Influences of Climate and Agriculture on Water and Biogeochemical Cycles: Kabini Critical Zone Observatory

Abstract

In the last decades, globally several small experimental watersheds were set up to study the climate and agricultural
influences on water and biogeochemical cycles. Recently, the concept and importance of Critical Zone Observatory (CZO)
was made and this resulted in developing such observatories in several countries including a global network of CZOs. The
CZOs combine characterization, long term monitoring and modeling to allow understanding of the processes governing
water and biogeochemical cycles in a small experimental watershed or network of watersheds. The Kabini CZO too was
formed from similar twin experimental watersheds (forested and cultivated) developed during the last decade in the Kabini
river basin in the south western part of India. A summary of the salient studies performed on water and biogeochemical
cycles under the influence of climate and agriculture during the last ten years in the Kabini CZO are reported here.