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Environmental Flows, Climate Change and River Hydromorphology
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Environmental Flows, Climate Change and River Hydromorphology

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water and Climate Change".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2021) | Viewed by 16774

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Piotr Parasiewicz

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
River Fisheries Department, Stanislaw Sakowicz Inland Fisheries Institute, Zabieniec, Piaseczno, Poland
Interests: river ecology and management; river restoration; fish habitat modelling; remote sensing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Environmental flows (eflows) have been recognized as an important issue in sustainable river management. Many of the approaches developed and applied for eflow regulations view the flow regime as a master variable and therefore focus on securing appropriate water quantity, overlooking the interaction of flow with other habitat-shaping elements such as sediments, wood, and the valley context. Furthermore, flow modifications introduced by climate change limit the utility of historical hydrological data for creating future regulations. Anticipated new flow patterns may also change river hydromorphology, adding to alterations already induced by human activities. Therefore, it can be expected that climate change and hydromorphological alterations will have a substantial influence on habitat availability and should be considered elements of eflow regulations development. For this Special Issue of Water, we seek papers describing interactions between climate change, river hydromorphology, habitat and biological response as a foundation for establishing environmental flow regulation. This topic is critical for adaptation to climate change and we seek applicable contributions. Nevertheless, basic science papers as well as applied novel scientific and administrative approach descriptions are welcome.

Dr. Piotr Parasiewicz
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • climate change
  • fish habitat
  • habitat simulations
  • river regulation
  • channel modification
  • environmental regulation

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 2617 KiB  
Article
Predicting Macroinvertebrate Responses to Water Abstraction in Alpine Streams
by Gabriele Consoli, Fabio Lepori, Christopher T. Robinson and Andreas Bruder
Water 2021, 13(15), 2121; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13152121 - 1 Aug 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3032
Abstract
Exploitation of hydropower potential in alpine areas undermines the ecological integrity of rivers. Damming and water abstraction substantially alter the physical habitat template of rivers, with strong repercussions on aquatic communities and their resources. Tools are needed to predict and manage the consequences [...] Read more.
Exploitation of hydropower potential in alpine areas undermines the ecological integrity of rivers. Damming and water abstraction substantially alter the physical habitat template of rivers, with strong repercussions on aquatic communities and their resources. Tools are needed to predict and manage the consequences of these alterations on the structure and functioning of macroinvertebrate communities and resource availability in alpine streams. We developed habitat preference models for taxa, functional feeding guilds, and organic resources to quantify the effects of discharge alteration on macroinvertebrate communities in two alpine streams. Our physical habitat model related an indirect measure of bottom hydraulic forces (FST hemispheres) to the distribution of macroinvertebrate taxa and their resources. We observed that flow-dependent habitat availability for macroinvertebrate communities generally decreased with increasing water abstraction. We were able to relate these changes to near-bed hydraulic conditions. Our results suggest, however, the existence of upper discharge thresholds delimiting optimal habitat conditions for taxa. In contrast, we found weak effects of near-bed hydraulic conditions on resource distribution. Overall, our findings contribute towards predicting the impacts of water abstraction on macroinvertebrate communities in small alpine streams and the benefits of baseflow restoration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Flows, Climate Change and River Hydromorphology)
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14 pages, 1853 KiB  
Article
Application of the Mesohabitat Simulation System (MesoHABSIM) for Assessing Impact of River Maintenance and Restoration Measures
by Katarzyna Suska and Piotr Parasiewicz
Water 2020, 12(12), 3356; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12123356 - 30 Nov 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2531
Abstract
Maintenance and restoration activities alter the river morphology and hydrology, and in consequence, alter fish habitats. The aim of this research was to investigate the change of habitat availability for fish guilds after carrying out maintenance works, commonly used river restoration measures and [...] Read more.
Maintenance and restoration activities alter the river morphology and hydrology, and in consequence, alter fish habitats. The aim of this research was to investigate the change of habitat availability for fish guilds after carrying out maintenance works, commonly used river restoration measures and a restoration derived from fish habitat requirements. The selected study site is located at a close to natural condition section of Swider River in central Poland. The MesoHABSIM model was used to assess the area of suitable habitats in this site and predict habitat distribution at all planning scenarios. The affinity index which is a measure of similarity of two distributions showed that the likely distribution of habitats for fish resulting from simulated maintenance is 76.5% similar to that under measured conditions. The distribution of habitats caused by river restoration is also similar to that of the baseline in 73.2%. The resemblance between the restoration scenario focusing on fish habitat requirements and the reference conditions is 93.1%. It is beneficial to define the river restoration measures based on habitat availability for fish community. Modelling is a useful tool to simulate the changes and predict which guilds there is abundance of suitable habitats, and for which there are too few. It allows for more effective use of resources according to quantitative target states. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Flows, Climate Change and River Hydromorphology)
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15 pages, 646 KiB  
Article
River-Wide Habitat Availability for Fish Habitat Guilds: Implications for In-Stream Flow Protection
by Jonathan Spurgeon, Mark Pegg, Piotr Parasiewicz and Joe Rogers
Water 2019, 11(6), 1132; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11061132 - 30 May 2019
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 3815
Abstract
The variation in river discharge alters habitat heterogeneity with implications for the distribution of fish species with different habitat requirements. Assessments of habitat availability following changes in river discharge are difficult to apply at broad spatial scales and with relevance to multiple species. [...] Read more.
The variation in river discharge alters habitat heterogeneity with implications for the distribution of fish species with different habitat requirements. Assessments of habitat availability following changes in river discharge are difficult to apply at broad spatial scales and with relevance to multiple species. We used a MesoHABSIM modeling approach to quantify river-wide changes in habitat availability for five fish habitat guilds under three river discharge levels along the Niobrara River, NE, USA. We used a time-series of river discharge (1958–2010) to create uniform continuous under-threshold habitat duration curves that identified habitat conditions that may result in periods of stress for fish communities along the Niobrara River. Habitat availability for each fish habitat guild was dependent on river discharge and location along the river. Habitat availability for fish habitat guilds ranged from 5% to 49% of the total channel area suggesting habitat availability may, at times, be limited. We provide river discharge guidelines for bioperiods that limit the frequency and duration of stressful habitat conditions. Understanding interactions between river discharge and habitat availability through time and at river-wide scales may aid in managing for ecological integrity by including protection of river discharge variability to support multiple fish habitat guilds. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Flows, Climate Change and River Hydromorphology)
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20 pages, 4933 KiB  
Article
Hydro-Morphological Characteristics Using Flow Duration Curve, Historical Data and Remote Sensing: Effects of Land Use and Climate
by Philip Kibet Langat, Lalit Kumar, Richard Koech and Manoj Kumer Ghosh
Water 2019, 11(2), 309; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11020309 - 12 Feb 2019
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 6687
Abstract
Ecohydrological changes in large rivers of the world result from a long history of human dimensions and climate. The increasing human population, intensified land use, and climate change have led to a decline in the most critical aspect of achieving sustainable development, namely, [...] Read more.
Ecohydrological changes in large rivers of the world result from a long history of human dimensions and climate. The increasing human population, intensified land use, and climate change have led to a decline in the most critical aspect of achieving sustainable development, namely, that of water resources. This study assessed recent hydromorphological characteristics of the tropical Tana River in Kenya using flow duration curve, and geospatial techniques to gain a better understanding of human impacts over the last two decades and their consequences for new development projects. The results show that all extremal peak, low, and mean discharges exhibited significant increasing trends over a period of 17 years. Dam construction represents a 13% reduction of the maximum discharge and a 30% decrease in low flows, while post-regulation hydrological changes indicated an increase of 56 and 40% of high flows and low flows respectively. Dominant flow was observed to be higher for the current decade than the previous decade, representing a rise of the dominant streamflow by 33%. The assessment of four morphologically active sites at the downstream reach showed channel adjustments which support the changes in the flow regimes observed. The channel width increased by 8.7 and 1.9% at two sites but decreased by 31.5 and 16.2% for the other two sites under study during the time period. The results underscore the contribution of other main human modifications, apart from regulation, such as increased water abstraction and inter basin transfer, up-stream land use and anthropogenic climate change to assess the ecohydrological status in this river basin. Such streamflow regime dynamics may have implications on water resource management, riverine environments, and development of new water projects. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Flows, Climate Change and River Hydromorphology)
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