{"id":72158,"date":"2021-06-19T02:09:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-19T00:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/?p=72158"},"modified":"2021-06-18T10:09:32","modified_gmt":"2021-06-18T08:09:32","slug":"dry-rivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/en\/environment\/dry-rivers\/","title":{"rendered":"Dry Rivers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


60 percent of all streams around the world dry out intermittently \u2013 with an upward trend<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An international team of researchers, including Senckenberg\u2019s Director General Klement Tockner<\/a>, for the first time recorded and quantified all rivers worldwide that temporarily dry up. The scientists show that 60 percent of the world\u2019s streams dry up for at least one day a year \u2013 across all continents and climate zones. In the study, led by Mathis Messager of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and published today in the prestigious journal \u201cNature,\u201d the researchers estimate that 52 percent of the world\u00b4s population live nearest to one of those streams \u2013 a situation that could affect far more people in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For thousands of years, people have preferred to settle near bodies of water. Rivers are part of the global water cycle, an important habitat for numerous species, an economic factor, a transport route, an energy supplier, and a place of recreation. However, streams and rivers, in particular, are immensely affected by global climate change, intensive land use, and resource consumption. \u201cCurrently, research and the resulting protection measures are predominantly focused on water bodies that permanently carry water,\u201d explains Prof. Dr. Klement Tockner, aquatic ecologist and Director General of the Senckenberg Gesellschaft f\u00fcr Naturforschung, and he continues, \u201cBut even large, charismatic rivers such as the Nile, the Yellow River in China, or North America\u2019s Rio Grande, are already drying out completely. This can lead to impaired access to water for millions of people and has profound implications for the river ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"senckenberg.de<\/a>
\u00a9 senckenberg.de | Zhangmoon | The Yellow River in China does not always have running water \u2013 it belongs to the 60 percent of streams that temporarily dry out.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Under the leadership of doctoral student Mathis Messager of McGill University in Montreal, Tockner and his international colleagues show in the Nature study published today that 51 to 60 percent of rivers worldwide have no flowing water on at least one day a year. In particularly arid areas of the world, such as India, western Australia, or the African Sahel, the modeling shows that this even affects as many as 99 percent of the water courses. \u201cBut even in cool temperate and moist climate zones, nearly 30 percent of watercourses can dry up repeatedly when taking in account small streams. In other words, rivers that go dry \u2013 at least temporarily \u2013 are the rule rather than the exception on Earth,\u201d adds the aquatic ecologist. Regional examples of this are the Urselbach, an approximately 16-kilometer-long body of water with its source in the foothills of the Taunus mountains that flows through Frankfurt, and the Weil, a tributary of the Lahn, which went dry last summer. Tockner adds, \u201cStreams that naturally dry out are valuable and unique habitats, but if a permanently water-bearing stream or river dries up, it has a massive impact on nature and ultimately on humans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"senckenberg.de
\u00a9 senckenberg.de | Babitsch | The Hessian Urselbach in July 2020 \u2013 one example of the 63 percent of streams that dry out for at least one day each year.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Using hydrological, climatic, pedological, and geological data from 5615 monitoring stations, the researchers were able to show that drying rivers can be found on all continents and in all climate zones. \u201cThis has far-reaching consequences for the study and protection of rivers,\u201d explains Tockner, and he continues, \u201cIn order to understand the future effects of climate and landscape changes on these ecosystems and their species, we need to consider the drying-out of rivers as a key parameter.\u201d According to the researchers, not only will flooding increase in the future, but in particular also the drying-out of water bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the study, the nearest stream or river does not continuously carry water for 52 percent of the world\u2019s population. The aquatic ecologist is confident that the new findings will help manage rivers more sustainably and, in turn, protect the people who directly rely on these ecosystems for their livelihoods and culture. \u201cWe can now pinpoint the areas where streams do not always flow, and in a next step we intend to investigate when and for how long these dry seasons occur today and in the future, and what this means for nature and the people,\u201d adds Tockner in conclusion.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n