Impacts of groundwater and climate variability on terrestrial groundwater dependent ecosystems: A review of geospatial assessment approaches and challenges and possible future research directions

Abstract

Terrestrial groundwater dependent vegetation (TGDV) are crucialecosystems which provide important goods and services such ascarbon sequestration, habitat, water purification and aestheticbenefits in semi-arid environments. Global climate change andanthropogenic impacts on surface water resources have led toincreased competing claims on groundwater resources to meetan exponential water demand for environmental needs, agricul-tural and developmental needs. This has led to the unsustainableexploitation of groundwater resources, resulting in groundwatertable declines, threatening the sustainability of TGDV. It is on thispremise that the review aims to provide a detailed overview onthe progress in remote sensing of TGDV.