River Basin Management and River Evolution Research

Dear Colleagues,

Along with the society development, the human actions in the natural environment - at first isolated and insignificant - have gradually increased so lately, anthropogenic intervention on relatively large areas has become decisive in the soil degradation by erosion and landslides processes and affected the water conditions in terms of quality and quantity.

In addition, water resources in the hydrographic network are irregular distributed throughout the territory of many countries and show large variations, both in the volumes of water drained in rainy or dry years - compared to the average year - and in streamflow during a year. In recent decades, the frequency of extreme hydrological phenomena with particularly damaging effects has considerably complicated the river basin management in many regions of the world.

On the other hand, river evolution provides important evidence of the dynamic cycles along the Earth’s landscape. However, in addition to natural factors, human activities are affecting river and catchment evolution with geomorphological and hydrological consequences. Rivers and catchments are being subjected to changes and modifications, resulting in the development of significant hazards or risks in the forms of gullies, landslides, flash floods and sediment mobilisations. These phenomena are able to drastically change fluvial areas in a very short period of time by modifying river beds, banks, vegetation or biodiversity, among other effects. Also, peri-urban, urban and rural areas can be affected by non-controlled river changes. Therefore, understanding the past, present and future processes of each catchment evolution could aid in the protection of human and natural entities, including river ecosystems.

Therefore, the aim of this Special Issue is to foster advances in soil conservation and preventing or mitigating the destructive consequences of floods or prolonged droughts, including through forecasting and warning actions, as well as for the optimal use of water by consumers.

We will also collection of state-of-the-art of river and catchment evolution studies. Authors are invited to submit studies focused on changes in drainage density, fluvial profiles, fluvial processes, flash floods or effects of human structures on fluvial behaviour. We also welcome research analysing river and catchment evolution related to climate change, deforestation and changes in riparian vegetation or studies on the effects of geomorphological dynamics at the hillslope and catchment scales.

Prof. Dr. Daniel Bucur
Dr. José María Senciales-González
Guest Editors

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