Restoration of the rivers Brede, Cole and Skerne: a joint Danish and British EU-LIFE demonstration project, V—short-term impacts on the conservation value of aquatic macroinvertebrate and macrophyte assemblages

Biggs, Jeremy; Corfield, Antony; Grøn, Per; Hansen, Hans Ole; Walker, Duard L.; Whitfield, Mericia; Williams, Penny

doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-0755(199801/02)8:1<241::aid-aqc269>3.0.co;2-9

Cited by 59 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Indeed, most restoration studies have not demonstrated any biodiversity differences before or after restoration. This might be explained by unfavorable environmental conditions in the surrounding restored stream sections, which were located in farmland or suburban areas (Biggs et al, 1998;Friberg et al, 1998;Nakano & Nakamura, 2008). In large urban or agricultural catchments, the remaining populations of sensitive species may be small or extirpated.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 90%

Complex hydromorphology of meanders can support benthic invertebrate diversity in rivers

2011

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In freshwater environments, high biodiversity is commonly associated with habitat heterogeneity. River bends and meanders are particularly complex morphodynamic elements of watercourses. However, the specific spatio-temporal interactions between hydromorphology and the resident biota have scarcely been studied. This article reviews the relationships between hydraulic processes, and morphological units that are typical for meanders, and analyzes the concomitant spatial and temporal dynamics of habitats suitable for aquatic invertebrates. Flow in river bends is characterized by significant crossstream velocities, which modify primary flow patterns, and create helical flow trajectories. Consequently, boundary shear stresses at the river-bed are altered, so that complex erosion, transport, and accumulation processes characteristically shape bed and bank morphology. The diversity of substrate types and complex bathymetry in meanders provide a large variety of habitat conditions for benthic invertebrates within a relatively small spatial domain, which are connected via hydraulic pathways. Periodic reversal of hydromorphological processes between low and high flow, and seasonal growth of aquatic macrophytes creates spatio-temporal dynamics at the meso-and microhabitat scales. Such habitat dynamics increases benthic invertebrate diversity to the extent it is consistent with spatio-temporal scales of invertebrate mobility and life cycle. Furthermore, the presence of flow refugia, and hydraulic dead zones in meanders is essential to sustain species richness. This study concludes that meanders are highly complex morphodynamic elements that exhibit several self-regulating principles supporting invertebrate diversity and resilience in fluvial ecosystems.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 90%

Complex hydromorphology of meanders can support benthic invertebrate diversity in rivers

2011

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“…Underwood (1996), Biggs et al (1998), Sear, Briggs & Brookes (1998, Steinberger & Wohl (2003) Indicators: little native vegetation removed or damaged during implementation; vegetation that was removed has been replaced and shows signs of viability (e.g. seedling growth); little deposition of fine sediments because of implementation process.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Standards for ecologically successful river restoration

Palmer

Bernhardt

Allan

et al. 2005

Journal of Applied Ecology

1,264

1,046

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Summary1. Increasingly, river managers are turning from hard engineering solutions to ecologically based restoration activities in order to improve degraded waterways. River restoration projects aim to maintain or increase ecosystem goods and services while protecting downstream and coastal ecosystems. There is growing interest in applying river restoration techniques to solve environmental problems, yet little agreement exists on what constitutes a successful river restoration effort. 2. We propose five criteria for measuring success, with emphasis on an ecological perspective. First, the design of an ecological river restoration project should be based on a specified guiding image of a more dynamic, healthy river that could exist at the site. Secondly, the river's ecological condition must be measurably improved. Thirdly, the river system must be more self-sustaining and resilient to external perturbations so that only minimal follow-up maintenance is needed. Fourthly, during the construction phase, no lasting harm should be inflicted on the ecosystem. Fifthly, both pre-and postassessment must be completed and data made publicly available. 3. Determining if these five criteria have been met for a particular project requires development of an assessment protocol. We suggest standards of evaluation for each of the five criteria and provide examples of suitable indicators. 4. Synthesis and applications . Billions of dollars are currently spent restoring streams and rivers, yet to date there are no agreed upon standards for what constitutes ecologically beneficial stream and river restoration. We propose five criteria that must be met for a river restoration project to be considered ecologically successful. It is critical that the broad restoration community, including funding agencies, practitioners and citizen restoration groups, adopt criteria for defining and assessing ecological success in restoration. Standards are needed because progress in the science and practice of river restoration has been hampered by the lack of agreed upon criteria for judging ecological success. Without well-accepted criteria that are ultimately supported by funding and implementing agencies, there is little incentive for practitioners to assess and report restoration outcomes. Improving methods and weighing the ecological benefits of various restoration approaches require organized national-level reporting systems.

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“…as on the Rivers Cole and Brede;biggs et al, 1998). Particularly where this incorporates any historical information, it lends itself well to target setting with the subsequent means of assessing whether the target in the controls is reached.…”

Section: Conclusion and Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…In the United Kingdom, an evaluation of the 40 different case studies by Holmes (1998) and a further 40 in the New Rivers & Wildlife Handbook (RSPB et al, 1995) showed that although projects were driven by ecological goals, only around 65% actually set any sort or target, and only on one scheme were quantitative targets (based around the restoration of spawning habitat for salmonid fi shes) set and publicised (Table 8.1). Even in the recent Cole and Skerne projects, perhaps representing the pinnacle of restoration in the United Kingdom to date, there is little sign of ecological target setting, neither qualitative nor qualtitative, the benefi ts brought about by the scheme being assessed purely on the results of monitoring (Holmes and Nielsen, 1998;Kronvang et al, 1998;Hoffmann et al, 1998;Biggs et al, 1998;Vivash et al, 1998). This is in sharp contrast with large scale schemes such as the Kissimmee River Restoration Project RRP (KRRP) in the USA (Trexler, 1995;Toth, 1996;Toth and Anderson, 1998;Toth et al, 1998) and the Rhine in Continental Europe (Buijse et al, 2002).…”

Section: Goals and Target Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncertainty Surrounding the Ecological Targets and Response of River and Stream Restoration

et al. 2008

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Restoration of the rivers Brede, Cole and Skerne: a joint Danish and British EU-LIFE demonstration project, V—short-term impacts on the conservation value of aquatic macroinvertebrate and macrophyte assemblages

Cited by 59 publications

References 13 publications

Complex hydromorphology of meanders can support benthic invertebrate diversity in rivers

Complex hydromorphology of meanders can support benthic invertebrate diversity in rivers

Standards for ecologically successful river restoration

Uncertainty Surrounding the Ecological Targets and Response of River and Stream Restoration

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