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.
Keywords: Hydrological Connectivity; CiteSpace; Ecosystem;
Geographically Isolated Wetlands.
Running head: A Scientometric Review on Hydrological
Connectivity in River Systems