An approach to setting ecological flow thresholds for southern English chalk streams

Westwood, Christian G.; England, Judy; Dunbar, Michael J.; Holmes, Nigel; Leeming, David J.; Hammond, Diana

doi:10.1111/wej.12275

Cited by 15 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Discharge has been gauged continuously in the lower Misbourne Gordon, McMahon, Finlayson, Gippel, & Nathan, 2004). This approach provides sufficient representation of hydrological conditions at a site, gives a good description of relative patterns but may lack precision for low flows (Malcolm, Young, Willmott, Holmes, & Gosling, 2012), and has been used successfully in hydroecological assessments (Gordon et al, 2004;Westwood et al, 2017). For Sites 2-5, between one and four linear regressions were constructed reflecting different hydrological periods associated with discharge levels (Table S2).…”

Section: Hydrological Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural and functional responses of macroinvertebrate assemblages to long‐term flow variability at perennial and nonperennial sites

Mathers

Stubbington

Leeming³

et al. 2019

Ecohydrology

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Temporary streams constitute a significant proportion of rivers globally and are common in wet, cool, temperate regions. These heterogeneous ecosystems harbour high biodiversity associated with the dynamic turnover of taxa. Despite flow permanence being widely recognised as an important environmental control, few studies have characterised biotic responses to long-term hydrological variability in temporary streams. We examined taxonomic and functional macroinvertebrate communities of perennial and nonperennial river reaches over a 26-year period. Flow permanence resulted in spatial variation in taxonomic and functional macroinvertebrate communities. Nonperennial river reaches, which were characterised by dynamic habitat provision (lotic, lentic, and dry states) over the study period, supported more heterogeneous communities than perennial river reaches. Hydrological variables, in particular wetted width, water depth, and zero-flow states, were instrumental in structuring taxonomic and functional communities, although the importance of substrate conditions increased in autumn. Hydrological conditions resulted in separation of perennial and nonperennial taxonomic communities regardless of season, whereas functional communities differed only in spring. Our results emphasise that understanding of community responses to hydrological variability is enhanced by analyses that concurrently explore taxonomic and functional responses to long-term intraannual and interannual hydrological variability. Moreover, functional responses represent a robust method to test ecological responses to hydrological drivers. Further research that builds on our work is needed to inform the protection of both perennial and nonperennial streams as they adapt to ongoing environmental change.

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Section: Hydrological Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural and functional responses of macroinvertebrate assemblages to long‐term flow variability at perennial and nonperennial sites

Mathers

Stubbington

Leeming³

et al. 2019

Ecohydrology

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“…Improved understanding can also inform local and regional water resource management by indicating the flow requirements needed to support contrasting sitespecific and temporally variable communities, leading to the development of specific flow targets (e.g. Holmes, 1999;Westwood et al, 2017). In addition, plant communities can be used to characterize flow permanence regimes in the absence of hydrological data, which is often lacking for temporary streams (Costigan et al, 2017;Beaufort et al, 2018).…”

Section: Towards a New Set Of Management Toolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Holmes (1999) used a classification approach to identify distinct plant communities (which he called Perennial [permanently flowing], Winterbourne [limited annual drying], Ditch [morphologically degraded channels with regular drying] and Intermittent [extensive and prolonged drying]) and to characterize the flow regimes which support them. This approach, which takes into account both aquatic and terrestrial taxa, can identify characteristic communities and set ecological flow thresholds and desired intermittence patterns (Westwood et al , 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A revised classification of temperate lowland groundwater‐fed headwater streams based on their flora

Westwood¹,

England

Johns

et al. 2020

Water & Environment J

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Prolonged drought leads to the temporary simplification or loss of aquatic biological communities, as surface water is progressively reduced or dry phases are extended in intermittent streams. Using surveys of aquatic and semi-aquatic plants, and recording non-aquatic grasses and herbs, we classify the communities within 24 groundwater-fed streams in south England. We examine changes over a 21year period following a 3-year drought. Our classification reveals a simplification of communities driven by a decline in the abundance of obligate aquatic taxa and an increase in the abundance of semi-aquatic taxa. We demonstrate plant community structure as a strong indicator of a site's flow history, including intermittence, but interactions with channel morphology also influence communities and need further investigation. We recommend that future surveys encompass terrestrial, semi-aquatic and aquatic plants, as well as habitat assessments, to improve the understanding of how instream communities change between flowing, ponded and dry phases in intermittent streams.

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“…Ecological flows may be achieved in a number of different ways, including hydrology and hydraulics methods, habitat methods, and integrated methods. Because fish habitat is commonly acknowledged as effectual and objective indicator for evaluating river health (Li, Chen, Tonina, & Cai, ; Jiao, Zhang, & Xu, ), fish habitat methods have made remarkable achievements in practice (Mouton, Schneider, Depestele, Goethals, & De Pauw, ; Wang et al, ; Westwood et al, ). However, most habitat methods focus on the spawning season rather than the complete life cycle, which includes spawning, feeding, and overwintering (Kemp et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Incorporating fish habitat requirements of the complete life cycle into ecological flow regime estimation of rivers

et al. 2020

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Maintenance of ecological flow regime for aquatic biota is essential to river ecosystem health. To estimate ecological flow, habitat simulation methods have been widely applied because of their combination of hydrological regime and species hydraulic preference. However, few methods are available to provide a flow regime that varies over time due to time-specific habitat requirements from different target species or from one target species at its different life stages. This paper described a novel approach for evaluating the ecological flow regime that was a time series of discharge considering different life stages of target species. First, an ecohydraulic model that combined multivariable habitat suitability curve of target species with a hydraulic module was developed to establish the relationship between habitat status and hydrological conditions. Then, the habitat connectivity index was adopted to assess the spatial patterns of habitat patches. Finally, the ecological flow regime considering the complete life cycle of target species was derived. The developed approach was applied to the middle reach of Huaihe River, where the flow is highly regulated by dams and sluices. The Chinese bream (Parabramis pekinensis) was chosen as the target species for ecological flow calculation. The ecological flow regime in the Lutaizi was provided for the river management. The study provided a promising method to support ecological friendly operations of hydraulic structures for river ecosystem restoration and management. K E Y W O R D S ecohydraulic model, ecological flow regime, full life cycle, habitat connectivity

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An approach to setting ecological flow thresholds for southern English chalk streams

Cited by 15 publications

References 32 publications

Structural and functional responses of macroinvertebrate assemblages to long‐term flow variability at perennial and nonperennial sites

Structural and functional responses of macroinvertebrate assemblages to long‐term flow variability at perennial and nonperennial sites

A revised classification of temperate lowland groundwater‐fed headwater streams based on their flora

Incorporating fish habitat requirements of the complete life cycle into ecological flow regime estimation of rivers

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