Spatio-temporal analysis of scientific research on models to estimate water balance in hydrographic basins affected by land use change

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study is to identify the main models or tools used to evaluate changes in water regulation for various reasons, through a bibliometric review in the Scopus database, in order to know the main variables evaluated that affect the hydrological regime of The basins.

Design/methodology/approach: With the help of bibliometric techniques, scientific articles available until December 2022 in the Scopus database were collected using the SUBJAREA (envi) TITLE-ABS-KEY ("water balance" AND "land use") AND (LIMIT-TO (OA, "all")) AND (LIMIT-TO (DOCTYPE, "ar")).

Results: 407 scientific articles were collected from 1965 to 2022, this scientific production shows an exponential growing trend that was concentrated above all in countries with agricultural traditions such as the United States (89 publications), China (33), Germany (28), the United Kingdom (25) and Australia (21).

Limitations on study/implications: Most of the research was developed on topics associated with land use change (82 texts), climate change (48), hydrological processes (44), subsoil water (34) and evapotranspiration calculation (33). The most recurrent models for calculating the water balance were the Direct Water Balance (230 texts) and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (83)

Findings/conclusions: No research development was found in Latin American and African countries, so these results can help redirect efforts in the research centers of these countries, with the aim of generating new knowledge that helps make decisions about how to improve the efficient use of water in the face of climate change scenarios and dynamics of land use change.