Three-Decade Hydrological Change in Mediterranean Ponds

55% of 169 ponds surveyed in 2023 within the Castelporziano Estate in Rome were found to contain water, compared to a baseline census from 1997. The dataset documents a 45% loss, with the greatest losses occurring in southern sectors and oak woodlands. Authored by Davide Taurozzi, this analysis compares pond conditions across a 30-year interval.

Use Cases

• Analyze the correlation between pond disappearance and forest type using the documented counts for oak woodlands, pine forests, and Mediterranean scrub.
• Model hydrological regression by comparing the 1997 baseline with the 2023 field census results for the 169 identified ponds.
• Assess spatial patterns of water loss by examining the distribution of dry ponds across the northern and southern sectors of the estate.
• Investigate the vulnerability of permanent versus temporary ponds using the counts showing 16% of dried ponds were permanent types.

Strengths

• Direct comparison of 169 specific ponds across a 30-year time span (1997 to 2023).
• Provides detailed breakdowns of pond loss by ecosystem type (e.g., 56 dry ponds in oak woodlands) and estate sector.

Limitations

• Dataset scale is limited to 21.8 KB, suggesting summary statistics rather than raw, row-level observational data.
• Geographic scope is restricted to a single estate near Rome, limiting generalizability.
• No column-level detail is available to understand the full set of recorded variables per pond.

Provenance

Source

Davide Taurozzi via figshare.

Collection Method

Field census conducted in winter 2023, comparing results to a 1997 survey.

Time Range

Comparison between 1997 and 2023.

Freshness

Data current as of a 2023 field census, with metadata updated in April 2026.

Geography

Castelporziano Estate, Rome, Italy.