Dam-Induced Land System Change
Tens of thousands of dams were constructed globally to store and redistribute water for domestic, industrial or agricultural use, flood control and navigation. Dam construction and operation was previously linked to a plethora of side-effects for society and the environment, including direct and indirect modifications of land systems. This project aims at improving the understanding of dam-induced land system changes at multiple scales. Thematically, the project is structured alongside three main objectives:
1) Synthesizing the scientific evidence on dam-induced land system change,
2) investigating the effects of dams on agricultural land use intensity at the global scale and
3) relating these global-scale insights to the national level, using the case of Turkey.
The conceptual diversity of these objectives requires the application of a rich toolset, including meta-studies, statistical modelling, and remote sensing.
Landsat-based best pixel composites showing agricultural landscapes in Turkey in spring, summer, and autumn of 2015. False-color representation (RGB = nIR, swIR1, red) highlights photosynthetically active vegetation in red. Vegetated agricultural fields during the dry summer and autumn indicate the use of irrigation.
Funding
Elsa Neumann Scholarship
Project members
