff (R2 = 0.94), allowing for the latter to be used as a proxy of the former. The increased groundwater recharge and reduced sediment yield resulting from pasture restoration improve on- and off-site resilience in vulnerable karst landscapes and could be utilized as a sustainable soil conservation policy. Full article
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