An evaluation of restoration practises in lowland streams: Has the physical integrity been re-created?

Autor: Esben Astrup Kristensen, Hans Thodsen, Annette Baattrup-Pedersen
Rok vydání: 2011
Předmět:
Zdroj: Kristensen, E A, Baattrup-Pedersen, A & Thodsen, H 2011, ' An evaluation of restoration practises in lowland streams: Has the physical integrity been re-created? ', Ecological Engineering, vol. 37, no. 11, pp. 1654-1660 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2011.06.043
ISSN: 0925-8574
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2011.06.043
Popis: Intensive land use by humans has led to severe degradation of streams and rivers, especially in highly industrialised countries and in lowland agricultural areas. Restorations have been conducted with the aim to improve hydromorphological conditions in modified streams. However, success has often been limited, partly because the restorations have been conducted without due regard to river-type-specific characteristics. The aim of this study was to evaluate restorations of Danish lowland streams by applying a type-specific approach. We compared the physical condition of restored streams with that of near-natural streams (least disturbed condition) and channelized streams. We stratified the data according to different stream types and included also reference sites from a less impacted country (Lithuania) in the evaluation. Our results revealed that restorations have created physical conditions that do not resemble river-type-specific LDCs, primarily due to the addition of large amounts of coarse substrate. This may have implications for the ecological communities and for biodiversity and consequently for the implementation of the Water Framework Directive in restored lowland streams. We also found that observations of physical condition in nearby reference streams may be used to advantage in future restoration planning, thereby assuring a higher degree of physical integrity in restored streams.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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