Abstract
Small tropical urban basins are often managed with limited hydrological records despite rapid land-use change and increasing pollution risk. This study provides an exploratory assessment of recent land-use/land-cover (LULC) change and associated simulated hydrological responses in the ungauged Kuang River Basin, Malaysia. LULC maps for 2019 and 2023 were compared using post-classification comparison, and class-level landscape metrics were used to examine sub-basin patterns. ArcSWAT was configured as a scenario-screening tool using global terrain, soil, and climatological inputs. Because continuous discharge records were unavailable, model evaluation was limited to internal water-balance checks and dry- and wet-season spot discharge observations rather than formal calibration and validation. Agriculture remained the dominant class but declined by 21.83% between 2019 and 2023, whereas rangelands and barren land increased by 36.24% and 28.03%, respectively. Across 27 sub-basins, barren land expansion was associated with higher simulated changes in surface runoff (86 mm yr⁻¹), agricultural expansion with reductions in simulated baseflow (up to 4.7 mm yr⁻¹), and agricultural and grassland changes with changes in simulated sediment yield (− 1.89 to + 0.19 t ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹). These findings are hypothesis-generating rather than predictive because the basin is ungauged and climate forcing relied on monthly climatology through the SWAT weather generator.
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Acknowledgements
We wish to acknowledge the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (FRGS/1/2022/WAB02/UPM/02/1), the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) for sponsoring this research. Additionally, we extend thanks to PLAN Selangor and department of drainage and irrigation, Malaysia for providing the historical data.
Funding
This article was supported by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (FRGS/1/2022/WAB02/UPM/02/1), the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD), and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).
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Balilemwa, J.J., Jamil, N.R., Isa, N.M. et al. Exploratory SWAT assessment of recent land-use change and simulated hydrological responses in the ungauged tropical river basin.
Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-50131-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-50131-y
Keywords
- Landscape metrics
- Discharge/Flow
- Agriculture
- Sediment yield
- Kuang river
- Malaysia
Source: Ecology - nature.com
