Water4Nature investigates the role of hydrology and groundwater in nature restoration, biodiversity and carbon sequestration in Danish forests. Large areas of Danish land will in the coming years be converted to untouched forest and nature, and here the restoration of natural hydrology has a major impact on the resulting biodiversity and the balance between emissions and uptake of greenhouse gases. Despite this link, the hydrology of untouched forests is largely unknown.

Through new monitoring of the hydrology, the forest structure and the emission of greenhouse gases in one of Denmark’s oldest untouched forests, the project will map the natural dynamics and interactions in the untouched forest. The monitoring covers measurements of groundwater level, precipitation, drainage discharge, infiltration, canopy drip, tree crown structure, carbon dioxide and methane. The monitoring will support the setup and parameterization of a new detailed hydrological model of the untouched forest to determine the hydrological cycle for both current and future climatic conditions. Measurements and modeling are also compared with data from intensively managed forests and agricultural sites to map how hydrological conditions change if fields or industrial-driven forests are converted to untouched forest.