River Hydrology, Flow Alteration, and Environmental Flow

Zeiringer, Bernhard; Seliger, Carina; Greimel, Franz; Schmutz, Stefan

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-73250-3_4

Cited by 80 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Hence, habitat conditions within channels and accompanying floodplains differ between rivers following the pattern of flow and the nature and availability of material it carries. Consequently, different habitat characteristics such as river bars and riffle-pool sequences of river channels and floodplains are produced and sustained (Zeiringer, Seliger, Greimel, & Schmutz, 2018). It is thus vital that the river flows are capable enough to transfer bed or bank sediment, and they take place recurrently to alter the morphology of the river channel (Wolman & Miller, 1960).…”

Section: The Natural Flow Regime (Nfr)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These novel flow regimes and climate changes cause the decline of healthy and resilient communities (Strona & Lafferty, 2016). In an all-inclusive review, Poff and Zimmerman (2010) and Zeiringer et al (2018) F I G U R E 2 Indicators of river health reported that most of the research found undesirable ecological response to change in NFR (Table 1).…”

Section: Impact Of Altering Nfr On the Biotic Composition Of Riversmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This limits channel migration and reduces the formation of secondary channels. Channelization T A B L E 1 Change in natural flow regime components and some ecological response (modified after Poff et al, 1997;Poff & Zimmerman, 2010;Zeiringer et al, 2018) The change in the instantaneous velocity of rivers impact predators, decrease their mobility (Hamid, Bhat, & Jehangir, 2020) and thus gaining access to their prey (Abebe et al, 2020). The spatial aspects of fast-flowing habitats, for example, riffles, are highly vulnerable to alterations during low-flows.…”

Section: Impact Of Altering Nfr On the Biotic Composition Of Riversmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dams, diversions and infrastructure developments have enabled anthropogenic control of water flow for human consumption, resulting in the reduction or abolition of flooding and other ecological aspects of the NFR (Nilsson, Reidy, Dynesius, & Revenga, 2005; Zarfl et al, 2015). Dams disrupt sediment transport downstream (Zeiringer et al, 2018) resulting in the coarsening of the streambed and reducing the availability of habitat for riverine species living within or utilizing interstitial spaces (Chien, 1985). Dams also affect hydrology, water quality and river biota across the globe (Gillespie, Kay, & Brown, 2019).…”

Section: The Ecological Rationale For Sustaining Nfr and River Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The natural flow regime: A master variable for maintaining river ecosystem health

et al. 2020

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River health is sustained by time-based variation in their flows, and the maintenance of natural flow regime is essential for keeping the rivers healthy. However, the dynamism in natural flow regime now stands altered by changing climate, and the omnipresent regulation of river flows throughout the world has severely impacted the river health. It is well documented that harnessing and altering the flow of the rivers and streams comes at a huge cost. Numerous rivers in the world have stopped supporting socially and economically important native species or sustain vibrant ecosystems that offer valuable goods and services. The alteration of the natural flow regime has led to the collapse of many healthy and resilient river ecosystems throughout the world. Therefore, to ensure appropriate naturalized flow regimes for riverine organisms and a sustainable nexus between energy demand, water requirements and climate, more understanding is required to study the consequences of alteration in natural flow regime triggered by climate change and anthropogenic interventions. Moreover, conservation and management practices must be firmly based on scientific principles to restore the integrity of river ecosystems. The current approaches often fail to take into consideration a basic fundamental principle that the integrity of the river ecosystem is largely determined by the natural dynamic character of their flow regimes. In this synthesis, we try to explain how the maintenance of the natural flow regime is an essential requirement for maintaining river ecosystem health. K E Y W O R D S environmental flow, natural flow regime, river ecosystem, river health 1 | INTRODUCTION Rivers are important for the maintenance of ecological health, economic prosperity and human welfare, and the innate rhythm of the rivers is indispensable to human welfare even today (Palmer & Ruhi, 2019). For ages, rivers have provided food to the masses, water for domestic consumption, agricultural activities and transportation (Grill et al., 2019). The flow of rivers link people, places and various other life forms, inspire and support diverse cultural philosophies, ideas and ways of life (Anderson et al., 2019). The basic human need for freshwater (Poff et al., 1997) and development (Blythe & Schmidt, 2018) has led to the dramatic alteration of river ecosystems in the world. The rivers were subjected to anthropogenic pressures by means of fragmentation, leading to the loss of connectivity. This limits their potential to flow unimpeded and hamper their fundamental processes and functions (Dudgeon et al., 2006). These alterations result in rapid reduction of biodiversity and ecosystem services (Cardinale et al., 2012) and restrict various geomorphic processes (Sinnatamby et al., 2020). The practices such as regulation of different thermal regimes and water quality (Sabater et al., 2018), carbon input to aquatic food webs, supply of wood and physical space for habitat through the terrestrial-aquatic ecotone (Naiman & Decamps, 1997)

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Section: The Natural Flow Regime (Nfr)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Impact Of Altering Nfr On the Biotic Composition Of Riversmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Impact Of Altering Nfr On the Biotic Composition Of Riversmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Ecological Rationale For Sustaining Nfr and River Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The natural flow regime: A master variable for maintaining river ecosystem health

et al. 2020

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“…However, with the construction of any river channel reservoir, the defining parameter of any hydroecosystem -continuity of river flow -is practically leveled [2]. While flow velocity affects the formation of some important "economic" indicators of the aquatic ecosystem: productivity, biodiversity, quality of water resources [3,4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrological-stenobiontic method for determining environmental flows from reservoir

Bezsonov

Muntian

Krysinska

2021

EEJET

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In the practice of using river resources accumulated in reservoirs, there is a typical problem of unreasonably large water intake for industrial-household needs to the detriment of the aquatic ecosystem. An important tool for balancing these links is to provide environmental flows based on a comprehensive analysis of river functioning patterns. And in terms of a progressing negative impact of reservoirs on the integrity of river ecosystems, the choice of indicator hydrobiota for the calculation of environmental flows should be considered insufficiently substantiated. The solution of this problem, by filling the appropriate methodological niche, allowed substantiating the hydrological-stenobiontic method for determining environmental flows. The developed solutions are based on the minimum possible values of tolerance of aquatic ecosystems stenobionts to water velocity. Five groups of macrozoobenthos represent relevant target organisms. The hydrological calculations presented in the paper are based on the data of daily water flow rate for 80 years and the results of field studies of the river channel depth in the low water period. On this basis, it was determined that for lowland parts of rivers, the flow velocity in the tailwater of reservoirs should be at least 0.2 m/s. Comparison of the curve of the average monthly water velocity dynamics of 95 % runoff availability with the minimum corresponding requirements of stenobionts allowed determining the most threatening period of the year for the aquatic ecosystem – summer low water. For a reservoir in the lowland parts of the river, based on the developed method, the calculations substantiate an increase in the minimum volume of environmental flows by 40 % relative to the current one. It is also estimated that the average annual and average second volumes of environmental flows should be about 38 % of the respective river runoff. The obtained results are close to those found on rivers in China, Iran and the United States in the framework of a comprehensive analysis of hydrological, hydraulic and hydrobiological parameters of the aquatic ecosystem

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