The Frontier Evolution and Emerging Trends of Hydrological Connectivity
in River Systems: A Scientometric Review
Abstract
With the intensification of climate change and human activities, the
watershed ecosystem is seriously fragmented, which leads to the
obstruction of hydrological connectivity, and further causes the
degradation of the ecosystem. As the value of wetlands continues to be
exploited, hydrological connectivity becomes increasingly significant.
In this paper, the characteristics and development of hydrological
connectivity research from 1998 to 2018 were analyzed through the
scientometric analysis based on Web of Science database. CiteSpace, an
analytical software that can be used for scientific measurement, is used
to visualize the results of the retrieval. The analysis results of
co-occurrence, co-operative and co-cited network show that the
hydrological connectivity is a multidisciplinary cross multiple research
areas, involving the Environment Science and Ecology, Water Resources,
Environmental Sciences, Geology and Geosciences. According to Keyword
co-occurrence analysis, ecosystem, floodplain, dynamics, climate change
and management are the main research hotspots in each period. In
addition, the co-cited analysis of references shows that “amphibians”
is the largest cluster of hydrological connectivity, and the “channel
network” is the most important research topic. It is worth noting that
the “GIWS” (Geographically Isolated Wetlands) is the latest research
topic and may be a major research direction in the future.