Objective To assess the risk of disruption to the water cycle and soilerosion process caused by changes in rural land use in theMediterranean coastal hinterland, and formulate recommendationson its future management.The work consists at the examination of the components of thewater quantity and quality balance equation, especially theeffect of plant cover, with the aid of specific field experimentsin five representative experimental catchments along the Frenchand Spanish Mediterranean seaboard. The experimental approachincludes monitoring of ground rainfall under various types oftree cover (chestnut, cork oak, scrub, Norway pine), isotopemonitoring of soil moisture and monitoring of biogeochemicalcycles, water availability and sediment yields in cleared andnatural forest catchment, and, finally, hydrological and erosionmonitoring in a semi-arid area.The project uses an historical approach to locate the currentstatus of the processes involved (gully erosion,hydroclimatology) within the more general context of theirhistorical development, and a refined analysis of thesecontemporary processes to assess the effect of plant cover (orabsence thereof) on catchment hydrology.The historical approach (last glaciation and (last century)includes a time-history of evolution of gully areas, sedimentsdatation and examination of socio-economic factors to identifytheir interactions on present erosion trends, and an analysis oflong rainfall series records (more than 100 years), to situatepresent climatic trend. The analysis of contempory processes ismore detailed with spatial comparisons and fine modelling(SHETRAN-UK, TOPMODEL, ETC lumped models) in terms of inventoriesand balances. It includes comparative analysis of recenthydroclimatology, space-time analysis of annual hydrological andhydrochemical balances and influence of plant cover, materialbalance for the whole catchment, with emphasis on impact ofvegetation, plant cover water balance (interception, evaporationand transpiration) and fine analysis (time step of a few minutes)and modelling of outflow/entrainment generation processesSatellite imaging technology will be finally used to characterizethe experimental catchments, chiefly through topographic indexvalues and plant cover, and extrapolate results from theexperimental catchments studied to other areas. Fields of science natural sciencesearth and related environmental scienceshydrologyengineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringsatellite technologynatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesphysical geographyglaciology Programme(s) FP3-ENV 1C - Specific research and technological development programme (EEC) in the field of the environment, 1990-1994 Topic(s) 0403 - Desertification in the Mediterranean area Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator Centre National du Machinisme Agricole, du Génie Rural, des Eaux et des Forêts Address Le thonelet 13612 Aix-en-provence France See on map EU contribution € 0,00 Participants (10) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS Spain EU contribution € 0,00 Address S/n,avenida de la fama 1, s/n apartado de correos 195 30080 Murcia See on map CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS Spain EU contribution € 0,00 Address S/n,lluis solt sabaris s/n 08028 Barcelona See on map Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) France EU contribution € 0,00 Address 29 avenue robert schumann 13621 Aix-en-provence See on map Centre National du Machinisme Agricole, du Génie Rural, des Eaux et des Forêts France EU contribution € 0,00 Address 2,rue de la papeterie 38402 Saint-martin-d'hères See on map Centre National du Machinisme Agricole, du Génie Rural, des Eaux et des Forêts France EU contribution € 0,00 Address 500,rue j.f. breton 34093 Montpellier See on map Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble France EU contribution € 0,00 Address Domaine universitaire 38402 Saint-martin-d'hères See on map UNIVERSITY OF ALICANTE Spain EU contribution € 0,00 Address S/n,campus san vicente 03080 Alicante See on map UNIVERSITY OF LANCASTER United Kingdom EU contribution € 0,00 Address Bailrigg LA1 4YQ Lancaster /high bantham See on map UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE United Kingdom EU contribution € 0,00 Address Cassie building, claremont road NE1 7RU Newcastle upon tyne See on map UNIVERSITÉ D'AVIGNON France EU contribution € 0,00 Address Louis pasteur 33 84000 Avignon See on map