Basin-Wide Distribution of Land Use and Human Population: Stream Order Modeling and River Basin Classification in Japan

This paper presents a mathematical model developed using Horton–Strahler’s stream order to describe basin-wide distributions of human activities, i.e., land use and human population, across several river basins with different geomorphologic features. We assume that for successive stream orders, the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental management (New York) 2011-05, Vol.47 (5), p.885-898
Main Authors: Miyamoto, Hitoshi, Hashimoto, Tsubasa, Michioku, Kohji
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aquatic Pollution
Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution
Basin geometry
Creeks & streams
Earth and Environmental Science
Ecology
Environment
Environmental impact
Environmental Management
Environmental Monitoring - methods
Forestry Management
Fractals
Freshwater resources
Geomorphology
Human influences
Human populations
Humans
Hydrology
Japan
Land use
Mathematical models
Model basins
Models, Theoretical
Nature Conservation
Population
Principal components analysis
River basins
River networks
Rivers
Statistical analysis
Stream order
Waste Water Technology
Water Management
Water Movements
Water Pollution Control
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Summary:This paper presents a mathematical model developed using Horton–Strahler’s stream order to describe basin-wide distributions of human activities, i.e., land use and human population, across several river basins with different geomorphologic features. We assume that for successive stream orders, the mean area of each land use type—paddy field, forest, city, village, etc.—and the human population form a geometric sequence, which is the same mathematical relationship as stated in Horton’s laws of river geomorphology. This geometric sequence modeling implies fractal nature of human activity distributions within a river basin. GIS datasets for the land use and human population in 109 large river basins in Japan were used to verify the model. Herein, we examine the relationships between the Horton ratios and the common ratios obtained from the model to explore links between basin geomorphology and human activities. Furthermore, we quantitatively compare the human activity distributions across the 109 river basins on the basis of results obtained from the model with descriptive statistics. Further, we attempt to classify the river basins into several categories through multivariate statistical analysis.
ISSN:0364-152X
1432-1009
DOI:10.1007/s00267-011-9653-0