Spatial modeling of man-made drainage density of agricultural landscapes

In agricultural landscapes, drainage networks can be greatly extended by man-made linear features such as ditches. Modifying the density of these man-made drainage networks can be a valuable tool to modulate hydrological processes. The objective of this paper is to determine the spatial variability of man-made drainage density in agricultural landscapes and to quantify the extent to which this density depends on the landscape attributes. We performed field surveys of man-made drainage networks, identified potential explanatory variables, and modeled the density of drainage networks by employing multiple linear regression and kriging. The explanatory variables were related to the topography, soil type, density of roads, and density of the field boundaries. These explanatory variables accounted for 55% of the variability in the density. The remaining 45% of the variability were assumed to be related to socioeconomic factors, and represent the latitude in modifying these networks