Hydrological connectivity governs the transfer of water, sediment, solutes, and energy across forested catchments. It is strongly influenced not only by topography, vegetation cover, and climate, but also by managed infrastructure elements and proxies that create, enhance, or interrupt flow pathways. These include roads and skid trails, drainage ditches, culverts, embankments, drainage networks (including surface and subsurface systems like tile drains), reconnection measures, wetlands, beaver-related structures, and other land and water management interventions.
This session focuses on how such elements modify surface and subsurface connectivity, runoff generation, infiltration, groundwater–surface water exchange, erosion, nutrient and sediment delivery, flood wave propagation, and drought buffering in forested catchments. We particularly welcome studies that quantify connectivity through field observations, remote sensing, LiDAR, GIS, indices, modelling, or proxy-based approaches, and that translate these insights into management, planning, or decision-support frameworks.
We invite contributions across hillslope to catchment to regional scales, and across hydrology, geomorphology, ecohydrology, remote sensing, and landscape management. Of particular interest are studies that show how altering connectivity can reduce flood risk, enhance drought resilience, support sediment control, and improve catchment adaptation under climate extremes.