River restoration challenges with a specific view on hydromorphology
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FOREFRONT PERSPECTIVE
River restoration challenges with a specific view on hydromorphology Jianhua LIa, Stephan HOERBINGERb, Clemens WEISSTEINERc, Lingmin PENGa, Hans Peter RAUCHb,c* a
Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Tongji University, Shanghai 100029, China Institute of Soil Bioengineering and Landscape Construction, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria c GeoVerde OG, Landscape Engineers, Vienna, Austria
b
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
© The Author(s) 2020. This article is published with open access at link.springer.com and journal.hep.com.cn 2020
1
Introduction
1.1
River ecosystem degradation
Over the past century, almost throughout the whole world, streams and rivers have been heavily polluted and morphologically degraded due to industrial, household and agricultural sources, leading to significant declines in biodiversity, water quality and ultimately water supply [1– 5]. In the last decades, river system design has been practiced from an engineering viewpoint that focuses on water abstraction, sanitation, generation of energy, transportation and safety, rather than from a socio-ecological perspective. The technical management altered the understanding of a functioning river system itself and its social context. This strongly modified the physical and cultural nexus between rivers and the nearby human population [6]. Individual or combined effects of stressors usually lead to a reduction in biodiversity due to reduced water quality, habitat degradation, dispersal barriers, unsuitable biological flow regimes, changes in the input of organic matter or sunlight, etc.[7]. Given the importance of freshwater systems in providing ecological services and diverse habitats for many species, it is clear that restoration is needed to maintain sustainable ecological services while restoring ecosystem function and habitat scope [8]. 1.2
Hydromorphology came into being
The insight that a restored river ecosystem can deliver multiple interconnected benefits to society has led to a Article history: Received Feb 29, 2020; Accepted Jul 22, 2020
change in the perception of functional river systems and to an expansion of river restoration [9]. The Water Framework Directive (200/60/EC, WFD) and the US Clean Water Act (US CWA) emerged as a formalized demand for healthy freshwater ecosystems and acts as a catalyst for river restoration projects, consequently meeting the implementation of upcoming directives like the UN’ sustainable development goals (SDGs). A universal river restoration approach includes a wide range of possible target issues. In a first step the solution of a water pollution problem is a key issue of river restoration projects. Also, human activities. Besides that, human activities have a huge impact on the hydromorphlogical conditions of rivers. Therefore, hydromorphology is one key discipline in river restoration projects. Hydromorphology combines the disciplines of hydrology and geomorphology in order to classify both jointly for stream
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