Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT
Volume 156, Issue 1-4, Pages 435-450Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s10661-008-0496-y
Keywords
Belgium; Monitoring; Riparian corridors; River; Survey; Water management
Categories
Funding
- Walloon Ministry for Agriculture, Rurality, Tourism and Environment
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Watercourses are complex ecosystems where numerous economic, ecological and heritage issues converge. To ensure their efficient management it is essential to have a full description of these multifunctional ecosystems and to know their evolution over time. This paper describes a method for monitoring watercourses and their riparian strips developed in Wallonia (southern Belgium). It is based on an inventory constructed by stratified random sampling comprising 1,071 sampling plots distributed over a total length of 24,600 km of watercourses covered from their source. Each sampling plot is surveyed and measurements and fine observations are made on watercourse segments 50 m long. The method developed, which was applied on a regional scale, could easily be transposed to other entities, from large river basins, to an entire country. Examples of results obtained from a first inventory phase demonstrate the utility of this tool designed to supply qualitative and quantitative information to assist watercourse management.
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