Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of biological practices on the prioritization of flood degree in various land use and land cover (LULC) scenarios within watershed in Iran. The study employed the index of connectivity (IC) and assessed four scenarios for sub-watershed prioritization using the C-factor of Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE): (a) scenario 1, which considered current biological practices, (b) scenario 2, which assumed a 25% reduction in the current LULC situation (C-factor of RUSLE), (c) scenario 3, which assumed a 50% reduction in current LULC, and (d) scenario 4, which assumed a 75% reduction in current LULC. The results revealed that in scenario 1, sub-watersheds 20 and 14 were the most susceptible to flooding, while sub-watersheds 21 and 10 showed the lowest degree of flood susceptibility. In scenario 2, due to the minimal enhancement in LULC, no significant difference was observed in relation to scenario 1, and the flooding degree and sub-watershed ranking were nearly equal in both scenarios. However, in scenarios 3 and 4, significant differences were observed in terms of flooding degree and sub-watershed ranking when compared to scenario 1.