Bulk density data of the Gesäuse-Johnsbachtal site.

Solid soil chemistry data of the LTER station Zöbelboden from the year 2014

Solid soil chemistry data of the LTER station Zöbelboden from the year 2008

Solid soil chemistry data of the LTER station Zöbelboden from the year 1992

Solid soil chemistry data of the LTER station Zöbelboden from the year 2004

LTER Zöbelboden Station Data includes habitat type, parent material, topographical variables, physical and hydrological soil properties, epiphytic lichen host trees, etc. The STATION codes refer to https://deims.org/dataset/956b3718-53fe-4e00-9455-c4132b1195c7; See also the methods section for detail

Huai Ma Nai is a small agricultural catchment (93 ha) of northern Thailand, 60 km from the city of Phrae, in a sloping land environment. The objective is to the impacts of land use changes, from mung bean and soya bean to maize, upon hydrological and sedimentary budgets. Agricultural practices are very intensive, based on high quantities of fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, and mechanized cultivation. The mean slope is 12.9%%. Soils are thin Alfisols and Ultisols with sandy clay loam to clayey texture, high coarse fragment content, low pH, high bulk density and low-medium cation exchange capacity. Monitoring devices include an automatic meteorological station since 2001, and weirs and flume to monitor discharge from nested catchments, suspended sediment and bedload. More information is available on https://mtropics.obs-mip.fr/ and in the following paper: Valentin, C., et al., 2008. Runoff and sediment losses from 27 upland catchments in Southeast Asia: Impact of rapid land use changes and conservation practices. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 128, 225–238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2008.06.004

The Yzeron catchment (150 km2) is located to the south-west of Lyon city, France. It forms part of the Observatoire de Terrain en Hydrologie Urbaine (OTHU, 2011) long term observatory. It is representative of French periurban areas and is characterised by a marked topography. The outlet reaches the Rhône river at the elevation of 162 meters and the highest point culminates at 917 m above see level. The slope map calculated from a 25 m resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM), derived from IGN BDTopo® shows that more than 50% of the catchment has slopes larger than 10%. The geology is contrasted with crystalline formations (granite, gneiss ) in the western part of the catchment and more alluvial and glaciar formations in the eastern part. The land use is heterogeneous. The upstream and western part of the basin is limited by a range of hills covered with forests. The intermediate part is mainly covered with grassland and cultivated lands, mixed with urban nucleus. Thin green corridors remain along rivers, covered with deciduous trees. The downstream part is mainly covered with densely urbanized areas. A fast progression of urbanisation is observed since the eighties. The area is prone to sharp Mediterranean-type flood events due to its steep topography in the upstream part and limited soil water storage capacity overall. The water coming from combined sewer overflow devices is rich of sediments and pollutions, causing quality problems in the rivers, especially during summer storms, where most of the water reaching the river comes from urbanised areas via SODs. Increased erosion of the river banks has also been evidenced with impact on the ecosystems. The catchment is instrumented since 1997 in particular in two sub-catchments with different land uses (Mercier: agriculture and forest) and Chaudanne (agriculture and urban) with rainfall and discharge data. Some information about physico-chemical characteristics are also available.

The central monitoring site of the Eifel/Lower Rhine Valley Observatory is the catchment area of the River Rur. It covers a total area of 2354 km² and exhibits a distinct land use gradient: The lowland region in the northern part is characterised by urbanisation and intensive agriculture whereas the low mountain range in the southern part is sparsely populated and includes several drinking water reservoirs. Furthermore, the Eifel National Park is situated in the southern part of the Rur catchment serving as a reference site. Intensive test sites are placed along a transect across the Rur catchments in representative land cover, soil, and geologic settings: In order to obtain spatially distributed information about river discharge rates, the Rur catchment is partitioned into a nested set of sub-catchments that will span distinct assemblages of hydrologic features and several orders of magnitude in drainage area. More detailed measurements and characterisation of smaller, focal catchments are embedded within progressively larger catchments, allowing the critical evaluation and development of scaling strategies. Additionally, for the analysis of the groundwater flow system and groundwater exchange rates on a regional scale, the monitoring of natural tracers of ground and surface waters will be carried out.

The Ria de Aveiro is a coastal lagoon located in the northwest coast of Portugal, in the western Atlantic Ocean (40º38’N, 08º 45’W). It is a complex social-ecological system that lays between the marine and terrestrial domains. In terms of climatology, this region is under the influence of a temperate maritime climate with a warm period between July and September, and a cold period between December and February. The annual range of the monthly average temperature is around 10ºC. Rainfall occurs mainly between October and May, with higher precipitations in December and January. From the geological point of view, the Ria de Aveiro is a recent feature formed through the accumulation of marine and riverine sediments during the last 1000 years in a wide and shallow bay. These mechanisms have not yet attained equilibrium and the present tendency is to silt up. Much of the present-day geomorphology of the Ria has been determined by human intervention directed to counterbalance this silt-up tendency. The connection between the Ria de Aveiro coastal lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean (through a single inlet of 1.3 km long and 350 m wide) enables the water exchange and the formation of a shallow lagoon. The lagoon is approximately 45 km long, 10 km wide and covers an area of approximately 83 km2 and 66 km2 of wetland at high and low water, respectively. It consists of four main channels with several branches forming island and inner basins. The Ria de Aveiro also integrates the Vouga River estuary and the freshwater wetland Pateira de Fermentelos. The combination of the freshwater discharge and the tidal penetration creates a longitudinal salinity gradient from about 0 in the river to about 36 at the ocean entrance. The landscape of the Ria de Aveiro is shaped into a vary of beaches, dunes, sand flats, mud flats, salt marshes, seagrasses, and small water channels creating farmlands and smallholdings named “Bocage”, which is associated to a rich biodiversity. From these habitats, the salt marshes of the Ria de Aveiro are remarkable due to its large extension and continuity, being one of the largest areas of salt marshes in Portugal and in Europe, housing a rich wintering population of waders. “Bocage” is also relevant due to the rushes (Juncus maritimus) or reeds (Phragmites australis) tidal marshes, rice fields, livestock and woodlands composed by tree species such as Eucalyptus globulus and Pinus pinaster. The Ria de Aveiro is inhabited by waders birds (the flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus, the purple heron Ardea purpurea), birds of prey (the marsh harrier Circus aeruginosus, the black kite Milvus migrans), reptiles (the Iberian emerald lizard Lacerta schreiberi), amphibians (the Iberian painted frog Discoglossus galganoi and the European tree frog Hyla arborea), fishes (lampreys such as the Petromyzon marinus, shad Alosa alosa and eels Anguilla anguilla), and mammals (the otter Lutra lutra, the least weasel Mustela nivalis). The variety of habitats of this area and associated biodiversity, provides of good and services to the population including the regulating, cultural and provisioning ecosystem services. The natural capital of this coastal lagoon is recognized internationally, namely by its classification as Natura 2000 area, Special Protection Area (SPA), Site of Community Importance (SIC) and Ramsar site under the European Habitats and Bird Directives. The major urban settlement in the lagoon watershed area is Aveiro city (60,000 inhabitants approximately). The Ria de Aveiro has enabled the development of economic activities such as commercial fisheries, bait digging, aquaculture, salt pans, a prosperous harbour, maritime traffic, manufacturing, tourism, recreation, sports and agriculture. As a consequence, this area is subject to anthropogenic pressures that impact the coastal lagoon and the adjacent freshwater areas of the Vouga River. The identification of these impacts is a continuous collaborative work between the research institutions and stakeholders who depend on different aspects of the environment, including city dwellers and local organisms. For example, they are local fishermen, divers, surfers, and also members of the jurisdictions regulated by different economic and political systems, such as representatives of the town hall, owners of tourism companies and institutes for conservation of the nature. To counteract the current pressures of the human activities management options have been co-developed, for at least one decade, to implement ecosystem-based management in frame of environmental policies, considering the complexity of the Ria de Aveiro and its connectivity across marine, transitional, freshwater, and terrestrial domains.