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Influence of technical maintenance measures on ecological status of agricultural lowland rivers - Systematic review and implications for river management

SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT (2018)

Journal

SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT

Volume 627, Issue -, Pages 189-199

Publisher

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.01.235

Keywords

River; Management; Agriculture; Water Framework Directive; Ecosystem

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Abstract

Intensification of agriculture and ongoing urban sprawl exacerbate pressures on rivers. Small rivers in agricultural landscapes are especially exposed to excessive technical actions implemented in order to allow for harvesting river water for irrigation, draining agricultural water and receiving sewage. Regular dredging and macrophyte removal strongly interfere with the global need for preserving river biodiversity that allows agricultural lowland rivers to remain refuges for a variety of species, and-accordingly-to keep water bodies resilient for the benefit of society. In order to provide a comprehensive look at the influence of agricultural lowland river management on the ecological status of these water bodies, we conducted a literature review and a meta-analysis. For the structured literature review we selected 203 papers reflecting on the response of aquatic ecosystems to dredging and macrophyte management actions. The database of scientific contributions developed for our study consists of papers written by the authors from 33 countries (first authorship) addressing dredging, macrophyte removal, status of fish and macroinvertebrates as well as the general ecological status of lowland agricultural rivers. We revealed that 96% of the analyzed papers indicated unilateral, negative responses of aquatic ecosystems, particularly macroinvertebrates, ichthyofauna and macrophyte composition, to maintenance measures. We revealed that studies conducted in the European Union on the ecological status of rivers appeared to significantly increase in quantity after the implementation of the Water Framework Directive. Finally, we concluded that day-to-day management of lowland agricultural rivers requires revision in terms of compliance with environmental conservation requirements and the recurrent implementation of technical measures for river maintenance. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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A framework to identify critical dynamics of water quality for diagnosing river basin ecosystem resilience and management

Zhuo Li, Linlin Wang, Fei Lun, Qiyuan Hu, Yueqing Xu, Danfeng Sun

Summary: This study proposed a novel framework to identify critical water quality dynamics as early warning signals for changes in the resilience of river basin ecosystems. Empirical linkages between theoretical resilience capacities and water quality dynamics were established. Time-domain and frequency-domain analysis methods were integrated into this framework to identify gradual and transient responses of water quality. The framework was tested in an agriculture-intensive watershed in eastern China and successfully identified three resilience states of river basin ecosystems.

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