Flow intermittence and ecosystem services in rivers of the Anthropocene

Datry, Thibault; Boulton, Andrew J.; Bonada, Núria; Fritz, Ken M.; Leigh, Catherine; Sauquet, Éric; Tockner, Klement; Hugueny, Bernard; Dahm, Clifford N.

doi:10.1111/1365-2664.12941

Cited by 147 publications

(135 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Extreme low‐flow conditions (<20% of median annual flow) in managed streams simulated patterns extensively reported for intermittent streams (Datry et al., ; Stubbington et al., ), where habitats such as pools provide, to some extent, favourable conditions between flow releases. Andean streams with unmanaged conditions are known for their high levels of dissolved oxygen and low nutrient concentrations, providing suitable conditions for benthic fauna colonisation (Ríos‐Touma, Encalada, & Prat Fornells, ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 61%

Streamlined eco‐engineering approach helps define environmental flows for tropical Andean headwaters

et al. 2019

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Applying the environmental flows concept to human‐altered lotic ecosystems continues to face many practical challenges and barriers. Here, we modify a previously proposed framework, the Eco‐Engineering Decision Scaling, for application to part of the water supply system of Quito, Ecuador. Specifically, we used feedback from engineers and water managers to develop a common set of metrics for defining flow‐ecology relationships and assess managed‐flow impacts on stream ecology. At 12 sites over 3 years, we collected flow and benthic invertebrate data (taxonomic richness, taxa important for fish, functional feeding groups, and water quality‐sensitive taxa) during wet and dry seasons. We then used these data to identify flow thresholds (relative to unmanaged flows) where flow withdrawal caused visible ecological impacts. For this system, reduction of flow to 20% of the annual median was detrimental to benthic communities, while reductions to 40% of the annual median flow caused a variety of responses in the system. A trade‐off analysis of weighted metrics showed that a 50% benthic fauna richness could be sustained if dry season flows were maintained between 28% and 40% of the unmanaged median annual flow. This study provides a roadmap for bridging between eco‐engineering theoretical frameworks and the adoption of the environmental flows concept as actionable management thresholds.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 61%

Streamlined eco‐engineering approach helps define environmental flows for tropical Andean headwaters

et al. 2019

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“…Although the provision of ecosystem services did not emerge as an important conservation criterion in this study, it could also be included within the systematic conservation framework presented here (Adame, Hermoso, Perhans, Lovelock, & Herrera‐Silveira, ; Hermoso, Cattarino, Linke, & Kennard, ). Given the strong links between freshwater biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and service provisioning (Datry et al, ; Dodds et al, ; Haines‐Young & Potschin, ; Mace, Norris, & Fitter, ), and the importance of freshwater ecosystem services for human welfare (Aylward et al, ; Costanza et al, ), the conservation planning of ecosystem services should be addressed by future studies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite these streams having lower biodiversity values than their perennial counterparts (Soria, Leigh, Datry, Bini, & Bonada, ), their conservation value should not be underestimated (Acuña et al, ). They hold particular species with adaptations to withstand or to recover from dry periods (Bogan et al, ), they have particular ecological dynamics (Datry et al, ; McIntosh et al, ; von Schiller, Bernal, Dahm, & Martí, ), and they provide numerous ecosystem services (Datry et al, ). Thus, in this study the selection of intermittent and ephemeral streams by marxan is most likely related to the need to adequately represent all conservation features, some of which (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Freshwater conservation planning informed and validated by public participation: The Ebro catchment, Spain, as a case study

Cañedo‐Argüelles

Hermoso

Herrera‐Grao³

et al. 2019

Aquatic Conservation

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Freshwater ecosystems generally lack adequate protection. In this regard, defining clear and objective conservation criteria through public participation is extremely important, as it can greatly enhance the feasibility of the conservation plans by building credibility, salience, and legitimacy. This article presents an exercise of systematic freshwater conservation planning informed and validated by public participation using river protected areas (RPAs) in the Ebro catchment, Spain, as a case study. A public participation process was performed to define the conservation criteria that RPAs should meet, resulting in a detailed list of conservation features and constraints that were poorly covered by the present network of RPAs in Spain. The present network of RPAs failed to adequately protect aquatic biodiversity, as 48% of the taxa did not meet the conservation target, including seven species of vulnerable invertebrates and three of vulnerable fish. marxan was used to identify a minimum set of additional areas that would help to meet the conservation target by adequately representing all conservation features and by increasing the efficiency of the network of protected areas. When marxan was run without restrictions, none of the present RPAs was selected, suggesting that the current network of RPAs is not efficiently meeting the conservation demands expressed through public participation. Overall, this study shows that combining public participation and systematic conservation planning could result in more efficient and enhanced protection of freshwater ecosystems by integrating a wide variety of conservation preferences into the design of RPAs. Also, according to the results, having detailed and updated information on the distribution of invasive and endangered species, as well as increasing the frequency and spatial extension of ecological monitoring, are key to meeting the public demands of enhanced freshwater biodiversity protection and the preservation of sites with high ecological value.

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“…Intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES) are defined by periodic flow cessation and may experience partial or complete dry up at some location in time and space (Datry, Fritz, & Leigh, ; Larned et al, ; Leigh et al, ). They range from ephemeral streams that flow a few days after rainfall to intermittent rivers that recede to isolated pools (Datry et al, ). IRES have seen a marked increase in interest stimulated by the challenges of water management facing the global change context (Acuña et al, ; Datry et al, 2016) and by the need to improve existing knowledge on aquatic ecosystems in IRES (Larned et al, ; Leigh & Datry, ; Sarremejane et al, ; Stubbington, England, Wood, & Sefton, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A classification approach to reconstruct local daily drying dynamics at headwater streams

Beaufort

Carreau

Sauquet

2019

Hydrological Processes

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Headwater streams (HSs) are generally naturally prone to flow intermittence. These intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams have recently seen a marked increase in interest, especially to assess the impact of drying on aquatic ecosystems. The two objectives of this work are (a) to identify the main drivers of flow intermittence dynamics in HS and (b) to reconstruct local daily drying dynamics. Discrete flow states—“flowing” versus “drying”—are modelled as functions of covariates that include information on climate, hydrology, groundwater, and basin descriptors. Three classifiers to estimate flow states using covariates are tested on four contrasted regions in France: (a) a linear classifier with regularization (LASSO for least absolute shrinkage and selection operator) and two non‐linear non‐parametric classifiers, (b) a one‐hidden‐layer feedforward artificial neural network (ANN) classifier, and (c) a random forest (RF) classifier. The three classifiers are compared with a benchmark classifier (BC) that simply estimates dominant flow state for each month based on observations (without using covariates). The performance assessment over the period 2012–2016 carried out by cross‐validation shows that the three classifiers for flow state based on covariates outperformed the BC. This demonstrates the predictive power of the covariates. ANN is the classifier that globally achieves the best performance to predict the daily drying dynamics whereas both RF and LASSO tend to underestimate the proportion of drying states. The covariates are ranked in terms of relevance for each classifier. The monthly proportion of drying states provided by the discrete observation network has a major importance for the three classifiers ANN, LASSO, and RF. This may reflect the proclivity of a site to flow intermittence. ANN gives higher importance to climatic and hydrological covariates and its non‐linearity allows a greater degree of freedom.

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Flow intermittence and ecosystem services in rivers of the Anthropocene

Abstract: This can be applied at all flow phases and in assessing impacts of altered flow intermittence on rivers and their ecosystem services in the Anthropocene.

Cited by 147 publications

References 37 publications

Streamlined eco‐engineering approach helps define environmental flows for tropical Andean headwaters

Streamlined eco‐engineering approach helps define environmental flows for tropical Andean headwaters

Freshwater conservation planning informed and validated by public participation: The Ebro catchment, Spain, as a case study

A classification approach to reconstruct local daily drying dynamics at headwater streams

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